Ravenna Festival
Omaggio ad Alessandro Scarlatti nel 350° anniversario della nascita
Inni del Venerdì Santo e Ufficio delle Tenebre
La Stagione Armonica
soli
Francesca Cassinari soprano
Lucia Napoli contralto
Baltazar Zuniga tenore
Davide Benetti basso
Olivia Centurioni, Claudia Combs violini
Giovanna Barbati violoncello
Riccardo Coelati violone
Pietro Prosser tiorba
Vittorio Zanon organo
direttore
Sergio Balestracci
In preconciliar liturgy the nightly office for the Sacred Triduum prescribed that fifteen candles should be lighted in a triangular-shaped candlestick only to be put out one by one until the church plunged into darkness, a darkness resembling mankind’s condition after killing the Son of God. Hence the name – “the office of darkness”. Alessandro Scarlatti honoured this tradition, and to celebrate his 350th anniversary, Sergio Balestracci and La Stagione Armonica will perform his Hymns for Good Friday and the Office of Darkness, probably composed in Rome in 1708 and included in the manuscript “Music for Holy Week” preserved in the Philharmonic Academy of Bologna.
