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Carl Heinrich Graun (1704-1759) Apollo & Dafne Italian Cantatas Hannah Morrison soprano Main-Barockorchester Martin Jopp, Marie Verweyen, Helmut Winkel, Jörn-Sebastian Kuhlmann, Adam Lord, Katka Ozaki violin Friederike Kremers, Ursula Plagge-Zimmermann viola Katie Stephens violoncello Christian Zincke violone Carl Heinrich Graun (etching by Valentin Daniel Preissler, 1752) Henrike Seitz harpsichord ENGLISH Graun Italian Cantatas CARL HEINRICH GRAUN (1704-1759) It is the moment of the greatest intimacy, yet the through Daphne’s transformation, whereby “typical” or JOHANN GOTTLIEB GRAUN (1703-1771) deepest alienation; for the intimacy is violent - is a result of the of the genesis of the genre. Cantata »Disperata Porcia« Apollo attacks Daphne, the mighty god – the help- less nymph. An ancient Me Too myth, one of many 1 Recitativo Disperata Porcia 1:19 The Italian solo cantata, one of the characterizing poetized in Ovid‘s “Metamorphoses,“ which per- 2 Aria (ohne Bezeichnung) Quanto, quanto dolce 7:22 genres of vocal chamber music for some 100 years, meated the arts many centuries later. The story of 3 Recitativo Essempio di fidelità 0:32 evolved from 1630-40 onwards, emerging from Apollo and Daphne became a classic of visual, liter- 4 Aria (Vivace) Dell’amante l’inconstanza or si regna con baldanza 8:59 madrigalian and strophic forms. By nature, its so- ary, and musical representation, a topos almost. One ciological setting was not the in public, but rather knows how the story will end, if not, one can guess. the private sphere of patronally-minded aristocrats CARL HEINRICH GRAUN Daphne escapes her divine rapist by transformation: or the so-called academies, i.e. the circles of liter- Sinfonia from the opera »Cinna« (Berlin, 1748) into a laurel tree, the poetic image of traumatic pa- ary and musically educated connoisseurs. Decisive 5 Allegro 2:57 ralysis. As a transformation of the transformation, for the evolution of the genre was the increasing 6 Andante piano 2:42 the fine arts created the narrative of male desire and differentiation of meter in the texts set to music, 7 Allegro 2:04 its sublimation. To the god, the now unreachable leading to the gradual development of clearly sepa- lover becomes a relic, the laurel tree a shrine, desire rated recitatives and arias. The genre reaches its CARL HEINRICH GRAUN or JOHANN GOTTLIEB GRAUN becomes devotion. He promises the evergreen plant quantitative and qualitative climax in the work of Cantata »Apollo amante di Dafne« everlasting protection from frost and lightning, its Alessandro Scarlatti, who wrote some 600 cantatas, 8 Recitativo Ferma Dafne Crudel 1:36 leafy branches crown the heads of victors, above all, at first still under the stylistic and formal influence 9 Aria (Largo con sordini) Tu sarai mio caro alloro 9:10 victors in the sublimation of the spirit. of older Roman composers such as Luigi Rossi or 10 Recitativo Ma fra tanti mali 0:20 Giacomo Carissimi or Venetian composers such as 11 Aria (Allegretto) Di si bella illustre pianta 7:07 The myth has also been faithfully retold in the can- Giovanni Legrenzi, and by around the turn of the tata “Apollo amante di Dafne” by its unknown li- 18th century with extensive da-capo arias and purely CARL HEINRICH GRAUN brettist. Musical attribution to Carl Heinrich Graun, declamatory recitative, almost completely forgoing Cantata »Lavinia a Turno« Frederick II’s Berlin court Kapellmeister is by no arioso passages. Yet, not only the structural, but 12 Recitativo Deh senti o Turno amato 1:33 means certain – Graun’s brother Johann Gottlieb, also the cyclical form of Scarlatti’s works exhibit 13 Aria (Largo) Placa lo sdegno 12:11 one year his senior, is the other possible contender. an almost classical regularity: the sequence of two 14 Recitativo Ma oh Dio! Tu non rispondi? 2:37 Typical of the genre, the work focuses on the dra- pairs of recitative-arias together with the formal- 15 Aria (Allegro) M’affretta il Padre ara 7:27 matic turning point - the transformation of desire ism emanating from opera seria became a binding 5 ENGLISH ENGLISH genre-norm for the entire 18th century, as in the Heinrich Graun’s cantatas, including beginning with Nastasja Gandolfo expresses doubt due to the is- persuading him, who believes he has been betrayed, three Graun cantatas recorded here. Of course, the an accompagnato recitative. The first bars are still sue of the source material: like the other two can- of her love. She laments her fate and the power of exception proves the rule - and the permeability of set as secco recitative; expressive harmonies testify tatas which have not been preserved in autograph, her father, threatens futilely with her death rather each genre-definition, but the sequence of aria- to the sexual furor of the god. The strings tumble the most reliable copy of this work only carries the than being forced to enter into marriage with the recitative-aria is frequent, the trademark of larger in with a freely sequenced, energetically dotted al- name “Graun”, it could also have been written by unloved Aeneas. The cantata begins with a secco works with two or more vocal roles, or short operas legro gesture – the shock of Daphne’s sudden trans- the older brother. In this cantata, the opening ac- recitative. The largo aria in E major, in which Lavinia in cantata form. formation. The mood changes to a quieter andante compagnato recitative (with a dark orchestral in- tries to appease her lover with galant melos – a col- In terms of content, the Italian cantata is mostly with gently moving strings and sustained tones troduction in tragic C minor setting the scene) has oratura-decorated declaration of loyalty, and a con- dominated by love poetry in the Arcadian-pastoral representing Apollo’s emotional and moral transfor- a narrative function, before desperate Porcia herself trasting C-sharp minor middle section, is followed milieu (predominant also in Graun’s œuvre). How- mation. He now, and in the E flat major aria which takes the stage in the first aria. She is the wife of the by an extensive secco recitative passage, merging ever, particularly in papal Rome, moralizing, alle- follows (a largo with muted strings), sings of the Caesar’s murderer and upright republican, Brutus. into a contrasting, tone-painted accompagnato: gorical cantata texts also emerged, as well as (most laurel tree as a symbol of purified love. Noteworthy The unknown librettist adheres to the plutarchian Turnus runs away wordlessly, Lavinia’s wrath flashes strikingly in the work of Alessandro Stradella in the is a subtle psychological detail: the theme of the legend that Porcia followed Brutus to his death af- forth, ranting as she approaches the crowd of joyful 1670s) cantatas based on mythological or historical orchestral introduction is characterized by violin ter his defeat in the Roman Civil War by swallow- people gathered for the political wedding. All that themes, dramatically cropped to depict key scenes syncopations; as the voice takes up the melody, it is ing red-hot coals. In the first aria, also in C minor, remains is the bravura seria despair of the final aria which could have originated in an opera plot: the transformed, syncopation-free – the last vestige of Porcia announces her decision to die. Stuttering with its elegiac largo middle section. moments of peripeteia, the dramatic twist, the tension has disappeared. In triplet garlands, Apollo dotted rhythms, broken diction, and interval leaps point at which the storty turns towards catastro- laments his loss, and in the contrasting middle sec- – particularly the pathos-inducing minor sevenths, The three cantatas – two of which doubtful in their phe or at least – as in the “Apollo” cantata – to a tion – in three-four instead of four-four time and testify to her state of mind. The second aria (vivace), authenticity, and one positively attributed - belong fundamentally changed situation. As chamber mu- gently accelerated to larghetto – tender melismas erupts with wild syncopations and rapid coloratura to a small group in Graun’s output, for soprano. The sic miniatures, the cantatas detach this culmination express the kisses of the zephyr wind: erotic desire is into accusatory rage. greater part of his 38 positively attributed Italian point and its conflicting affects from the context, suspended in the image of nature. This aria, as in all cantatas were composed for tenor, and thus prob- from the developing plot. They concentrate on the three of the cantatas, modifies the da-capo into the The cantata “Lavinia a Turno” is a confirmed work ably for his own voice. As a “deeply moving” singer situation, on the inner drama of the protagonist dal-segno form: the first ritornello is shortened be- of Carl Heinrich Graun, whose librettist, Maria An- Graun was considered by his contemporaries to be in the face of an outrageous event. In this quasi- fore the repetition of the A-part. After a short secco tonia Walpurgis of Bavaria, from 1747 Elector of the epitome of the “singing composer” – one who fragmented form, the cantata texts presuppose recitative, Apollo, in the allegretto closing aria - an Saxony, is unusually also known. The text is based understood cantabile and the technique of the hu- knowledge of the “whole story”, one could expect elegant minuet melody with wide, ornamented arcs on an episode from Vergil’s “Aeneid”. Aeneas has man voice. His Italian cantatas were widely distrib- the educated audience of the elitist genre to know on the word “premiare” – celebrates his victory over fled from the ruins of Troy, and after a seemingly uted in northern Germany, with copies even being the background. And it is to this form that the three himself with a laurel wreath, the act of prize-giving.