The idea for a combination of drama and music that eventually became Fallen arose from the ongoing research of both Musica Secreta's directors, Laurie Stras and Deborah Roberts. For over ten years, Laurie and Deborah have worked together to bring to life historical figures and the musical practices that punctuated, or even determined, their lives.
The mystery of Corpus Domini
We first became interested in the musical possibilities of Corpus Domini when we learned that Alfonso II d'Este and his sister, Lucrezia d'Este, had chosen to be buried in its choir. Alfonso and his sister were the creators of the famous concerto di dame at the court of Ferrara in the late sixteenth century - as far as we know, the first professional female ensemble in the Western art music tradition. It seemed to us that their burial place could have had some significance. If the beautiful singing of women had such importance to them in life, there is every reason to believe that it would continue to do so in death. It is tempting, if still unproven, to believe that they would have wished to have the angelic voices of the convent choir singing masses for their souls in perpetuity. The fact that there are no public records of music-making at Corpus Domini means little - many of the cultural activities of Alfonso's inner circle, including the music and poetry composed for concerto di dame, were a carefully guarded secret and not published during his lifetime. Could the nuns of Corpus Domini have been his concerto di dame religiose, their singing equally secret, and private to the duke and his family?
Although we have not yet been able to conduct all the painstaking archival detective work necessary to unravel our mystery, we have tantalising clues that suggest we could be on to something. We know from work published on the Franciscan houses of Ferrara that Alfonso I d'Este, Lucrezia Borgia's husband and grandfather to Alfonso II, is also buried in the choir, and he certainly left specific instructions for the offices and masses he wished to be sung weekly, monthly and annually for his soul. The convent was bequeathed a large collection of musical instruments by a d'Este cardinal, and was also left a substantial legacy by one of the most famous members of the concerto di dame, Laura Peverara. We hope that we will uncover more specific evidence of music at Corpus Domini, and are seeking funding to help us do this.
Alessandro Grandi's Motetti a cinque voci, 1614
Alessandro Grandi is regarded as one of the finest composers of the Italian early seventeenth century. Probably born in Ferrara, as a young man he served as maestro di musica for two of the most important confraternities in the city, the Accademia della Morte and the Accademia dello Santo Spirito. He left Ferrara in 1617 to join the musical establishment at San Marco in Venice, where eventually he became Monteverdi's deputy. The Motetti a cinque voci would have been composed while Grandi was still at Santo Spirito.
The Motetti a cinque voci is Grandi's third known publication, although it was compiled by an editor, Placido Marcelli, and dedicated by Marcelli to the widow of Alfonso II d'Este, Margherita Gonzaga d'Este. Margherita had been the focus of the artistic activity of Alfonso's court, and had been the nominal "employer" of the women who formed the concerto di dame. Upon her husband's death, Margherita founded and then entered the Clarissan convent of Sant'Orsola in Mantua - one assumes that a book of music dedicated to her there would have been performed by the convent's own musical establishment.
The book is published for "mixed" voices - that is, for soprano, alto, two tenors and bass - with a basso continuo. However, there is one piece for five "tenors", or five equal high voices. Margherita would never have been able to hear these pieces performed as they were published, as she would not have had access to male singers in the convent. Instead, the convent choir would have adapted the published version to their own resources: transposing the lower voices up an octave, or leaving the continuo to fill in bass lines if necessary. Even though Grandi may not have written these works specifically for female voices, we can be assured that they would have been considered suitable for performance by women.