Il castrato del granduca – Arias for Gaetano Berenstadt 
Filippo Mineccia (alto), I Musici del Gran Principe/Samuele Lastrucci 
rec. 2023, Chiesa di San Francesco Poverino, Florence, Italy 
Sung texts with English translations enclosed 
Reviewed as download from press preview 
Glossa GCD923539 [69] 

The eminent alto Filippo Mineccia has previously issued two recital discs with arias by Paisiello and Jommelli. In both cases, he had been digging in archives and unearthed a lot of previously unrecorded music. This time, he has instead focused on a specific singer, the castrato alto Gaetano Berenstadt (1687 – 1734). In spite of his Germanic surname he was born in Italy to an Italian mother, but his father was German. Young Gaetano must have seemed a promising talent, since his parents decided to castrate him, but his early career – or lack of career – indicates that his vocal capacity was rather limited.  On the other hand he was a good actor, and bit by bit he advanced. His breakthrough came when he moved to London in 1717. He sang in operas by Alessandro Scarlatti, possibly Francesco Mancini, Attilio Ariosti and, most importantly, Handel, in Rinaldo, the opera that had been Handel’s breakthrough some years earlier and now was reprised. It seems that Berenstadt was best suited to character roles like fathers, counsellors and, above all, villains. Though he was considered a second-rate castrato, over-shadowed by Senesino and others, his technical abilities were considerable, as we can hear in many of the arias on this CD, which opens with three arias from Rinaldo, where he sang the role of Argante, king of the besieged Jerusalem (the opera takes place during the First Crusade). The very fast and dramatic aria from Act I is studded with coloratura, and to manage it the singer has to be a true virtuoso.  

After this first sojourn in London, Berenstadt returned to Italy and also appeared in Germany, but in 1722 he was back in London for a couple of years, and sang in ten productions, including four in Handel operas: Timante in Floridante, Adalberto in Ottone, the title role in Flavio, and finally Tolomeo in Giulio Cesare – and that was the end of his British career. For the next ten years he sang in various theatres in Italy, and in December 1734 he died, probably in a fever epidemic, aged 47, after a career that lasted for 25 years. This disc covers 15 years in chronological order from Rinaldo (1717) to Giovanni Antonio Giay’s Demetrio (1732). Handel is also represented by the colourful overture and Adalberto’s aria Bel labbro formato per farmi beato from Ottone,  the latter is slow, beautiful, warm and lovable; in fact, one of the highlights in this programme. However, Mineccia avoided the rest of the Handel works, for the simple reason that they are already available in commercial recordings, and he preferred to launch lesser-known material. Beside Handel, we find several other great composers of the age: Ariosti, Bononcini, Hasse and Vinci but also lesser-known names. Most of the music included here has never been recorded before, which makes the disc extra valuable.  

That Filippo Mineccia has the full measure for this repertoire is well-known, and he has also laboriously tried out about one hundred arias in order to sort out some real grains of gold for this album. And golden they certainly are; for instance the overture to Ariosti’s Tito Manlio, premiered during Berenstadt’s first visit to London in 1717. It is speedy and virtuoso in the outer movements but slow and tragic in the middle. Six years later he produced Cajo Marzio Coriolano, and the aria Nel tuo figlio is a gem, rhythmically enticing accompaniment with bassoon and pizzicato strings. It is a revenge aria, and Giacomo Berenstadt should have been ideal for it. Antonio Lotti’s Ascanio, performed in Dresden in 1718, contains an aria (track 5) that also sticks, fast, dramatic – and virtuosic. 

The next year Berenstadt was in Rome and starred in Gasparini’s Astianatte, where he for once had to sing a love song – with coloratura. He spent 1722 in Venice and sang in Giovanni Maria Capelli’s Giulio Flavio Crispo, where the aria Piaccia agl’astri has an interesting structure with long ritornellos inserted. Bononcini was for several years the keenest competitor to Handel in the 1720s and Berenstadt sang in three of his operas. Farnace (1723) was the first of them. The aria O della sorte favor instabile is well-crafted but rather anonymous.  

The rest of the programme contains music composed after Berenstadt had returned to Italy. Hasse was definitely one of the best opera composers of the period and enormously popular. His best opera is probably Cleofide from 1731, which exists in a studio recording from 1986. It can be recommended with emphasis. But the overture and the aria from Astarto recorded here, are certainly among the best. Written for Naples in 1726, the aria is full of contrasts and the last part is in ¾-time. Leonardo Vinci was also a giant and at his best he is fully comparable with Handel. His Artaserse from 1730 – the year he died –  was recorded some years ago and it was one of my Recordings Of The Year 2013. (review). Berenstadt sang Artabano in the revival of it in Livorno the following year, but in this collection Mineccia has chosen a splendid aria from Didone abbandonata, performed in Rome 1726 – definitely another gem. The concluding arias by Sarro and Giay are more ordinary, but they are grateful vehicles for advanced coloratura singing and the Giay aria is truly brilliant, backed up by ebullient French horns.  

This is another highly interesting collection of rare baroque arias, expertly performed – but sometimes Mineccia’s intonation seems uncertain – or is it my hearing that is fallible? Anyway the stylish and vivid playing of I musici del gran principe under Samuele Lastrucci, which were new names to me, is utterly commendable.  

Göran Forsling 

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Contents 
George Frideric Handel (1685-1759) 
01 Aria Sorte amor vuol che quest’alma 3:47 
02 Aria Ogni tua bella stilla 3:59 
03 Aria Pregio è sol d’un alma forte 3:40 
 Rinaldo (London 1717) 
 Attilio Ariosti (1666-1729)  
04 Ouverture Tito Manlio (London 1717) 5:23 
 Antonio Lotti (1667-1740) 
05 Aria L’incauto che non teme 2:58 
 Ascanio (Dresden 1718) 
 Francesco Gasparini (1661-1727) 
06 Aria Vezzosetta tra questi fiori 2:56 
 Astianatte (Rome 1719) 
 Giovanni Maria Capelli (1648-1726) 
07 Aria Piaccia agl’astri ed al senato 4:28 
 Giulio Flavio Crispo (Venice 1722) 
 George Frideric Handel 
08 Ouverture 5:01 
09 Aria Bel labro formato per farmi beato 4:32 
 Ottone (London 1723) 
 Attilio Ariosti 
10 Aria Nel tuo figlio e nel tuo sposo 4:29 
 Cajo Marzio Coriolano (London 1723) 
 Giovanni Bononcini (1670-1747) 
11 Aria O della sorte favor instabile 3:58 
 Farnace (London 1723) 
 Johann Adolf Hasse (1699-1783) 
12 Ouverture 4:01 
13 Aria Al fato io t’abbandono 3:50 
 Astarto (Naples 1726) 
 Leonardo Vinci (1696-1730) 
14 Aria Tra lo splendor del trono 5:27 
 Didone abbandonata (Rome 1726)  
 Domenico Sarro (1679-1744) 
15 Aria Gelido in ogni vena 4:25 
 Siroe re di Persia (Naples 1727) 
 16 Giovanni Antonio Giay (1690-1764) 
 Aria Non fidi al mar che freme 6:17 
 Demetrio (Rome 1732)