Concert: Coro Renato Maranta

THE SONGBOOK OF THE ITALIAN GRISONS BY RENATO MARANTA

Renato Maranta Choir
Director, Andrea Cupia

A unique opportunity to listen live to a selection of the beautiful songs - unknown to date - that make up the Canzoniere del Grigioni italiano, recently rediscovered and published by the Pgi on the occasion of the centenary of the birth of Renato Maranta (Poschiavo 1920 - Coira1954).

Composed between 1939 and 1949, these songs were born out of the desire of an ingenious and very young composer from Poschiavo to create a repertoire of 'authentically Grisons-Italian' songs, at a crucial moment in Swiss history, when the population was called to the "spiritual defense of the country," including through popular music, to reaffirm their democratic principles and counter the war propaganda of totalitarianism.

An 'anomalous' Canzoniere, as it was conceived ad hoc by a single author, Renato Maranta, who composed both its lyrics and music. Deeply meaningful songs describing the life of the people of the Italian Grisons have been chosen for the concert, taken in particular from the cycles L'ALPE and LA VENDEMMIA: songs that enter into the extraordinary nature of the territory, autobiographical songs - related to Maranta's unfortunate life -, and songs related to those dramatic war years.