5th in Vencenzo Ricca’s Italian ‘Rome Pro(G)ject’ excellent series of mostly instrumental vintage keyboard driven symphonic Prog albums!
The word Renaissance, meaning rebirth, is applied to the era that spans the Thirteenth to the Seventeenth Centuries, an era characterized by a cultural awakening, the world breaking free from the Dark Ages, looking brightly to the future. Originally used in the art world, “renaissance” has since been applied to all endeavours of mankind. For us, 1450 to 1600 is considered to be the Musical Renaissance; an era that witnessed the invention of movable type, Columbus’ voyage to the New World and Martin Luther presenting his 95 Theses, driving a wedge into The Church and rendering unto the good Renaissance folk a new world order.
At any rate, Stravinsky traveled to Venice many times, beginning in 1925 and continuing through visits for the first performances of his three commissions from the Biennale, Canticum sacrum ad honorem Sancti Marci nominis (Canticle to Honor the Name of Saint Mark) in 1956; in 1958, the grand late sacred work Threni; and, in 1960, Monumentum pro Gesualdo.