LA FONTE MUSICA, directed by MICHELE PASOTTI

The renowned Italian ensemble La Fonte Musica returns to Tetbury under the baton of Michele Pasotti with a performance of 'La Sera del Combattimento' which recreates the first performance of Monteverdi’s 'Il combattimento di Tancredi e Clorinda', following the composer’s own vivid account of that historic evening.

Although a man of few words, Monteverdi left invaluable guidance on how the work should be presented for maximum effect, which is being followed tonight. He noted that the 'Combattimento' should be preceded by madrigals sung 'without any gesture,' so that the sudden entrance of the protagoniste would heighten the sense of dramatic surprise. 

When programmed in this way Monteverdi’s revolutionary fusion of music, poetry, and drama regains the sense of novelty and theatrical power that astonished its first audiences.