I bei legami. A combination of voices, instruments and passions at the heart of the Emilian Baroque

For “Insolita - The music you don’t expect”, on Saturday April 11, 2026, the Museo della Musica in Bologna hosts the concert I bei legami by Ensemble Reminiscientia: Agnese Allegra, voice; Angelo Basile and Francesca Camagni, violins; Alessia Travaglini, viola da gamba; Sonia Hrechorowicz, harpsichord; Alessandro Gonfiantini, theorbo.

The title of the program, taken from a canzonetta by Domenico Maria Melli, invites the audience to weave a thread between the great composer Maurizio Cazzati and the 17th-century Bolognese musical environment, particularly the Basilica of San Petronio and the musicians who worked alongside and knew him.

The program presents music by three composers who, although not born or raised in the city, developed a strong connection with Bologna, which welcomed them as musicians and chapel masters: the Como-born Carlo Donati Cossoni, organist at the basilica from 1667 and previously a member of the Accademia Filarmonica; Giovanni Battista Vitali, player of the Violone da Brazzo, a student of M. Cazzati and also a musician of the San Petronio Chapel; and finally Giovanni Legrenzi, who was closely connected to Maurizio Cazzati for eleven years, as both simultaneously served as organists at the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore in Bergamo. In Bologna, however, Legrenzi did not achieve the same success as his colleagues, as he attempted twice to become maestro di cappella at San Petronio without success.

The program also pays tribute not only to the great Bolognese lutenist Alessandro Piccinini, but also to Pietro Paolo Melli, a lutenist born in Reggio who found success in Vienna, and to his cousin Domenico Maria, about whom little is known today but who is believed to have remained mainly in the Emilia region. His music, however, reached England thanks to Robert Dowland, who included his aria “Se di farmi morire” in the renowned collection “A Musical Banquet”, featuring some of the finest European vocal compositions, in which D.M. Melli and Giulio Caccini are the only Italian composers represented.

The concert is preceded by a “¼ hour academic introduction”: museum experts will present unique pieces related to the concert program.