Recently, a manuscript containing testimonies of the rich musical practices from the early 17th century in Italy has surfaced. The Carlo G manuscript was bought some 15 years ago in a flea market near Vienna for circa 60€(!). Later, after it was recognized as important and scanned, it was sold at Sotheby’s to an anonymous buyer for a sum of 70,000 pounds. Although the manuscript is currently inaccessible in private (anonymous) hands, the scans made before the sale allowed us to research it. Unfortunately we do not know the identity of Carlo G., who is the composer of most of the pieces in the manuscript; a dark stain on the first page hides the rest of his last name.

In this program we will perform devotional monodies and duets by Carlo G., as they are portrayed in his manuscript - rich with ornaments and diminutions. Alongside the pieces by Carlo G., we present music by his contemporaries, Ottavio Durante (fl. 1610) and Alessandro Grandi (1586–1630). 

As many of the pieces by Carlo G. and his contemporaries are settings for texts from the Song of Songs, we chose to complement them with two new pieces by Elam Rotem written in the musical language of the early 17th century. Inspired by Salomone Rossi who composed music in Hebrew, Rotem sets texts from the Song of Songs in the original Hebrew.