Lorely Traverso Consort
The Loreley Traverso Consort, founded in Basel in 2024, is dedicated to the rediscovery and performance of Renaissance music on historical transverse flutes. The ensemble brings together professional musicians of international background who met at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis.
Our artistic identity is inspired by the German legend of the Loreley: a beautiful maiden who, in despair over an unfaithful lover, threw herself into the Rhine and was transformed into a siren, whose song lured fishermen to their doom. The myth is associated with the Lorelei rock near Sankt Goarshausen, known for its echo, and was famously shaped in literature by Clemens Brentano and later by Heinrich Heine, whose poem Die Loreley (1824) has been set to music by numerous composers.
The origins of this legend can already be traced back to the Renaissance, where the image of the siren intersects with allegories of Fortuna and the eternal soul. An additional source of inspiration for our work is a Renaissance print preserved at the Kunstmuseum Basel, depicting a female figure playing a traverso, evoking the image of the Loreley enchanting her listeners. The inscription “NKAW” (Niemand kann alles wissen – “Nobody can know everything”) further reflects the humanistic spirit that informs our programmes.
At the core of our work are carefully researched programmes featuring repertoire from Swiss, German, Italian, and French sources of the 16th century, including the Liederbuch of Johannes Heer of Glarus, Glarean’s Dodecachordon, chansons by Pierre Attaingnant, and works by Josquin des Prez, Biagio Marini, and others.
Since our last collaboration, we have developed several new programmes and have been awarded prizes at early music competitions in Italy and Belgium. In February 2026, the ensemble received a prize at the Festivita Early Music Competition in Brussels and has been invited to perform at the Festival Midis in 2027.
Our recent programmes include a project dedicated to 16th-century Venetian prints, featuring music by Cipriano de Rore, Palestrina, Gastoldi, and Tromboncino; a Nordic-themed programme centred on the story of Nova Zembla and the discovery of a Renaissance traverso from the Barents expedition; as well as our programme The Echoes of Loreley, devoted to Swiss and German sources, and its new version Was ist die Welt?, focusing on the music of Ludwig Senfl and the tradition of Tenorlieder.
We have also developed a programme exploring the musical life of the Dresden and Württemberg court chapels, reflecting the broader intellectual and artistic currents of Humanism in the 16th century.
A particular focus of our work is the inclusion of women composers of the period. Our programmes feature madrigals by Maddalena Casulana and Vittoria Aleotti, among the first
women in music history to have their works published under their own names. Their inclusion expands the musical spectrum and opens new perspectives on Renaissance repertoire.
We regularly perform in a variety of formations: as a traverso consort, in collaboration with soprano or spinet, and in combinations of all three timbral colours. Our concerts are characterised by stylistic diversity, vivid performance, and thoughtfully curated dramaturgy.
The ensemble has been invited to perform at numerous festivals, including ReRenaissance Basel, Ars Musica Solothurn (Switzerland), Sastamala Gregoriana (Finland), Korkyra Baroque Festival (Croatia), and Il Gusto Barocco Stuttgart (Germany).