Bolzano Festival Bozen 2026 - Pas d’Armes

Ensemble Instrumentum Vocale

The Ensemble Instrumentum Vocale presents a musical programme inspired by one of the last great episodes of medieval chivalric culture.

In 1435, in a period many historians describe as the twilight of chivalry, a pas d'armes was proclaimed near the bridge of Órbigo — along the pilgrimage route to Santiago de Compostela: the knight Suero de Quiñones challenged anyone wishing to cross the bridge to fight him in single combat. Sixty-eight knights from Spain, France and Italy accepted the challenge. This remarkable episode provides the starting point for the ensemble's musical narrative: works by Falconieri, Ortiz, Monteverdi, Strozzi, Lully and many others conjure an imaginary battlefield in sound, where jousts, poetic skirmishes and amorous longing are transfigured into ostinato rhythms, imitations and counterpoint — distilling the spirit of an age of which, a century later, only the epic memory remained.

Programme:

A. Falconieri (1585–1656)
Folías — Echa para mi Señora Doña Tarolilla de Carallenos

V. Ruffo (1508–1587)
From Capricci in Musica a 3 voci: La Gamba in basso, e Soprano

M. Flecha (1481–1553)
La guerra

D. Ortiz (1510–1570)
From the Tratado de Glosas: Recercada Segunda sobre Tenores

C. Monteverdi (1567–1643)
From L'Orfeo, Act III: Sinfonia VI
From the VII Book of Madrigals: Interrotte Speranze

B. Strozzi (1619–1677)
Che si può fare

L. Marenzio (1553–1599)
Chi vuol udir i miei sospiri in rime

G. B. Fontana (1589–1630)
Sonata II a Violino Solo

C. Monteverdi (1567–1643)
From L'Orfeo, Act III: Sinfonia I
Chiome d'oro
From L'Orfeo, Act V: Moresca

J. B. Lully (1632–1687)
From Le Divertissement Royal de Versailles: Danse de Neptune
Rondeau du Mariage Forcé
Bourrée du Mariage Forcé

S. Le Camus (1610–1677)
Ah! Qui peut tranquillement attendre

J. B. Lully (1632–1687)
From Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme: Première Air des Espagnols

M. Lambert (1610–1696)
D'un feu secret

J. B. Lully (1632–1687)
From Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme: Canaries

G. Costeley (1530–1606)
La prise de Calais (Hardis Françoys)

J. B. Lully (1632–1687)
From Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme: Chaconne des Scaramouches