HERBARIE

Audio
Added by
Composed by
Michele Bernabei
Performed by
Instrument(s)
bass clarinet, cello, flute, percussion, piano, violin
With electronics
no
Work premiered
July 2020
Venue of the premiere
Milan (Italy)
Duration
8 minutes

Condemned as witches, the herbarie or female herbal magicians were an essential feature of popular medieval culture. They were free women and skilled sorceresses, but also talented healers; this fostered resentment among powerful male figures who accused them of using plants to heal, or to provide a painless death. Guilty of engaging in a world of secrets confided, of listening to problems, of contraceptives, births and abortions, their persecution resulted in the elimination of centuries of ancient know-how, inscribed in the body and memory of the earth.

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