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Giovanni LEGRENZI (1626 - 1690): Vocal and instrumental music

[I] "Canto & Basso - Vocal & instrumental music"
Isabella Di Pietro, contraltoa; Roberto Rilievi, tenorb
Ensemble Zenit
rec: Sept 2018, Provaglio d'Iseo (Brescia), Monastero di San Pietro in Lamosa
Brilliant Classics - 96006 (© 2019) (57'45")
Liner-notes: E/IT; no lyrics
Cover, track-list & booklet
Spotify

Luigi BATTIFERI (1600-1682): Ricercare VI, con sue soggettic [4]; Giovanni Paolo COLONNA (1637-1695): Sonata VII del Colonna di Bolognac [6]; Giovanni LEGRENZI: Albescite flores a 4ab [2]; Ave Regina coelorum a 2a [3]; Hodie colletantur coeli a 2b [2]; Plaudite vocibus [4]; Sonata La Donata à 2 [1]; Sonata La Foscari à 2 [1]; Sonata La Colloreta à 2 [1]; Suspiro Domine [5]; Tarquinio MERULA (1595-1665): Canzon di Tarquinio Merulac; Carlo Francesco POLLAROLO (1653-1723): Sonata II del Pollaroli di Veneziac [6]

Giovanni Legrenzi, [1] Sonate a due, a tre, op. 2, 1655; [2] Harmonia d'affetti devoti, op. 3, 1655; [3] Sentimenti devoti, op. 6, 1660; [4] Luigi Battiferi, Ricercari a quattro, a cinque, e a sei, con 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 soggetti sonabili, op. 3, 1669; [5] Giovanni Legrenzi, Acclamationi divote a voce sola, op. 10, 1670; [6] Giulio Cesare Arresti, Sonate da organo di varii autori, 1697

Pietro Modesti, cornett; Fabio De Cataldo, sackbut; Gilberto Scordari, organ (soloc)

[II] "Compiete, Op. 7 - Prayers at the End of the Day"
Nova Ars Cantandi; Ivana Valotti, organ
Dir: Giovanni Acciai
rec: april 23 - 25, 2018, Mantua, Basilica Palatina di Santa Barbara
Naxos - 8.579086 (© 2020) (58'54")
Liner-notes: E; lyrics - translations: E
Cover, track-list & booklet
Spotify

Compiete con le lettanie et antifone della B.V. a 5, op. 7

Alessandro Carmignani, soprano; Andrea Arrivabene, alto; Massimo Altieri, Gianluca Ferrarini, tenor; Marcello Vargetto, bass

Scores

Giovanni Legrenzi was one of the most important composers in Italy in the second half of the 17th century. He played a crucial role in the development of instrumental music and is the link between the canzonas by composers of the 17th century and the sonatas which were written in the 18th. In particular his collection of sixteen sonatas, published in 1673 as his Op. 10 under the title of La Cetra has received quite some attention. These sonatas regularly appear in concert programmes and recorded anthologies. His eighteen sontas Op. 2, some of which are performed on the first disc under review here, have also been recorded. However, a large part of his considerable output has been overlooked, and that goes in particular for his vocal music.

Legrenzi came from a relatively humble background: he was born in the village of Clusone, near Bergamo, where his father was violinist at the parish church. His first post was that of organist at S Maria Maggiore in Bergamo where he restored the city to its former glory as music centre, which had fallen apart after the death of Alessandro Grandi during the plague of 1630. He left Bergamo in 1655 and became maestro di cappella in Ferrara the next year. By 1670 Legrenzi was living in Venice, where he worked at several ospedali. In 1681 he was appointed vicemaestro di cappella at St Mark's, and in 1685 he became maestro di cappella. During Legrenzi's years at San Marco the choir and the instrumental ensemble attained their largest recorded size.

The Brilliant Classics disc includes vocal and instrumental music. However, the focus is Legrenzi's instrumental output: only three items are performed vocally, two of the motets included in the programme receive an instrumental performance. The thread of the programme is the Op. 2, which I already mentioned in the first paragraph. It was Legrenzi's first printed edition of instrumental music, and was published in Venice. At that time, Legrenzi was working in Bergamo. The title-page says Sonate a due e tre, which leaves open the choice of instruments. However, the upper parts specifically mention the violin. The performers see reasons to play some of them on cornett and sackbut. The ensemble's organist, Gilberto Scordari, in his liner-notes, states: "The three sonatas featured in this recording (...) reveal remarkable thematic connections with the entire repertoire that a few decades earlier was played on trombones and cornets (Castello, Cima, Fontana)." However, in one sonata from the collection Legrenzi uses the technique of pizzicato, which can only be realized on a string instrument. Do we have to assume that these sonatas are intended for different combinations of instruments? That said, composers were usually rather pragmatic with regard to the line-up in performances of their compositions.

Two solo motets are performed instrumentally: Plaudite vocibus is played on the cornett, Suspiro Domino on the sackbut. The former is scored for tenor, which means that the cornett has to play it an octave higher. The latter is for baritone, which is within the range of the sackbut. I have some doubts about the decision to perform motets instrumentally. In the 16th and early 17th centuries, it was common practice for vocal parts to be performed by instruments, but that mostly concerned music for an ensemble in the stile antico. Solo motets are rooted in the concertato style, in which the text is of prime importance. Obviously, the text is completely ignored in an instrumental performance.

The same goes for the motets for two and four voices respectively. Hodie colletantur (not collentatur as the track-list has it) is for two treble voices and basso continuo, but is performed here by tenor and trombone. This way, the particular character of a duet of two equal voices is lost. Ave Regina coelorum is for soprano and alto and performed here by cornett and contralto. Apart from the loss of its character as a duet, the fact that the lower part is sung and the cornett produces a rather penetrating sound, does not make it any easier to understand the text. The fact that the booklet omits the lyrics does not help. The last item is for four voices, and here we have the same problem: the upper and lowest parts are played by cornett and sackbut respectively, and the inner voices are sung. A performance in which the two upper voices would be sung and the two lower voices would be taken by instruments, would have been less of a problem.

The programme is extended by four organ pieces. It is documented that Legrenzi did compose keyboard works, none of them have been preserved. The four pieces by contemporaries document the four cities where Legrenzi has been working: Bergamo, Ferrara, Bologna and Venice. They are played at the reconstruction of a renaissance organ at the Monastery of San Pietro in Lamosa. It is a very fine instrument, which also plays a substantial role in the vocal and instrumental works.

I have made some quite critical remarks with regard to the line-up in most of the pieces performed here. Fortunately, there is nothing wrong with the performances. On the contrary, the playing of cornett, sackbut and organ is first class, and the two singers also deliver excellent performances. The music included here does make one want to hear more, and hope that the rest of Legrenzi's oeuvre will be thoroughly researched and made available on disc.

The second disc is a step in the right direction. With his ensemble Nova Ars Cantandi, Giovanni Acciai recorded the Compiete con le lettanie & antifone della B. V. à 5 voci, printed in Venice in 1662 as Legrenzi's Op. 7. It is one of ten collections of sacred music published between 1654 and 1692. In addition a considerable number of sacred works have been preserved in manuscript. It bears witness to the importance of sacred music in Legrenzi's oeuvre, and makes it all the more surprising that this part of his output has received so little attention.

The collection as such is remarkable as it seems no other composer has published anything like it. Acciai, in his liner-notes, points out that there is a striking contrast between the curiosity of this collection and the frequent Mass and Vesper settings. In order to understand what this collection is about, it is necessary to know which place the Complines (Compiete) have in the liturgy of the Roman Catholic Church. The booklet says: "Compieta (in English 'Compline', derived from Ad Completorium - 'completion') represents the final part of the Divine Office. It is the collection of prayers that, from the first half of the 6th century - with the introduction of St Benedict's Regola Monasteriorum - monks (and later also priests) in the Roman church intoned over the course of the day. (...) Compline constitutes the final moment of prayer in the monastic or secular day. It is recited before the day ends, and the monks or priests retire for the night to rest (Ad Completorium). With the exception of the Marian antiphons and the Litanies that sometimes accompany it, Compline is the one hour of the Divine Office that never changes during the liturgical year."

At the time of publication, Legrenzi worked in Ferrara, where he in 1656 had been appointed maestro di cappella of the Accademia dello Spirito Santo at Ferrara, an institution devoted to the performance of sacred music and oratorios. There he also composed his first operas to librettos from the pen of Marchese Ippolito Bentivoglio, who was not only involved in the affairs of the Accademia, but also became a lifelong patron and friend of Legrenzi. Their ties continued after the composer's departure in 1665. Bentivoglio was also the dedicatee of the Compiete. Acciai states that Legrenzi was still in the early phase of his career and undoubtedly wanted to make a name for himself with this collection and the dedication to such an important and influential figure.

All the pieces are scored for five voices and basso continuo. They are rooted in the concertato style, which had emerged in the early 17th century. Within each piece, passages for the entire ensemble and solo episodes alternate. The writing for the voices is based on the monodic principle, meaning that the text and its emotional meaning is in the centre. That comes especially to the fore in the solo episodes, for instance in their declamatory character. However, in the course of the 17th century, more lyrical episodes had been introduced into vocal music, something we notice in the operas of Cavalli. Such elements are included here as well. There is no lack of text expression. Examples are the rising figure at the opening of Cum invocarem, a setting of Psalm 4: "Hear me, when I call, O God". In the same piece, the word "clamavero" ( I call [upon the Lord]) is illustrated by coloratura. This psalm is followed by another one, Psalm 31, In te, Domine, speravi, in which the word "non" (non confundar in aeterno - let me never be ashamed) is repeated several times in all the voices. At the close of Alma redemptoris mater, dissonances illustrate the text "Ave, peccatorum miserere" (Have mercy on sinners).

The collection comprises fifteen pieces in total. In addition to six psalms (either complete or selected verses), it includes four of the five Marian antiphons: Alma redemptoris mater, Ave regina coelorum, Regina caeli laetare and Salve Regina. They are sung at the end of the Complines, and are immediately preceded by the Litaniae Beatae Mariae Virginis. Composers often split the ensemble into two groups, singing the invocations or supplications and the responses (ora pro nobis) respectively. Legrenzi does not follow this practice. The Litaniae are preceded by the Canticum Simeonis (Nunc dimittis). Antiphonal elements are represented by the Responsorium breve (In manus tuas, Domine); the cycle also opens with such pieces (Collatio, Benedictio, Lectio brevis). The hymn is Te lucis ante terminum.

This is a highly fascinating collection of music, which I first heard some time ago in a live performance (by another ensemble), covered by Belgian radio. It made quite an impression then, and this recording confirms my assessment of this collection of liturgical pieces and of the quality of Legrenzi as a composer of vocal music. The performance released by Naxos leaves little to be desired. Overal, the singing is excellent, and the five singers show their command of the monodic style in their declamatory approach. In the tutti episodes, their voices blend very well. The only issue is the voice of Alessandro Carmignani, who sings in the soprano range. He does so admirably well, but his voice tends to dominate the ensemble. His diction is better than in earlier recordings I have heard, but still I wonder whether a female soprano would have been a better choice (even though, as a matter of principle for historical reasons, I am in favour of all-male performances). The top-notes also don't always sound very comfortable.

However, on balance that is a minor issue, which should withhold nobody from purchasing this disc, which includes almost an hour of wonderful music. Once again, it only whets the appetite for more Legrenzi.

Johan van Veen (© 2021)

Relevant links:

Ensemble Zenit
Nova Ars Cantandi


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