Gillian Fisher, James Bowman, The King'S Consort - Handel: Italian Duets (1990)
BAND/ARTIST: Gillian Fisher, James Bowman, The King'S Consort
- Title: Handel: Italian Duets
- Year Of Release: 1990
- Label: Hyperion
- Genre: Classical
- Quality: flac lossless (tracks) +Booklet
- Total Time: 01:03:31
- Total Size: 265 mb
- WebSite: Album Preview
Tracklist
01. Tanti strali al sen mi scocchi, HWV 197: I. Tanti strali al sen mi scocchi
02. Tanti strali al sen mi scocchi, HWV 197: II. Ma se l'alma sempre geme
03. Tanti strali al sen mi scocchi, HWV 197: III. Dunque annoda pur, ben mio
04. A mirarvi io son intento, HWV 178: I. A mirarvi io son intento
05. A mirarvi io son intento, HWV 178: II. Ma l'amor per mio tormento
06. A mirarvi io son intento, HWV 178: III. E vibrando in un baleno
07. Troppo cruda, HWV 198: I. Troppo cruda
08. Troppo cruda, HWV 198: II. Ma la speme lusinghiera
09. Troppo cruda, HWV 198: III. Infiammate, saettate
10. Troppo cruda, HWV 198: IV. A chi spera, o luci amate
11. Se tu non lasci amore, HWV 193: I. Se tu non lasci amore
12. Se tu non lasci amore, HWV 193: II. Quando non ho più core
13. Conservate, raddoppiate, HWV 185: I. Conservate, raddoppiate
14. Conservate, raddoppiate, HWV 185: II. Nodi voi, che gli stringeste
15. Langue, geme, sospira, HWV 188: I. Langue, geme, sospira
16. Langue, geme, sospira, HWV 188: II. Cangia i gemiti in baci, e più non brama
17. Nò, di voi non vo' fidarmi, HWV 189: I. Nò, di voi non vo' fidarmi
18. Nò, di voi non vo' fidarmi, HWV 189: II. Altra volta incatenarmi
19. Nò, di voi non vo' fidarmi, HWV 189: III. So per prova i vostri inganni
20. Sono liete, fortunate, HWV 194: I. Sono liete, fortunate
21. Sono liete, fortunate, HWV 194: II. Crudeltà nè lontananza
22. Fronda leggiera e mobile, HWV 186: I. Fronda leggiera e mobile
23. Fronda leggiera e mobile, HWV 186: II. Saggio quel cor che libero
Handel arrived in Italy in 1706 from Germany as a somewhat rough composer, full of potential, but knowing (according to his friend Mattheson) ‘how to compose practically nothing but regular fugues’ and with an uncertain command of form and melody. Within five years he had emerged as a polished and well-equipped composer with a formidable battery of first-rate compositions. For Handel the Italian years were decisive, for Italy was the home of opera, oratorio, the chamber cantata, the concerto and the sonata. He met all the leading composers: Lotti, Vivaldi and Albinoni in Venice, Perti in Florence, and Alessandro and Domenico Scarlatti, Caldara, Corelli and Pasquini in Rome.
Handel had first sprung to public notice in Hamburg where, in 1703, Mattheson had introduced him into musical circles and helped him with his compositions. He was already an accomplished organist, and in the same year Handel visited the ageing Buxtehude with a view to succeeding him as organist of the Marienkirche. The enthusiasm quickly waned, as had Bach’s, when he realized that an additional condition of the job was to marry Buxtehude’s daughter, herself no youthful beauty. It proved to be the opera, not the church, which attracted Handel’s attention. His first two operas, Almira and Nero were performed in quick succession in 1705: the first was a considerable success, but the second, now partly lost, was a failure which, with Keiser’s hostility to a potential rival, hindered Handel’s career in the opera houses of Germany and may have encouraged him to look to other countries. Handel composed many sonatas, arias and cantatas while in Hamburg: those which do survive are strong in harmony and counterpoint, but are often unbalanced in form, with little of the melodic flow which marks his later works.
While in Hamburg Handel met Prince Ferdinando de’ Medici, son of the Grand Duke of Tuscany, who invited Handel to visit Italy, and particularly Florence. According to Mainwaring, Handel resolved to go ‘as soon as he could make a purse for that occasion’, and his first visit took place during the Autumn of 1706, with the principal aim of gaining experience of Italian opera. His first Italian opera, Rodrigo, was produced at the Academia degli Infuocati in October 1707, and was greeted with much pleasure by the Grand Duke. Handel also visited Rome, and his excellent management of patronage found him the favours of three more noblemen, Cardinal Pietro Ottoboni (at whose palace Il trionfo del Tempo e del Disinganno was probably first performed), Cardinal Carlo Colonna and, most important of all, Marquis Francesco Ruspoli. Handel’s compositions for Ruspoli included eight or more cantatas, three Latin motets and the oratorio La Resurrezione, staged (in April 1708) in all but name as a spectacular opera. The previous year, again in Rome, had seen the large-scale Latin church compositions Dixit Dominus, Laudate pueri and Nisi Dominus, perhaps for the Carmelite Vespers. In Rome, too, he met the influential priest, composer and diplomat Agostino Steffani, and in Venice he made the acquaintance of Domenico Scarlatti (there followed the famous keyboard contest at Ottoboni’s palace) and Cardinal Vincenzo Grimani, owner of the S Giovanni Grisostomo theatre, who wrote the libretto of Agrippina.
Mainwaring records that ‘besides Sonatas and other Music’ Handel wrote 150 cantatas in Rome, and certainly about 120 survive. But often forgotten among the ‘other music’ from that time are fifteen Italian chamber duets and two trios, composed most probably for the drawing rooms of Italian aristocrats, with Handel himself at the keyboard. Though often more intimate in mood, the duets frequently differ little in content from many scenes in the operas, and time and time again we come across music which ultimately found a more familiar place, whether consciously or not, in many of Handel’s major operas and oratorios. The Italian duets were composed in three batches. The first three duets were written in Italy prior to 1710, and a second, larger batch was copied in Hanover around 1711, though probably composed before then. This second group shows the influence of Steffani, whom Handel evidently used as a model. Why Handel then returned to the form thirty years later is not clear, but between 1741 and 1745 he produced another seven duets. Here too, as with the earlier examples, we find their material reused in major oratorios.
Of the twenty-one duets, six are for two sopranos, three for soprano and bass, one for soprano and tenor, one for two altos, and ten are for soprano and alto. In addition there are three trios for two sopranos and bass. Of the duets for soprano and alto, all seven from the earlier period are recorded here, together with two of the later examples. The duets justify their place in the repertoire for purely musical reasons, but for the Handelian detective they provide an added bonus: one can spend many hours tracing themes heard in the duets through to their final, often illustrious, destinations. Indeed, the sheer number of these recycled themes suggest that Handel liked what he had written, for he was always quick to reuse a good tune.
Tanti strali al sen mi scocchi was completed by 1710–11, and demonstrates a whole range of Handel’s vocal writing, from the virtuoso da capo first movement, through the suspensions of the slow middle section to the brilliant fugal movement (later used in Solomon for ‘Take him all’) which concludes the duet.
A mirarvi io son intento, too, dates from the same time, and opens with a theme that reappeared two years later in the ‘Utrecht’ Jubilate as ‘Be ye sure that the Lord he is God’, itself then arranged as the ‘Chandos’ Jubilate. The slow middle section formed the basis in 1735 for the final chorus of Alcina, and the final fugal section suggests that Handel’s original singers were blessed with outstanding techniques.
Troppo cruda also requires singers with strong technique, and, in its four movements, is conceived on a larger scale. The passagework of the imitative second movement requires nimble voices, and notable too are the long harmonic sequences of the slow section ‘Infiammate saettate’, and the sighing word-setting of ‘sospirar’ in the closing movement...
01. Tanti strali al sen mi scocchi, HWV 197: I. Tanti strali al sen mi scocchi
02. Tanti strali al sen mi scocchi, HWV 197: II. Ma se l'alma sempre geme
03. Tanti strali al sen mi scocchi, HWV 197: III. Dunque annoda pur, ben mio
04. A mirarvi io son intento, HWV 178: I. A mirarvi io son intento
05. A mirarvi io son intento, HWV 178: II. Ma l'amor per mio tormento
06. A mirarvi io son intento, HWV 178: III. E vibrando in un baleno
07. Troppo cruda, HWV 198: I. Troppo cruda
08. Troppo cruda, HWV 198: II. Ma la speme lusinghiera
09. Troppo cruda, HWV 198: III. Infiammate, saettate
10. Troppo cruda, HWV 198: IV. A chi spera, o luci amate
11. Se tu non lasci amore, HWV 193: I. Se tu non lasci amore
12. Se tu non lasci amore, HWV 193: II. Quando non ho più core
13. Conservate, raddoppiate, HWV 185: I. Conservate, raddoppiate
14. Conservate, raddoppiate, HWV 185: II. Nodi voi, che gli stringeste
15. Langue, geme, sospira, HWV 188: I. Langue, geme, sospira
16. Langue, geme, sospira, HWV 188: II. Cangia i gemiti in baci, e più non brama
17. Nò, di voi non vo' fidarmi, HWV 189: I. Nò, di voi non vo' fidarmi
18. Nò, di voi non vo' fidarmi, HWV 189: II. Altra volta incatenarmi
19. Nò, di voi non vo' fidarmi, HWV 189: III. So per prova i vostri inganni
20. Sono liete, fortunate, HWV 194: I. Sono liete, fortunate
21. Sono liete, fortunate, HWV 194: II. Crudeltà nè lontananza
22. Fronda leggiera e mobile, HWV 186: I. Fronda leggiera e mobile
23. Fronda leggiera e mobile, HWV 186: II. Saggio quel cor che libero
Handel arrived in Italy in 1706 from Germany as a somewhat rough composer, full of potential, but knowing (according to his friend Mattheson) ‘how to compose practically nothing but regular fugues’ and with an uncertain command of form and melody. Within five years he had emerged as a polished and well-equipped composer with a formidable battery of first-rate compositions. For Handel the Italian years were decisive, for Italy was the home of opera, oratorio, the chamber cantata, the concerto and the sonata. He met all the leading composers: Lotti, Vivaldi and Albinoni in Venice, Perti in Florence, and Alessandro and Domenico Scarlatti, Caldara, Corelli and Pasquini in Rome.
Handel had first sprung to public notice in Hamburg where, in 1703, Mattheson had introduced him into musical circles and helped him with his compositions. He was already an accomplished organist, and in the same year Handel visited the ageing Buxtehude with a view to succeeding him as organist of the Marienkirche. The enthusiasm quickly waned, as had Bach’s, when he realized that an additional condition of the job was to marry Buxtehude’s daughter, herself no youthful beauty. It proved to be the opera, not the church, which attracted Handel’s attention. His first two operas, Almira and Nero were performed in quick succession in 1705: the first was a considerable success, but the second, now partly lost, was a failure which, with Keiser’s hostility to a potential rival, hindered Handel’s career in the opera houses of Germany and may have encouraged him to look to other countries. Handel composed many sonatas, arias and cantatas while in Hamburg: those which do survive are strong in harmony and counterpoint, but are often unbalanced in form, with little of the melodic flow which marks his later works.
While in Hamburg Handel met Prince Ferdinando de’ Medici, son of the Grand Duke of Tuscany, who invited Handel to visit Italy, and particularly Florence. According to Mainwaring, Handel resolved to go ‘as soon as he could make a purse for that occasion’, and his first visit took place during the Autumn of 1706, with the principal aim of gaining experience of Italian opera. His first Italian opera, Rodrigo, was produced at the Academia degli Infuocati in October 1707, and was greeted with much pleasure by the Grand Duke. Handel also visited Rome, and his excellent management of patronage found him the favours of three more noblemen, Cardinal Pietro Ottoboni (at whose palace Il trionfo del Tempo e del Disinganno was probably first performed), Cardinal Carlo Colonna and, most important of all, Marquis Francesco Ruspoli. Handel’s compositions for Ruspoli included eight or more cantatas, three Latin motets and the oratorio La Resurrezione, staged (in April 1708) in all but name as a spectacular opera. The previous year, again in Rome, had seen the large-scale Latin church compositions Dixit Dominus, Laudate pueri and Nisi Dominus, perhaps for the Carmelite Vespers. In Rome, too, he met the influential priest, composer and diplomat Agostino Steffani, and in Venice he made the acquaintance of Domenico Scarlatti (there followed the famous keyboard contest at Ottoboni’s palace) and Cardinal Vincenzo Grimani, owner of the S Giovanni Grisostomo theatre, who wrote the libretto of Agrippina.
Mainwaring records that ‘besides Sonatas and other Music’ Handel wrote 150 cantatas in Rome, and certainly about 120 survive. But often forgotten among the ‘other music’ from that time are fifteen Italian chamber duets and two trios, composed most probably for the drawing rooms of Italian aristocrats, with Handel himself at the keyboard. Though often more intimate in mood, the duets frequently differ little in content from many scenes in the operas, and time and time again we come across music which ultimately found a more familiar place, whether consciously or not, in many of Handel’s major operas and oratorios. The Italian duets were composed in three batches. The first three duets were written in Italy prior to 1710, and a second, larger batch was copied in Hanover around 1711, though probably composed before then. This second group shows the influence of Steffani, whom Handel evidently used as a model. Why Handel then returned to the form thirty years later is not clear, but between 1741 and 1745 he produced another seven duets. Here too, as with the earlier examples, we find their material reused in major oratorios.
Of the twenty-one duets, six are for two sopranos, three for soprano and bass, one for soprano and tenor, one for two altos, and ten are for soprano and alto. In addition there are three trios for two sopranos and bass. Of the duets for soprano and alto, all seven from the earlier period are recorded here, together with two of the later examples. The duets justify their place in the repertoire for purely musical reasons, but for the Handelian detective they provide an added bonus: one can spend many hours tracing themes heard in the duets through to their final, often illustrious, destinations. Indeed, the sheer number of these recycled themes suggest that Handel liked what he had written, for he was always quick to reuse a good tune.
Tanti strali al sen mi scocchi was completed by 1710–11, and demonstrates a whole range of Handel’s vocal writing, from the virtuoso da capo first movement, through the suspensions of the slow middle section to the brilliant fugal movement (later used in Solomon for ‘Take him all’) which concludes the duet.
A mirarvi io son intento, too, dates from the same time, and opens with a theme that reappeared two years later in the ‘Utrecht’ Jubilate as ‘Be ye sure that the Lord he is God’, itself then arranged as the ‘Chandos’ Jubilate. The slow middle section formed the basis in 1735 for the final chorus of Alcina, and the final fugal section suggests that Handel’s original singers were blessed with outstanding techniques.
Troppo cruda also requires singers with strong technique, and, in its four movements, is conceived on a larger scale. The passagework of the imitative second movement requires nimble voices, and notable too are the long harmonic sequences of the slow section ‘Infiammate saettate’, and the sighing word-setting of ‘sospirar’ in the closing movement...
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