Music of the Amber Routes

Music of The Amber Routes

09.07.2021 Engelse Kerk, Amsterdam (meer/more)
10.07.2021 Waalse Kerk, Den Haag (meer/more)
26.03.2022 Mariakerk, Breda (meer/more)

Musical path of this program follows the Amber Routes, one of the ancient trading routes in Europe, which were connecting populations of the North Sea, the Baltic Sea and inhabitants of the Mediterranean region. The route, principally based on the precious amber trade, has been at the same time theater of cooperation, migration, exchange of goods and knowledge. Cultural trends, artistic novelties, and music styles traveled along on the same roads, creating bridges crossing national borders, which continuously muted through history. The resilience of this cultural phenomenon inspires this program, for the most part, giving the chance to explore the music of composers and musicians traveling in both directions of the Amber Routes during the turbulent first half of the XVII century. The Polish-Lithuanian Court under the reign of the Swedish royal family Vasa ( Sigismund III and Vladislaus II, who reigned in between 1587 – 1648 ), attracted several musicians from various parts of Italy like Marco Scacchi, Giovanni Francesco Anerio and Tarquinio Merula. At the same time, in the Middle European region was a vivid circulation of the most innovative compositions from Venice i.e. by Claudio Monteverdi, Barbara Strozzi and Rome by Girolamo Frescobaldi. Many of the Early Baroque composers who in the present days, are originated from Poland and Czech Republic are very little known and have small space in today’s performances. That is why in this program there is a proper stage to display an original creativity of the hallmark of the Polish and Bohemian composers profoundly mixed with an Italian style and influence. Among them are Holan Rovenský, Mikolaj Zieleński and Adam Jarzębski, who were professionally connected with Prague, Cracow and Warsaw. The keyboard production of the Danzig composer Paul Siefert – a student of Sweelinck in Amsterdam active in Germany, Poland and Denmark – on the other hand, belongs to Northern sever style, resistant to new fashions. Music composed in the Hapsburg and German cities of the Amber Routes is also part of the program and completes the soundscape of this fascinating moment in European history.
The selected program consists of vocal and instrumental music of both virtuoso and expressive character, involving on the same level all the musicians of the ensemble. The ensemble members’ ability to perform on different Early Baroque instruments ( dulcian, recorder, harp, organ, harpsichord ) within the same concert provides this program further elements of peculiarity and changes in colors that surely the public enjoys.

Aldona Bartnik – Sopraan

Florens Ensemble:
Emma Huijsser – Barokharp en blokfluit
Edoardo Valorz – Klavecimbel en orgel