«Fragile grazia di antiche espressioni» : Italian reception of Safford Cape’s Pro Musica Antiqua

Between 1949 and 1951, the theatres of major italian cities hosted in their seasons some performances of Pro Musica Antiqua, the belgian ensemble directed by Safford Cape; those were the first ones of several concerts that would have taken place all around Italy in the following decades. The musical activities of Pro Musica Antiqua in Italy were significant as one of the first chances for the Italian audience to listen to music from Middle Ages and Renaissance in live performances. Until those years, the interest Italy had in early music was almost exclusively directed at seventeenth century\u2019s opera and madrigals, repertories considered as roots of the great operatic tradition to which scholars and performers were irreparably tied. Up to the end of 1940s it was hard to find ensembles dedicated to music written before the age of Monteverdi. Moreover, these were rather amateur than professional ensembles, and, at those dates, their interest for that \u201cauthenticity\u201d Cape was concerned with (e. g. the use of original instruments) \u2013 although undogmatic \u2013 was still unknown. Through researches on contemporary journals, the paper aims to examine Pro Musica Antiqua as innovators, inspiring a new generation of Italian ensembles that, though neglected by musicological historiography, were not indifferent on the Italian musical scene