Il Cantico de’ tre fanciulli (The Canticle of the Three Young Men), an oratorio by Johann Adolf Hasse, is presented in its first Italian performance on period instruments by the Marenzio Consort STU.D.I.O., under the direction of Vittorio Ghielmi, at the Chiesa di San Francesco d’Assisi, Brescia.
The production forms part of the research project From Source to Performance, developed by the Conservatorio di Musica “Luca Marenzio” of Brescia within the framework of the IartNET project.
The project From Source to Performance is coordinated by Gabriele Rocchetti, Professor of Horn and Natural Horn at the Brescia campus of the Conservatoire, and Marcello Mazzetti, iARTnet Scientific Coordinator for the Conservatoire and Lecturer in Musicology and Music History. The initiative explores the path from historical sources to live performance, bringing together archival research, transcription, editorial work, historically informed practice, artistic production, and advanced music training.
At the centre of the project is the rediscovery of Hasse’s Il Cantico de’ tre fanciulli, an eighteenth-century oratorio preserved in a manuscript source held by the library of the Conservatorio “Luca Marenzio”. Originally composed in 1734 and later reworked and expanded in 1774, the work sets the biblical episode of the Three Young Men in the fiery furnace, combining theatrical intensity, virtuosic vocal writing, and powerful choral moments of spiritual resonance.
The project involves the Department of Early Music of the Conservatorio “Luca Marenzio”, bringing together students, teachers, young professionals, soloists, choir, and period-instrument orchestra. It represents a concrete example of how higher arts education generates new cultural value through the convergence of musicological research, historically informed performance, institutional collaboration, and artistic practice.
The conductor is Vittorio Ghielmi, an internationally acclaimed viol player, conductor, and composer. Vittorio Ghielmi is among the leading figures in the field of early music. Professor at the Mozarteum University in Salzburg and Visiting Professor at the Royal College of Music in London, he has performed and collaborated with major orchestras and artists worldwide, combining philological rigour with a vivid, creative, and deeply communicative approach to historical repertory.
Conductor
- Vittorio Ghielmi