October 31, 2016.Bellini and Sweelinck.Vincenzo Bellini was born on October 3rd of 1801 in Catania, Sicily.We don’t write about opera composers very often, opera being a stepchild at Classical Connect; the reasons are purely technical, we do love a good opera.Even though Bellini lived for just 33 years he managed to create several masterpieces that belong to the pantheon of operatic art and have been continuously performed throughout the past 200 years.It’s interesting to note that at the beginning of the 19th century, before Rossini, Bellini and Donizetti produced their major works, Italian opera and composing in general, were not doing well.Opera was born in Italy, and for a century (the 17th, to be exact) Italians were by far the major innovators, even if we consider the talents of Lully, an Italian working in France, and Rameau, the first truly French opera composer.Things changed with George Frideric Handel, a German who absorbed the Italian tradition of Opera Seria and became (in England, of all the places) the major opera composer of his generation.Things shifted to Germany completely by the mid-18th century, with Gluck and especially, Mozart, producing masterpieces above anything else written in the genre.So, when in 1813, Rossini came up with his first major success, L'italiana in Algeri, and then, three years later, created Il barbiere di Siviglia, that ended a drought that lasted for almost 100 years.And in the following 20 years, between the three of them, Rossini, Donizetti and Bellini changed opera completely, producing works that sustain it even today.Bellini was the youngest of the three and his life was the shortest but his contributions were great: Il pirate in 1827, I Capuleti e i Montecchi in1830, La sonnambula a year later, then, in the same 1831, the great Norma and finally I puritani, written in 1835 and premiered in Paris just months before Bellini’s death.In our library we have several Bellini samples but none from Il Pirata. It was written while Bellini was living Milan; the La Scala premier was a great success. Here’s the final scene.Maria Callas is Imogene; the recoding was made in 1958 when Callas was past her absolute prime.Still this is better than anything we can hear being performed these days. The Philharmonia orchestra is led by Nicola Rescigno.
Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck is a Renaissance Dutch composer we’ve never written about, the only excuse being that we don’t know his birthday.Sweelinck was born in Deventer in 1562.Soon after, his family moved to Amsterdam where his father, Pieter, became an organist at Aude Kerk (Old Church), Amsterdam’s oldest building located in what is now Amsterdam’s red-light district.The church has the largest wooden vault in Europe, which creates wonderful acoustics.Pieter died in 1577 and the 15-year old Jan Pieterszoon took his place.He served as the organist at Aude Kerk for the rest of his uneventful life.Sweelinck had many pupils, who eventually became influential organists in the Netherlands and northern Germany.Even though he never travelled to Italy (one of the few major composers not to have done so) or anywhere else, he was clearly familiar with the contemporary Italian and English music. Sweelinck was famous for his improvisations: foreigners were brought to his church to hear him play.Sweelinck wrote many keyboard compositions, none of which, were printed during his lifetime.What was published in large numbers were his choral works.Curiously, none of the text are in Dutch – all are set in French.Here, for example, are his setting of Psalm 150 (Or soit loué l'Eternel) and Psalm 53 (Le fol malin).Both are performed by the Netherlands Chamber Choir under the direction of Peter Phillips.
Bellini and Sweelinck, 2016
October 31, 2016. Bellini and Sweelinck. Vincenzo Bellini was born on October 3rd of 1801 in Catania, Sicily. We don’t write about opera composers very often, opera being a stepchild at Classical Connect;
the reasons are purely technical, we do love a good opera. Even though Bellini lived for just 33 years he managed to create several masterpieces that belong to the pantheon of operatic art and have been continuously performed throughout the past 200 years. It’s interesting to note that at the beginning of the 19th century, before Rossini, Bellini and Donizetti produced their major works, Italian opera and composing in general, were not doing well. Opera was born in Italy, and for a century (the 17th, to be exact) Italians were by far the major innovators, even if we consider the talents of Lully, an Italian working in France, and Rameau, the first truly French opera composer. Things changed with George Frideric Handel, a German who absorbed the Italian tradition of Opera Seria and became (in England, of all the places) the major opera composer of his generation. Things shifted to Germany completely by the mid-18th century, with Gluck and especially, Mozart, producing masterpieces above anything else written in the genre. So, when in 1813, Rossini came up with his first major success, L'italiana in Algeri, and then, three years later, created Il barbiere di Siviglia, that ended a drought that lasted for almost 100 years. And in the following 20 years, between the three of them, Rossini, Donizetti and Bellini changed opera completely, producing works that sustain it even today. Bellini was the youngest of the three and his life was the shortest but his contributions were great: Il pirate in 1827, I Capuleti e i Montecchi in1830, La sonnambula a year later, then, in the same 1831, the great Norma and finally I puritani, written in 1835 and premiered in Paris just months before Bellini’s death. In our library we have several Bellini samples but none from Il Pirata. It was written while Bellini was living Milan; the La Scala premier was a great success. Here’s the final scene. Maria Callas is Imogene; the recoding was made in 1958 when Callas was past her absolute prime. Still this is better than anything we can hear being performed these days. The Philharmonia orchestra is led by Nicola Rescigno.
Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck is a Renaissance Dutch composer we’ve never written about, the only excuse being that we don’t know his birthday. Sweelinck was born in Deventer in 1562. Soon after, his family moved to Amsterdam where his father, Pieter, became an organist at Aude Kerk (Old Church), Amsterdam’s oldest building located in what is now Amsterdam’s red-light district. The church has the largest wooden vault in Europe, which creates wonderful acoustics. Pieter died in 1577 and the 15-year old Jan Pieterszoon took his place. He served as the organist at Aude Kerk for the rest of his uneventful life. Sweelinck had many pupils, who eventually became influential organists in the Netherlands and northern Germany. Even though he never travelled to Italy (one of the few major composers not to have done so) or anywhere else, he was clearly familiar with the contemporary Italian and English music. Sweelinck was famous for his improvisations: foreigners were brought to his church to hear him play. Sweelinck wrote many keyboard compositions, none of which, were printed during his lifetime. What was published in large numbers were his choral works. Curiously, none of the text are in Dutch – all are set in French. Here, for example, are his setting of Psalm 150 (Or soit loué l'Eternel) and Psalm 53 (Le fol malin). Both are performed by the Netherlands Chamber Choir under the direction of Peter Phillips.