I decided to found L’Arpeggiata for a number of reasons. Firstly, simply because I was a theorbist and harpist, and those instruments were part of the repertoire we’d decided to concentrate on. I’d also been playing for years in various ensembles, as well as participating in operas - like the Munich Opera, where I was the chorus master. I’d enjoyed working with singers, and wanted to put special emphasis on the voice in my ensemble. I wanted to create a warm-sounding continuo as the foundation of L’Arpeggiata, including period instruments like the chitarra battente, the baroque harp, the lute, the theorbo, the tiorbino, the colascione, the lirone, the baroque guitar and the psalterion. These instruments have colours that are rarely heard nowadays, but were extremely widespread in seventeenth-century Italy. We invite solo singers to perform with this continuo group.

What are your reasons for emphasising singing in particular?

Vocal music is something essential for me. But in order to sing this repertoire, one has to be familiar with a variety of period styles, with all the different ways of using the voice. Descriptions have come down to us that mention “cantar alla romana” or “alla napoletana”, and so on. Even in a single country there were completely different ways of singing. For example, certain indications about singing in Naples closely resemble traditional music, in which the singers tell the story and use gestures with great rhythmic freedom. This kind of performance doesn’t depend on virtuosity alone, but on the subtle use of the voice, on adapting the rhythm to the text, which is generally strophic. In Rome there were also a variety of styles, such as the “ricerare cantando” which was also used in Florence, and requires an entirely different use of the voice. But in both cases, a “singer-actor” communicated emotions through a musical text. Of course it’s very difficult to find singers who are capable of reviving these practices today, especially as far as the diminutions and tessitura are concerned. For certain Roman composers, the tessitura was probably very different from those of today. Quite a lot of the music was sung in a soprano key, which had to do with castratos; it called for extreme flexibility and virtuosity. Another difference is that these people had daily singing lessons and practiced the art of diminution on a regular basis. They began young, around the age of seven, and by fifteen were accomplished singers, ready to appear on stage!

How do you divide your time between research and performance?

The most important thing, once again, is choosing the singers. Up to now I’ve looked for rather unusual voices, which might resemble those described in the source material. Of course, nothing guarantees that they’re exactly the voices the composers had in mind; unfortunately, we can never prove anything! I’ve often worked with people like Marco Beasley, who is familiar with both early music and traditional music. Singers like Marco have a wider musical perspective than those who only know the classical repertoire. They have strong personalities and a different approach to rhythm and interpreting a text. The music of the seventeenth century comes alive again.