Poised between two seemingly incompatible genres (the individuality of theatrical acting on one side, and the choral rhetoric of the polyphonic madrigal on the other), Marenzio’s music seems to probe the issue of the dramatic intensity of poetry that was originally meant for the stage. There are madrigals, such as “Cruda Amarilli, che col nome ancora” or “Arda pur sempre o mora”, in which the dark images of amorous suffering are transformed into a changing landscape of harsh and unexpected sounds. The dense five-voice polyphony can dissolve words into sounds, entrusting chromatic and dissonant harmony with the task of evoking emotions on a purely acoustic sensory level. But at the same time Marenzio explores and refines new techniques of polyphonic declamation. The result is a supple and passionate choral recitation. This is one of the most original features of his musical approach to Battista Guarini’s Il pastor fido, evident especially in the madrigals from the eighth book. It is a style that has often been described as a form of polyphonic recitative in which a flexible and homorhythmic declamation seems to capture the realism of theatrical declamation without relinquishing the vocal sensuality of polyphony. The performance documented here explores the fascinating ambiguity that characterizes the relationship between spoken word and sung word in these madrigals, alternating solo interpretations with polyphonic realizations. The emotional imitation of single verbal images recedes in favor of a transparent musical intonation of the text. The music celebrates the expressive power of the poetry by transcending the simple reading of a text that seemed impossible to realize on stage. In this sense, Marenzio really offers an example of recitation of Guarini’s theatre that manifests itself not in a theatrical representation but in a musical intensification of language.

The ensemble La Pedrina, founded by Francesco Saverio Pedrini in 2016, derives its name from a sonata by Tarquinio Merula (Canzoni overo Sonate, 1637). The singers and instrumentalists of the ensemble regularly perform in the most renowned groups of ancient music. The repertoire of the ensemble ranges from Italian vocal and instrumental music of the 16th and 17th centuries to the cantatas of J.S. Bach. In 2016 it collaborated with Paolo Pandolfo in the project Regina Bastarda dedicated to the repertoire of diminutions of madrigals and chansons for the viola bastarda. In 2017, on the occasion of the restoration of the “sala delle fatiche d’Ercole” at the Palazzo Venezia in Rome, it produced the performance “Delle battaglie e degli amori d’Ercole” in collaboration with the Renaissance dance company RenaiDanse of Véronique Daniels.

Born in Parma in 1973, Francesco Saverio Pedrini graduated in organ and organ composition with Francesco Tasini at the conservatory of his native city. After studying composition in Parma and musicology in Cremona, he specialized in the study of early music at the Schola Cantorum in Basel with A. Marcon and J.-C. Zehnder. The teachings of Michael Radulescu and Luigi Ferdinando Tagliavini also contributed to his training. He was awarded prizes in the international organ competitions of Bruges and Borca di Cadore. He regularly performs as a continuo player on the organ and harpsichord with Kammerorchester Basel. In 2006 he founded the Organ Academy of Parma and the International Organ Festival of the City of Parma. Since 2007 he has been Korrepetitor in the baroque opera class of the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis. From 2012 to 2016 he was musical director of the Swiss ensemble Voces Suaves with whom he recorded works by Maurizio Cazzati and Giovanni Croce in world premiere.