At page 4 of the booklet for the present disc we read: "Dedicated to
the City of Marino (Rome) on the occasion of the 350th Anniversary of the
death of Bonifazio Graziani (1604-1664)". It is rather odd then to see
the year of Graziani's death given as 1674 on the rear inlay and in
the track-list as well as in the liner-notes by Garrick Comeaux.
San Marino is the town where Graziani grew up. It should not be confused
with the republic of San Marino, an enclave near the Adriatic coast. This
San Marino is near Rome and now part of the province of Rome. It was also
the town where Giacomo Carissimi was born. As they were almost exact
contemporaries they may well have known each other, probably from early on,
but also when they both worked in Rome. Graziani served as a priest in
Marino and in nearby Frascati. In 1646 he moved to Rome where he was
appointed
maestro di cappella at Il Gesù and the Seminario Romano.
Under his guidance the choir of Il Gesù grew considerably and it seems
likely that he composed his large-scale vocal works for this choir. In the
1650s his compositions started to be published. In 1658 he was appointed
cappellano at the Jesuit novitiate house of S Andrea and he was
also active in the Congregazione dei Musici di S Cecilia.
The two main works on this disc are two oratorios, a genre which was
rapidly growing in popularity, largely due to Carissimi's activities
in the composition of such pieces. There is a remarkable similarity between
the oratorios of the two composers. Both preferably use biblical subjects
and use texts in Latin. The
testo - here called
textus -
or
historicus tells the story; he was the model for the Evangelist
in German Passions of the 17th and 18th centuries. This role can be given to
any voice; in the oratorios by Graziani this part is sometimes sung by a
tenor, but also by a bass or a soprano and sometimes this part is for three
voices. The accompaniment is confined to basso continuo. However, according
to Garrick Comeaux
Filii prodigi "has solo figured bass lines
in three sections entitled
Ritornello in Part I and six sections
entitled
Symphonia in Part II. One can only speculate that there
were
obbligato instrumental parts above this bass line. In these
sections of
Ritornelli and
Symphonia, we have
reconstructed a solo line for tenor sackbut".
Filii prodigi and
Adae are the only extant oratorios
from Graziani's pen. The first is about the prodigal son -
Jesus' parable as told in the gospel of St Luke (ch 15). The scoring
of the roles indicates that such pieces were not subject of scenic
performances: both the prodigal son and his older brother are sung by a
soprano. The oratorio is divided into two parts: the first tells about the
son leaving his fatherly home and later returning when he has spent all his
money; the second part is about the way the older brother reacts when his
father celebrates the return of his lost child. Both parts end with a
four-part chorus.
Adae is the story of the fall of mankind as told in Genesis 3:
the serpent (the devil) tempts Eve to eat the fruit from the tree in the
middle of the Garden of Eden, against God's commandment. She then
tempts her husband Adam to do the same. The first part ends with a chorus
which expresses the effect: "O bitter sweetness, o traitorous pleasure!
Sweet apple that poisons, that kills mortal beings. Eve tastes, and Adam,
and along with Eve, along with Adam – alas! – it kills us all." In the
second part God visits Adam and Eve but they hide themselves. When he finds
them and they tell him what happened he curses the serpent and tells Adam
and Eve what the effects of their disobedience will be. The oratorio closes
with another four-part chorus: "How little sweetness, how much, how
much bitterness – alas, alas! – an apple brought to all!"
In particular the closing chorus from the first part of this oratorio is
quite expressive as it opens with a descending line and includes harmonic
progressions which reflect the bitterness that the text speaks about. These
two oratorios are nice but not comparable with those by Carissimi. He was a
master of text expression and was also able to create a real drama in a
short space of time. However, it seems to me that it is also down to the
performance that these oratorios come across as not really dramatic. The
performances are a little too straightforward and not theatrical enough. The
Consortium Carissimi has nice voices in its ranks but some are a bit bland.
The text should also have received more attention.
Filii prodigi is
more theatrical than
Adae and there the role of the
textus
comes off better than in the latter oratorio.
The disc starts with five motets for solo voices and basso continuo. They
are taken from three collections which were printed in 1650, 1672 and 1676
respectively. The collection mentioned first is Graziani's op. 1 and
was the first publication of compositions from his pen. They seem to have
been written for various ecclesiastical feasts.
O miracula, o
prodigia is probably intended for the Advent period as it speaks about
shepherds and ends with the words "behold, he is already near, behold,
he comes".
Quis dabit capiti meo may be written for Holy Week
and
Quid est hoc for Pentecost. The performances are generally good
but again there are some issues which make the interpretations less than
ideal. Some of the singers have problems with the coloratura, in other cases
the parts include low notes which are a little uncomfortable for others. In
Venite, audite the lowest notes are too weak. That could be due to
the pitch which is a=415'. Maybe in this case a high tenor would have
been more suitable than a mezzo-soprano as used here.
All in all, this is not a recording to get very excited about. However,
Graziani's oeuvre seems well worth exploring. This disc was my first
opportunity to hear any of his music and I certainly hope to hear more from
him. Anyone who is interested in Italian music from this period should
investigate this disc.
Johan van Veen
www.musica-dei-donum.org
twitter.com/johanvanveen
