"Pentameron"

Legends, magic and love in music at the time of "the Tale of Tales"

Our new project! 

1643 in Naples, the probably most important collection of stories and folk tales of all times has been published: the „Pentamerone“ or „lo cunto de li cunti“, (the tale of tales) by Giambattista Basile. For the first time a rich collection of tales, myths, sayings and legends are printed on paper. They are supposed to entertain and, however, to spread moral and ethical principles, because they are not directed yet to children, but to a grown up, often rather impolite public, that is able to understand the frequent ambiguities and metaphors.

As in the „Pentamerone“ stories from both oral tradition and classical literature go along side by side, we have put together songs of both folk and classical origin in this program, some of them even cited by Basile in his work. Maestri such as Costanzo Festa, Baldassare Donato, G. Da Nola, G. Leonardo Dell’Arpa and Velardinièllo where incomparably able to transform these melodies of enchanting simplicity into something that soon would conquer the whole continent known as „la Canzone Napolitana“.

And so, the „tale of tales“ tells itself using the most ancient and at the same time most artful blossoms southern Italian arts have ever generated: music that „narrates“, from traditional singing to the Tammorra (big drum) to the richly ornamented Villanella, from the Tarantella sung and danced in the streets of Naples to courtly dance music. Our idea is to give the listener a feeling of the atmosphere felt in the yards and courts where, with the last light of dawn, stories and songs give life to tragical figures that dream of getting from poverty to richness, from ugliness to beauty, from a low class to a higher one, from loneliness to love.

Ensemble Oni Wytars: 

Gabriella Aiello - voice, castanets
Peter Rabanser - voice, baroque guitar, colascione
Marco Ambrosini - keyed vielle, mandolin
Riccardo Delfino - voice, harp, colascione
Michael Posch - recorders
Katharina Dustmann - percussions