A Conversation with Musicologist Francesco Zimei: “The Origins of the Lauda: St. Francis and the Jesters of God”

As part of “Musica Per-Formare. Dialogues Between Sounds, Words, and New Cultural Frontiers,” a project by the Società Aquilana dei Concerti for L’Aquila, Italian Capital of Culture 2026, L’Aquila-based musicologist Francesco Zimei, professor of music history at the University of Trento, invites you on a journey: “The Origins of the Lauda,” with particular reference to the Canticle of Brother Sun, composed by Francis of Assisi exactly eight hundred years ago. Crucial to the success of the lauda repertoire was the Saint’s very idea of adopting an immediate and persuasive language for preaching—one capable of engaging the masses by drawing on the communicative skills of the jesters, true mediators between art and devotion. The event is being streamed on Barattelli’s social media platforms. https://barattelli.it/eventi/musica-per-formare-2026-francesco-zimei-in-alle-origini-della-lauda-san-francesco-e-i-giullari-di-dio/