This disc brings together two of the most celebrated Italian
composers of the 17th century. Luigi Rossi was especially famous
for his operas and cantatas. He worked in Rome and Naples, and
also stayed in Paris on several occasions. His music was well-known
in France, and that had everything to do with the fact that
he was in the service of Cardinal Antonio Barberini, who was
a francophile and had good contacts in France. Here Rossi found
the protection of Cardinal Mazarin, himself of Italian birth.
Although the performance of his opera Orfeo in Paris
in 1647 wasn't an unqualified success, it made a great impression
on French composers of the time. Lully - also of Italian origin
- also felt its influence.
Rossi's oeuvre comprises very few sacred works. Un peccator
pentito is preserved anonymously. It has been recorded before
- by Les Arts Florissants - under the name of Luigi Rossi. There
are several reasons for that. "The immediate attribution of
the score to Luigi Rossi was based on its style, but also on
the fact that it appears in the Barberini Collection with other
works signed by the composer". So writes Luis Antonio González
in the programme-notes. It is described in the sources as an
oratorio volgare (an oratorio in the vernacular) but
also as a cantata morale. It is scored for five voices,
two violins and bc. Three characters evocatively lament their
sins. González writes that these parts are "taken by
low voices in our version". From this I have to conclude that
they were transposed; I don't know what the original scoring
was as I have no access to Les Arts Florissants' recording.
I can't see the need for a transposition. A fourth character,
scored for a soprano, appears and declares God's willingness
to forgive, referring to the Cross: "This sacred, majestic Wood
is no court of wrath, but a throne of mercy". The soli are mostly
in the form of recitatives followed by short arias. There are
also various trios. The piece ends with a madrigale a 5:
"Soften, o cruel hearts, before this transpierced Love!".
This cantata is followed by an aria with the same subject, Pentito
si rivolge a Dio (A repentant sinner turns to God), scored
for three voices and basso continuo. The sinner asks to be tortured
and scourged for his sins. Domenico Mazzocchi was especially
known for his oratorios. He was born in Civita Castellana where
he studied at the seminary. He took lower orders in 1606 and
was ordained priest in 1619. In 1614 he had settled in Rome
where he obtained the right of citizenship. Like Rossi he was
under the protection of the Barberini family.
The most influential composer of oratorios was Giacomo Carissimi.
In 1629 he became maestro di cappella of the Jesuit Collegio
Germanico in Rome, where students from German-speaking countries
received a theological education with everything that was connected
to it. One of those things was music: Carissimi was responsible
for the musical performances at the Collegio and for the music
classes as well. But he also attracted pupils from outside the
Collegio. Among the most famous were Marc-Antoine Charpentier,
Johann Caspar Kerll, Christoph Bernhard and perhaps also Agostino
Steffani.
The Historia di Jephte is one of his best-known oratorios.
The subject is a chance of a lifetime for a composer of Carissimi's
dramatic talent. It has everything: a social outlaw is asked
to command his people in a battle and leads it to victory, only
to find out then that the jubilation is short-lived as he has
to sacrifice his daughter to God as a consequence of his own
thoughtless vow. Carissimi has exploited the contrasts in this
story to the full. The oratorio starts with the Historicus
telling that the people of Israel are suppressed by the Ammonites
and that the Spirit of the Lord came upon Jephtha and that he
promises the Lord: "If the Lord shall deliver the children of
Ammon into my hands, I promise that whatever comes first to
me from my home shall be sacrificed to the Lord". Then follows
the description of the battle with the Ammonites, in a sequences
of choruses and soli, written in the stile concitato.
What follows then is a very moving description of the lament
of the Ammonites, where Carissimi makes use of a four-note bass
figure which is often used in laments in the 17th century. When
Jephtha returns home he is greeted by his daughter, leading
the jubilations of the people. It is only short-lived, as he
has to tell her about his vow to God. All of a sudden the music
shifts from major to minor. In Jephtha's daughter's lament of
her fate - "Plorate colles, dolete montes" - Carissimi uses
another popular phenomenon in Italian dramatic music of the
early baroque: the echo. Then the chorus joins her: "Plorate,
filii Israel, plorate, omnes virgines". Here Carissimi returns
to the bass figure he used in the description of the lamenting
Ammonites.
Pieces like these were instrumental in the attempts of the Counter
Reformation to strengthen the faith of members of the Roman
Catholic Church. Therefore the text is of crucial importance
and the delivery should be excellent. That is the case here.
At the same time the musical means which composers used to move
their audiences need to be realised to the full. Carissimi was
a master in this department, as the famous theorist Athanasius
Kircher stated. "[Through] his genius and the felicity of his
compositions, [he] surpasses all others in moving the minds
of listeners to whatever affection he wishes". Jephte
is a brilliant example; Kircher had great admiration for the
closing chorus: Carissimi "composes with such skill that you
would swear you could hear their sobbings and lamentations".
Los Músicos de su Alteza give a very fine account of
this oratorio, and the closing chorus comes off impressively.
Soprano Olalla Alemán also deserves praise for her performance
as Jephtha's daughter. I don't find all the voices that attractive,
but the singers all bring their texts across effectively, and
fully explore the expression in these compositions. That is
all that counts.
This is a compelling disc including some masterpieces of the
17th century.
Johan van Veen
http://www.musica-dei-donum.org
https://twitter.com/johanvanveen
alternatively
CD: MDT
AmazonUK
AmazonUS
Sound
Samples & Downloads
Los Músicos de Su Alteza/Luis Antonio González
