La corda spezzata

The film about Alessandro Stradella, one of the greatest composers of the Baroque period, is based on the music filmed and recorded during the Festival of the Ancient Music Academy of Milan in 2017, as well as the music recorded in July 2018 in Milan by the Ensemble Claudio Astronio, one of the greatest interpreters of Stradella's music. The fictional parts, which stem directly from the music, focus on Alessandro Stradella'dangerous relationships with females, who impacted on his artistic and personal life and caused his premature and tragic death (he was stabbed to death at age 38, a rarity in the history of music). Extraordinary women like Queen Christina of Sweden, a great promoter of music and arts in Rome, or her rival Maria Mancini, another great patron of artists, mistress to the King Louis XIV of France, vied for Alessandro, not only artistically (according to certain popular and literary rumors). There were also famous singers such as Pia Antinori, Barbara Agnadini or Giorgina Cesi, just to name a few, who will be played by singers-actresses, in order to express themselves thanks to Stradella's vocal melodies. Without either sumptuous courts or amazing escapes (although key sequences will not be lacking), the film offers an introspective view, where the characters are almost ghostly, as if they spring from the mind of the protagonist, in spite of their social roles in history The film is thus a psychological investigation of the protagonist, between his restlessness and the purity of his musical compositions.