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Benedetto MARCELLO (1686 - 1739): "Amanti - Cantatas for bass"

Sergio Foresti, baritone
Ensemble Due Venti

rec: Sept 12 - Oct 1, 2020, Cortaccia, Kulturhaus Kurtatsch
Challenge Classics - CC72894 (© 2022) (72'38")
Liner-notes: E/D/F/IT; lyrics - translations: E/D/F
Cover, track-list & booklet
Spotify

Che io viva in tante pene; Lungi, speranze; Poiché fato inumano; Quanta pietà mi fate; Udite, amanti

Agnieszka Oszanca, cello; Simone Vallerotonda, archlute; Alessandro Trapasso, harpsichord

Benedetto Marcello is a composer who is pretty well-known by name, but whose music seldom appears on programmes of concerts. His music is well represented on disc, but the interest in his music is a little one-sided, as in particular his recorder sonatas and Psalm settings on Italian texts are recorded. His contributions to the genre of the secular cantata are not very well-known. That is a little surprising, given that he was one of the most prolific composers of such works. Alessandro Scarlatti was undoubtedly the most productive cantata composer, as he left almost 800 pieces of this kind, but with over 300 cantatas Marcello was probably the second in line as far as the number of works is concerned. That is even more likely if we realize that a large part of his oeuvre may have been lost.

Marcello was of aristocratic origin, which means that he was not - and could not be - active as a professional composer. He was what was known as a nobile dilettante. He was critical about the musical fashions in his time, especially with regard to ornamentation, which he considered often excessive. In some ways one can see him as a forerunner of the likes of Gluck and Tartini who aimed at more 'naturalness' in music. In 1720 he published - anonymously - the treatise Il teatro alla moda in which he sharply criticised the 'bad habits' in contemporary theatre. His mother was an artist and a poet. It was perhaps under her influence that Marcello valued the poetic use of words very highly. It is likely that the texts of a number of his cantatas were written by Marcello himself. In 1718 he published a collection of sonnets.

The model of the cantata was laid down by Alessandro Scarlatti. The basic scoring was for solo voice and basso continuo, and a cantata usually consisted of two pairs of recitative and aria. Composers, including Scarlatti himself, sometimes deviated from this model, for instance by extending the number of recitatives or arias, adding an instrumental sinfonia as introduction, or by adding one or two melody instruments. In the cantatas performed on the disc under review, Marcello sticks to the basic form. All the cantatas have the same structure: recitative, aria, recitative, aria. In one respect they are rather unusual: they are scored for bass. In the baroque era, composers and audiences had a preference for high voices: soprano and alto, and especially embodied by castratos. The main roles in operas and oratorios were always scored for high voices. Marcello seems to have had a predilection for the low male voice. The cantatas on the present disc were very likely conceived for bass, with one exception. In some larger-scale works he also wrote some notable roles for the bass voice. It is notable that he requires a singer with a wide tessitura, and treats this voice the same way as other composers high voices, for instance with regard to agility and technical virtuosity.

The texts don't offer any surprises. They are about love, like nearly every baroque chamber cantata. They bring the listener into Arcadia, the imaginary world of shepherds and nymphs that was the ideal of the aristocracy. One could this probably see as a kind of escapism, given the trials and tribulations of everyday life. The Arcadian world is not free from them, but they are not real, and therefore more easily to digest. The feelings of the unhappy lover or the lover who is separated from his beloved, are often exaggerated. Even expressions of unhappiness in love could be enjoyed, and may not have caused any unhappiness among the audience. One could the expression in such cantatas compare with the melancholy in England at the time of Dowland: fashionable, but not a reflexion of real life.

In Udite, amanti, the protagonists addresses lovers in general. Right at the start Phyllis turns up, one of the best-known characters in Arcadian texts. In the first aria the vocal part spans more than an octave. The second aria is a passepied, and includes long coloraturas. It goes as far as saying: "[Let] death give me the mercy to overcome the cruel barbarity of evil fate." Phyllis is the subject of Che io viva in tante pene as well. Here the lover is separated from his beloved Phyllis, which has raised feelings of jealousy. One of the means of expression that Marcello uses, is harmony, for instance in the first recitative. "The first recitative experiments with a continuous enharmonic transformation, from D flat to C sharp. This means that to highlight the torment felt by a jealous lover, there are subtle changes in the tonal keys in which the instruments play." (booklet) The second aria includes wide leaps.

Quanta pietà mi fate is the only cantata included here which may not have been conceived as a work for bass; in some copies it is scored for alto. One copy attributes the text to Marcello. In many cantatas images from nature, such as flowers, birds or weather conditions, are used to express feelings or a particular situation. In this case the protagonist expresses pity for flowers: "When from you is taken the sweet mood of the gracious Dawn, I see the lively spirit of the leaves die in you (...)". In the second recitative the comparison between the flowers and the protagonist is explained: like the flowers lose "Dawn and wither, miserable me, I lose Irene, and with her my beloved, my consolation (...)". In the first aria Marcello writes intervals of a seventh, whereas the last aria has to be sung in a very slow tempo.

Lungi, speranze is about infidelity, and again the subject of the protagonist's love is Phyllis. In the first recitative he calls her a "liar and deceiver". In the aria he expresses his anger: "In my heart let rage enter and love leave". In the second aria he says that his love is fading away, and expresses the hope that "she someday will go crazy, despised by a just fury". In this aria Marcello uses chromaticism to depict the protagonist's feelings.

Poiché fato inumano is about the separation of two lovers. The pain of the protagonist "has hastened the moment of my death". The first aria is written in saccadé rhythm (in which the second of two notes under a slur is sharply accented) and includes quite some coloratura. In the virtuosic closing aria, the protagonist uses the image of a rock to depict his fidelity.

Whereas the subject matter of these cantatas is entirely conventional, the fact that they are written for a bass voice makes them stand out. And, as has been mentioned before, Marcello treats the bass voice not any different from the way high voices were treated by other composers. In recent years Sergio Foresti has made several recordings with baroque repertoire, among them arias by Porpora and cantatas by Caldara. It suits him very well, as he shows here once again. His voice is not that powerful, but agile and flexible, which makes it perfectly suited to perform chamber cantatas. Technically his performances are immaculate, and in the realm of interpretation he hits the nail on the head in every piece. The Ensemble Due Venti is his perfect partner in the realization of the basso continuo.

Marcello's cantatas are not that often performed, and therefore this disc is an important addition to the catalogue. It is to be hoped that this part of his oeuvre is more thoroughly explored.

Johan van Veen (© 2024)

Relevant links:

Ensemble Due Venti


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