Carinthian Music Salon: La pazzia senile

A foray into one of the most exciting periods of music history: Cappella Splendor Solis brings the European art style of Mannerism to life, the epoch in which the opera was born. But the early 17th century enjoyed other diverse forms of musical theatre – from intermedi to comedic and staged madrigals. Three singers and the musical director Prof. Josef Stolz embark upon a quest to reach new heights. Duplicates of historical instruments in their original tunings give an idea of the performances of the time, while the voices of the singers reflect the characteristic Manneristic “sweetness”. But things can also get a bit raucous in this make-believe world – in La pazzia senile, the pious abbot Adriano Banchieri of Bologna pulls out all the stops in his commitment to commedia dell’arte and absurdly comic musical theatre. Old Pantalone, himself infatuated with the courtesan Lauretta, preaches water but drinks wine. He also wishes to marry off his beautiful daughter to the naively stupid Dr Graziano in exchange for financial gain. But the young lovers manage to throw a spanner in the works…