Florence

The musical landscape of Renaissance Florence reveals a splendid symbiosis of contrasting elements: sacred and secular, foreign and native, highborn and humble. These elements nurtured the development of an unusually vibrant cultural climate within the relatively small confines of a magnificent Italian city. Eya traces these coexisting elements within the cultural and social fabric of Florence from the trecento (late 14th century) through the High Renaissance (late 16th century).

Florence explores the varied forms of vocal music that define this rich cultural moment, including the quintessential lauda (sacred songs in Italian), the highest art of polyphony of the Franco-Flemish Burgundian school (DuFay, Isaac, Agricola) revered by the Florentines, and uniquely stunning works by native Francesco de Layolle.

This program was originally conceived for the exhibition “Della Robbia: Sculpting with Color in Renaissance Florence” exhibition at the National Gallery of Art.