Early Seicento: Tuscany & Netherlands | Casa Italiana Zerilli / Marimò

Early Seicento: Tuscany & Netherlands

Music Listening Series
Mon, 03/29/2021 - 6:30pm
What Makes It Italian? Studies in Contrast
Artemisia Gentileschi Judith Slaying Holofernes 1614–1620/Johannes Vermeer Woman Holding a Balance, c. 1664

Italy plunges into the twisted Baroque, while the Netherlands builds balanced compositions in music and paint.
Italian pairing: Composer Francesca Caccini’s experimental dissonance and painter Artemisia Gentileschi’s grisly bloodletting.
Netherlandish pairing: the structural clarity of composer Jan Sweelinck’s Hodie and Johannes Vermeer’s light-infused and balanced canvases.

What Makes It Italian? Studies in Contrast is a music listening and discussion group that meets online on the Zoom platform and is open to everyone.

Participation is free.

The group is led by Gina Crusco, who guides listening at Bard LLI and Riverdale Y, and who has been music instructor at The New School and director of Underworld Productions.

Please email [email protected] to confirm your attendance and receive an invitation link.

What seems indescribable in music often becomes easy to name in the visual arts. So this series for the first time offers much to see as well as to hear. Each week an Italian pairing of music and art is held up against a similar pairing from elsewhere. Noting how the Italianate aesthetic contrasts with England, Spain, France, the Low Countries, Austria and the US will help us define more clearly “What Makes it Italian.”