Bembo: L’Ercole Amante (cpo) - MusicWeb International

Antonia Bembo (1640-1720)
L’Ercole Amante (1707)
Deianira – Alena Dantcheva (soprano)
Ercole – Yannick Debus (baritone)
Iole– Anita Rosati (soprano)
Hyllo – David Tricou (tenor)
Giunone– Flore Van Meersche (soprano)
Venere, Pasithea – Chelsea Marilyn Zurflüh (soprano)
Il Gusto Barocco/Jörg Halubek
rec. 2023, Funkstudio SWR Stuttgart, Germany
Italian libretto and English translation available online
First recording
cpo 555 728-2 [2 CDs: 127]

The story of Venetian composer Antonia Bembo is a fascinating one. She was not born from a noble family but as her father was a doctor, she received a very thorough education, contrary to most women at that time. Eventually she married into one of the great patrician families of Venice but the marriage was doomed to be a misery for her. Because of the maltreatment of her husband she managed to escape from under his control and eventually would leave Venice for Paris, where her musical skills came to the notice of King Louis XIV. The French King awarded her a lifetime pension and a permanent home in a convent, where she was able to devote herself completely to composition. The preceding info is all provided in the mostly well written booklet notes that accompany the CD. Unfortunately it doesn’t give very much information about this opera itself. It seems to have been discovered, possibly in manuscript form by Guillem Borràs Garriga, a musicologist and conductor working in Germany. Bembo appears to have composed the opera in 1707 with no real hope of it ever being staged. She chose to re-use the libretto for Cavalli’s 1660 opera L’Ercole Amante which was intended to celebrate the wedding festivities for the young King Louis; however, production delays kept Cavalli’s opera from being mounted at the wedding and scenes from Il Xerse were substituted instead. Perhaps in composing a new Hercules opera Bembo was hoping to appeal to the sentimental side of the aging monarch of France. In any event her opera never saw the light of day until it was premiered 316 years later, at Stuttgart in 2023.

The first thing one hears in L’Ercole Amante is how supple the composer’s musical lines are.Unlike most French works of the time, there is a great deal of arioso music, which puts it in direct comparison to the Italian operas of composers like the contemporaneous Pietro Antonio Cesti. The musical characterizations of the various roles are filled with long graceful vocal lines that are extremely beautiful even if they rarely venture into the realm of high drama.

cpo can be given full marks for putting together a cast with a high degree of vocal abilities among them. Standing out in front is Yannick Debuss, whose flexible baritone sounds convincingly youthful enough to provide us with a believable portrayal of the love-lorn Hercules. He is partnered by Alena Dantcheva’s less clearly delineated performance of Deianira. Dantcheva’s soprano occasionally lacks the colour and tonal bite sufficient to delineate the sadness and jealousy of Hecules’ abandoned wife. The problem here is also with Bembo’s musical characterization of Deianira which is rather pale in comparison to Handel’s all too vivid musical portrait of Dejanira’s jealousy in his oratorio Hercules.

Flore Van Meersche’s sweetly poised soprano gives a fine rendition of Guinone. Her quality is such that one welcomes each reappearance. Additionally, Chelsea Zurflüh makes a very seductive sounding Venus. As the two young lovers who are most impacted by Hercules’ infatuation, Anita Rosati’s Iole offers a soprano leggiero featuring some dulcet, perfectly poised singing that fills the bill admirably. She is partnered by David Tricou’s wonderfully clear, agile tenor voice. This is not a large sound by any means but one which is perfectly suited to this repertoire. Bembo takes both singers on a challenging musical journey of entwined coloratura phrases in their duet. The two singers handle this superbly in one of the musical highlights of this set.

Jörg Halubek’s crisp and lively leadership of the instruments of Il Gusto Barocco is perfectly captured in an excellent, warm-sounding acoustic by the engineers. Halubek brings out the definite French stylistic influences to be heard in the opening prelude. The purely orchestral pieces in this opera are limited in number thus the fact that they are so well played is one of the more pleasing aspects of this set.

The booklet is a brief affair which seems to be a change in policy on the part of the cpo label. Previously one could always count on a full libretto with an English translation. Now the purchaser is directed online to download the libretto. This is an unfortunate sign of the times and will probably continue in these financially straightened times.

Ultimately this is an attractive release that is well worth investigating. Bembo’s L’Ercole Amante is by no means a seminal baroque opera. At times it leaves one feeling that the composer’s approach could do with some of the fire and passionate drama that makes Vivaldi’s operatic compositions so striking. Still the fact that it has come to light at all, and now it has a fine studio recording to introduce itself to the world is sufficient cause for celebration.

Mike Parr

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