THE DIVINE POLYPHONY

ODO Ensemble, with Claire Merigoux as artistic director, and in co-production with the National Center for Musical Creation VOCE in Pigna, directed by Jérôme Casalonga, invites 3 artists to explore the repertoires and music of Corsica and Italy, from the Renaissance to the Baroque in a new programme:

Following the research carried out by ODO Ensemble with "MESOGEIOS, the song of women in the Mediterranean" and the "Spring of the Italian Renaissance", LA DIVINE POLYPHONIE revisits the sacred and profane repertoire from the Italian peninsula to the island of Corsica.

This program is based on polyphonies, monodies and texts in old Tuscan (lingua crusca), and on vocal practices still alive today.
Encounter between on the one hand the practice of Corsican ornamented singing, full of refinement and subtlety, and on the other the richness of a poetry carried by written music, called scholarly, such as for example the Ars Nova or the Ars Subtilior, with themes like Love or bucolic paintings.
This creation brings two voices face to face: a male voice specializing in interpretation from the oral tradition of Corsican singing, and a female voice sublimating the scholarly Italian vocal repertoire from the 14th to the 18th century.
The viola da gamba will alternately play the role of harmonic and melodic instrument, creating the link between the voices, and that of improvised bass continuo in the polyphony, or even of contrapuntal melody.
Emphasis is placed on the art of ornamentation and improvisation around these often founding themes.
The poetic journey through these two worlds draws its sources both from anonymous authors and from the great authors of the time such as Petrarch, Dante, Boccacio, Landini, Monteverdi... right up to the Polyphonies. He introduces us to villanella, terzetti, canzone, frottole, up to the sacred repertoire of Corsican polyphony from Franciscan manuscripts.

Claire Mérigoux - voice

Jérôme Casalonga - voice

Martin Bauer - viola da gamba