Italophilia. Discovering the Italian Style in Handel’s London
The Counterpoints & friends
Rec. 2024, Waalse Kerk, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Reviewed as a download
Challenge Classics CC720003 [72]

In recent years, several recordings have been released which focus on the music scene in England in the first half of the 18th century. Obviously, George Frideric Handel appears in many of them, as he was one of the main composers of that time, but the various programmes aim at performing music by composers from his environment. They approach the issue from different angles. Some pay attention to music by composers with whom Handel collaborated, for instance in his opera orchestra. Other recordings focus on the music by native composers who have remained in his shadow. The disc which is the subject of this review highlights the influence of the Italian style in England.

Soon after the stile nuovo emerged in Italy around 1600, it made its way across Europe, and was especially embraced in the German-speaking part of Europe. In England some composers were influenced by it, but during the first half of the 17th century the stile antico reigned supreme. It was especially after 1660, when the monarchy was restored, that the style we now know as ‘Baroque’, started to supplant the traditional English style.

Nicola Matteis was an important figure in that he brought to England a new style of playing the violin (which they had already become acquainted with thanks to the German-born Thomas Baltzar). However, it seems that he did not play a significant role in the dissemination of the Italian style. He may have been too much of a maverick character to have had much influence. As the music scene of the time was very much international, there were different ways to become acquainted with styles from elsewhere. Henry Purcell was one of the main composers of the second half of the 17th century, and in his oeuvre influences of the Italian and the French style were mixed with English tradition. A feature of the latter was the writing of music on a ground, the English term for a basso ostinato. The programme of this disc opens with an example of such a piece. It is followed by a trio sonata which exposes the influence of the Italian style.

It was rather the publication of the violin sonatas Op. 5 and the concerti grossi by Arcangelo Corelli which brought the music world in England under the spell of Italian music. These works caused a true Corellimania; his music was enthusiastically received by amateurs – they could turn to the adaptations of the Op. 5 sonatas for recorder, the most popular instrument among amateurs – and by the musical societies which existed across the country. This Corellimania also created a fertile soil for the writing and publication of Italian music by immigrants from Italy and music in the Italian style by homegrown composers.

As mentioned, Matteis showed a different style of playing the violin. This instrument was known, but mainly as a consort instrument, as an alternative to the treble viol. Purcell was among the first two adopted it as a virtuosic instrument, and others followed. The trio sonata became a popular genre, and no wonder Handel wrote a number of them, which he must have heard in Italy. One of them is included here. In Italy he also became acquainted with an important genre of vocal music: the chamber cantata.

Such works were usually performed during the gatherings of the academies which existed across Italy. The most common subject was love – like in the madrigals of the renaissance and early baroque periods – which was approached from different angles. Many bring us into Arcadia, the imaginary world of shepherds and nymphs that was the ideal of the aristocracy since the late 16th century. We get two specimens of this genre. Augellin, vago e canoro is by Alessandro Scarlatti, who was the most productive composer of chamber cantatas, and also established its basic form: two recitatives, each followed by an aria. However, composers did deviate from this standard by extending the number of recitatives and/or arias. Scarlatti himself does so here too, in that the cantata opens with an aria. Also notable is that it has an obbligato part for the recorder, whereas most cantatas were scored for voice and basso continuo.

Handel follows the same pattern in his cantata which is best-known by the opening line of the first recitative, Nel dolce dell’oblio. It sticks to the basic structure, but also has an obbligato recorder part – which is one of the reasons of its popularity.

One of the most prominent immigrants from Italy was Francesco Geminiani, who claimed to be a pupil of Corelli – which was profitable, given the Corellimania. Whether he really was a formal pupil of the Roman master is still not known. He composed and published violin sonatas and concerti grossi, but here we get one of his cello sonatas. The cello was another exponent of the Italian style, and in the course of time the cello played an increasingly important role in music life, gradually overshadowing the viola da gamba. Incidentally, the six cello sonatas Op. 5 were published in Paris rather than in London.

As Scarlatti’s cantata seems to have been included as an example of the Italian style (it was not printed and therefore very likely not known in England), Vivaldi’s Concerto da camera in F is an example of the Italian style in instrumental music, and again a piece that may not have been known in England. It is a specimen of a typical genre quite popular in Italy.

A feature of ensembles founded and directed by recorder players is that programmes are put together from the perspective of the recorder, which works as a kind of filter. That is not a bad thing per se, but it can distort the picture of the music scene aimed at being portrayed. In this case it results in a performance of Purcell’s trio sonata with recorder and violin, which I am not happy with and which does not do justice to the character of the piece, in particular due to the recorder’s limited dynamical possibilities. In Handel’s trio sonata it is less of a problem: the first treble part is less violinistic, as it is scored for violin or transverse flute.

The prominent role of the recorder also leads to the choice of one of Handel’s best-known cantatas. Of all the main works on this disc, only Scarlatti’s cantata is something of an unknown quantity. Vivaldi’s concerto da camera and Geminiani’s cello sonata are also part of the standard repertoire. That is a little disappointing: I would prefer a programme that demonstrates the influence of the Italian style, but is less predictable. It is nice that we get at least some shorter items that are less common, such as the anonymous Tollets ground and the suite for guitar by Matteis, who around 1680 published a method for the guitar.

The programme closes with an Italian aria by Maurice Greene, an underrated composer and an example of a native English composer who is overshadowed by the towering figure of Handel. It is a very good work, and an indication that his oeuvre deserves to be investigated.

Despite my critical remarks about this recording, I have no hesitation in suggesting that you seriously consider it, as all the pieces included are given excellent performances. Kristen Witmer does very well in the three vocal items. I know her mainly from sacred music, but here she shows that she knows her way in secular music as well. I hope to hear more from her in it, as too often I am disappointed by unstylish performances of chamber cantatas. This is different: a nice voice which is used according to baroque aesthetics, with enough rhythmic freedom in the recitatives, and stylish ornamentation without exaggeration.

The playing of the various instruments is also very good. Thomas Triesschijn produces a beautiful tone, and I am especially impressed by his playing in Tollets ground. Petr Hamouz delivers a high-spirited performance of Geminiani’s cello sonata.

In short, this is an enjoyable disc, and if you purchase it, you certainly won’t regret it. 

Johan van Veen
www.musica-dei-donum.org
twitter.com/johanvanveen
https://bsky.app/profile/musicadeidonum.bsky.social

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Contents
Henry Purcell (1659-1695)
Ground in d minor (Z D222)
Sonata in D (Z 811)
Alessandro Scarlatti (1660-1725)
Augellin, vago e canoro
John Eccles (1668-1735)
Air V (on a ground)
Nicola Matteis (I) (1650-c1714)
Suite in G
George Frideric Handel (1685-1759)
Pensieri notturni di Filli (Nel dolce dell’oblio) (HWV 134)
anonymous
Tollets ground
George Frideric Handel (1685-1759)
Sonata in b minor, op. 2,1b (HWV 386b)
Francesco Geminiani (1687-1762)
Sonata in d minor, op. 5,2 (H 104)
Antonio Vivaldi (1678-1741)
Concerto da camera in F (RV 100) 
Maurice Greene (1696-1755)
Farfalletta festosetta