Just like the old fairytale books say:
good things come in threes.
And it’s the same with favola in musica.
Like a mellifluous triad in music,
it’s a harmony between a cultural association, ensemble and label, led by a ‘fairy godmother’, aka founder Maria Weiss.
Having grown up amid forest-buried castles, listening to her grandfather’s fairytales and breathing the Carinthian mountain air with its scent of pine and alpine roses, the mezzosoprano decided to follow her own creative lead and pour these treasures from her childhood into musical projects around Early and New Music.
In 2012 she founded the musical and cultural association favola in musica and the following year the 1607 ensemble and its associated label, all based in Carinthia, Austria’s southernmost province, inviting old and new musical and artistic partners into the team.
,favola'
Music and fairy tales
At the heart of this structure is the musical and cultural association ‘favola in musica’:
In this musical hothouse, our ideas emerge and all threads are woven together. It’s where we organise, discuss and research.
Archives and old manuscripts are combed through, transcribed and musically evaluated, or screenplays for our music videos are written. Its artistic oven is filled with all kinds of new projects waiting to be served to you.
Our team comprises musicians, musicologists, photographers, filmmakers, historians, graphic designers and illustrators for our sumptuous booklets.
1607 ensemble
Early & New Music at its finest!
With 1607 ensemble, forgotten works celebrate their triumphant comeback in concerts, on CDs and even in the cinema.
With a world-class lineup including mezzosoprano Maria Weiss, lutenist Luca Pianca, Monika Toth on the violin and Wolfgang Mitterer with composition and electronics, to mention just a few, the result is some exceptional musical moments. Resonant musical monuments are interpreted and immortalised on silver discs.
Our goal:
Nourished by ancient musical traditions, to open up a space for New Music while also lovingly, bravely and uninhibitedly re-reading works of Early Music, joyfully taking new paths to an authentic musical language.
1607 Records
Silver disc meets book craftsmanship
From mellifluous, hand picked world-first recordings, compelling essays about the works, fairytale photographs, gorgeous illustrations, calligraphic lettering, fine paper and bookbinding: Our own label 1607 Records makes our artistic visions material.
Hand-in-hand with carefully selected CD presses, bookbinders and printers, carefully and lovingly created productions are manufactured sustainably and regionally in Austria.
Dedicated to the credo of beauty, excellence and quality, with love of detail and an eye for the bigger picture.
No matter what anybody tells you, –music – words and ideas can change the world.
(„Ganz gleich, was man Ihnen erzählt. [Musik] Worte und Gedanken können die Welt verändern.“ | John Keating in: Weir, Peter, Dead Poets Society [Film] USA: Touchstone Pictures, 1989, 00:23:52-00:23:27. | “music / [Musik]” ergänzt von Maria Weiss)
Glorious musical artistry, uplifting words, inspiring locations and an interweaving of artistic genres
Changing the world with music, words, ideas and art? From a tiny seed a mighty tree grows. We fervently believe that experiencing a piece of music, a good story, a moving film or a sacred space can be precisely this kind of seemingly tiny ‘seed’, inspiring and fortifying us and changing our lives for the better.
Music, art, beauty, the magic of sounds, pictures and words, have fortified mind and soul over the centuries. They lead us to make sound decisions and take good steps in our lives, even in hard times of upheaval and darkness.
For us, that means our concerts, film projects and, especially, the heart of our artistic work, the CDs and hardback books that are our concept albums: With our projects around Early and New Music, we want to inspire, entrance and encourage you to place your trust and faith in beauty. And to lend your strength to that which brings us together, which bears and holds us and which we can trust: the voice of nature, music and art.
The quest for an authentic musical language
and uncompromising artistic quality
With musical excellence, the quest for an authentic musical language and uncompromising artistic quality, we dedicate ourselves to genre-crossing projects around Early and New Music – and we’ve been doing it since 2012.
What drives us is the curiosity to seek out centuries-old works of masterful music in the archives and to convey them into the present with original sound and a fresh lightness. Preceding from the essential in-depth study of sources and respect for the composers’ scores and manuscripts, we work with well-versed musicians to explore musical works with seriousness, passion, charm and just a little risk-taking.
Our secret ingredients: love of our work, infectious enthusiasm, genuine excitement and ‘good stories’ that accompany our concept albums and film projects or, to put it another way
Artistic friendships meet expertise and kindred spirits
Founded by mezzosoprano Maria Weiss, the 1607 ensemble plays on original instruments.
Its musicians include the Lugano-born lutenist Luca Pianca, the violinist Monika Toth and the double bassist Alexandra Dienz, some of the leading interpreters in the field of historically informed performance. Wolfgang Mitterer, one of Austria’s most important contemporary composers and a specialist in electroacoustic music, adds a breath of fresh air and New Music inspired by the works of Early Music in our projects.
Respected scholars such as Alexander Moore, Christian Moritz-Bauer and Doris Weberberger provide us musicological support.
Photographers such as Carmen & Ingo Photography, Julia Wessely and Theresa Pewal and the team from BUREAU F entrance us with their fairytale imagery.
An approaching, interweaving and meeting of opposites
Stellar moments of music
Favola in musica ('fairy tale in music') is the subtitle of Claudio Monteverdi's L'Orfeo. This seminal work and its first performance in 1607 at the Palazzo Ducale in Mantua are the inspiration and name for our Verein, ensemble, label and all our projects.
When Austrian author Stefan Zweig selected stellar moments in history for his collection of miniatures Shooting Stars, he seems to have missed one out:
The performance of “L’Orfeo” 1607 in the Sala dei Fiumi at the Palazzo Ducale in Mantua went down in music history. Like a key unlocking a door, this work has opened up new musical worlds.
Here, the traditional “primar practica” and the modern “seconda practica” are brought to perfection.
The “dance” around the old and new, tradition and innovation, questions without the need to provide answers but to spark creative processes, embarking on a journey of song and music like Orfeo, regarding the journey as a reward in itself, not as a means to an end: those are the key components of favola in musica. early new music.
Following the trail blazed by Monteverdi’s L’Orfeo with its subtitle Favola in Musica and its interweaving of prima and seconda pratica, creating art across genre boundaries and combining old and new. Bravely travelling new roads – all the while with knowledge of tradition stowed in our luggage.
Tradition and “revolution” unite in one of history’s pivotal moments.
Our crossover CD productions are a journey that leads to sacred spaces
where we can discover THE NEW IN THE OLD THE OLD IN THE NEW that which endures.
Early & New Music at its finest!
A homeland with universal character
Earth
& sacred spaces
When we talk of finding sources of inspiration or strength, we don’t just mean in terms of musical excellence, the quest for an authentic musical language and uncompromising artistic quality. For our projects we seek out sacred spaces that – like the works of Old Masters and Mistresses that our ensemble crafts in sound – have been energising and calming people for centuries.
Geographical foundation
Whether for rehearsing, performing, recording or photographing. Everything needs a geographical foundation, an earth that bears us, provides the backdrop to everything we do, directs, inspires and influences us. Sacred spaces, pilgrimage sites, former Celtic sanctuaries, fairytale castles hidden in the forest, remote, meadow-scented mountain chains – these are the places we seek out. Their presence is felt in the words, pictures and sounds of our concept albums, as setting, soundspace, as a place for creating or living.
Austria’s south as sacred space
In particular, we have a connection to the region south of the main chain of the Alps, the south of Austria with its millennia-old cultural history, rugged mountains, glittering Alpine lakes, medieval castles, protected natural environment, a region that both invigorates and soothes.
Traditions handed down over centuries
A region where traditions handed down over centuries are upheld, passed on with fire and a meaning deeper than kitsch and cliché. It is in this natural Alpine environment and in the resonant architecture of its old churches and castles that we make our projects come to life – but that’s not all we do.
Meeting place for old and new
This is a place for old and new, music and art, to come together and for an idea of Heimat, ‘homeland’, one that has a universal character and leaves no one out, because there are sacred spaces everywhere in our world.
Culinary delights
Music for all senses
Freshly baked music meets ‘reading hunger’
Fire
& creativity
There’s one in every house, every dwelling:
the place where fire and creativity are at home, where plans are devised, tasteful meals and sweet temptations prepared, where the air is filled with wonderful aromas and where we fortify ourselves for life:
the kitchen.
Sweet sounds meet the finest flavour notes.
In our thematic concept albums we share recipes, handed down and preserved in families and selected to fit with the theme of each album. Cooking and baking connect and bring people together, enabling us to experience and even taste a piece of music or a story. Freshly baked music, delivered to your door.
