Siena

This volume examines musical culture both inside and outside seventeenth-century Sienese convents. In contrast to earlier studies of Italian convent music, this book draws upon archival sources to reconstruct an ecclesiastical culture that celebrated music internally and shared music freely with the community outside convent walls. Colleen Reardon argues that cloistered women in Siena enjoyed a significant degree of freedom to engage in musical pursuits. The nuns produced a remarkable body of work including motets, lamentations, theatrical plays and even an opera. As a result, the convent became an important cultural center in Siena that enjoyed the support and encouragement of its clergy and lay community.

German pianist Julius Asal’s upcoming second DG album Siena Tapes features a selection of pieces by Ravel, a new composition by the producer of the album, Christian Badzura, as well as three new improvisational pieces Cascades I-III, written by Asal himself. Originally conceived as a 150th-anniversary tribute to Ravel, the album grew into a very personal project during the writing and recording process. “In a miraculous way,” he notes, “Ravel had access to all sound colours. Even his more subtle works for piano contain shades and forces that you would usually find only in a complex symphony.” All of the pieces were recorded at American record producer Rick Rubin’s Chapel in Siena in September 2024.

Siena 1348: Auf der Flucht vor ihrem gewalttätigen Mann findet Gemma Schutz bei Lina, einer vermögenden Witwe, die ihr Leben den Waisen von Siena widmet. Beide Frauen kämpfen um ihre gesellschaftliche Anerkennung. Doch die rätselhaften Todesfälle zweier unschuldiger Kinder drohen ihnen zum Verhängnis zu werden…

Siena, blessed with neither the aristocratic nor the ecclesiastical patronage enjoyed by music in other northern Italian centers like Florence, nevertheless attracted first-rate composers and performers from all over Europe. As Frank A. D'Accone shows in this scrupulously documented study, policies developed by the town to favor the common good formed the basis of Siena's ambitious musical programs.

Die schöne Pia Tolomei wird mit dem Erben der ersten Familie Sienas verlobt. Noch vor der Hochzeit aber stirbt dieser beim Palio, dem berühmten Pferderennen. Pias Vater zwingt sie daraufhin, Nello, den gewalttätigen Bruder des Verstorbenen zu heiraten – ein Schachzug im Machtbündnis gegen die Gouverneurin von Siena. Pia jedoch hat ihr Herz an den geheimnisvollen Riccardo Bruni verloren. Rasend vor Eifersucht will Nello beide ermorden, nicht ahnend, dass dem jungen Mann auch die Zuneigung der Regentin gilt. Als der Aufstand der Verschwörer losbricht, zeigt sich, für wen das Herz von Siena schlägt.