Ensemble La Morra
  Giovanni Cantarini, tenor

  Corina Marti, flute and harpsichord

  Michal Gondko, viola da mano

  Elizabeth Rumsey, viola del arco

  Tore Eketorp, viola del arco

Sunday, February 26, 2012, at 3:00 p.m.

Named after Heinrich Isaac's famous instrumental piece, Ensemble La Morra performs European music of from the 14th and 15th centuries–a period often referred to as “late Medieval” or “early Renaissance.”

Soon after its formation in 2000, La Morra appeared on the stages of Europe's most prestigious early music festivals and concert series by storm, performing in such events as Festival van Vlaanderen, Holland Festival Oude Muziek, Rencontres de Musique Médiévale du Thoronet (France), Freunde alter Musik Basel, and Autunno Musicale (Italy). Concert tours have also taken the ensemble to Cyprus, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Poland, Spain and the United Kingdom. Live performances, broadcasts and the four CD productions released to date by Ramée, Et'Cetera, Raumklang and Musiques Suisses have helped to establish La Morra as one of the leading ensembles in the field. The fifth CD production, the complete secular works of Joannes Ciconia,was released in 2011 on the Ricercar label. The ensemble is reputed for evocative, thoroughly researched concert programming and interpretations that are 'skillful', 'elegant' (Early Music), 'virtuoso', 'seductive', 'plausible' (Diapason), 'in a word: delightful' (Goldberg Magazine).

La Morra makes its home in Basel, the cultural capital of Switzerland. The group enjoys close proximity of the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis (where the performance of 'early music' has been taught for over 75 years), the town's University, and its rich resources for pre-1500 music. The ensemble is comprised of up to ten vocalists and instrumentalists working under the joint artistic leadership of Corina Marti and Michal Gondko, the size of the group depending upon the requirements of concert or recording projects it undertakes.

La Morra’s program at Yale is entitled “Lacrime di Leo: A Concert for Pope Leo the X.” Among popes of the Early Renaissance, Giovanni de Medici, who passed into history as Pope Leo X (1513-1521) stands out as one for whom fine music meant far more than superficial entertainment. Hence this tribute to a man whose rise to the peak of ecclesiastical power brought about a little Golden Age for a number of musicians, atlthough five centuries later this fact is little known. The Pope himself composed–in his youth he was a pupil of the Flemish master Henricus Isaac. Indeed, this music-loving Pope did not hesitate to offer the regency of the city of Verucchio (much to distress of its inhabitants) to one of his favorite musicians, Gian Maria Alemanni, German lutenist of Jewish descendance, whom Giovanni allegedly saved from a sentence of death for a murder commited back in Florence. The composer Carpentras reports that music “drew pious tears” from the Pope. Even 40 years after his death, a chronicler would remember Leo X as a Pope, who “above all loved musicians.” The conceit for this programme is that one evening Leo's musici segreti are called upon to sing and play for the Pope some of the most delightful music current in Italy in his days: frottole, madrigals, chansons and instrumental music by Constanzo Festa, Bartolomeo Tromboncino, Alexander Agricola, Josquin des Prez, Johannes Ghiselin, Joanambrosio Dalza, Francesco Canova da Milano and Pope Leo X himself.

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