In the organizer's words:

What remains when the music is almost lost?

Jacopo Peri's Dafne (1598) is considered the first opera in the history of music. Only fragments have survived, but they already show the new "stile rappresentativo", the expression between speech and song with which Peri founded a completely new form of music theater.

il Gusto Barocco places these traditional scenes at the center of a concert evening that shows the Dafne myth in a new light. Based on the libretto by Ottavio Rinuccini, a musical tableau is created from works by Peri, Marco da Gagliano and other composers of the time. In keeping with historical practice, the roles are played by just three singers. (Dafne, Apollo and Amore will be sung by il Gusto Barocco prizewinners and finalists of the Pietro Antonio Cesti International Singing Competition for Baroque Opera). Instrumental interludes based on the Medici interludes of 1589 structure and comment on the course of the opera. The result is a concentrated, historically informed look at the origins of the opera - between fragment, invention and musical metamorphosis.

La Dafne is a cooperation project between Stuttgart Baroque and il Gusto Barocco.

The concert evening begins with the concert introduction "The Birth of Opera" with Jörg Halubek at 4 pm.

Concert performance without intermission, duration approx. 80 minutes

Program

from: Jacopo Peri La Dafne / Marco da Gagliano La Dafne

Instrumental music by Christofano Malvezzi (1547-1599) / Giulio Caccini (1551-1618)

Winners of the Pietro Antonio Cesti singing competition:

Nicolò Balducci | Countertenor / Soprano

Lauren Lodge-Campbell | Soprano

Jonathan Eyers | Baritone

il Gusto Barocco

Jörg Halubek | harpsichord and musical direction

Price information:

Tickets via the Musikpodium Stuttgart