Decameron Musicale

Giovanni Boccaccio wrote his masterwork Decameron after the outbreak of the Black Death in Florence, 1348. It is a frame story in which a group of friends, sequestered from the horrors of the plague in a rural villa, share stories with each other to entertain, rouse, and move.

In this programme each piece is an individual musical story. As in Decameron, they are collected together into five themes; fortune and the capricious effects of fate; virtue and devotion; love, both joyous and tragic; trickery and sin; and finally intelligence. Music was flourishing in 14th century Italy, and many of the pieces come from composers of the time such as Francesco Landini and Johannes Ciconia. Threaded into this there is also medieval music from more distant times and places, just as Boccaccio weaved together stories from as far away places as India and the Middle East. These include a Virelai from the Roman de Fauvel, sacred music from the cathedrals of England and Binchois’ enigmatic chanson Triste plaisire et douloureuse joye.

Boccaccio’s Decameron portrays the various aspects of human nature and experience in vivid detail, and it is our pleasure to echo this through some of the most beautiful music of his time.