The Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania has declared 2025 the year of Matthias Casimirus Sarbievius (1595–1640) and Baroque literature. Exactly four hundred years ago, in 1625, Matthias Casimirus Sarbievius, a Jesuit-educated Lithuanian and one of the most renowned Latin-writing poets of the Baroque era, published a collection of poems titled Three Books of Lyric Poems, which made his name famous throughout seventeenth-century Europe. The collection was reprinted around sixty times in various European countries, and many of the poems have been translated into different languages. The poet was known as the ‘Christian Horace’, or, in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, the ‘Lithuanian Horace’.
To mark the year of Sarbievius, Canto Fiorito presents a new concert programme combining readings of Sarbievius’s poetry with Italian Baroque music from his time, which explored similar themes to his works. The choice of Italian music is far from coincidental, as it was during his studies in Rome that Sarbievius matured as an artist. Italian culture – its ancient architecture, sculpture, visual art, and literature – had a profound influence on his creative development. It was also in Italy that he prepared the aforementioned poetry collection.
In early seventeenth-century Italy, poetry was considered the foundation of all art, while music was regarded as the ‘servant of poetry’, a means to convey and intensify the meanings and emotions encoded in the text. This elevation of poetry within music, together with the revival of ancient Greek drama, led Italy toward the birth of the new Baroque style. The early Italian Baroque music featured in the programme places Sarbievius’s literary legacy within a broader historical and artistic context.
In his poetry, Sarbievius follows the example of Horace, yet he often intertwines ancient Greek motifs with biblical themes, transforming earthly love into a longing for divine love. His works abound with references to the Song of Songs that develop into a sensuous, sacred lyricism in which God appears as the beloved – desired and awaited. This tendency also resonates with the sacred music of the Italian Baroque. Alongside faith, Sarbievius’s poetry explores philosophical themes, often imbued with a sense of the transience of earthly life and the Baroque memento mori (‘remember you must die’) motif, which is likewise reflected in the music of the same era.
The concert features compositions by Claudio Monteverdi, Francesco Cavalli, Johannes Hieronymus Kapsberger, Giacomo Carissimi, Chiara Margarita Cozzolani, Stefano Landi, and Dario Castello.
About the Ensemble
The artistic director of the ensemble, Rodrigo Calveyra, was born in Brazil. He studied recorder with Conrad Steinmann at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis, while also specialising in medieval music with Pedro Memelsdorff at the Civica Scuola di Musica in Milan. He later completed studies in cornetto performance at the Trossingen University of Music. Calveyra is a permanent member of the renowned early music ensemble Cappella Mediterranea and serves as assistant to its conductor, Leonardo García Alarcón. Each year, he performs in up to one hundred concerts and Baroque opera productions throughout Europe, as well as in North and South America. As a soloist, Calveyra has performed with and conducted orchestras in Brazil, Switzerland, Italy, Argentina, and Lithuania. He was also the artistic director of Instrumentarium, an ensemble he founded in Brazil, with which he performed over 150 concerts in South America and Europe, alongside such artists as Maria Cristina Kiehr and Manfredo Kraemer. He has featured in numerous records for labels such as Harmonia Mundi France, Deutsche Harmonia Mundi, Ambronay Éditions, Ricercar, Calliope, and France Musique, among others. Calveyra teaches cornetto, recorder, and improvisation/diminution at the Poznań Academy of Music.
Renata Dubinskaitė, mezzo-soprano, is the principal soloist and producer of Canto Fiorito, and producer of the Kretinga Early Music Festival. She also develops and performs concert programmes with the ensembles Duo Barocco and Lux Maris. She studied art history and theory at the Vilnius Academy of Arts, where she obtained a PhD in art history, and later earned her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in solo singing under Prof. Vladimiras Prudnikovas at the Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre and the Vytautas Magnus University Music Academy.
Miguel Rincón was born in Seville. He studied classical guitar and lute at the Seville Conservatory and earned two master’s degrees, one in Barcelona and another in Zurich, both with the highest distinction. A versatile musician, he has also performed on guitar in hundreds of concerts with contemporary music groups in flamenco, jazz, rock, and pop styles.
Programme:
Matthias Casimirus Sarbievius (1595–1640)
‘Teateina mano Mylimasis į savo sodą’ (Gg 5, 1)
‘Trauk mane paskui save: bėgsime’ (Gg i, 3)
Claudio Monteverdi (1567–1643)
‘Pulchra es amica mea’
Matthias Casimirus Sarbievius
‘Jo galva – geriausiasis auksas’ (Gg 5, 11),
‘Jo rankos – auksiniai lankai’ (Gg 5,14)
‘Praneškite jam, kad silpstu iš meilės’ (Gg 5,8)
Francesco Cavalli (1602–1676)
‘O bone Jesu, o Jesu amabilis’
Matthias Casimirus Sarbievius
‘Kūdikėlio Jėzaus ir Mergelės Marijos pasikalbėjimas’
‘Iškilmių giesmė’ from ‘Giesmių giesmė’ chapters 1, 4, 5, 6, and 7
Johannes Hieronymus Kapsberger (1580–1651)
‘Toccata’
Matthias Casimirus Sarbievius
‘Geriausiam Galingiausiam Jėzui’
Giacomo Carissimi (1605–1674)
‘Domine, Deus Meus’
Matthias Casimirus Sarbievius
‘Tavo krūtys yra puikesnės’ (Gg 1, 1)
‘Tebučiuoja mane savo burnos pabučiavimu’ (Gg 1, 1)
Chiara Margarita Cozzolani (1602–1676/1678)
‘O quam bonus es’
Matthias Casimirus Sarbievius
‘Žiogui’
Stefano Landi (1587–1639)
‘Passacaglia della vita’
Matthias Casimirus Sarbievius
‘Albertui Turscijui. Apie savo sapnus ir eilėraščius’
Dario Castello (1602–1631)
‘Sonata seconda’
Matthias Casimirus Sarbievius
‘Vėjui’
Claudio Monteverdi
‘Zefiro torna’