La Nobilta di Milano

»Music from the City of the Spanish Viceroys« is dedicated to Milan under the Spanish Habsburgs, a center of Italian music that receives little attention today. After the death of Francesco II Sforza in 1532, the duchy came under the rule of the Holy Roman Empire via France and was subsequently governed by Spanish viceroys. Between the plague years 1576 and 1630, a flourishing cultural life developed under archbishop Federico Borromeo. The programme sketches a compact picture of this musical landscape – both sacred and secular. The emphasis lies on the "canzon-mottet" practice characteristic of Milan, which brings vocal ensembles and instruments together in dialogue forms. In addition, motets for double choir, canzonas and rarely performed, expressively shaped madrigals by Francesco Rognoni Taeggio, known as a violin virtuoso and master of improvised diminution, are heard. Works by Giovan Paolo Cima, Andrea Cima, Agostino Soderini, Francesco and Giovanni Domenico Rognoni Taeggio and Giuseppe Gallo can be heard.