The Destined Knot
Eleanor MEREDITH / Fieri CONSORT
The Destined Knot
Eleanor MEREDITH / Fieri CONSORT
This epic tale of lovers tossed by fate and fortune was once famous throughout Europe, inspiring hundreds of composers like Luca Marenzio. His seventh book of madrigals (1595) draws its texts from Guarini’s tragicomedy play Il pastor fido (the faithful shepherd) and travels through all the trials and torments of love.
Eleanor Meredith is an artist from the wilds of West Lothian, Scotland. Eleanor teaches on the illustration BA at Norwich University of Arts, and runs workshops at The BFI Animation Academy, The Apple store, V & A Museum, Ravensbourne College and the National Portrait Gallery.
Over the past 10 years, Fieri Consort have explored music from different corners of the European renaissance. The pioneering approach to harmony, word-painting and texture taken by those sixteenth-century composers has proved an inspiration for our projects which mix the past with the present.
We have released four albums to critical acclaim with our first disc – Tears of a Lover – being awarded ‘Choral Choice’ of the month by BBC Music Magazine. Fieri are looking forward to the release of a fifth album of this music by Marenzio later this year.
A curse hangs over the land of Arcadia. Only when a pair of godly descent are married will this curse be lifted, and so the fate of Arcadia rests solely on the destined union of the nymph Amarilli and the hunter Silvio.
Silvio couldn’t be less interested in marriage, preferring hunting in the forest, where he is pursued by Dorinda, who is hopelessly in love. Amarilli looks on her duty to save Arcadia with dignity but secretly harbours a love for Mirtillo, a lowly shepherd from a distant land. Mirtillo is head over heels in love with Amarilli and pines for her day and night. He curses her cruelty for inflicting this pain on him, believing that she does not return his love.
The selfish nymph Corsica is the only ear that Amarilli trusts, not knowing that Corsica wants Mirtillo for herself. Corsica begins to weave a plan that inevitably goes awry… how will it all end?
Marenzio’s madrigals do not provide a complete narrative following the play by Guarini, so we have filled in some of the gaps along the way. Similarly the animations are intended to be a enhancement of the listening experience rather than a literal representation of the story. The leading characters in the play are colour-coded throughout, as represented in the opening image.
