Marco Polo – The Journey
| Marco Polo - The Journey | ||||
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| Studio album by Ensemble Renaissance | ||||
| Released | 14 March 1992 | |||
| Genre | Early music | |||
| Length | 52:30 | |||
| Label | Artelier Music | |||
| Ensemble Renaissance chronology | ||||
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Marco Polo – The Journey is album by Ensemble Renaissance, released in 1992 on the Artelier Music label in Germany. It is Renaissance's 11th album. Theme of the album is early music from the time of the travels of Marco Polo. It is one of the Renaissance's more eclectic works, covering not only the instrumental istanpittas of the Italian Trecento and earlier Franciscan laudas, but also Byzantine chant, girl songs from Cyprus preserved in the Manuscript 1203 kept in Iviron monastery, Persian and Arabic dances, traditional Music of Mongolia and Ancient Chinese ceremonial music. Marco Polo is one of the Ensemble's biggest successes, having spent a few weeks at the top of the classical music charts in Germany, in the 1993.
The 13th century was the time of great political and economic expansion in the Republic of Venice. Marco Polo was a famous Venetian merchant traveler whose travels are recorded in Il Milione, a book which did much to introduce Europeans to Central Asia and China. He learned about trading whilst his father and uncle, Niccolò and Maffeo, travelled through Asia and apparently met Kublai Khan. In 1269, they returned to Venice to meet Marco for the first time. The three of them embarked on an epic journey to Asia, via Mesopotamia, Kurdistan, Persia, Turan, the Pamir Mountains and Mongolia returning after 24 years (on his return he visited Indonesia, Singapore, India, Empire of Trebizond and Constantinople to find Venice at war with Genoa; Marco was imprisoned, and dictated his stories to a cellmate. He was released in 1299, became a wealthy merchant, married and had three children. He died in 1324, and was buried in San Lorenzo.
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