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A 400-year-old map printed in China, brass music from Renais-sance Italy, and a peripatetic Jesuit priest. A group of IU musicians committed to finding ways to bring early music alive turned that unlikely set of items into a concert that has been in demand around the world. The group calls itself

“¡Sacabuche!”—Spanish for sack-but, the name used to distinguish the medieval trombone from the modern instrument. ¡Sacabuche! built a national reputation at music festivals in Boston and Berkeley

with programs that explore the roles that the music of sackbuts, cornettos, and other early instru-ments played in various cultures.

Matteo Rici Goes to China

Matteo Ricci was a Jesuit priest with scholarly and musical train-ing. In the midst of one of the most prolific musical eras in Italy, he chose to leave his homeland to carry his Jesuit mission to the east. Ricci left Italy with his clavichord in 1578. By a route that carried him first to India and then to Macau, he finally reached Beijing in 1598. He became one of the first Western scholars to speak and write Chi-nese and was coauthor of the first European (Portuguese)-Chinese dictionary. He joined the literary culture of the city and was deeply committed to finding the common ground of eastern and western religion and art. His music has disappeared, but some of his writ-ings and one of his most significant achievements—the first Chinese map to show both eastern and western hemispheres—remain.

Linda Pearse, artistic director of ¡Sacabuche!, first heard about

¡Sacabuche! and Music of the World

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this Italy-China connection when Cathy Barbash, the mother of a student, introduced her to Ann Waltner, a Chinese historian from the University of Minnesota. Following Ricci’s multicultural example, ¡Sacabuche! conceived a musical program of Western music

from Ricci’s Italy set against new music written for the group by Chinese composer Huang Ruo, interspersed with dramatic read-ings of Ricci’s writings —all with Ricci’s unique 1602 world map projected in the background. That program caught the attention of Chinese officials, and ¡Sacabuche! was invited to present it at “The Egg”—the China National Centre for the Performing Arts in Beijing.

In the U.S., the invitation would be the equivalent of an opportunity to perform at the Kennedy Center or Carnegie Hall. With funding sup-port from the IU Jacobs School, the President’s Office, the Blooming-ton Provost’s Office, and Interna-tional Affairs, ¡Sacabuche! set out in December for a tour that would

Stanley Richie Wendy Gillespie

“Matteo Ricci: His Map and His Music”—concert at the China National Centre for the Performing Arts, Beijing

During a performance for the Beijing Central Conservatory of Music, Stanley Richie’s and Wendy Gillespie’s presentations on early instruments were met with “oohs” and “aahs. A similar demonstration was given at a world music class at Peking University. There we finished the class with a performance of “Ave verum corpus” (Mozart), joined by two violin students from the class. It was a “Kum-ba-ya” moment.

¡Sacabuche! kept a blog of their experiences that can be found at blogs.music.indiana.edu/sacabuche. In the blog, Linda Pearse lists her “Top Five Mo-ments of Cultural Exchange.” They form the captions to the numbered photos shown here.

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include the concert at the Egg and performances at Nantang Cathe-dral, the U.S. Embassy, and other educational and business venues. At least one of the musicians had never held a passport before, and for many, the trip represented a journey of discovery much like the one Ricci made 400 years earlier.

Performing at the Eggand Beyond

The group experienced all the pitfalls that have been part of international travel from time im-memorial—sickness, travel delays, miscommunications—but like the best of world travelers, they were not daunted. With less rehearsal time than they hoped, they de-livered the Ricci program to an appreciative audience at the Egg on December 12. For that perfor-

Group visit to the Great Wall of China with Changping High School No. 1. It was a crisp, clear, and very cold day with perfect visibility for visiting this stunning national treasure. We chatted with flocks of eager and curious high school students—most hoping to be accepted at an American college for the coming year.

¡Sacabuche! performers outside the China National Centre for the Performing Arts in Beijing, known affectionately as “The Egg.”

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mance, Chinese musicians play-ing Chinese instruments of Ricci’s time joined the group. And in 12 concerts in 10 days, not to mention demonstrations and other infor-mational visits, ¡Sacabuche! was received with enthusiasm, interest, and very positive reviews. Linda Pearse, leader of the group, says they were “overwhelmed by how well we were treated. When we demonstrated our instruments in high schools, the students crowded in; they asked endless questions and were interested in everything we had to say.” She reports that the musician who had previously never held a passport has deter-mined that world travel is now among his top priorities.

Since ¡Sacabuche! returned, their Ricci program has been much in demand. They performed it twice in Minneapolis in April, and at early music festivals in Boston and Indianapolis during the summer. They have also developed other programs, one based on a mass of the Franco-Flemish composer Heinrich Isaac, as it might be per-formed in a village square, and another on the glorious double-choir compositions for brass and voices that entertained Venetians at the turn of the seventeenth century. Pearse assures that the group has new programs in the works, and they have not forgotten the power of programs that cross cultures. And, she adds mysteriously, “We have found another map.”

Exchange of performances with Changping High School No. 1: The students performed Beijing opera excerpts, Sichuan dances, and band music—we were stunned by the beauty, complexity, and variety of the Chinese musical arts.

Chen Bo, playing the sheng (left), and Gong Qi, playing the guzheng (right), collaborating with ¡Sacabuche! for our performances of “Matteo Ricci: His Map and Music.” Absolutely marvelous musicians!

The whole concert was performed with multiple media and accompanied by Italian music of Ricci’s period and Chinese traditional music and text recitation. It was vivid and beautiful. The poetic sense went endlessly.

—Zhao Yihong, Beijing, Xinhua net, December 15, 2010