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Giuseppe Sarti (1729-1802), known as Il
Domenichino, was one of the most famous composers of his period. He
served as director of the Italian opera at Copenhagen, later attained
the position of maestro di cappella at the Milan Cathedral as the reward
for his victory in a competition over the leading musicians of Italy,
and subsequently worked in St. Petersburg where he raised -the Italian
opera to an hitherto unparalleled state of excellence. The Lungi dal
caro bene (For from my love I languish) is a lovely example of his
style.
G. F. Handel (1685-1759) and G. B. Buononcini (c. 1672- c. 1750) were
for a period rivals for the favor of the London public. Handel had been
engaged for some time in an attempt to establish Italian opera in
London. His efforts met with a success sufficient to excite the envy of
Buononcini who had come by invitation to London to try his luck in the
same field. The controversy which arose over the relative merits of the
rival composers encompassed the whole of musical London, both the public
and the performers, and continued year in and year out with little sign
of abatement. It is worth knowing that Handel finally won out not only
through the superiority of his operas (which the London public was not
always quick to appreciate) , but also through the fact that Buononcini
resorted to a plagiarism which was publicly exposed.
Pupille nere is, notwithstanding, one of Buononcini's finer
compositions.
The Handel Alma mia from his opera Floridante was composed in 1721 at
the beginning of his rivalry with Buononcini.
Alessandro Scarlatti (1659-1725) is known as the founder of the
Neopolitan school in music. His work exerted a direct influence upon
subsequent operatic composers, particularly his use of the da capo aria
which was widely imitated. He composed no less than 115 operas; he is
said to have written over 200 masses in addition to a considerable
amount of sacred music of other varieties; his cantatas are numbered by
Dent up to 600; and the prodigious quantity of instrumental music which
he left behind includes 12 symphonies (concerti) for small orchestra. He
is the father of Domenico Scarlatti.
The Chi vuole innamorarsi is a lovely canzonetta in which the man who
would turn lover is advised to consider the matter carefully, for "it is
not an easy matter to have a wounded heart."
Giovanni Legrenzi (1626-1690) is particularly famous for his operas (18
in all) which constituted a step forward over the methods of his
predecessors. His best known operas are Achille in Sciro, La divisione
del mondo, I due Cesari, and his last opera Pertinace. Legrenzi's music
was known and admired by both Bach and Handel. Bach used one of his
melodies as the basis of an organ fugue in C minor. Handel used a
portion of Legrenzi's motet Intret in conspectu in his Samson.
The Che fiero costume is taken from Legrenzi's opera Eteocle and
Polinice. Its text in part follows. What strange whim pursuing, when for
our undoing Blind Cupid thro' torments our love doth compel.
Giuseppe Giordani (c. 1744-1798), famous as a teacher and as a composer,
has to his credit a considerable amount of vocal and instrumental music.
Of the vast amount of vocal music which Giordani composed only the Caro
mio ben is still sung with any degree of frequency. The text of the song
concerns the protestations of a lover who vows to remain faithful in the
absence of his beloved.
Andrea Falconieri, seventeenth century lutenist and composer, was born
in Naples toward the close of the sixteenth century or the opening of
the seventeenth, and died there approximately 1656. His first book of
Villanelle for one, two and three voices appeared in Rome in 1616. One
of his most important productions was his first book of Canzone,
Sinfonie, Fantasie, Capricci for various instrumental ensembles
published in Naples in 1650.
O bellissimi capelli (O locks so beautiful, my sweetest delight) is a
villanella, one of the lighter forms of musical composition which
enjoyed considerable popularity during that period. Both the lyrics and
the musical settings were popular in character and loose in principles
of formal construction.
Giuseppe Torelli (c. 1658-1708) was a composer principally of
instrumental music. His importance in music history is considerable for
he was among the first to compose concertos for violin, and was one of
the first composers to direct his attention to the concerto grosso.
The melody of the aria Tu lo sai has been taken from the collection of
old Italian songs edited by Albert Fuchs and published by Litolff, with
the following dates .under the name of the composer: Giuseppe Torelli
(1650-1703).
The text may be paraphrased as follows: Well do you know the love you
owe to me. I do not beg for other favors, but only that you remember me.
Giovanni Paisiello (1740-1816) was one of the most prolific opera
composers of all time, for there are about one hundred operas to his
credit. His I/ Barbiere di Siviglia (c. 1780) antedated Rossini's famous
opera by the same name by more than three decades. Rossini was roundly
damned as a kind of musical street-gamin irreverently hurling stones at
the statue of a saint for his audacity in . presenting an opera upon a
subject which the venerated Paisiello had already treated so
brilliantly.
Paisiello's Nel cor pił non mi sento (No more my heart is fervent with
youth, though I feel the torments of love) is from his opera La Molinara
which he composed after his return to Naples in 1784.
Claudio Monteverdi (1567-1643) occupies a position of singular
importance in the development of the art of music. He is responsible for
the enlargement of the resources of the orchestra (he was, for example,
the first to make effective use of the string tremolo as an
accompaniment to vocal music). In his operas, his use of the recitative
as a vehicle for dramatic expression constituted a great step beyond the
early efforts of the "stile rappresentativo."
Oblivion soave is from one of his last major works, the opera
L'Incoronazione di Pop pea, first performed in-1642.
The Lasciatemi morire (Let me die; for who can comfort me in such
misfortune) is the famous lament which is the sole surviving fragment of
the opera Arīanna composed in 1608. The libretto was supplied by one of
the finest dramatic poets of the period, Ottavio Rinuccini. The
Lasciatemi morire was later reworked by Monteverdi as a five-part
madrigal and included by him in his sixth book of madrigals (1614) .
Francesco Cavalli (Francesco Caletti-Bruni) (1602 - 1676) was a pupil of
Monteverdi. His dramatic works (forty-one operas) constitute a notable
advance over the methods of his master. Aside from his operas (the most
famous of which are Giasone, Serse, Ercole amante), Cavalli is the
compoeer of much church music of considerable value; in particular, a
Requiem of great beauty.
The Donzelle fuggite is a simple and charming song. Its text we may
paraphrase briefly as follows: Hasten ye maidens to fly from beauty;
beware of its arrows for they come laden with sorrow.
Ezio Pinza, unquestionably one of the greatest bassos of modern times,
was born in Rome. May 18, 1892, the seventh son of a carpenter. Before
entering on his vocal career, Pinza had been a professional bicycle
racer and an artillery captain in World War I. He made his singing debut
at Milan's famous La Scala and was first heard by American audiences
during the 1926-27 season of the Metropolitan, of which he subsequently
became a mainstay. In 1949, Pinza forsook the operatic stage to create
the role of Emile de Becque in Rodgers and Hammer-stein's "South
Pacific." His unparalleled success in both musical milieus is an
undeniable tribute to both his flawless musicianship and enormous
personal magnetism. |
