A meeting with a thousand nuances, the one held this morning in the foyer of the Ponchielli Theater in Cremona. Protagonist of this incursion, or rather “MonteverdINCURSION”, Sir John Eliot Gardiner. The famous Monteverdian conductor par excellence met the festival audience with anecdotes about his musical life and interesting episodes about the Divine Claudio. “I was captivated by Monteverdi’s music at 8 years old, when Nadia Boulanger showed me how much there is to admire and venerate in this music and how it is imbued with a powerful sense of humanity and drama. I discovered that Monteverdi’s music pulsates with life and color. I marvel at how the son of an apothecary who later trained as an engineer was able to break into the world scene and overcome so many disappointments and personal tragedies.” opened the English musician, determined to give part of his speech in Italian. “You certainly know many things about Monteverdi’s life, but did you know that he was once kidnapped and robbed while traveling from Mantua to take up service in Venice?” says Gardiner “She traveled on horseback with her two children and her maid. Three bandits pointed guns at his head and robbed him of everything. Aside from the financial losses (over 100 ducats), he was forced to arrive in Venice without the overcoat that he had just had made in Cremona.” The director then recounted Monteverdi’s transformation from a “court servant” in Mantua to a great musician in the service of Venice, where he had the freedom to earn money even privately, to have private students and to dedicate himself to projects that were close to his heart. ”There is no gentleman who does not respect and honor me” wrote Claudio Monteverdi from Venice to his friends serving in Mantua. Maestro Gardiner did not fail to also retrace the various Cremonese experiences. “I remember that time I came to say Vespers in the Cathedral (ed. in 1993) and it was so cold that every time the sopranos of the choir exhaled a cloud of steam from their mouths, it reminded me of the cows on my farm” he remembers smiling. The director’s speech ended on the memory of the welcome honorary citizenship of Cremona, for which he said he was proud and grateful. His monologue ended, as imagined, with a huge round of applause from the standing audience. Alberto Mattiolimoderator of the meeting, then gave the floor to the main director of the Monteverdi Festival Antonio Greco who in turn retraced his own cursus studiorum, recalling how Gardiner’s music really marked the way to undertake the path taken in ancient music with total concentration. Even Greco did not spare stories and anecdotes, especially linked to Gardiner himself with whom he collaborated several times and whose level is the obvious guiding star for those who deal with Claudio Monteverdi. Alongside this interesting meeting there were also some soloists and instrumentalists from the Monteverdi Festival-Cremona Antiqua Orchestra who performed pieces from Orfeo and from the madrigal collections.
The Superintendent of the Theater was also satisfied with this crackling start Andrea Cigni who at the end of the meeting let slip that he had spoken at length with Maestro Gardiner in recent days. Who knows, maybe next year…
photo Gianpaolo Guarneri/Studio B12
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