Teatro Sant’Angelo
Adèle Charvet (mezzo-soprano)
Le Consort
rec. 2022, Temple du Saint-Esprit, Paris, France
Texts and translations included
Reviewed as a stereo 16/44 download from Outhere
Alpha Classics 938 [67]

Opera was one of the main forms of musical entertainment in the baroque period. The genre was born in Italy, and soon disseminated across Europe. The first operas were performed at courts, and in most parts of Europe that continued to be the case until the 18th century. In Italy, operas had been performed before a ticket-buying public since the 1630s, mostly during Carnival. Monteverdi was the first composer of dramme per musica in Venice; after his death the opera scene was dominated by Francesco Cavalli. The genre disseminated across Italy, but Venice remained one of the main centres. In the first decades of the 18th century, Antonio Vivaldi played a major role in the Venetian operatic scene, and since his operas were rediscovered they have been frequently performed, and nearly all of them are available on disc. In comparison, other Venetian opera composers are hardly known. The charm of the disc under review is that it mixes arias from Vivaldi operas with extracts from operas by some of his colleagues.

The performers focus on what was performed in one theatre: the Teatro Sant’Angelo. “It belonged to the Cappello and Marcello families, and was intended from the start to be exclusively devoted to opera. Cramped and chaotic, but extremely productive and inexpensive to visit, it was celebrated for its musicians and stage sets (often designed by Bernardo Canal and his son Canaletto) in which caves, sea storms, great thrones of godly Glories and fantastic palaces were visited by ‘apparitions of Sleep’, ‘the retinue of Caprice’ and other mystic forces. This was a veritable ‘alternative theatre’ to the official one of the Venetian nobility, the San Giovanni Grisostomo”, Olivier Fourés states in his liner-notes. Two features are especially interesting: the importance of staging, both in opera and the entr’actes, and the singing of women in male roles, as castratos were too expensive.

From 1705 onwards several of Vivaldi’s operas were first performed in the Sant’Angelo theatre. He acted as the theatre’s impresario-manager. However, he also invited other composers to perform their operas, and they are included in the programme.

The disc opens with an aria from an opera by Michelangelo Gasparini, who was from Lucca and may have been a pupil of Giovanni Legrenzi. He spent most of his career in Venice. He is known to have composed seven operas; New Grove states that all of them are lost. However, we here get an aria from one of them, Rodomonte sdegnato, which was first performed in 1714. The liner-notes don’t inform us whether the complete opera has been preserved or just this single aria, which has a pastoral character.

The next composer is Fortunato Chelleri, who was from Parma; his father was German. His first opera is probably one he performed in 1709 in Barcelona, during the War of the Spanish Succession. At that time Antonio Caldara also stayed there. After his return he worked for some time in Germany, and then came back to Italy, where he performed his operas in several cities, among them Venice, at the invitation of Vivaldi. He composed seven operas in eight years; in 1722, he moved to Würzburg, together with others, among them Giovanni Benedetto Platti. The programme includes two arias from his opera Amalasunta, first performed in 1719. ‘Astri aversi’ is a kind of rage aria, with much fast coloratura, reflecting the mood of the protagonist. ‘La navicella’ is very different; the text uses the conventional images of a ship at sea and a bird (in this case a swallow) to depict the state of mind of the protagonist.

After Vivaldi, Giovanni Alberto Ristori is probably the best-known composer here. In recent years his œuvre has been given some attention; some of his cantatas and sacred music have been released on disc. He was born as the son of the director of a travelling company of Italian comedians. They were at the service of the Saxon elector Johann Georg III in Dresden shortly before Ristori was born. When he was in his early 20s and already married, he joined his father when the company settled again in Dresden. At that time Friedrich August I was elector and also King of Poland (as August II). Ristori had already made a name for himself with his opera Orlando furioso which had been performed to great acclaim in Venice. The liner-notes say that in that year he was in Venice “to help Vivaldi stage the opera Orlando Furioso, which enjoyed a remarkable run of more than forty performances.” This suggests that this was an opera by Vivaldi. However, the latter’s Orlando dates from 1727; in 1714, Vivaldi performed a revised version of Ristori’s opera. The original French liner-notes leave no doubt that it was Ristori’s opera that was performed in 1713: “En 1713, Ristori arrive à Venise avec son père (…) pour monter Orlando Furioso avec Vivaldi.” It was Ristori’s only opera that was performed in Venice. It is a little surprising that the programme does not include any arias from this work (there is no suggestion that it has been lost). We rather get arias from other operas: Cleonice was first performed in 1718 in Moritzburg, Don Chisciotte in 1727 in Dresden, Arianna 1736 in Hubertusburg, all in Germany, and Temistocle in 1738 in Naples. ‘Aspri rimorsi’ (“Agonizingly bitter regrets”) is an aria of a lamenting character, which includes chromaticism; the two oboe parts in particular produce some striking dissonances. In ‘Nell’onda chiara’ from Arianna the voice is supported by strings which play pizzicato from start to finish.

Giovanni Porta was a pupil of Francesco Gasparini, Michelangelo’s older brother. He was born in Venice, was probably in Rome, where he may have worked with Corelli, and certainly in Vicenza and Verona. He returned to Venice in 1716, and focused on the composition of operas. From 1726 to 1737, he was maestro di coro at the Ospedale della Pietà in Venice, where Vivaldi was his colleague and where he concentrated on the composition of sacred music. According to New Grove most of his works have been lost. The liner-notes don’t discuss the only aria included here; it is called an aria da batello, which seems to be a kind of barcarolle. It is a fitting end of the programme; the last of the three stanzas ends with the words “and now, wishing you good evening, I shall depart from here.”

Vivaldi is represented with four operas and the pasticcio-serenata Andromeda liberata; the latter piece dates from 1726 and was written by several composers in honour of a visit by Cardinal Pietro Ottoboni. Arsilda dates from 1716, L’incoronazione di Dario from 1717 and La verità in cimento from 1720. L’Olimpiade is of a much later date: 1734. ‘Siam navi’ from L’Olimpiade includes the effects we know from many of Vivaldi’s descriptive concertos, in accordance with the text: “We are ships on the icy waves, abandoned, helpless; raging winds are our passions, each pleasure a reef, our whole life an ocean.” In contrast to the nervous style of this aria, there is much peace and quiet in ‘Sovvente il sole’ from Andromeda liberata: “Often the sun glows in the sky more radiantly, when a dark cloud has passed across it. And the calm ocean seems almost motionless, after being raked by a violent storm.” The coloratura is often just Vivaldi’s style, which he used in his violin concertos as well, but they may also depict the text, such as in ‘Con più diletto’ from La verità in cimento, on the word “volando” (flying).

As one may have gathered, the arias in this recital are very different in character. That is a challenge for any interpreter, and I am happy to say that Adèle Charvet impresses in each one of them. I like her voice; she produces a beautiful, warm but clear sound, treats the text with care, and shows a good sense of theatre. The dramatic arias come off very well, but in the more lyrical pieces she also convinces. As do so many singers of baroque opera, she uses more vibrato than is justified, but it is by far not as bad as in other recordings I have heard. It has not really bothered me: I have been able to enjoy this recital, thanks to Ms Carvet’s sensitive performances, and let’s not forget the excellent instrumental contributions of Le Consort, which in recent years has developed into a top-class ensemble.

Lovers of baroque opera should not miss this disc. The fact that all the arias by Vivaldi’s colleagues appear on disc for the first time, is a further argument for this production.

Johan van Veen
www.musica-dei-donum.org
twitter.com/johanvanveen

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Contents
Michelangelo Gasparini (1670-1732)
Rodomonte sdegnato:
Il mio credele amor
Fortunato Chelleri (1690-1757)
Amalasunta:
Astri aversi
Giovanni Alberti Ristori (1692-1753)
Cleonice:
Con favella de’ pianti
Antonio Vivaldi (1678-1741)
L’Olimpiade (RV 725):
Siam Navi
Andromeda liberata (RV Anh 117 / RV 749.27):
Sovvente il sole
Giovanni Alberto Ristori
Un pazzo ne fa cento ovvero Don Chisciotte:
Su robusti
Temistocle:
Aspri rimorsi
Arianna:
Nell’onda chiara
Fortunato Chelleri
Amalasunta:
La navicella
Giovanni Alberto Ristori
Cleonice:
Quel pianto che vedi
Fortunato Chelleri
Trio sonata in G minor:
adagio
Antonio Vivaldi
Arsilda, Regina di Ponto (RV 700):
Ah non so, se quel ch’io sento
La verità in cimento (RV 739):
Con più diletto
Tu m’offendi
Giovanni Alberto Ristori
Cleonice:
Qual crudo vivere
Antonio Vivaldi
L’incoronazione di Dario (RV 719):
Quella bianca e tenerina
Giovanni Porta (1675-1755)
Arie nove dà batello:
Patrona reverita