FRANCESCO CAVALLI Vespro della Beata Vergine
Concerto PalatinoBruce Dickey & Charles Toet
GCD 922509. 2 CDs
—
Barbara Borden, Emily van Evera, sopranos Rodrigo del Pozo, alto Gerd Türk, Mark Padmore, altos/tenorsMarkus Brutscher, tenorHarry van der Kamp, Peter Zimpel, basses
Concerto Palatino Bruce Dickey & Charles Toet, direction
Production details
Total playing time: 56:25+64:05 Recorded in the Reformierte Kirche Arlesheim (Basel-Land, Switzerland) in November 1994 Engineered and produced by Pere Casulleras Executive producers: Thomas Drescher (SCB), Carlos Céster (Glossa) Design: Valentín Iglesias Booklet essay: Bruce DickeyEnglish - Français - Deutsch
Links & downloads
Commercial release sheet (PDF)
Buy this product
FRANCESCO CAVALLI Vespro della Beata Vergine Musiche sacre (Venice, 1656)
CD I [56:25]
Deus in adiutoriumDomine ad adiuvandumMaria virgo semper letareDixit dominusCanzon à 3O quam pulchra esLaudate pueriCanzon à 4Revertere SalomonisLaetatus sumSonata à 6
CD II [64:05]
Oculi tui sancta Dei genitrixNisi Dominus Canzon à 8 In prole mater in partu virgo Lauda Ierusalem Canzon à 10 Ave Maris Stella
About this CD
The operas of Francesco Cavalli have earned him a secure place among the masters of the 17th century, yet he has remained almost completely unknown as a composer of sacred music. While the greater part of his time and energy was undoubtedly devoted to the 32 operas which he produced in Venice, Cavalli nonetheless pursued a constant and parallel career in sacred music which spanned 60 years of activity at St. Mark’s. When Cavalli published the Musiche sacre in 1656 he was at the height of his creative powers and at the apex of his career.
As with both Monteverdi’s 1610 collection and his Selva morale of 1640, Cavalli’s Musiche sacre contains components which can be used to fulfill the liturgical requirements of a wide range of feast days. On this recording we present the principle musical items which could have been heard at second Vespers on a feast of the Virgin Mary (in this case the Feast of the Assumption) either at St. Mark’s or at one of a variety of other Venetian churches. It is no more and no less a single unified musical “work” than are Monteverdi’s 1610 Vespro della Beata Vergine, nor can it be, since the liturgy has its own formal requirements going far beyond the music.
An expert group of vocal soloists join the instrumentalists of Concerto Palatino in this landmark recording made in the mid nineties which Glossa is now proud to recover for its Schola Cantorum Basiliensis series.
Central to the research into and the performance of early music since the beginnings of the renewed interest into music from previous centuries the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis (SCB) remains an extraordinary powerhouse of talent ranging over music from the early Middle Ages through to the 19th century. Today its pupils are legion, as too are its teachers, amply fulfilling the aspirations of Paul Sacher when he founded the institution in Switzerland in 1933. In an agreement recently made between Glossa and the SCB fresh new life is being breathed into the desire to bring the fruits of all this musical activity to a much wider worldwide audience through recordings. [read more...]