The music of Giulio Caccini and his time

Giulio Caccini was a major Italian composer, and one of the responsible for the biggest transformation in the history of music. At the end of the renaissance (end of the XVI century), the church, musicians and audiences were struggling to keep alive the music style that ruled for two centuries: the polyphony. In one hand, the church was accusing composers because the sacred texts were not recognizable anymore because of the intricate relationship between music voices. In the other, musicians were struggling to play so many and difficult voices, specially the lute players, who had limited possibilities with their instruments. And the public, in the middle of that, was aiming for a less technical and a more fresh and improvisational way to carry the text.  

In 1601, Giulio Caccini published in Florence his “Le Nuove Musiche”, presenting this new and fresh music style: the monody, which was by the way mostly accompanied by lutes. This collection of pieces represented the beginning of a new era in music, presenting the texts with only one singing voice with a basso continuo, the synthesis of all other voices in one bottom voice with a vertical harmonic material. This new style of music endured by centuries, and was the predecessor of genres like the famous German “lied”.

Programme