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Festivals Malta presents a solemn concert of sacred music, by The Monteverdi Project, ahead of Christmas Day featuring a sublime repertoire of Baroque music. A concert that evokes spiritual reflections in preparation for the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ.

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Minimum Age

12

Ticket sales finished!

Ticket sales for The Monteverdi Project Christmas Concert unfortunately have now finished! The last day of this event was on Thursday 22-Dec-2022. Ticket sales ended at Thursday 22-Dec-2022 23:30.

Description

Festivals Malta presents a solemn concert of sacred music, by The Monteverdi Project, ahead of Christmas Day featuring a sublime repertoire of Baroque music. A concert that evokes spiritual reflections in preparation for the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ. 


Programme:


Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina (1525 - 1594)

From Missa Brevis Missarum liber tertius, Roma 1570

Kyrie Gloria

 

Bartolomeo Barbarino (1568 - 1617)

Alla bocca dolcissima di rose

 

Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina

Credo

 

Giovanni Felice Sances (1600 - 1679)

Fuggi fuggi mio cor

Traditorello che credi

 

Tarquinio Merula (1595 - 1665)

From Curtio Precipitato, Venice 1638

Canzonetta spirituale sopra la nanna

Or ch'è tempo di dormire

 

Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina

Sanctus – Benedictus

 

Luigi Battiferri (1610 - 1682)

From Mottetti a voce sola Venice 1669

Vola de Libano ecclesia sponsa

 

Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina

Agnus Dei

 

Giovanni Battista Bassani (1650 - 1716)

Dolce Gesù riposo del mio cuore

Aria spirituale per il giorno di Natale


Programme Note:


The authors of this sublime Christmas programme belong to a vast sphere of composers who have devoted most of their time to composing sacred works. Christmas is traditionally one of the most important solemn feasts of the liturgical year. Because of this, we enjoy a vast and rich musical repertoire. We have chosen to base our Christmas concert on the Missa Brevis by Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina.


The Missa Brevis is a mass published in 1570 in the Third Book of the Masses of Palestrina and has since then been reprinted several times. Its title may be misleading, as a missa brevis commonly refers to a short mass, which it is not.


The celebration of Christmas normally expresses joy for the birth of Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, hence the invitation by the angels to the shepherds to hasten in their celebration with songs and dance. Another aspect expressed in the Christmas music of the Baroque period embodies the purpose for which Jesus was born, which invokes the force required by the church in its fight against evil. These stark differences are perfectly represented in Battiferri's Motet which flows from tender moments of delicacy to those of extreme force.


The programme also includes one of the most beautiful spiritual songs of the brilliant Tarquinio Merula “Hor ch'è tempo di dormire”. Written as a lullaby, Merula's wonderful piece depicts the Virgin Mary caressing and nursing her newborn child. This utmost sweetness is juxtaposed with terrifying visions of the cross, the nails, and the crown of thorns as if she knew what her child's destiny would be.


The concert concludes with the cantata “Dolce Gesù Riposo del Mio Cuore” by Giovanni Battista Bassani, where Christmas is the coveted day when one’s heart rests in the hands of Our Saviour.