The Passion Week (or the Holy Week, the time from the Palm Sunday until Easter) was the most intensive and dramatic period of the Christian liturgical year, based on the narration of the four Gospels. Since the Middle Ages, the uneducated low classes of the population in Southern Italy took part in spontaneous performances presenting on stage the main protagonists of the story: Jesus Christ, the soldiers, Caiaphas, Pilate and the others. During the Counter-Reformation, this traditional spectacles became even more popular. A rich repertoire of popular songs inspired by the Passion scenes spread in the countryside, often sung in different local dialects. Fragments of this unwritten tradition survived in music transcriptions made by traveling musicians especially in the 19th century, ignored until recently. Franco Pavan and his fellow musicians have recovered and reconstructed this unknown repertoire. The unattainable talent of Pino De Vittorio, a singer and actor well known all around the world, restores the deep charm of the traditional versions of the Passion of Christ.

Casting

• Laboratorio '600
• Franco Pavan (Conductor)
• Pino de Vittorio (Tenor)
• Elisa La Marca (Lute)
• Flora Papadopoulos (Harp)

Program

Lu Cuntu de la Passiuni

Chi è devoto (anonimo)
Tarantella della Passione (anonimo)
Passacaglio delle ore de la Passiuni (anonimo)
Si partì la Madonna (anonimo)
Gagliarda del Principe (Gesualdo da Venosa)
Passioni Nostro Signuri (anonimo)
Canzona a morto / Sonata dopo la canzone (anonimo)
La morte di Gesù (anonimo)
Stava a piè della Croce (anonimo)
Tarantella (anonimo)
Stabat Mater di Santo Stefano di Camastra (tradizionale)
Misericordes sicut pater
Madonna della Grazia

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Recording: April 18 2019 - Misteria Paschalia | Krakow
Director: Jean-Pierre Loisil
Duration: 01:00