Jewels from the Viennese Imperial Court
Vox Musica

Vox Musica Ensemble

Kinga Ujszászi e Maria Ines Zanovello, violin

Jordan Potter e Elena Accogli, viola

Reiko Ichise, viola da gamba

Helen Verney, cello

Nicola Barbagli, oboe | flute

Jadran Duncumb, tiorba

Silas Wollston, organ

Michael Berman, conductor

J.H. Schmelzer (1620-1680)

Sonata n. 5 in re minore

Profanus Concentus Musicus no. 2 à 8

A. Bertali (1605-1669)

Sonata à 6 in in re minore

Anonimo (XVII secolo)

Chaconne à 3 in do majore

G. Valentini (1681-1753)

Sonata n. 6 in sol minore

A. Bertali

Sonata à 8 in la minore

30’ | Admission with museum ticket

In the Sala dei Fiumi at Palazzo Ducale, music returns to its Baroque origins thanks to the Vox Musica Ensemble, with a program dedicated to the treasures of the seventeenth-century Viennese imperial court. Composers such as Johann Heinrich Schmelzer, Antonio Bertali, and Giuseppe Valentini animated the musical life of the Habsburgs, creating a refined and sumptuous output that reflects a world where ceremonial splendour intertwined with profound artistic culture.

Vienna was one of the most vibrant musical centers in Europe, and the imperial court a meeting place for the continent’s finest instrumentalists. Their ensemble sonatas reveal a rich and varied writing style: intertwining melodic lines, surprising harmonies, and compelling rhythms. Violas da gamba, theorbo, organ, and oboe build an ancient and precious sound world, in which each instrument contributes to evoking the color of a distant era. The anonymous Chaconne adds a note of mystery and suspended elegance, while the sonatas by Schmelzer and Bertali restore all the magnificence of a court that made music a true language of representation and wonder.

Testo a cura di Giada De Sio