Giulia Alberti - Johann Adolph Hasse: Venetian Ballads (2019)

Recorded in the Baroque Tiepolo Hall, this is the first contemporary release of 15 Venetian barcaroles collected by celebrated composer J.A.Hasse and transcribed by A.Scola for the London publisher Walsh (1742–48) giving a glimpse of 18th-century Venice.

Venetian songs and barcaroles, such as the 200 or more pieces collected by German composer J.A.Hasse in the mid 18th century, constituted the everyday musical atmosphere in Venice, as they were played and sung at public festivals, private parties, in palaces, theatres, in villas and on the streets. Most of them are in the original Venetian language and were usually sung in a theatrical way, since they represented what today would be defined as POP music. The topics ranged from love, infidelity and romance and portrayed typical Venetian characters. These 15 recordings represent the musical panorama of Venice in the 18th century, much like that the paintings of Canaletto represent the city's vistas or Goldoni's plays represent Venetian characters.
The recordings were co-funded by the Goethe Institute in collaboration with the state broadcaster RAI Veneto and produced by G&G Classics with the support of ACIT di Venezia. The barcaroles were recorded in Autumn 2017 in Palazzo Labia's Tiepolo Hall, which was built in the same year that the Hasse/Scola art song collection was published. All singers and musicians involved in this project were trained in the Venice region and therefore are mother-tongue speakers and specialists in this historical repertoire.