Umbrian music festival: conference

It closes on Saturday September 17, at 21 hourswith the concert in the church of S. Filippo Neri (Perugia) ofPerugia Chamber Orchestradirected by Enrico Bronzi, the program of Umbrian music festival. Cloisters and churches in the region were once again privileged places for concerts, conferences and theatrical performances that saw great Italian and international artists as protagonists. The main theme of this edition was “Mothers”, in a dialogue between various musical forms of popular devotion and art music, with evidence from the repertoire of the past three centuries.

“The symbolism of the Mother – he explained Enrico Bronzi, artistic director of the Festival and of the Classical Music Foundation on the occasion of the presentation – refers to the fertility of the earth and affirms itself as a mediator with the divine, since it provides substance to spiritual ideas. So it was in the ancient world and also in the Christian conception, where Mary is the instrument of the incarnation of the Sacred ”.

Conference-concert by the pianist Chiara Bertoglio at the Teatro della Sapienza in Perugia

Among the guests of the large program also Chiara Bertoglioconcert pianist, that Friday September 16at 18 hoursto the Teatro della Sapienza of Perugia (Collegio Onaosi) will entertain the public with a conference-concert on the Virgin Mary with excerpts from pages by Bach, Haydn, Massenet, Listz, Janacek and Messiaen.

In addition to being a pianist, Bertoglio is also a musicologist and theologian. She graduated from the Turin Conservatory and the Santa Cecilia Academy. She graduated in musicology at Venice Ca ‘Foscari, she has several doctorates and masters in musicology and theology to her credit and she is the author of numerous books on music and theology.

The life of the Virgin Mary in music

“The meeting on September 16th – he explains Chiara Bertoglio – It will be a itinerary that goes to explore the life of Mary in music and in particular in piano music. The Virgin Mary has inspired many passages, especially vocal ones, but in this case they will be passages without words. It will start with three versions of the Ave Maria, the Marian prayer par excellence, which also commemorates the announcement of the Angel who started the incarnation, to continue with a particular passage from Messiaen that reflects on the period of Mary’s pregnancy as moment of privileged intimate relationship between you and your Son up to the Christmas by Max Regen ”. The passage referring to Wedding at Cana “Taken from Biblische Bilder by Carl Reinecke ”he points out.

One of the highlights – continues the pianist – will be dedicated to the Passion of Christ: two pieces are planned Stabat mater by Liszt and another by Haydn taken from Seven last words. Finally, an “eschatological perspective”, that is a reflection “on the episode of the Dormition, as our Orthodox brothers call it, the moment preceding the Assumption of Mary, taken from a Oratory by J. Massenet “and then Maria as protectress” with a passage dedicated to her by Janacek, on a much loved sanctuary, dedicated to the Assumption, to conclude with theAve Maria Stella by Liszt “.

“The theological reading – continues the pianist – will try to propose to the listeners some elements that will allow them to interpret these works in their symbolic richness, in their depth and therefore to enjoy the message beyond cultural knowledge, but also as an experience of contemplation”.

The theological reading

One of the most symbolic passages that will be proposed, as an example of this theological reading, Bertoglio recalls La première communion de la Vierge by Oliver Messiaen “a little known piece of contemporary music,” in which the French composer, pianist and lover of theology, as well as ornithologist, has woven a whole series of very interesting references. For example, a fundamental element – he underlines – is a sequence of three chords that symbolize the Trinity. Alongside this is Maria’s experience with these three same chords that are presented in the central part of the piece with a ‘panting’ enthusiasm, even the composer says so on the score – he explains – with an incredible joy that is that experienced by Maria. At the same time there are allusions to the Passion, because the Mystery of the Incarnation is also profoundly linked to that of the Passion of Christ. Around all this there is the song of birds which is a characteristic feature of the writing of Messiaen, a passionate ornithologist “, songs that according to the composer” represented the joy of God “.

Courses on the relationship between music and theology

Chiara Bertoglio also organizes courses on the relationship between music and theology to help those interested in reading and interpreting the faith through music. “These are face-to-face courses, but also online, – he explains – addressed not only to connoisseurs of music or theology or to teachers of religion and music, but also to less experienced people, to whom I provide reading tools along the way. . This is in my belief that the music is a theological language, and not just entertainment, and that has the ability to say something deeper and more true about our faith. Not only at the level of feelings – he underlines – but also of intellectual understanding or better of union, through the symbolic language (from Symbolon which in Greek means union) of the faculties of the human being, which are sensitive, intellectual and rational ones. So music manages to hold together these different dimensions and thanks to these capabilities it manages to transmit truths about God to us. This can happen through the emotion that music can arouse within us – he specifies – but also through those processes of understanding. and mutual illumination that the different elements of music give to each other and to the verbal text and to the music ”. And he concludes by arguing that it can be an important resource to be used “both at the pastoral level and in speculative theology, as well as at the level of Christian experience as an enrichment of one’s own spirituality and contemplation”.