Vespers

Rome, Milan, Naples and of course Venice… the sun-drenched voices, a ornamental virtuosity which set the emotions a-quiver… All of baroque Europe loved the Italian style,

Vivaldi in the 1720s, Galuppi around 1750. In Dresden, one of the most important European courts, the Elector tailored his liturgic repertoire to the current fashion – Italian, even Venetian. Under the name of Galuppi, works by Vivaldi were slipped into the repertoire; it was not until 2005 that the 'Red Priest' was identified as the true composer of a splendid Dixit Dominus for double choir and a Lauda Jerusalem. Leonardo García Alarcón, at the head of the Namur Chamber Choir and the ensemble Les Agrémens, has put together these Vespers which revive these two works which have remained poorly known for nearly four centuries. Sumptuous Vespers adorn the Abbey with all the splendour of the Venice of yesteryear.

Reconstruction based on Vivaldi's Dixit Dominus and Lauda Jerusalem.