The Early Music Show - Valentina Varriale

Lucie Skeaping presents highlights of a concert given in the Italian city of Palestrina, just east of Rome, by soprano Valentina Varriale with musicians of the Capella della Pieta de Turchini. Three of the four featured pieces are all settings of the same Latin text Salve Regina - a prayer to the Virgin Mary, performed in church since the Middle Ages, during the months between Pentecost and Advent, and traditionally sung after the final prayers or the Compline. Legend has it that the author might have been the French Bishop of Podium, who wrote the words as a type of war-anthem as he set off for the Crusades. The settings in this concert are by Giovanni Pergolesi and two lesser-known Italian contemporaries- Orazio Benevoli and Leonardo Leo. The programme also includes a sinfonia by Nicola Fiorenza. Playlist: Orazio Benevoli: Salve Regina Valentina Varriale (soprano) Cappella della Pieta de Turchini Pergolesi: Salve Regina Valentina Varriale (soprano) Cappella della Pieta de Turchini Fiorenza: Sinfonia in A minor Cappella della Pieta de Turchini Leonardo Leo: Salve Regina Valentina Varriale (soprano) Cappella della Pieta de Turchini.