OPENING CEREMONY
BAROQUE MORESCA
CULTURAL ARTISTIC SOCIETY MOREŠKA
IVAN JOSIP SKENDER, conductor
CROATIAN BAROQUE ENSEMBLE
Violins: Laura Vadjon (concert master), Tanja Tortić, Helga Korbar, Saša Borčić Reba, Vinka Fabris Stančec, Ivana Žvan Škrtić, Ema Smiljanić
Violas: Asja Frank, Dagmar Korbar, Gabriele Toscani
Violoncello: Dora Kuzmin Maković
Viola da gamba: Mauro Colantonio
Double bass: Pavle Kladarin
Oboe: Andreas Helm
Trumpet: Krešimir Fabijanić, Zvonimir Lazar
Bassoon: Žarko Perišić
Horns: Bruno Laktaš, Matej Fridl
Harpsichord: Benjamin Pölhe
Drums: Borna Šercar
Theorbo and baroque guitar: Izidor Erazem Grafenauer
Already the first edition Korkyra Baroque Festival gave a powerful impulse to the restoration of Baroque music to which Moresca was performed on the island of Korčula from the 17th until the late 19th century. Musicological research has shown that the music originates from Italy and is strongly linked to the Venetian cultural influence. Spreading across Europe, a knight’s sword dance – Moreška – blended with the existing local traditions, creating specific forms and stylistic particularities. The most valuable records of the music to Korčula’s Moresca can be found in the so-called Bogišić’s manuscript, kept at the archives of Baltazar Bogišić at Cavtat. Records of three dance figures from the whole cycle have been preserved, namely – Sfida, Ruggiero and Spagnoletta. Bogišić’s records were the basis for the restoration of the music to which Moresca was performed. Notice has been taken of the historical departure regarding the instruments of the accompanying music ensemble and especially the development of choreographic interventions in the composition needed to be made so the music and dance would „come together“. This in particular concerns the dance figure Sfida whose original form is one of the best preserved pieces of music records from that period and it poses a deeper question about the development and origin of its choreography. As part of the Korkyra Baroque Festival program, the Moresca will be performed both to original music and music “borrowed” from composers such as Monteverdi, Lully, Allegri, Charpentier and Mouret. We hope that Moresca will once again, and in its own unique way, become a musical link to the Mediterranean Baroque culture.
Ivan Josip Skender, composer and conductor