Adriano Banchieri - Barca di Venezia per Padova

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Adriano Banchieri (1568-1634), the «enfant terrible» of Italian polyphonic music, produced a real masterpiece with his «Barca di Venetia per Padova» («Venetian Boat bound for Padua»). This is true both front the point of view of the wit and liveliness of the text and subject, and with regard to the musical devices and technique employed. The composer imagines that persons from diferent parts of Italy, plus a German, are aboard this boat. Each of them speaks in his own dialect, the diferences in character also being fairly well marked. The Chaucer of « The Canterbury Tales » naturally comes to mind. Even if the poetical standard of the present work is not on the same level, the wealth and variety of the musical ideas provide ample compensation and show the composer's endless powers of imagination. Banchieri could not even resist a touch of humour in the title, in the case of a second edition (the one used for the present edition, as no complete copy of the first edition exists as far as we know). He states that his «Boat» has been «newly plugged and coated with pitch». The title page also makes it clear that the Spinet (or Theorbo) part was in fact added in this second edition.

It is around the year 1600 and a boat is travelling between and Venice and Padova. On board are a bookseller from Florence, a German, a conductor, singers from all over Italy, courtiers, two Jews, fishermen, businessmen and a soldier. A real mix of cultures, religions, languages and dialects. They have only one thing in common: they all need to get to Padova.
All those people on a small boat. Eating, drinking, sleeping and passing the time all together. Hopefully there will be no arguments. But arguments do begin. They don’t understand eachother, each one thinks the others are strange; they all have different habits, preferences and opinions. The boat doesn’t seem to be going anywhere fast!
Someone tells a story and someone else plays some music to break the ice. Hey %u2013 I know that tune! Can I sing along? Oh no, now two people are arguing about each other’s taste in music. One of them makes fun of the other’s dialect, who then ridicules the first one’s eating habits. If only they don’t start a fight! Things luckily don’t go so far, no, on the contrary, everyone is now laughing, drinking and starting to dance. When they arrive, a miracle seems to have happened: everyone has made friends with everyone else. They are all different, and yet all one!