Carissimi & Strozzi: Sweeping Philosophers

The depiction of philosophers and philosophy in early modern music is varied and colourful, at times tragicomic and by no means always 'historically informed': the noble but mocked Seneca in Monteverdi's Poppea, the hen-pecked, polygamous Socrates in Telemann's Der geduldige Sokrates, the tipple-loving Diogenes and Aristotle in the ballad songs of Leveridge and Lampe, and the lovestruck Heraclitus and Democritus in the more serious duets, trios and laments of Carissimi, Purcell, Strozzi, Couperin and Jean-Baptise Stuck. Heraclitus and Democritus, two pre-Socratic 5th century thinkers, were particularly fruitful subjects for depiction due to their association with two polar affects: Heraclitus came to be known as the "weeping philosopher" and was often contrasted in artistic depictions with Democritus, the "laughing philosopher". Far from being detached oracles rhetorically dispensing wisdom, these philosopher-singers are feeling as well as thinking subjects, subject to suffering and (self) derision in equal measure. In this project countertenor Lawrence Zazzo collaborate with soprano Soraya Mafi and Jorge's Jimenez' Spanish ensemble Tercia Realidad to explore as a piece of creative practice the depiction of philosophers and their philosophies in Italian, German, French, and English vocal music in the early modern period.