Tarquinio Merula

Sacred Concertos & Instrumental Works

Tarquinio Merula, a singular figure of the early Italian Baroque, embodies a musical thought in the midst of transformation, in which the contrapuntal heritage of the Renaissance evolves into an expressive language grounded in contrast, mobility, and the rhetoric of the affections. A virtuoso organist and a composer of remarkable inventiveness, he develops a style articulated in brief, highly characterized sections, whose succession generates an almost dramatic momentum. His music boldly explores the resources of chromaticism, harmonic tension, and contrasts of texture, while maintaining a keen sense of formal clarity.

In this programme, we will weave a fruitful connection between vocal music, embodied by Capucine Keller, instrumental music for one or two upper parts, and organ works. We will have the pleasure of presenting his most famous piece, the *Canzonetta spirituale sopra alla nanna*, a brilliant lullaby of the Virgin that envisions the dark hours of Christ even as it gently leads him into sleep, alongside lesser-known yet equally exceptional works.

I warmly invite you to discover this captivating and poetic universe.