Intende Voci Chorus (female section) on October 23 at 8pm at the Triennale Teatro dell’Arte in Milan will participate in the prémière of STILL REQUIES, a secular requiem composed by Mauro Montalbetti and produced by Associazione Liederìadi in collaboration with Teatro Grande of Brescia and the International Festival of Sacred Music of Pordenone.
Since 2015 the Liederìadi Festival has been carrying out a project to commemorate the centenary of the First World War (2015-18) through the performance of a contemporary Requiem performed during the three-year period in October.
For 2018, the artistic director Mirko Guadagnini, has commissioned the composer Mauro Montalbetti to write a secular Requiem commemorating the tragedy of the Great War but that maintains a universal value of reflection against human conflicts.
This is how STILL REQUIES was born. Mauro Montalbetti wanted to pay homage, remember, reflect on the drama of the First World War through a particular idea of secular Requiem, which combines texts of different origins (poetic, sacred, political) and language, with the aim of creating a dramaturgy rich in suggestions, tensions and images always alive without ever losing the intention of being poetic, meditative and political even in its complexity.
To complete the whole a cast of great importance:
- the actor-voice is MARCO BALIANI, one of the most acclaimed and active theater artists in the theater-engaged also on social issues;
- the tenor soloist is MIRKO GUADAGNINI who has built a successful twenty-year career on the baroque and contemporary repertoire.
- The Liederìadi Chorus, a female vocal ensemble that unites voices that have made a privileged choice of the contemporary repertoire (Virgo Vox Ensemble, Intende Voci Chorus and Kore’s Ensemble);
- The instrumental group AltreVoci Ensemble specialized in contemporary music;
- the accordionists Davide Vendramin and Ezio Ghibaudo.
The conductor is EDDI DE NADAI.
THE OPERA
The wide architectural structure, translates into the fusion of several forms in a single organic complex scanned in 11 episodes without solution of continuity, for a duration of about 50 minutes: a cappella choral parts, exclusively instrumental movements – with concertant instruments – Lieder for voice or chorus and instruments, short melologues of the actor accompanied by singing or by the instrumental group.
Each episode, entitled with phrases extracted from the Latin text of the Requiem, evokes feelings, moods, reflections of imaginary protagonists of the tragic war experience (a poet, a soldier, a father, a mother).
Hence the selection of poetic fragments taken from works by C. Rébora, E.Toller, C. Sbarbaro, G.Trakl, E. Montale,
G. Apollinaire, S. Sasson, Vladimir Il’ič Ul’janov, G. Ungaretti, M. Baliani, R. Kypling, T. Van Doesburg, U. Saba, C. Stuparich, V. Maiakovskij, C. Sorley, E. Hemingway, W. Owen.
“The complexity of the work necessarily required several phases,” Montalbetti explains. “The first phase was devoted to the study of the historical period through the reading of non-fiction, the most important literature and poetry of the period. The second was dedicated to the selection of poetic texts, political and theatrical writings of international scope that could blend with fragments taken from the Latin text of the Requiem in such a way as to evoke feelings, states of mind, reflections of imaginary protagonists of the tragic wartime experience; a poet, a soldier, a politician, a mother. The third – more delicate – was the elaboration of the text, of the dramaturgy. I chose to personally take care of the libretto in order to feel it more mine, to be able to vary it even in detail during the composition phase“.
