Mercadante CHAMBER MUSIC FOR FLUTE

Gian-Luca Petrucci flute Saverio Mercadante 1795-1870 Born in Altamura on 17 September 1795, Chamber Music for Flute Saverio Mercadante showed an aptitude for music at an early age and received his first lessons from his stepbrother Giacinto, 1. 7 Variations in C on the theme 7. Adagio grandioso an amateur flautist. Not being able to “Là ci darem la mano” of “Don for flute and piano 3’24 continue his studies due to his family’s Giovanni” by W.A. Mozart 8. La Smania poor financial condition, in 1808 he for flute and string trio 11’22 for flute and piano 1’53 moved to Naples, where he entered the 2. 6 Variations in F on an original Andante cantabile Collegio San Sebastiano, benefitting from theme for flute and string trio 5’27 for flute and piano 2’05 a free place thanks to his mother’s shrewd 3. Thema & 7 Variations in E minor 10. Andante deception about his date of birth. for flute and string trio 6’02 flute d’amore and piano 2’01 Here he enjoyed the guidance of the 4. Il Sogno major exponents of the Neapolitan school, for , flute and piano 5’13 Trio in F Fedele Fenaroli, Giovanni Furno, Giacomo for flute, flute d’amore and cello Tritto and in particular the director Duet No.6 11. Moderato cantabile 9’37 Nicola Zingarelli, whom Rossini, during for 2 flutes 12. Minuetto 2’44 a visit for a concert given in his honor by 5. Allegro maestoso 4’17 13. Largo 2’55 the students in 1818, after hearing two 6. Tema con variazioni 2’27 14. Polacca, Allegro 3’07 symphonies by Mercadante, congratulated saying: “I see well that your pupils begin where we leave off”. In 1819, having concluded his studies, Mercadante had his first , L’Apoteosi di Ercole, staged at the Teatro San Carlo. The work aroused such great interest and enthusiasm in the royal family that they broke with ancient tradition and publicly Gian-Luca Petrucci flute & flute d’amore applauded the performance. Alberto Martini violin (1-3) · Enrico Balboni viola (1-3) In the first ten years of his career Mercadante wrote 31 , which were put Zoltan Szabo cello (1-3) on in the theatres of Naples, Reggio Emilia, Rome, Milan, Venice, Mantua and Rosa Ricciotti soprano (4) · Paola Pisa piano (4, 7-10) · Janos Balint flute (5-6) Turin. His fame soon extended beyond the confines of Italy and took him to Vienna Andreas Noack flute (11-14) · Philip Körner cello (11-14) in 1824, to Lisbon in 1827, to Madrid in 1828, to Cadiz in 1829, and to Paris in

Live recording

Recording: 4 January 1992 (5-6); 4 April 1995 (4), Rome; 17-19 August 1999, Verona (1-3); 11- 12 February 2014, Rome (7-10), Italy; 12 January 2005, Stuttgart, Germany (11-14) Producer and remastering: Giovanni Caruso Artist photos: George Tossikian Cover: Plaza and church of San Francesco di Paola, Naples, Italy, c.1890 Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. p & © 2020 Brilliant Classics 1836. Among the operas written in this period, Donna Caritea excited particular the careful research of a few instrumentalists with musicological interests, Saverio patriotic fervor thanks to the chorus “Chi per la patria muor vissuto è assai”, which Mercadante regained his status as a leading figure in the musical scenario of the 19th in 1831 became Italy’s national anthem before the country’s unification. In 1832, in century. Curiously this growing interest was fed more by the uncovering of his vast and Genoa, Mercadante married Sofia Gambaro, who would give him three children. The largely ignored instrumental output than by his impressive body of operas, which were following year he was appointed chapel master of the Duomo in Novara, where he the main reason for his extraordinary success during his lifetime. Having trained, as we lived until 1840 and wrote numerous sacred works. have said, in the strict Neapolitan school, where attention to the individual instruments Appreciated by the most renowned opera composers of his time, Mercadante was was considered fundamental for a correct approach to the orchestral writing, invited by Rossini to write an opera for the Théatre-Italien in Paris and to assume Mercadante composed music for the most varied chamber combinations, also after his the directorship of the Liceo Musicale in Bologna. Vincenzo Bellini proposed him as period of apprenticeship, formulating his own personal language that perfectly blends a composition teacher in Naples, preferring him to Donizetti, and he was the first a taste for lyricism with the pleasure of instrumental bravura. composer to be invited by Verdi to write a mass, in memory of Gioacchino Rossini. In In particular, the main stylistic characteristic of his compositions for flute, 1840 he was appointed Director of the Conservatorio San Pietro a Majella in Naples, or for instruments in general, is basically the influence of vocal writing and its where he would compose over 60 operas, as well as symphonies, band music and a typical structural inflections. In his works for solo flute and in the ample assolo vast series of works for different chamber groups. parts contained in his operas, we find styles, virtuosity and graphic features that Much has been written about Mercadante’s varied and wide-ranging output, but it constantly influence and retrace one another reciprocally. In choosing to search is indispensable to underline his role as a link between Rossini and Verdi, and also the for an independent color and profile for each instrument, Mercadante, both in his refined quality of his orchestration. orchestral writing and instrumental music, avoids falling victim to commonplace In 1838, after hearing the première of the opera Le due illustri rivali in Venice, habits whereby the flute is associated, for example, with the imitation of bird song Franz Liszt wrote: “His operas are without comparison the most correct and the best or the singer of nocturnal serenades. His search for color leads the instrument to a orchestrated of all those I have heard. Mercadante’s latest works are undoubtedly the belcanto kind of agility, a sophisticated use of phrasing, an elegant flow of musical best conceived of today’s repertoire”. A strong statement, apart any personal prejudice, syntax. Mercadante’s instrumental experience is directly mediated by the practice of that reflects and confirms the consideration of the best musicians of the time. opera writing, where the stress is placed on the functionality, magically transformed, Constrained by blindness to dictate his compositions, in his last years of life, of the extraordinary beauty of pure song and the skillful play of so much Mercadante gained another monumental success in Naples in 1866, with the staging appreciated by of 18th century, and certainly not forgotten by the artists of of his opera Virginia, a work that had been banned by the government some years 19th century. before due to its revolutionary content. He died in Naples on 17 December 1870 We can affirm the same thing for his flute music, which forms an important leaving the opera Caterina de’ Medici unfinished. body of works within Mercadante’s output. As is evident from certain expressive In the second half of the 20th century, thanks to some fortunate discoveries and compositional styles shared by the vocal and instrumental genres, it is interesting to see how in the more virtuosistic moments Mercadante prefers to adopt the use Gian-Luca Petrucci was of sequences and articulations to make the flute music “brilliant” without resorting born in 1951 in Italy and to excessive conglomerations of notes and figurations. Through the use of triplets, studied the flute with his presented in different arrangements and patterns, he obtains an intensification of father. He has been First sonority and tension that generally resolves in stirring chromatic scales. His use of Flute of the Orchestra of harmony and of syncopated accents is always skillfully dosed as elements supporting Teatro Regio in Parma, the elegance of the musical discourse, always keeping in consideration the Scena lirica of the Angelicum and structure, adopted in his flute music and echoing the charm of Rossini’s melody. Pomeriggi Musicali of Mercadante displayed a strong interest for the flute, as he composed a large number Milan, and of the Radio- of pieces for this instrument during all his life, always showing the artistry of a great Television Symphony . Orchestra in Rome. He © Gian-Luca Petrucci toured Europe, the United States, South America, India, Asia and North Africa. He is the dedicatee of compositions written by Jean-Michel Damase and Jindrich Feld. He has recorded numerous albums and edited revisions and transcriptions for important publishing houses. As an essayist, he has published historical studies translated also in English, French and German and monographs dedicated to Saverio Mercadante, Giulio Briccialdi, Severino Gazzelloni, Leonardo De Lorenzo, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. He has been flute professor at the Santa Cecilia Conservatory in Rome. Enrico Balboni graduated with full marks both in violin and Andreas Noack studied at Dr. Hochs Conservatory and at the in viola. He served as first violin soloist of Orchestra Arena in Musikhochschule in Frankfurt am Main. After a first engagement Verona, Orchestra of Teatro La Fenice in Venice, Orchestra of in Aachen, he joined the Staatsorchester Stuttgart in 1988, where “Accademia di Santa Cecilia” in Rome and Orchestra Symphonica he has been solo flutist since 1995. d’Italia. As first viola soloist he played with Turin’s RAI Symphony Orchestra, Orchestra of “Accademia di Santa Cecilia” and with Orchestra Sinfonica A. Toscanini, by invitation of Lorin Maazel. He has toured throughout Europe, U.S.A. and Japan. Balboni has made several recordings for the labels Decca, RCA, Deutsche Grammophon, Dynamic, CPO, Denon, Tactus, Naxos. He is violin professor at the Conservatory of Vicenza. Paola Pisa studied and graduated in piano at G. Frescobaldi Conservatory of Music in Ferrara. After completing studies in musicology at university level, she studied the harpsichord. János Bálint was born in 1961 in Hungary. He graduated from She won the national competition for Repetiteur at Teatro Franz Liszt Academy of Music in Budapest in 1984. He was Comunale in Bologna and played many concerts in Europe, the solo flutist of the Hungarian Radio Symphony Orchestra Asia and in the United States of America, also giving seminars between 1981 – 1991. Since 2000 he is a solo flutist of the and workshops in various American universities. She edited Hungarian National Philharmonic Orchestra. He has performed and published essays, reviews, and piano arrangements for at the most important European festivals and concert halls. He has made recordings publishers like Zanibon-Ricordi, Curci, LIM, Lemoine, with Naxos, Hungaroton and with Capriccio. Two of his albums got a huge success Zimmermann and Billaudot. She has been the official piano accompanist at San (transcriptions of Paganini and Mendelssohn concertos). He is flute professor at Marino courses in 1985 with the famous soprano Renata Tebaldi. She has also Hochshule für Musik in Detmold. performed with many international soloists. She teaches “Piano accompaniment” at Conservatorio di Musica Santa Cecilia in Rome.

Philipp Körner, cello, studied with Markus Nyikos at the Hochschule der Künste Berlin. He was a scholarship holder of the Rosa Ricciotti made her debut at the age of 22. She has performed Orchestra Academy of the Munich Philharmonic and of the Yehudi leading roles in many operas of the great repertoire, but also in Menuhin Foundation “Live Music Now”. Since 2000 he is first contemporary operas, singing in the major Italian theatres, like Opera cello in the Staatsorchester Stuttgart. As a chamber musician he is in Roma, Massimo in Palermo, Verdi in Trieste, Carlo Felice in Genoa, Member of the “Metis Quartet” and the “Veridian Ensemble”. Comunale di Cagliari, and many others. She has carried out an intense concert activity with various chamber ensembles and with orchestras, performing pieces of both the international and contemporary classical repertoire. She has also performed with international partners such as Leo Nucci and Andrea Bocelli. She has received numerous career awards for her Alberto Martini studied the violin at the “F.E. Dall’Abaco” social commitment and as a Culture Ambassador. Since 2007 she has been teaching Conservatory in Verona. He served as first violin soloist of “Arena di Lyrical Singing at the “U. Giordano” Conservatory of Rodi Garganico. Verona Orchestra”, “A. Toscanini Orchestra” in Parma, “Istituzione Sinfonica Abruzzese”, “Teatro Comunale” of Bologna and “Pomeriggi Musicali Symphony Orchestra” of Milan, performing under some of Zoltan Szabo studied cello at the “Musical Academy” in Bucarest. the world greatest conductors. He has toured throughout Italy and First cello of “Arena di Verona Orchestra”, where he has performed Europe. He has made several recordings. As concertmaster of Virtuosi under some of the greatest conductors, he has toured throughout Italiani he has performed with artists of international acclaim. He is violin professor Italy, Europe and Russia. He has made several recordings for various at the Conservatory in Brescia. labels. He has been a member of the “Trio d’archi di Verona” and of the “Quartetto Amati”. He is the winner of Altamura’s Saverio Mercadante International Cello Competition.