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CD reviews
Gennaro D'ALESSANDRO (1717?-after 1778): "Arie dall'opera Adelaide - Hamburg, 1744"
Francesco Divito, soprano
'Benedetto Marcello' Baroque Ensemble
Dir: Ettore Maria Del Romano
rec: August 2022, Teramo, Convento di S. Domenico (cloister)
Tactus - TC 710401 (© 2024) (77'39")
Liner-notes: E/IT; lyrics - no translations
Cover, track-list & booklet
Spotify
[in order of appearance in opera]
Santo LAPIS (1699-1765):
(I,4) La fronda, che circonda;
Gennaro D'ALESSANDRO:
(I,5) Se per me tu senti amore;
(I,8) Arrida il ciel sereno;
(II,4) Da te lontan, mia vita;
Pietro CHIARINI (1717?-after 1765):
(II,9) Tornerò fra le catene;
Gennaro D'ALESSANDRO:
(II,11) Tuona il cielo e spaventato;
(III,2) T'inganni se speri;
(III,3) Stringer fra lacci un core;
(III,8) Se vive amante un core;
anon:
(III,9) Quel basso vapore
Gennaro D'ALESSANDRO:
Overture à 4 in G
Giulia Bonomi, recorder, bassoon;
Alessandro Ascani, Gianfranco Lupidii, Piergiorgio Troilo, Giuseppe Marcucci, Luca Matani, violin;
Chiara Piersanti, viola;
Alessandro Culiani, cello;
Emiliano Macrini, double bass;
Edoardo Blasetti, theorbo, guitar;
Ettore Maria Del Romano, harpsichord, organ
The Tactus label time and again surprises the music lover with recordings of pieces by unknown composers. One of the latest concerns music by Gennaro d'Alessandro.
D'Alessandro was born in Naples in 1717, where he was a pupil of Leonardo Leo, one of the leading opera composers of his time. At an early age he moved to Venice, where in 1739 he was appointed maestro di coro at the Ospedale della Pietà. It documents the growing influence of the Neapolitan school, which Vivaldi felt in the latest stage of his career. The main reasons for D'Alessandro's appointment was that he was both a virtuosic keyboard player and a singing master. These qualities marked his entire career.
However, he did not stay long in Venice. In 1740 he was dismissed, because he had not handed over all the compositions he had written there, although that was required by the congregation of the Ospedale. There was a reason for that: he had become friends with Germain-Anne Loppin de Montmort, Marquis de La Boulaye, councillor in the Parliament of Bourgogne and amateur harpsichordist and organist and D'Alessandro had set his eyes on working in France. When in September 1740 Germain-Anne returned to Bourgogne, D'Alessandro accompanied him and started to act as his private keyboard teacher.
In France he quickly earned a reputation as a brilliant harpsichordist. In 1743 Germain-Anne and D'Alessandro moved to Paris, where the latter became the harpsichord teacher of Madame de La Pouplinière, much to the dismay of Jean-Philippe Rameau, for many years in the service of her husband. In Paris D'Alessandro became acquainted with some of the leading composers of the time. For the period 1749 to 1768 nothing is known about his whereabouts. It is known that he had planned to move to London, but that did not happen. He returned to Naples instead, where he was engaged to perform at the home of the English ambassador, William Douglas Hamilton, together with the violinist Emanuele Barbella. In 1778 he is mentioned for the last time; the exact year of his death is not known.
D'Alessandro composed one opera, secular cantatas, a serenata, some sacred music and instrumental music. Most of his output is lost. The disc under review includes arias which are taken from his only opera, which had survived into modern times, until the score was destroyed in World War II. They have come down to us via a reworking.
In 1739 Friedrich Christian, son of Augustus III of Poland and hereditary Prince-Elector of Saxony, returned to Dresden from a visit to Naples. On his way he passed Venice, where some entertainments were held in his honour. In December D'Alessandro's opera Ottone was performed. Among the soloists was the tenor Anton Raaff who was at the start of a long career, and whose last role was the title part in Mozart's Idomeneo. After the first performance, the opera was repeated a number of times, each time attended by Friedrich Christian, who praised D'Alessandro's "excellent music". The last performance took place on 31 January 1740.
Arias from the opera soon started to disseminate across Italy and were included in other operas - a very common practice at the time. The story of D'Alessandro's arias landing in an opera with the title Adelaide goes via Pietro Mingotti, an Italian opera impresario who was active in Austria and Germany. One of his specialities was the performance of adaptations of Venetian operas. In several of his productions arias from Ottone were included, and during Carnival season 1744 the entire opera was performed in Prague, partly adapted by Paolo Scalabrini, composer and director of Mingotti's company, with the new title of Adelaide.
Later that year Adelaide was performed again in Leipzig, and then in Hamburg Mingotti organized a series of public concerts, which included arias from the opera. In July of that year the theatrical season of the Oper am Gänsemarkt was opened with a performance of the complete opera. It was twice repeated later in the season.
Friedrich Christian's wife Maria Antonia Walpurgis, herself a singer and composer, owned a copy of Adelaide, which has not been preserved due to World War II. The same goes for an anthology which included seven arias by D'Alessandro. Very little from the rest of his oeuvre has come down to us. That makes the discovery of the arias presented on the present disc all the more important. Only some arias have been preserved with the correct composer and opera; others have been included in operas by others and in pasticcios.
The remaining arias are by composers some of whose arias were included in the performances in Hamburg. Pietro Chiarini was from Brescia and was educated as a keyboard player, but was mainly active as an opera composer. Most of his operas are lost. Santo Lapis was from Bologna, worked in Venice and in the Netherlands, and then went to England. His last documented activities date from 1763, when he acted as harpsichordist in Edinburgh.
The programme starts with a fine overture, one of the few instrumental works from his pen that have survived. Then follows 'Tronerò fra le catene', a virtuosic aria by Chiarini, which is too much bravura to my ears, and little that makes a real impression.
We then get arias by D'Alessandro which in my view are much better, and attest to his melodic gifts. They support the positive reception of his opera in which these arias were originally included. They show quite some variety in length and character, and in the connection between the voice and the orchestra. In some the singer has opportunities to add cadenzas, whereas others are more modest. It is a great shame that the entire opera has not been preserved. It would be interesting to hear the arias within their dramatic context, which would allow to assess D'Alessandro's dramatic skills.
Listening to the arias by D'Alessandro I have come to the conclusion that their quality makes it regrettable that so little of his oeuvre has been preserved. We should be thankful to Giovanni Tribuzio for his research in the life and work of D'Alessandro. This recording proves it was well worth the effort. I am also grateful that he made this recording available, and sent me additional information about the composer, which he has writtten for New Grove Online.
The performers were also unknown to me. Francesco Divito is a natural soprano, who does not need his falsetto register. It is quite a unique voice, and he is able to sing the top notes without any hint of stress. This may well give us some idea of how the castratos of the 18th century did sound. Over the years I have heard male sopranos whom I did not like very much, both for their voices and the way they used them, often too extravagant and with a lack of an appropriate style. That is different here. I have much enjoyed Divito's performances which are fluent and completely natural. He does not demonstrate his technical prowess, but focuses on the music. Only in some cadenzas he crosses the range of his part, which as far as I know was not appreciated at the time.
It does not compromise my appreciation of his performances, in which he finds a congenial partner in the orchestra, which plays with zest and differentation. Opera lovers should not miss this release which is a substantial addition to the discography of baroque opera.
Johan van Veen (© 2025)