A strikingly beautiful performance by Jordi Savall and his ensemble “Le Concert des Nations”, an orchestra with period instruments. Lachrimae Caravaggio – “Caravaggio’s tears”. Festival de Maguelone, 2012. It is a project by Jordi Savall involving musical and verbal illustration of seven paintings by the Renaissance Italian painter Michelangelo Caravaggio (Milan, 29 September 1571 – 18 July? 1610), related to the topic of death. Musical motifs interspersed with texts by the French novelist Dominique Fernandez, approximating the individual works of the painter. Caravaggio’s tears were written for the National Art Museum of Catalonia in Barcelona.

Savall was inspired by a quote from Goethe about painting needing to have its bass continuo, and decided to follow it literally. Some of the works are homage to composers of the period such as Gesualdo (who also killed a man, by the way), Monteverdi and Trabaci – others are just created in the spirit of the Baroque. All are instrumental except for four short vocal sections by a member of Savall’s family – Ferran Savall.

Programme

The program is divided into seven “Statios” (stanzas) of four to five movements, each representing Savall’s take on seven works by Caravaggio. The music is composed by Jordi Savall (apart from the above adaptations of works by other composers). Some pieces are improvised by the musicians.

Statio I

1. Cantus Caravaggio I
2. 1 Lachrimae Tristes
3. Deloratio I
4. Planetus Caravaggio I

Statio II

1. Extasis
2. Fantasia (adaptation from Carlo Gesualdo)
3. 2 Lachrimae Invocantis
4. Sinfonia di Guerra (adaptation from Claudio Monteverdi)
5. Pugna & Damnatio

Statio III

1. Imploratio
2. Deploratio II
3. Concentus (adaptation from Luigi Rossi)
4. 3 Lachrimae Dolcissima

Statio IV

1. Durezze E Ligature (adaptation from Giovanni Maria Trabaci)
2. Passacaglia “Umbrae”
3. Cantus Caravaggio II “O Lux”
4. 4 Lachrimae Amara

Statio V

1. Transitio
2. Passacaglia “Libertas”
3. 5 Lachrimae Dolente
4. Deploratio III
5. Consonanze Stravaganti (adaptation from Trabaciego)

Statio VI

1. Cantus Caravaggio III “Extempore”
2. 6 Lachrimae Gementes
3. Spiritum Morientis
4. Liberatio

Statio VII

1. Deploratio IV
2. 7 Lachrimae Exultantes
3. Planctus Caravaggio II
4. Cantus Caravaggio IV “In Memoriam”