Sonia Prina, alto laBarocca Ruben Jais , conductor MN Recorded in Milan (Auditorium di Milano), Italy, in June 2016 Engineered and produced by Stefano Barzan Assistant: Cinzia Guareschi Mixed and mastered at Tranquilo Studio, Milan Edited by Diego Cantalupi and Stefano Bellucci Executive producer & editorial director: Carlos Céster | Editorial assistance: María Díaz Translations: Mark Wiggins ( eng ), Pierre Élie Mamou ( fra ), Susanne Lowien ( deu ) Photographs of Sonia Prina © Javier del Real Design: Rosa Tendero © 2017 note 1 music gmbh laBarocca Violin I: Gianfranco Ricci *, Gian Andrea Guerra, Elisa Bestetti, Giorgio Tosi, Marco Ferretti, Ambramo Raule, Gemma Longoni Violin I I: Diego Castelli *, Jamiang Santi, Yayoi Masuda, Aki Takahashi, Sara Meloni, Rossella Borsoni Viol a: Emanuele Marcante *, Massimo Percivaldi, Zeno Scattolin, Valentina Soncini Cell o: Marcello Scandelli *, Nicola Brovelli *, Marlise Goidanich, Anna Carpolini Bas s: Carlo Sgarro *, Pierpaolo Mastroleo Harpsichor d: Davide Pozzi *, Leonardo Montemorra, Vittorio Rabagliati Flut e: Manuel Staropoli, Mattia Laurella Obo e: Shai Kribus *, Nicola Barbagli *, Michele Favaro Bassoo n: Anna Maria Barbaglia * Hor n: Ermes Pecchinini *, Fabio Cardone Trumpe t: Simone Amelli *, Matteo Macchia *principal Ruben Jais , conductor [www.labarocca.it.] 4 5 christoph willibald gluck (1714-1787) 01 Se in campo armato ( Sofonisba . Milan, 1744 )* 4:44 02 Sperai vicino il lido ( Demofoonte . Milan, 1743) 8:20 03 Dal suo gentil sembiante ( Demetrio . Venice, 1742)* 7:17 04 Sinfonia ( Semiramide riconosciuta . Vienna, 1748)* 6:39 05 Nobil onda ( Sofonisba . Milan, 1744)* 8:11 06 Se fedele mi brama il regnante ( Ezio . Prague, 1750) 7:04 07 Se tu vedessi come vegg’io ( Ippolito . Milan, 1745)* 7:14 08 Tradita, sprezzata ( Semiramide riconosciuta . Vienna, 1748)* 3:49 09 Sinfonia ( Ipermestra . Venice, 1744) 5:05 10 M’opprime, m’affanna ( Sofonisba . Milan, 1744)* 2:19 11 Ah! non turbi il mio riposo ( Telemaco . Vienna, 1765) 6:07 12 Se il fulmine sospendi ( Ezio . Vienna, 1763) 4:11 * world-premiere recordings [Edition of all the sources: Giovanni Andrea Sechi] 6 7 english english teenth century, the contralto register was the one their favourite performers (either for collecting pur - sitions: this phenomenon occurred due to the prac - especially favoured for heroic male roles and for poses or to be able to perform them themselves). This tices of the composer’s followers and of the demand those of heroines en travesti ; however, tastes changed kind of miscellaneous manuscript would, from the for his music from the market. This is, for example, The contralto voice: with the approach of the Age of Enlightenment and nineteenth and into the twentieth centuries, turn up the case with arias from Arsace (Milan 1743), which performers possessing this vocal register began to be in Italian and other European library holdings. These were attributed to Gluck in a manuscript which today Gluck’s heroes (and heroines) scarce in numbers (a greater presence of soprano are sources of a valuable nature because they offer tan - is kept in Paris (Bibliothèque Nationale de France, D. roles in operas from the late eighteenth century – to gible proof of the success and circulation of these 4712-1, D. 4712-3). Such an attribution is no longer the detriment of contraltos – can be observed). pieces of music. The present programme has made acceptable: the arias, “Sì, vedrò quell’alma ingrata” ithout any doubt there is no greater example In France, the reduction was even more drastic use of these sources also. and “Benché copra al sole il volta” come from two W of a Gluckian protagonist than Orfeo, and the for the alto: it became customary to have a prefer - Scores which are incomplete or mutilated have operas composed by Giovanni Battista Lampugnani – festa teatrale of Orfeo ed Euridice (Vienna, 1762) was ence for the haute-contre voice in place of the male been afforded special attention: for example, the Arsace (Crema 1741) and Ezio (Venice 1743). designed as a genuine one-man show. It is only with (castrato) or female contralto. On moving to Paris in string part is missing in bars 40-41 in the Parisian Stylistically, moreover, the musical content of these difficulty that the audience’s attention is diverted 1773, even Gluck was forced to adapt to the local con - manuscript of the aria “M’opprime, m’affanna” arias bears no similarity with the Gluckian idiolect. from Orfeo: he is the tragic hero, the symbol of the ditions in his operas. In fact, in the French version of (Sofonisba ), as are some notes from the vocal line The authorship of the aria “Sì, vedrò quell’alma persuasive power of singing. The role of the Greek Orfeo ed Euridice (Orphée et Eurydice , Paris 1774), the (here they have been reconstructed and completed ingrata” can be confirmed in a tangible way: the exis - bard has been irresistible for experienced actors and role that had been created by Guadagni was rewrit - by the present writer). tence of a contemporaneous document, with variants singers, such as the male alto Gaetano Guadagni who, ten for the haute-contre Joseph Legros. (and with a new text: “Già vedrai la belva irata”) cur - together with the librettist Raineri de’ Calzabigi, Consequently, the investigations into the rently in Zurich (Schneider-Genewein private collec - inspired the Gluckian “Riforma dell’opera seria”. sources for the purposes of this cd only concerned problems of attribution: tion). The attribution to Giovanni Battista Pergolesi There is no lack of other heroic roles in the themselves with the composer’s Italian output. gluck and his contemporaries is, as a consequence, not a credible one. Gluckian repertory: so many memorable parts were assigned for the alto voice by this composer, who had n preparing a manuscript, a copyist could modify been brought up in Bohemia. And it is precisely this gluck’s italian output: I the attribution of a piece in two instances: when the performers and the music repertory, written for excellent interpreters – and yet the condition of the sources unable to distinguish between one composer and still rarely performed today – which is celebrated on another, or when doing it with fraudulent intent. In ne of Gluck’s earliest musical manifestations in this cd . he works which date from Gluck’s initial Italian the second instance, passing off an unknown compo - O Italy is the aria “Dal suo gentil sembiante” As a consequence of a specific historical set of T sojourn (1737-1745) have suffered substantial sition as a work by a confirmed composer might be (Demetrio ), inspired by the style of Neapolitan com - circumstances, Gluck had the good fortune to work damage. In their majority, the sources of which one is financially beneficial for the copyist (and for sales of posers such as Leonardo Leo and Nicola Antonio with the last alto singers of his generation: not only aware today consist of collections of arie staccate or his manuscripts). Porpora. Indeed, the work’s recipient, Felice Guadagni, but also Giovanni Carestini, Vittoria Tesi anthologies. It was the custom of the time for a partic - However, even in the early work of Gluck one is Salimbeni from Milan, was one of Porpora’s pupils. and many others. Until the beginning of the eigh - ularly assiduous public to buy copies of works sung by frequently liable to come up against spurious compo - In this aria, the simplicity of the melodic line might 8 9 english english suggest a certain innocence on the part of the com - tenths and arpeggios (very appropriately represent - tralto’s dramatic singing with experimenting with new and an acrobatic agility to represent the uncontrol - poser: instead, it serves to glorify the performer’s ing the outburst of the warrior as he challenges his musical forms (the aria is written without the custom - lable anger of the main character. skill and his or her capacity to sustain the broad rival in combat). “Sperai vicino il lido” ( Demofoonte ) ary da capo ). The composer’s intuition led him to cre - Of course, one should not forget the alto who, canto spianato . A glimmer of personal style can be contains leaps up two octaves: the alarm of the ate two musical situations, neither of which coincided more than any other, embodies the artistic ideal of detected in the violin roulades , in the syncopations helmsman overwhelmed by a sudden storm is addi - with the A or B sections of the text: one doleful and Gluck: Gaetano Guadagni, the inspiration for the which heighten the tension just before the ritornel - tionally rendered by the alternation of a slow tempo meditative part alternates with another of unbounded famous Gluckian reform. Singer and composer lo’s resolution. – where the canto spianato evokes the calm sea (“credei fury (“che possa provarlo qell’anima ingrata, quell bar - shared noteworthy successes such as the Viennese The aria amorosa , “Se tu vedessi come vegg’io” calmato il vento”) – and a fast tempo as the storm baro cor!”). An additional device producing a great Orfeo , the second version of Ezio (Vienna, 1763) and (Ippolito ), intended for another castrato from Milan, arises (“ma trasportar mi sento”). effect occurs with the repetition of the question Telemacco . The aria, “Ah! non turbi il mio riposo” from Angelo Maria Monticelli, is a rare example of a minor- Other aspects of Carestini’s vocal manner are “Chi?” at bars 55-56, at the end of the section B of the this last opera forms part of a scene where the princi - key minuet (both the dissonances and the highly elab - explored in other pieces: the aria di paragone (compar - aria (as well as in bars 77-78 of the aria “M’opprime, pal takes leave of his senses among fantasies and trag - orated melodic line are worthy of interest).