musica Dei donum
CD reviews
"Dolente partita - Madonne e Maddalena"
Pia Davila, soprano
Ensemble Musica getutscht
Dir: Bernhard Reichel
rec: Jan 24 - 28, 2023, Berlin
Coviello Classics - COV92310 (© 2023) (56'53")
Liner-notes: E/D; lyrics - translations: E/D
Cover & track-list
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Girolamo FRESCOBALDI (1583-1643):
Dopo si lungo error [6];
Maddalena alla croce [6];
Partite sopra la Monica [2];
Giovanni Girolamo KAPSPERGER (1580-1651):
Toccata VIII [8];
Domenico MAZZOCCHI (1592-1665):
Ciacconna: S'io mio parto, ò mio Signore;
Tarquinio MERULA (1595-1665):
Canzonetta sopra la nanna [7];
Claudio MONTEVERDI (1567-1643):
[Lamento della Maddalena] (SV 22);
Salve Regina (SV 327) [5];
Paolo QUAGLIATI (1555-1628):
Aria sopra la Romanesca (O quante volte il dì) [3];
Salomone ROSSI (1570-1630):
Sinfonia II [3];
Sinfonia IX [1];
Sonata I detta la Moderna [1];
Sonata III sopra l'arie della Romanesca [1];
Sonata VIII sopra l'aria È tanto tempo hormai [3];
Giovanni ROVETTA (1596-1668):
O Maria quam pulchra es [5]
Sources:
[1] Salomone Rossi, Il terzo libro de varie sonate, sinfonie, gagliarde, brandi, e corrente Per sonar due Viole da braccio, & un Chittarone, o altro stromento simile, op. 12, 1613;
[2] Girolamo Frescobaldi, Toccate e partite d'intavolatura di cimbalo ... libro primo, 16163;
[3] Paolo Quagliati, Affetti amorosi spirituali, 1617;
[4] Salomone Rossi, Il quarto libro de varie sonate, sinfonie, gagliarde, brandi, e corrente per sonar due violini et un chitarrone o altro stromento, 1622;
[5] Leonardo Simonetti, ed., Ghirlanda sacra scielta da diversi eccellentissimi compositori de varii motetti à voce sola, 1625;
[6] Girolamo Frescobaldi, Primo libro d'arie musicali per cantarsi, 1630;
[7] Tarquinio Merula, Curtio precipitato et altri capricii, libro secondo, op. 13, 1638;
[8] Giovanni Girolamo Kapsperger, Libro quarto d'intavolatura di chitarone, 1640
Claudius Kamp, recorder;
Mechthild Karkow, violin;
Bernhard Reichel, theorbo;
Julius Lorscheider, harpsichord, organ
Since early in the history of the Christian Church the Song of Songs or Song of Solomon, one of the books of the Old Testament, which is about the love of a young man and a young woman, has been given a spiritual interpretation. In the course of time, the young woman was identified with the Virgin Mary, reflecting the growing veneration of the mother of Christ. Texts from the Song of Songs were set to music, and performed either during the liturgy, in para-liturgical events, or outside any liturgical context. The style that emerged in Italy around 1600 was tailor-made for settings of these texts, as they emphasized the importance of affetti - human emotions - to be expressed in the music. This had its effect not only on the way texts from the Song of Songs were set, but also on other texts, such as the Marian antiphons, and texts which were connected to Jesus's passion, seen from Mary's perspective. Both texts and music did not differ fundamentally from secular love songs.
Salve Regina is one of the Marian antiphons; it is sung between the Sunday after Whitsun and Advent. It has been set numerous times in the course of history, and Monteverdi's setting is a perfect example of the use of the stile recitativo for this text.
Giovanni Rovetta is one of many composers who turned to texts from the Song of Songs, but in O Maria quam pulchra es, he explicitly connects the love poetry to the Virgin Mary. He was not the only one. Recently I reviewed a disc which includes some other specimens of this procedure ("Vulnerasti cor meum - Motets from the Song of Songs").
One of the most famous Marian songs of the early 17th century is Tarquinio Merula's Canzonetta spirituale sopra la Nanna. It is a lullaby, and as such part of a large repertoire which was particularly popular in the 17th century, both in sacred and in secular music. For the most part it is based on another common device of that time, the basso ostinato. However, the piece is pervaded by references to Jesus' Passion, and that lends it a unique character. The words are put into the mouth of Mary herself, and that is also the case with one of Monteverdi's most famous works, the Lamento della Madonna, his own contrafactum of the Lamento d'Arianna, from his opera of that name which is now lost. However, what we get here is another contrafactum, one of two (apparently anonymous) in which Mary of Magdalene expresses her sorrow over the Passion and death of Jesus. She is also the subject of Girolamo Frescobaldi's Maddalena alla croce: "At the foot of the Cross, where Jesus was languishing close to death, sighing, Magdalene, helpless, wept in torment".
It is very clear that pieces like these, and also pieces about Mary, often use images that are known from secular love poetry. However, we should not forget that these had an allegorical meaning. Unfortunately, Bernhard Reichel, in his liner-notes, seems to fall for the modern myth that there was a kind of romance between Mary Magdalene and Jesus. He uses the word "Gatte" (German for "husband") to describe what Jesus was for Mary Magdalene. The English translation does not go that far and uses "beloved" instead, which can have a more neutral meaning. Even so, each suggestion that the connection between them was more than spiritual should be avoided, as there is no biblical foundation for a romance between them whatsoever, and that whole idea was completely unfamiliar to the time this music was written.
Secular images were not only used with regard to Mary, but also Jesus. Paolo Quagliati took a sonnet by Giovanni Battista Guarini and turned it into a spiritual aria, again based on a basso ostinato, and included it in his Affetti amorosi spirituali - a telling title which reveals how texts were treated. "O how often each day, Lord, I call you, longing to gaze into your divine eyes". Comparable with this piece is the one that closes the programme, S'io mio parto, ò mio Signore by Domenico Mazzocchi. The liner-notes say that a love song "has been deftly transformed through a few handwritten words", which would make it another contrafactum, but they don't mention whether this was from Mazzocchi's own pen or someone else's.
The vocal items are separated by instrumental pieces, mostly from the oeuvre of Salomone Rossi, who is best-known for his Hebrew Psalms, which he composed for the Mantuan synagogue. However, he also has left a substantial amount of instrumental music, written in the style in vogue in his time. All these sinfonias and sonatas are for two melody instruments and basso continuo.
This is undoubtedly a quite interesting disc. Some pieces are rather well-known, and that goes especially for the piece by Merula, which has been recorded a number of times and also often appears in programmes of music for Advent and Chistmas, and Maddalena alla croce by Frescobaldi. The contrafactum of Monteverdi's Lamento d'Arianna is particularly interesting, and it is disappointing that the lner-notes don't offer more information about it.
I am less impressed by the performances. Pia Davila has a nice voice, but is not a specialist in early music. She does not sing this repertoire badly, but I am missing too much that is essential. The timing is not always right: sometimes she takes too much time, sometimes too little. The performances should be more declamatory, and they are often dynamically too flat. I sorely missed an effective use of the messa di voce, which is a tool used to emphasize particularly emotional parts of the text. She also uses too much vibrato, certainly not all the time, but too often nevertheless.
The instrumental items are played well, but the combination of recorder and violin is one that seems to have been rather uncommon in Italy, in this time but even much later. In the titles of collections of instrumental music from the first half of the 17th century the recorder is seldom specifically mentioned. I wonder how often it was used as a solo instrument. The problem of the combination is also the difference in dynamical capabilities. The recorder at the time was the same as that of the renaissance, with a rather limited dynamic range, whereas the violin was expected to explore its dynamic range to the full. That is not the case here, and therefore the instrumental items are a bit bland.
In short: the programme is interesting, but the performances did not live up to my expectations.
Johan van Veen (© 2025)
Relevant links:
Pia Davila
Musica getutscht