Music in Dante's Divina Commedia

Seven hundred years ago, the great poet Dante Alighieri died. It was also around this same time that Ars Nova was born. Dante probably did not see Ars Nova music on paper, but he certainly listened to newly written polyphony in his time. Philippe de Vitry and Johannes de Muris published their treatises on musical writing, which they call Ars Nova: a new way of writing music that paved the way for a century of great musical creativity. The pieces that make up this program come from this century of Ars Nova.

DanteNova is, therefore, an incandescent combination of colours, fantasy, and imagination: That of Dante and that of the Ars Nova masters. Music accompanies the otherworldly journey that Dante imagines taking place in the Commedia. This lecture-recital retraces many of the places where music resounds: from the silences, to the full lamentations of Hell, to the angelic concerts of Heaven through to the celebration of sacred and courtly love in Purgatory.

Michele Pasotti graduated in lute with highest honours, studying with Massimo Lonardi, and attending specialized masterclasses by Hopkinson Smith and Paul O’Dette. At the Civica Scuola di Musica in Milan he later specialized in Renaissance music theory and counterpoint and deepened the study of late medieval practice both in Milan and Barcelona (Esmuc). At Rome’s University Tor Vergata, he attended the specialization course Ars Nova in Europa, getting a first class degree. He also received a bachelor’s degree in theoretical philosophy with a dissertation on Martin Heidegger. From 2013 to 2018, Michele Pasotti held an Ars Nova course at the Civica Scuola di Musica di Milano. He is professor of lute at the Conservatorio di Musica B. Maderna in Cesena. He also gives lectures, either on musicological subjects or to introduce and spread the knowledge of lutes and early music, and on Radio Broadcasts (Rai Radio 3).

He is founder and director of La Fonte Musica, which is at the centre of his musical life. He plays regularly with Il Giardino Armonico, I Barocchisti, Les Musiciens du Louvre, Balthasar-Neumann Ensemble, Collegium Vocale, Arcangelo, Les Musiciens du Prince, Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin, Il Ricercar Continuo, Coro e Orchestra Ghislieri, Sheridan Ensemble, and Cecilia Bartoli. He was guested by the most eminent musical seasons and concert halls in Europe, United States, and Asia and was directed by Claudio Abbado, John Eliot Gardiner, Giovanni Antonini, Philippe Herreweghe, Thomas Hengelbrock, Diego Fasolis, Christophe Rousset, Andrea Marcon, Monica Huggett, Nathalie Stutzmann, and Barthold Kujiken. He has played in more than 70 recordings (beyond those for Deutsche Grammophon, Decca, EMI/Virgin Classics, Naïve, Warner, Sony/Deutsche Harmonia Mundi, SWR, Glossa, ORF, Ricercar, Avie, The Classic Voice, and Amadeus) and has taken part in several live broadcasts (BBC, ORF, WDR, Radio Polskie, Rai Radio 3, Rete 2 of Rsi, France 2, France Musique, and Mezzo).