This concert featured rare Florentine music in a variety of moods and styles, written by master composers of the Medici Court for the wedding of Cosimo I, Duke of Florence, and Eleanora of Toledo, in 1539. In addition, there was an ongoing presentation of color slides taken from art of the Italian Renaissance, illustrating the total environment in which this joyous celebration was held. With the Kresge Chamber Singers
Lavish festivities accompanied the wedding; Florentine composers and musicians were called upon to provide music for pageants, banquets, and interludes between the acts of a play. Fortunately, detailed accounts were written down, including musical scores, instrumentation, spoken texts and costumes. The Funks adhered as much as possible to the original instrumentation.
This concert presented the entire score of the wedding, from pieces written welcoming Eleanora to Florence, to a blessing for the wedding banquet, numerous symbolic scores written as tributes from important cities and rivers near Florence, and a series musical interludes of a play written for the couple to celebrate their marriage performed several days after the banquet. Composers for these pieces were: Corteccia, Festa, Masaconi, Moschini, and Rampollini.