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Wednesday, June 18, 2008 |
| ARCHIVE • 2008 • SUN 15 • MON 16 • WED 18 • FRI 20 • SUN 22 |
| Sherman Library & Gardens, Central Patio Room, 8 p.m. Music in the Gardens I Susan Montgomery, soprano George Frideric Handel (1685-1759) Alessandro Scarlatti (1660-1725) Alessandro Scarlatti (1660-1725) Alessandro Scarlatti
(1660-1725) Carlo Farina (1604-1639) Alessandro Scarlatti
(1660-1725) George Frideric Handel
(1685-1759) Intermission Giuseppe Torelli (1658-1709) Alessandro Scarlatti
(1660-1725) Alessandro Scarlatti
(1660-1725) George Frideric Handel (1685-1759) Reception
Since Italian composers of cantatas and operas did not write for four mixed voices, we include three of Handel’s choruses from operas that he produced in London: Radamisto (at King’s Theatre, 1720), Il Pastor Fido (King’s Theatre, 1712) and Atalanta (Covent Garden, 1736). BACK
L’armi crudeli e fiere is a cantata in three movements for voice and basso continuo (violoncello and harpsichord). In rather typical fashion for the period, the cello alerts us (and the singer?) to the tune at the outset of the first aria. A recitative then leads to a real duet between singer and cello, after which another recitative leads to the final aria’s lilting 12/8 meter that seems to be enjoying and suffering simultaneously. BACK Mio tesoro, “My darling” or “My treasure,” literally sighs and sobs with unrequited love. The trumpet introduces the melody, a fragment of which then becomes the much repeated rhythmic motive of four eighths and a quarter note in the vocal and instrumental lines of this da capo aria (the first section repeated, thereby making it a three-part form plus coda). BACK Rompe sprezza is a real conversation between singer and trumpet, both agreeing about the lady, with the trumpet having the last word. BACK
This continuous work is in four main sections, and the humor of its descriptive harmonic indulgences — cats fighting, dogs barking, cocks crowing and hens cackling, plus imitations of various musical instruments — will be appreciated through narration. It is thought that Farina returned to Italy and died of the plague. BACK
In terra la Guerra reminds us, with voice and trumpet in complete agreement, that mankind always, even while waging wars, has hoped and prayed for peace on earth. BACK
Notes by Burton Karson |
he
Baroque era in Italy, much like the Renaissance preceding it,
witnessed imaginative creativity in all of the arts. Vocal music
was especially emphasized, having expanded from the madrigal to
opera and cantata. Our program this evening is all-Italian, both
vocally and instrumentally.
eorg
Frideric Handel, who was born in Germany but was later to be
made a British subject by act of Parliament, left his native Halle
at age 18 for Hamburg, where he played second violin at the opera.
He then spent 1707-1709 in Italy, where he made the acquaintance
of Alessandro and Domenico Scarlatti, Vivaldi, and all of the important
Italian composers. While there, he produced Rodrigo in Florence
and Agrippina in Venice and thoroughly absorbed the warm
Italian temperaments, delicious food, and a musical style that soon
served him well for his significant contributions to the then-popular
Italian opera in England. While mostly remembered now for his later
oratorios in English, it must be said that the greatest writer of
Baroque Italian opera was Handel! 
lessandro
Scarlatti, the foremost Neapolitan composer of the late Baroque
period and the father of Domenico (remembered for his harpsichord
sonatas), was born in Palermo and died in Naples. By the age of
12, he was in Rome to pursue a musical career under the patronage
of influential cardinals. There, in his twenties, he produced operas,
serenatas, oratorios and cantatas. One of his operas, Il Pirro
e Demetrio, was even performed in London in 1694. By 1707, he
was Maestro di Cappella at Rome’s great Santa Maria
Maggiore, and during the following years his operas were performed
in Venice, Rome and Naples. While his sacred and operatic output
is staggering, so is his contribution to the solo cantata. These
settings for voices with strings and trumpet are to rather dramatic
Italian texts, so an awareness of the English translations is essential.
arlo
Farina, an influential early 17th century violin virtuoso, was
born in Mantua and began his career there in the famous musical
court where Monteverdi had had his early successes. Farina then
spent four years in the Saxon court in Dresden, during which time
he wrote sonatas, dances, sinfonias, canzonas and programmatic pieces
such as the Capriccio Stravagante of 1627. 
carlatti’s
Su le sponde del Tebro plumbs operatic extremes with
its sinfonias, recitatives and arias, reminding us that solo cantatas
often were written for opera singers engaged to entertain in noble
courts. The opening Sinfonia is really a quartet for the two violins,
the cello and the trumpet. The following recitative sets the scene,
with the voice and strings reversing the ascending 16th notes heard
in the opening Sinfonia. The second Sinfonia introduces the running
16ths of the brilliant and demanding Contentatevi aria with
trumpet and basso continuo. The trumpet rests during the following
recitative, arias and ritornello, introducing the soprano melody
in the final Aria and lamenting in balance with her and the strings
to the end. 
andel’s
little chorus Quel ch’il Cielo from Il Pastor
Fido seems to reflect philosophically the commentary of the
preceding cantata on unrequited love.
ur
concluding Gridiam, gridiam tutti! e viva! sends us out
to a buoyant chorus, one in which the singers share the joy alternately
with the instruments. The typically direct emotions of this finale
anticipate the recognition in 2009 of the 250th anniversary of the
death of Handel, whose compositions surely will be celebrated.
BAROQUE MUSIC FESTIVAL CORONA DEL MAR
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