April 30, 2018.Alessandro Scarlatti and Marcel Dupré.We love Alessandro Scarlatti: he was аcomposer of great talent and these days is clearly underappreciated.Yes, things are changing, and baroque opera is being staged more often.And of course, the great Cecilia Bartoli did much to popularize some of his music, as well as the new generation of counter-tenors, Philippe Jaroussky among them.Still, we’d like to hear much more of Alessandro’s music, instead of the standard ration dispersed by the classical music radio stations.Alessandro Scarlatti was born in Palermo, on May 2nd of 1660.Here’s what we wrote about him a year ago, so let’s just listen to a couple of his pieces.In addition to operas, Scarlatti wrote a number of oratorios.Musicologists view these oratorios as a substitute for opera; most of Scarlatti’s oratorios were composed in Rome where the Pope was strongly opposed to opera performances.We’ll hear two excerpts from the oratorio Il Sedecia, re di Gerusalemme.It was written in Rome in 1705.Scarlatti was living in Rome since 1702.It was his second visit to the city (he first arrived in Rome at the age of 12 with his family and stayed there for 10 years before moving to Naples).Even though he was under the patronage of Cardinal Ottoboni, Scarlatti wasn’t employed by him directly; instead, he would serve, usually for a short time before being fired, as maestro di cappella at different churches.Eventually Ottoboni made the unhappy Scarlatti one of his “ministers,” but even that didn’t last long as a year later Ottoboni replaced him with Arcangelo Corelli. Operas, Scarlatti’s favorite genre, were virtually prohibited by Pope Clement XI.Scarlatti wrote five operas for Ferdinando de' Medici, then the Grand Prince of Florence but that relationship also ended rather soon, as Ferdinando decided that he likes Giacomo Antonio Perti’s operas better.
In this recording of the duet Caro figlio from Il Sedecia, Anna, the wife of the King Zedekiah (Sedecia), a soprano role, is sung by Virginie Pochon and Ismaele, her son, – by the countertenor Philippe Jaroussky.Notice that his part often lies above the soprano’s.And from the same oratorio, here is Isamele’s aria Caldo sangue, except that in this recording it’s performed by Cecilia Bartoli.Two wonderful, if very different, interpretations.
Marcel Dupré, the French organist and composer, was born on May 3rd of 1886 in Rouen.His father was an organist and a friend of Aristide Cavaillé-Colli, the greatest French organ-maker of the time (organs by Cavaillé-Colli still perform in scores of French churches, starting from the Notre Dame de Paris, Saint-Sulpice, Sainte-Trinité and Sacré-Cœur in Paris to numerous churches and concert halls across Europe and South America, for example, in the Great Hall of the Moscow Conservatory).Dupré entered the Paris Conservatory in 1904, where he studied with famous organ players and composers such Charles-Marie Widor and Louis Vierne.A professor of organ performance at the Paris Conservatory since 1926, in 1934 he succeeded Vidor as the organist at the church of Saint-Sulpice, whose Great Organ is widely considered the best instrument ever built by Cavaillé-Colli.Here’s Dupré’s Prelude and Fugue, Op. 7 no. 3 in G minor.It’s performed byJulian Bewig on a modern instrument, an organ built in 2003 by the firm Fischer & Krämer for the church of St. Marien in Emsdetten, Germany.
Alessandro Scarlatti and Marcel Dupré, 2018
April 30, 2018. Alessandro Scarlatti and Marcel Dupré. We love Alessandro Scarlatti: he was аcomposer of great talent and these days is clearly underappreciated. Yes, things are changing, and baroque opera is being staged more often. And of course, the great Cecilia Bartoli did much to popularize some of his music, as well as the new generation of counter-tenors, Philippe Jaroussky among them..jpg "Alessandro Scarlatti, by Lorenzo Vaccaro, c. 1770")
Still, we’d like to hear much more of Alessandro’s music, instead of the standard ration dispersed by the classical music radio stations. Alessandro Scarlatti was born in Palermo, on May 2nd of 1660. Here’s what we wrote about him a year ago, so let’s just listen to a couple of his pieces. In addition to operas, Scarlatti wrote a number of oratorios. Musicologists view these oratorios as a substitute for opera; most of Scarlatti’s oratorios were composed in Rome where the Pope was strongly opposed to opera performances. We’ll hear two excerpts from the oratorio Il Sedecia, re di Gerusalemme. It was written in Rome in 1705. Scarlatti was living in Rome since 1702. It was his second visit to the city (he first arrived in Rome at the age of 12 with his family and stayed there for 10 years before moving to Naples). Even though he was under the patronage of Cardinal Ottoboni, Scarlatti wasn’t employed by him directly; instead, he would serve, usually for a short time before being fired, as maestro di cappella at different churches. Eventually Ottoboni made the unhappy Scarlatti one of his “ministers,” but even that didn’t last long as a year later Ottoboni replaced him with Arcangelo Corelli. Operas, Scarlatti’s favorite genre, were virtually prohibited by Pope Clement XI. Scarlatti wrote five operas for Ferdinando de' Medici, then the Grand Prince of Florence but that relationship also ended rather soon, as Ferdinando decided that he likes Giacomo Antonio Perti’s operas better.
In this recording of the duet Caro figlio from Il Sedecia, Anna, the wife of the King Zedekiah (Sedecia), a soprano role, is sung by Virginie Pochon and Ismaele, her son, – by the countertenor Philippe Jaroussky. Notice that his part often lies above the soprano’s. And from the same oratorio, here is Isamele’s aria Caldo sangue, except that in this recording it’s performed by Cecilia Bartoli. Two wonderful, if very different, interpretations.
Marcel Dupré, the French organist and composer, was born on May 3rd of 1886 in Rouen. His father was an organist and a friend of Aristide Cavaillé-Colli, the greatest French organ-maker of the time (organs by Cavaillé-Colli still perform in scores of French churches, starting from the Notre Dame de Paris, Saint-Sulpice, Sainte-Trinité and Sacré-Cœur in Paris to numerous churches and concert halls across Europe and South America, for example, in the Great Hall of the Moscow Conservatory). Dupré entered the Paris Conservatory in 1904, where he studied with famous organ players and composers such Charles-Marie Widor and Louis Vierne. A professor of organ performance at the Paris Conservatory since 1926, in 1934 he succeeded Vidor as the organist at the church of Saint-Sulpice, whose Great Organ is widely considered the best instrument ever built by Cavaillé-Colli. Here’s Dupré’s Prelude and Fugue, Op. 7 no. 3 in G minor. It’s performed byJulian Bewig on a modern instrument, an organ built in 2003 by the firm Fischer & Krämer for the church of St. Marien in Emsdetten, Germany.