Since the late Middle Ages, Italian royal courts have developed increasingly ostentatious and elaborate forms of carnival.
of the carnival. In Venice, Carnival was celebrated from December 26 to Shrove Tuesday. Among the many
performances took place the puppet theater, staged with traditional masks. Otherwise, wild and exotic animals, lotteries, astrologers and quacks dominated the fair-like events.
the events resembling the fair. In this context, the masquerades posed early and also seductive questions about gender identity. Carnival had its cultural heyday in Venice in the 18th century.
Carnival and opera? In fact, the carnival season was also the main season of the theaters. At the opening of each season, premiers of composers of the international baroque opera scene were effectively put on the program.
The concert program includes arias, opera overtures, carnival dances and masquerades by Alessandro Scarlatti,
Antonio Vivaldi and George Frideric Handel.