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CD reviews
Francesco CAVALLI (1602 - 1676): "Transitions"
Capella de la Torre
Dir: Katharina Bäuml
rec: April 11 - 16, 2022, Essen, Philharmonie
deutsche harmonia mundi - 19658794522 (© 2023) (65'09")
Liner-notes: E/D; lyrics - translations: E/D
Cover, track-list & booklet
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Giovanni BASSANO (1551/52-1617):
Dic nobis Maria;
Francesco CAVALLI:
Gli amori d’Apollo e di Dafne (2 Sinfonias);
In convertendo a 5;
Missa pro defunctis a 8;
O bone Jesu a 2;
Maurizio CAZZATI (1616-1678):
Passacaglio;
Orlandus LASSUS (1532-1594):
Miserere mei Domine;
Francesco MANELLI (1595-1667):
Ciaconna Acceso mio cuore;
plainchant:
Victimae paschali laudes
Margaret Hunter, Cécile Kempenaers, soprano;
Julia Spies, contralto;
Kai Wessel, alto;
Minsub Hong, Hermann Oswald, tenor;
Jakob Ahles, Tobias Schlierf, bass
Friederike Otto, cornett;
Hildegard Wippermann, recorder, shawm;
Annette Hils, recorder, dulcian;
Birgit Bahr, Katharina Bäuml, shawm;
Falko Munkwitz, Florian Helbich, Yosuke Kurihara, sackbut;
Matthias Müller, violone;
Frank Pschichholz, theorbo;
Martina Fiedler, organ
Francesco Cavalli has become known as one of the great opera composers of the 17th century. In this capacity he was the successor of Claudio Monteverdi, whose operas document the transition from the court opera for a selected audience of aristocrats to a public event. About forty operas of Cavalli's pen have been preserved, and some of them are performed regularly in our time. However, it was also under Monteverdi's guidance that Cavalli developed into a composer of sacred music. He started his career in his boyhood as a singer in San Marco (from 1616), and remained there all his life, although he also took other positions now and then. In 1639 he was appointed second organist at San Marco. When Monteverdi died in 1643 it was Francesco Rovetta, about five years his senior, who was appointed as his successor rather than Cavalli. He had to wait until Rovetta's death, in 1668, to be appointed in the position he may have hoped to get more than twenty years earlier.
It is not known how much sacred music Cavalli may have written. What has come down to us are two collections of such music. The first dates from 1656 and comprises 28 pieces, ranging from compositions in the style of the cori spezzati to pieces for solo voice and basso continuo. Six of the pieces are instrumental: sonatas and canzonas in 3 to 12 parts. The second collection was printed in 1675, and here Cavalli in a way returns to the past. It contains three complete settings of music for Vespers. In addition to these two collections some works were included in anthologies.
The last work in this department is the Missa pro defunctis, which is the subject of the present disc. It was not the result of a commission or written for the funeral of some aristocrat, but Cavalli composed it to be performed after his own death. "He left instructions that following his death the work should be per formed twice a year in his memory, once at St Mark’s and once in the Church of San Lorenzo, where the composer was to find his final resting place." (booklet) The work is written in the stile antico, and for two choirs, paying tribute to a Venetian tradition of more than a century, to which he himself had contributed during his career. This does not mean that the Requiem is comparable with the music written in the 16th century, by the likes of the Gabrielis. The use of the stile antico in sacred music was pretty common in Italy in the 17th century, but composers usually mixed it with more contemporary practices, such as the illustration of words or phrases with musical figures or harmonic progressions (such as the use of chromaticism). That is the case here as well.
Plainchant takes a small role in this Requiem: the Introit and the Agnus Dei open with a plainchant incipit which creates a kind of symmetry. In the Introit the plainchant is used as cantus firmus in some of the voices. The expressive heart of the piece is the Dies Irae. The opening words receive a kind of percussive setting. Cavalli uses a chromatic figure to express the text "Ingemisco, tamquam reus" (I moan as one who is guilty). For the 'Confutatis maledictis' Cavalli turns to triple time, undoubtedly inspired by the words "flames of woe" included in this section. The ensuing words "Call me among the blessed" are then set to long notes, reflecting their praying character.
In his will Cavalli left instructions for the organisation of the funeral. He required the participation of all the singers of the chapel of St Mark's, two violins, four violas, two cornetts, two theorbos, sackbuts, dulcian, violone and three organs. The performance by the Capella de la Torre is more modest: there are only eight singers, strings are omitted (except a violone in the basso continuo), and there is only one organ. As far as I know no recording is available which precisely follows Cavalli's instructions. That said, with the use of winds as is the case here we come a little closer to what Cavalli had in mind.
As far as the remaining pieces in the programme are concerned, no attempt has been made to connect them to the Requiem with regard to subject matter. "Cavalli’s Mass for the Dead is complemented by a number of other vocal and instrumental works from the sixteenth and
seventeenth centuries, most of them associated with Venice and its immediate surroundings", Bernhard Schrammek writes in the liner-notes. That seems questionable: I can't see the connection between Lassus' Miserere mei Domine - performed here instrumentally - and Venice. Maurizio Cazzati never worked in Venice, but many collections of his works were published there. Whether the Passacaglio is included in one of them I don't know, as the booklet does not include a list of sources.
Two pieces by Cavalli are included. In convertendo is a setting of Psalm 126 for five voices, largely based on a basso ostinato. The scoring has the addition "senza istrumenti", which is ignored here; in the performance the instruments even open it before the voices enter. O bone Jesu is a sacred concerto for two voices (SA) with basso continuo.
Despite some liberties I'm not happy about, this is a fine and recommendable account of Cavalli's Requiem. The singing and playing is of the highest order. The soloists in O bone Jesu are not specified; I assume they are Margaret Hunter and Kai Wessel, and they deliver an outstanding performance. This is a good case for Cavalli's sacred oeuvre, which is by far not as well-known as it should be.
Johan van Veen (© 2025)
Relevant links:
Capella de la Torre