Amate Stelle
Arias for Anna Maria Strada
Marie Lys (soprano), Abchordis Ensemble/Andrea Buccarella
rec. 2019, Paroisse catholique du Sacré-Cœur, Basel, Switzerland
Sung texts with English translations enclosed
Reviewed as download from press preview
Glossa GCD923536 [75]
Anna Maria Strada was one of the most luminous operatic sopranos for twenty years during the first half of the 18th century. Born in Bergamo in 1703, she early came to Venice, where Vivaldi hired her for the 1720/21 season at Teatro Sant’Angelo. Her first Vivaldi opera was La verità in cimento, in October 1720, and at the tender age of 17 as the third woman she sang more arias than either of the leading ladies. But the happiness didn’t last. At the beginning of 1721, after the carnival, Vivaldi left Venice, as did his protégée. She sang at minor opera houses for a couple of seasons, but in 1724 she landed at the Teatro S. Bartolomeo in Naples, opposite the young Farinelli. In 1729, Handel engaged her for his Second Academy as a substitute for his previous prima donnas Francesca Cuzzoni, and Faustina Bordoni. Her debut role was Adelaide in Lotario and she stayed with Handel for eight years until he went bankrupt, whereupon Strada returned to Naples and the Teatro di S. Carlo. She remained there as prima donna, with some excursions to Turin and Vincenza, until her retirement in 1740 in Porpora’s Zenobia, renamed to Tiridate, as a tribute to her. She spent the rest of her life in Naples together with her husband and died aged 72, in 1775.
Charles Burney’s description of her is far from flattering: “She came hither a coarse and awkward singer with improvable talents, and [Handel] at last polished her into reputation and favour … Strada’s personal charms did not assist her much in conciliating parties, or disposing the eye to augment the pleasures of the ear; for she had so little of a Venus in her appearance, that she was usually called the Pig. However, by degrees she subdued all their prejudices, and sung herself into favour.” Latter-day opera lovers needn’t bother about her looks of course, and if she sounded as lovely as Marie Lys does on this disc, she was certainly worthy of all the accolades she received. Here we are presented a dozen arias from important operas during her entire career, from Vivaldi’s La verità in cimento (1720) to Porpora’s Tiridate (1740).
I doubt that the 17-year-old Anna Maria Strada could have executed the opening Vivaldi aria with such flair and intensity as Marie Lys. It is a powerful voice, and it comes as a surprise that her coloratura is so marvellously effortless. I have seen some very positive reviews of her singing and hearing her here amply confirms her greatness. The aria itself is a knock-out start to the recital, of high-speed intensity and rhythmic exuberance, reminding us that “il prete rosso” is a force to be reckoned with as an operatic composer – he claimed to have written 94 operas. Of the other composers represented here, Domenico Sarro and Giovanni Alberto Ristori are little known today, while Leonardo Leo, Leonardo Vinci and Nicola Porpora are at least played occasionally even today and Handel is firmly established himself as the arguably greatest baroque master of opera. Sarro wrote more than thirty operas, mainly for Naples, and many to librettos by Metastasio. Erminia in Tito Sempronio Gracco yearns for love in her opening aria, but when she wakes up, she finds that the love is not real. The aria is moving and beautifully sad, sung with serene legato and a perfect trill.
Anna Maria Strada’s debut role in London was Adelaide in Handel’s Lotario and the aria that introduced her to the audience at King’s Theatre Haymarket was magnificent, lively and full of coloratura. If she sang it with the elan and technical brilliance that Marie Lys displays here, there must have been ovations en masse. Leonardo Vinci, who died at the age of 40, was a worthy rival of Handel and had feeling for orchestral colour. In the aria presented here, the intro is played by piccolo flute and the accompaniment in the aria proper is played pizzicato while the flute duets with the soprano. It is a lovely piece. This work was from Strada’s early period in Naples. The next work, Leonardo Leo’s Achille in Sciro, was composed for Teatro Regio in Torino in 1740, when Strada was back in Italy after her sojourn in London and was approaching the end of her career. The aria is up-tempo and dramatically intense, suitable for a mature singer. One of the greatest of Handel’s later operas, and one of the most played today, was undoubtedly Alcina (1735) and the long tragic aria Ah! Mio cor! certainly one of its highlights. It is highly demanding, and Marie Lys handles it expertly. With Leo’s Zenobia in Palmira, we are back in Naples in the 1720s and listening to another firework aria with virtuoso display and breakneck speed. Impressive it is, and Galuppi’s aria from Adriano in Siria from Torino (1740) is in the same mould. Another aria from Leo’s Achille in Sciro is more moderate, while the aria from Handel’s Arminio (1737) is short, intense, dramatic and forces the singer up to stratospheric heights. Ristori’s version of Adriano in Siria, composed the year before Galuppi’s, doesn’t leave much impression, but Porpora’s long recitative and aria from Tiridate, which became Anna Maria Strada’s farewell to the stage, emphatically confirmed my admiration for Porpora’s sense of drama, upon which I recently commented in my review of his L’Angelica.
I hope readers perusing this review understand how much I appreciate Marie Lys’ readings of these arias – several of which were never recorded before. That appreciation extends to the playing of Abchordis Ensemble under the inspirational Andrea Buccarella and the excellent documentation. Baroque opera enthusiasts should snap up this disc.
Göran Forsling
Help us financially by purchasing from
Contents
Antonio Vivaldi (1678-1741)
1 Aria Con più diletto il mio Cupido 3:37
La verità in cimento (Venezia, 1720)
Domenico Sarro (1679-1744)
2 Aria Se veglia, se dorme, l’amante mio core 7:54
Tito Sempronio Gracco (Napoli, 1725)
George Frideric Handel (1685-1759)
3 Aria Scherza in mar la navicella 5:26
Lotario (London, 1729)
Leonardo Vinci (1690-1730)
4 Recitativo Io gelosa non sono
Aria Il ruscelletto amante 5:16
Eraclea (Napoli, 1724)
Leonardo Leo (1694-1744)
5 Recitativo Ma per pietà
Aria Non vedi tiranno ch’io moro d’affanno 3:26
Achille in Sciro (Torino, 1740)
George Frideric Handel
6 Aria Ah! Mio cor! 11:23
Alcina (London, 1735)
Leonardo Leo
7 Aria Quando irato il ciel s’oscura 3:14
Zenobia in Palmira (Napoli, 1725)
Baldassare Galuppi (1706-1785)
8 Aria Infelice in van mi lagno 7:02
Adriano in Siria (Torino, 1740)
Leonardo Leo
9 Aria No, ingrato, amor non senti 8:19
Achille in Sciro (Torino, 1740)
George Frideric Handel
10 Aria Scaglian amore e sangue 2:27
Arminio (London, 1737)
Giovanni Alberto Ristori (1692-1753)
11 Aria Oh Dio, mancar mi sento 3:59
Adriano in Siria (Napoli, 1739)
Nicola Porpora (1686-1768)
12 Recitativo acc. Non so più dov’io sia 4:44
13 Aria Vi conosco amate stelle 8:57
Tiridate (Napoli, 1740)
