Presented by Salon/Sanctuary Concerts
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Sculptor, architect, painter, playwright, and impresario, Gian Lorenzo Bernini (1598 – 1680) was the reigning visionary of baroque Rome. The creator of intensely dramatic and deeply sensual marble narratives carved with a stupefying virtuosity, his architectural projects came to define his city at the zenith of papal supremacy.
Summoned to Paris to improve the Louvre, Bernini’s gallic sojourn peaked a wave of cultural exchange, in which Italian-born ministers and musicians came to shape the culture of an emerging superpower. These four events explore various facets of Bernini’s Paris, an Italo-Gallic hybrid gem tempered by flattery and flux.
Monday, February 22nd Lecture by Franco Mormando, Cavaliere (Knight) in the Ordine della Stella della Solidarietà Italiana and author of the only English-language biography of Bernini Sculptor, architect, painter, playwright, and scenographer, Gian Lorenzo Bernini (1598-1680) was the last of the universal geniuses of early modern Italy, placed by both contemporaries and posterity in the same exalted company as Leonardo, Raphael, and Michelangelo. Bernini's artistic vision remains palpably present today through the countless statues, fountains, buildings and other works of his design that transformed Rome into the Baroque theater that continues to enthrall in our own time. Dr. Mormando will give us a guided tour of Bernini's long, dramatic life (private and public) and his equally fascinating Rome, with special emphasis on his many (and troubled) interactions with the French court. Thursday, February 25th 8pm A Cardinal who never took holy orders, Mazarin, né Giulio Raimondo Mazzarino, was born near Naples, grew up in Rome, and became Chief Minister of France. The most powerful advisor to Louis XIV was more fascinated by art than theology, yet his many attempts to bring Bernini to Versailles ultimately failed. Although Bernini would ultimately be his successor's prize, he imported innumerable Italian compositions and a fair number of Italian composers. His dedication to artistic splendor was a hallmark of his tenure and a gift to subsequent generations. Native sons whom he championed include Luigi Rossi, Domenico Mazzocchi, and Giacomo Carissimi. Their music, mostly Roman, and mostly born of the decadent Barberini papal court, came to transform the music of France. Arias, cantatas, and operas by these Italian composers and more can be found to this day at the Bibliothèque Nationale de Paris, where many treasures of Mazarin’s collection still await a performance in our own time. A wine and cheese reception follows the concert. Jessica Gould, soprano Sunday, February 28th 4pm Roman harpsichordist Giuseppe Schinaia performs works by d'Anglebert and Louis Couperin
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