Out of Willaert’s extensive body of work, the Seminar will examine a group of madrigals published in his collection Musica nova (Venice: Gargano, 1559), which set sonnets from Petrarch’s Canzoniere, comparing them with two examples of his liturgical polyphony. These are the Kyrie settings of the masses Mente tota (1512-17) and Mittit ad Virginem (ca. 1560).
On the one hand, this comparison will allow us to observe the enduring Petrarchan legacy among the madrigalists of the 16th-century Po Valley and Venice, and to assess the relationship between their work and Zarlino’s new theories on the expressiveness of melodic intervals. On the other, it will help us appraise the stylistic transformations that took place during Willaert’s extraordinarily long career. Perhaps not coincidentally – and not without irony – the Venetian comedian and playwright Andrea Calmo linked Willaert to the aurum potabile, the legendary elixir of longevity.
The main teacher will be the Swiss-Argentinian baritone Lisandro Abadie (teacher at the Schola Cantorum in Basel), assisted by the musicologist Katelijne Schiltz and the philologist Corrado Bologna.
Masterclasses and lectures are addressed to young professional or semi-professional singers and instrumentalists specialized in the repertory, only if awarded a scholarship.
To participate, please send the following materials to the secretariat at [email protected]
Application deadline: 15 September 2026.
