Francesco Maria Ruspoli, noble patron of artists such as Händel, Hotteterre, Caldara and the Academy of Arcadia between the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, is the inspirer of the Competition named after him since 2009 to relive the great ‘baroque’ musical tradition of which the Prince Roman was one of the most illustrious promoters.
Baroque music is the expression used to describe the great founding repertoire of musical Modernity, from the time of Monteverdi to Bach and Handel, but it is also a sought-after musical circuit of our days, now widespread in all latitudes, which has in the Competition one of its landmarks.
Musicological studies are deeply ingrained in Baroque music, without which there would be no knowledge of the repertoires, instruments, performance practices and aesthetic ideas of the time, nor of their production and circulation. For this reason, the Competition contributes to promoting and disseminating them, including through the publication of the specialized series Miscellanea Ruspoli di Studi on the music of the Baroque age.
The Baroque Music and Musicological Studies Competition is thus an opportunity to pay homage to one of the excellences of musical art and to promote the talent of young musicians and scholars from all over the world who dedicate their lives to it. International is the musical repertoire, the participation of the competitors, the authoritative jurors and the public of the Competition: Europe, Asia and the Americas are the places of origin.
Vignanello, formerly a fief of the Ruspoli family in the province of Viterbo one hour from Rome, has been the chosen land for the Competition since its inception in 2009.
The Ruspoli Castle in Vignanello is the prestigious venue of the Competition. Still today the family home, richly embellished by the interventions of Antonio da Sangallo the Younger and Vignola and by the wonderful Italian garden, it was the Prince’s country residence, always with the musicians in tow.
The awards ceremony is held every year in October, in front of a select audience of specialists, amateurs, sensitive and curious listeners, to whom, after the convivial moment of lunch, the winner of the music section offers an essay of his art in a afternoon concert, on the same day on which the Prince used to offer his musical entertainment, on Sundays.
The Santa Giacinta Marescotti Study Center of Vignanello has established and curates the Competition since 2009, with the support of Donna Giada Ruspoli, the presidency of the Santa Giacinta Marescotti Study Center of Silvestro Fochetti and the artistic and scientific direction of Giorgio Monari, under the patronage of the Municipality of Vignanello and the Province of Viterbo, with a partnership with the Associação Ruspoli of São Paulo and collaborations with the Embassy of Italy in Havana, the Consulate of Italy in São Paulo, the Italian Cultural Institute of São Paulo Paulo, the Municipality of Itú (SP – Brazil), the Real Academia de España in Rome, the Instituto de Artes of the Universidade do Estado de São Paulo, the Faculty of History and Cultural Heritage of the Pontifical Gregorian University, Château de Versailles Spectacles , Casa de las Américas (Havana), the Mário de Andrade Library of São Paulo, the Angelica Library of Rome, the Museu da Mùsica of Mariana (MG – Brazil), the Academy of Arcadia, the International Society of Music ogia, Núcleo Caravelas (Lisbon), Cultura Artística (São Paulo), Copenhagen Early Music Festival, Musica Antiqua Esteban Salas Festival (Havana), San Donato in Val Comino Festival, La Risonanza and Clori Orchestra – Italian Cantata Archive.
GIORGIO MONARI
