In the second quarter of the 18th century Naples developed into one of the
main music centres of Italy. Through composers travelling abroad and the
dissemination of compositions the Neapolitan style became fashionable beyond
the borders of Italy. It was one of the main contributors to the development
of the
galant idiom which would become the standard around the
middle of the century.
Naples is especially associated with vocal music, such as cantatas and
operas. In the decades around 1700 Naples also produced some virtuosic
string players, for instance the violinists Giuseppe Antonio Avitrano and
Michele Mascitti and the cellists Francesco Scipriani and Salvatore
Lanzetti. However, flautists of any fame are not known. It is only fairly
recently that attention is given to the repertoire for the transverse flute.
In 2010 Hyperion released a disc with Neapolitan flute concertos (
review). It includes music by composers most of whom are
hardly known, such as Giuseppe de Majo and Tommaso Prota. The present disc
is a sequel, and again we meet composers who are unknown quantities. The
only exception is probably Davide Perez, whose vocal oeuvre has been
investigated recently.
These concertos fall into the category of the
concerto da camera
which is indicated by the scoring for flute, two violins and bc. None of
these concertos has a viola part. It seems likely that they were performed
at private concerts in the palaces of the aristocracy. Four concertos are in
three movements; only Perez'
Concerto in G is in four. The
role of the strings is not confined to playing the
ritornelli like
in the concertos by Vivaldi. There is much more of a real dialogue between
the flute and the strings. In several movements the first violin plays an
extended role, such as in the adagio from the
Concerto in D by
Francesco Papa. As I have written previously, vocal music played a major
role in Neapolitan music life, and several concertos show the traits of
vocal music, especially in the slow movements.
Little is known about the composers. Davide Perez was a prolific composer
of music for the theatre, and also composed a large amount of sacred music.
In 1752 the King of Portugal appointed him as
mestre de capela; he
remained in Lisbon until his death. Carlo Cecere is the only composer who
seems to have been a flautist; his extant oeuvre includes various works with
flute. Next to nothing is known about Francesco Papa and that also goes for
a composer who is only known with his surname and is always referred to as
Sig.r Geraso. According to Stefano Aresi in his liner-notes his
writing for the flute is "extremely idiomatic" which suggests that
he may have been a professional flautist as well.
The first disc included the
Concerto No. 2 in G by Antonio
Palella. This suggests that there is a Concerto No. 1; I can't say
whether the concerto recorded here is that No. 1 concerto as the track-list
doesn't give a number. It is not only attributed to Palella but also
to Johann Adolf Hasse. That can be explained from the fact that Palella must
have known Hasse and his music quite well. He worked mainly in the music
theatre, and for some time Hasse was active in this field in Naples in the
1720s.
In 2012 the Italian label Dynamic also released a disc with Neapolitan
flute concertos (
review). The track-list suggests that it includes at least
one piece which is also on this Hyperion disc, the
Concerto in G by
Perez. However, fortunately it also includes pieces by other composers not
represented here or in the previous disc by Carlo Ipata. I was pleased by
his performances on that disc, and this sequel is of the same high standard.
This is no great music we cannot do without, but it is all very nice to
hear. The music is of fine quality and Ipata and his colleagues deliver
excellent performances once again. This is first-class musical entertainment
and well worth listening to.
Johan van Veen
http://www.musica-dei-donum.org
https://twitter.com/johanvanveen
