Pygmalion - Vertigo

Vertigo Pygmalion - choir and orchestra Raphaël Pichon, conductor. Works by Monteverdi, Schütz, Gabrieli, Prætorius… At the turn of the 17th century, German composers all sought to return to Italian sources.

Venice, with its sonic architectures and spatial daring, its cori spezzati and the triumph of polychorality, radiated as far as Lutheran lands. But the Thirty Years' War broke this momentum.

Their expression became more intimate: these were the kleine geistliche Konzerte, heirs to Italian motets for solo voice and continuo.

Structured like a grand ecumenical Lutheran vespers service, this programme brings together great German and Italian masters: Praetorius, Schütz, Scheidt, Monteverdi and Cavalli respond to each other in a play of echoes and alternations where polychorality becomes jubilation, vital overflow, sensual outpouring – a celebration of a fusion that shaped European music.