Isabella, l’étoile des Médicis

« I wish to show the world, as much as I can in this profession of musician, the error men make in thinking that they alone possess the gifts of intellect and that such gifts are never granted to women »

Dedication from the first book of madrigals (Venice, 1568) by composer Maddalena Casulana to Isabella de Medici.

This concert invites the audience to fully immerse themselves in the musical and poetic intimacy of Isabella de’ Medici (1542–1576), a patron, musician, and composer.

Alongside a selection of madrigal repertoire from the extensive body of work dedicated to Isabella by composers of her time, the concert will particularly highlight her connection with Maddalena Casulana (ca. 1535–1590), the first women composer to be published in the history of music, who dedicated her first book of madrigals, published in Venice in 1568, to Isabella. The concert will feature this rare book in its entirety, with certain lost voices skillfully and sensitively reconstructed by Marc Busnel and musicologist Catherine Deutsch.

Composers : Maddalena Casulana (1544-1590), Isabella di Medici (1542-1576), Phillipe de Monte (1521-1603), Stefano Rossetti (1520-1585)