Adonia - 16th Century Italian Music to Lament a Fallen God Phaedrus & Mara Winter

• Giambattista Marino (1569 - 1625), Angelo Poliziano (1454 - 1494):
• 1 Marino, Poliziano: Se tu sapesti el duol che Vahna acquista (From "Ms Modena, Biblioteca Estense e Universitaria, α.F.9.9, f. 27v-28" - Alternative Text from Marino’s "L’Adone", "Io chiamo te per cui") 05:07
• Francesco Bendusi (16 Jh.): Opera nova de balli:
• 2 Bendusi: Opera nova de balli: No. 22. Il ben ti vegna - No. 19. Bandera - No. 9. La falilela 03:07
• Anonymous:
• 3 Anonymous: Viva viva li galanti li amorosi tucti quanti che non (From the "Manuscript No. I-PEc MS 431") 01:49
• Giambattista Marino:
• 4 Marino, Anonymous: Se per fedel servir morte patisco (From "Ms Modena, Biblioteca Estense e Universitaria, α.F.9.9, f. 42v-43" - Alternative Text from Marino’s "L’Adone", "Là nella region ricca e felice") 03:47
• Philippe Verdelot (1475 - 1552): Madrigali, Libro 3:
• 5 Verdelot: Madrigali, Libro 3: No. 6. O dolce nocte, "O dolce nocte, o sanct'Hore nocturn'et quete" (Instrumental Version with 4 Flutes) 01:52
• Giambattista Marino:
• 6 Marino, Anonymous: Sine nomine (From "Ms Modena, Biblioteca Estense e Universitaria, α.F.9.9, f. 24v-25" - Alternative Text from Marino’s "L’Adone", "In una parte del superbo e bello uscio") 05:42
• Mara Winter, Jacques Arcadelt (1507 - 1568): Il vero secondo libro de madrigali:
• 7 Winter, Arcadelt: Il vero secondo libro de madrigali: No. 24. Donna, quando pietosa, "Donna, quando pietosa ver me gli occhi volgete" (Consort Diminutions in the Style of Sylvestro Ganassi by Mara Winter) 04:04
• Girolamo Parabosco (1524 - 1577), Anonymous:
• 8 Parabosco, Anonymous: Poi che la lingua mia tacendo dice (From "Ms Modena, Biblioteca Estense e Universitaria, α.F.9.9, f. 28v–29" - Alternative Text from Marino’s "L’Adone", "Co I bianchi cigni") 03:55
• Joan Ambrosio Dalza (15 Jh.): Intabulatura de Lauto, Libro 4:
• 9 Dalza: Intabulatura de Lauto, Libro 4: No. 23. Calata de strambotti - No. 17. Pavana alla Ferrarese (II. Saltarello - III. Piva) (Versions for Consort of Traversos by Mara Winter) 04:16
• Giovanni Guidiccioni (1480 - 1541), Jacques Arcadelt: Il primo libro de' madrigali a 4 voci:
• 10 Guidiccioni, Arcadelt: Il primo libro de' madrigali a 4 voci: No. 1. Il bianco e dolce cigno, "Il bianco e dolce cigno cantando more" 02:09
• Bor Zuljan (b. 1969):
• 11 Zuljan: Lute Improvisation on "Se lieta e grata morte" 01:45
• Mara Winter, Philippe Verdelot: Madrigali a 4 voci, Libro 1:
• 12 Winter, Verdelot: Madrigali a 4 voci, Libro 1: No. 15. Se lieta e grata morte, "Se lieta e grata morte da gli occhi di madonna" (Diminutions for Solo Flute in the Style of Sylvestro Ganassi by Mara Winter) 05:17
• Anonymous, Giovanni Giacomo Gastoldi (1550 - 1622):
• 13 Anonymous, Gastoldi: Balletti a cinque voci: No. 14. Caccia d'amore, "Queste correnti linfe" 02:15
• Giambattista Marino, Alessandro Demophon (16 Jh.):
• 14 Marino, Demophon: O del mondo Tiranno (Alternative Text for "Vidi hor cogliendo rose", No. 61 from "Frottole, Libro 7 - Ottaviano Petrucci, Venice, 1507") 05:25
• Mara Winter, Cipriano de Rore (1515 - 1565): Tutti i madrigali a quattro voci, libro 2:
• 15 Winter, Rore: Tutti i madrigali a quattro voci, libro 2: No. 28. Mia benigna fortuna (Pt. 1) - Crudele accerba (Pt. 2) (Versions for Consort of Traversos by Mara Winter) 03:58
• Francesco Petrarca (1304 - 1374), Adrian Willaert (1490 - 1562): Musica Nova - Madrigal a 4 voci:
• 16 Petrarca, Willaert: Musica Nova - Madrigal a 4 voci: No. 30. Questa anima gentil, "Questa anima gentil che si diparte" 04:51
• Anonymous, Bartolomeo Tromboncino (1470 - 1535):
• 17 Anonymous, Tromboncino: Non val acqua al mio gran fuoco (No. 20 from "Frottole, Libro 1 - Venice, 1504") 03:18
• Giorgio Mainerio (1535 - 1582): Il primo libro de balli:
• 18 Mainerio: Il primo libro de balli: No. 13. Tedescha 02:06
• Giambattista Marino, Giorgio Mainerio: Il primo libro de balli:
• 19 Marino, Mainerio: Il primo libro de balli: No. 12. Schiarazula Marazula, "Son due fiaccole ardenti" (Vocal Version with Giambattista Marino's Text) 01:35
• Total Runtime 01:06:18

Info for Adonia - 16th Century Italian Music to Lament a Fallen God

Through centuries of re-telling the myth of Venus and Adonis, the ritualistic Adonia festival held in ancient Athens has remained a part of the story which fascinated a number of literary figures during the Italian Renaissance. The ritual was both a lamentation of love cruelly stolen by the hands of fate, and a feverish final dance with all of life's short-lived pleasures and desires.

The ensemble Phaedrus partakes in an experimental musical staging of the Venus and Adonis mythos as transmitted during the Italian Renaissance by setting extracts of Marino's 1623 Adone and from Girolamo Parabosco's La favola dAdone, published in 1545, to early frottole music.

Phaedrus surrounds these newly arranged frottole with instrumental music inspired by the tragic life of Adonis.

Elevating the voice with traverso consort and lute, Adonia aims to find points of commonality between historical aesthetics and contemporary experiences of love, amorality, and ecstatic bereavement.

Phaedrus
Mara Winter, transverse flute, musical direction

The ensemble Phaedrus
aims to rekindle the forgotten sound of the Renaissance traverso consort for modern audiences, performing Western polyphony of the 16th and early 17th centuries. ​

Formed during their studies at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis, the members of Phaedrus come from around the world—USA, Russia, Spain, Slovenia, Italy and Switzerland—giving each performer the opportunity to lend their unique and distinguished perspective to the interpretation of the music performed on stage. During their studies at the SCB, the ensemble was guided collectively and individually by teachers such as Anne Smith, Johanna Bartz, Dominique Vellard, Peter Croton, Crawford Young, Marc Lewon and Baptiste Romain. ​

Originally a four-piece consort, Phaedrus is now enriched by the membership of Miriam Trevisan (voice) and Bor Zuljan (lute) to delve even further into the relationship of the Renaissance traverso to the human voice, as well as to contemporary instruments from the time period. Phaedrus performs on flutes made by the renowned maker, Giovanni Tardino, after the original consort of flutes which survive in the Accademia Filarmonica in Verona. ​

The ensemble was brought together by a shared fascination with the powerful yet refined beauty of Renaissance music, as well as the humanist philosophy and rhetorical practices which gave music its distinctive character in the 16th and 17th centuries. With this in mind, the name 'Phaedrus' was chosen from Plato's classic text in which Socrates claimed that the art of rhetoric flowed from madness, divine inspiration, and above all else, love.

Mara Winter
has pursued a unique specialization in the performance of early transverse flutes of the Middle Ages and Renaissance. Her involvement in experimental, improvisational and electronic music genres has given her a captivating perspective on the interpretation of early western art music. On the other hand, her training as a historical flautist has provided a technical basis for her own compositions, which meditate on the myriad sound possibilities of period instruments set within the framework of contemporary space.

She directs her ensemble Phaedrus, co-directs the ensemble Moirai and is a member of Rumorum, all based in Basel, Switzerland. She has performed and recorded with internationally recognized early music ensembles including Ensemble Leones, Le Miroir de Musique, Ensemble Peregrina, J.S. Bach-Stiftung, La Scintilla (Zurich Opera), Il Gusto Barocco, Les Passions de L’Ame, Capriccio Barockorchester, Pacific Musicworks and others. She is also a guest instructor of Medieval transverse flute at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis in Basel, Switzerland.

Mara Winter began her studies in Seattle, WA, USA at Cornish College of the Arts with Baroque flutist Janet See. In 2018 she completed a Master’s degree, with distinction, in Medieval and Renaissance traverso at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis in Basel, Switzerland. In 2020 she graduated from the Schola Cantorum with a Specialized Master's degree focusing exclusively on Renaissance traverso. Her main teachers at the Schola were Johanna Bartz, Norbert Rodenkirchen, Crawford Young, Marc Lewon, Baptiste Romain and Kate Dineen. ​

In March 2020, Mara co-founded the record label Discreet Editions together with composer and performer Clara de Asís. It fuses the realm of ancient music to that of contemporary, experimental composition through collaborations, commissions, structured improvisation and other, yet-to-be-named performance practices.

This album contains no booklet.