MAYR Ariadne on Naxos (Cantata) Cornelia Horak, Soprano • Thomas Michael Allen, Tenor Simon Mayr Chorus and Ensemble Franz Hauk Simon 1 No. 1 Sinfonia 8:06 MAYR 2 No. 2 Introduzione: Coro: Misera! al sonno in preda (Coro) 3:47 (1763–1845) 3 No. 3 Recitativo: Larve terribili (Arianna) 4:21 4 No. 4 Aria: Collʼempia lʼinfido (Arianna) 3:47 Arianna in Nasso 5 No. 5 Marcia 3:20 6 No. 6 Coro: Dal confine ove lieta lʼAurora (Coro) 1:39 (Ariadne on Naxos) 7 No. 7 Recitativo: Sì, compagni, quel nume (Bacco) 0:58 Cantata in One Act 8 No. 8 Aria con coro: Il fatal fragor dellʼarmi (Bacco, Coro) 6:40 9 Libretto by Giovanni Schmidt No. 9 Recitativo: Giove, del lungo errar questa è la meta (Bacco, Coro, Arianna) 3:44 0 No. 10 Duetto: Non temer (Bacco, Arianna) 6:56 ! No. 11 Recitativo: Le passate vicende (Bacco, Arianna) 1:37 Arianna (Ariadne) . Cornelia Horak, Soprano @ No. 12a Coro: Del bromio dio (Coro) 1:12 Bacco (Bacchus) . Thomas Michael Allen, Tenor No. 12b Recitativo: Che vedo! (Arianna, Bacco) Chorus of the Followers of Theseus and of Bacchantes # No. 13a Coro: Abbi, Arianna, omai di tanti lai (Coro) 1:14 No. 13b Recitativo: Deh! benefico nume (Arianna) Simon Mayr Chorus and Ensemble $ No. 14 Aria con coro: Troppo oppresso (Arianna, Bacco, Coro) 9:12 Directed from the harpsichord by % No. 15 Coro: DʼArianna e di Lieo (Coro) 1:12 Franz Hauk Simon Mayr (1763–1845) Arianna in Nasso Born in the Bavarian town of Mendorf, near Ingolstadt, in Venice and then for La Scala, Milan, and for other Italian 1763, Simon Mayr was the son of a schoolteacher and theatres, with an increasingly large number of performances The librettist Giovanni Schmidt showed some early ability as a musician. He was a pupil at abroad. In 1802 he followed Lenzi as maestro di cappella at Federico Giovanni Schmidt was born around 1775 in Livorno Naples at the beginning of the nineteenth century. Giovanni the Jesuit College in Ingolstadt, before entering the university the cathedral of Santa Maria Maggiore in Bergamo, becoming (Leghorn) and went to Naples where he remained for the Schmidt provided libretti for a range of composers including to study theology, while continuing to demonstrate great director of the cathedral choir school three years later. Mayr rest of his life. We know little about the date either of his Giacomo Tritto, Giovanni Pacini, Giovanni Andreozzi – the versatility as a musician. His musical training, however, only held these positions until his death in 1845. As a teacher he birth, or even of his death, but it was probably after 1840. so-called Jommellino, Ferdinando Paër, Vittorio Trento, began in earnest in 1787, when a patron, noticing his talent, won the particular respect of his pupil Gaetano Donizetti. He Giovanni Schmidt was an important opera librettist and Stefano Pavesi, Gioachino Rossini, Luigi Mosca, Nicola took him to Italy. There, from 1789, he studied with Carlo did much to promote the knowledge of the Viennese classical between 1800 and 1845 he wrote more than 55 libretti, Antonio Manfroce, Pietro Raimondi, Valentino Fioravanti, Lenzi, master of the music at Bergamo Cathedral. There composers, Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven, in Italy. His own almost all for the most famous opera house in Naples, the Saverio Mercadante, Pietro Generali, Francesco Sampieri, followed, through the generosity of another patron, a period style reflects something of this, but essentially in an Italian Teatro San Carlo, where he was employed. Here he worked Gaetano Donizetti, Dionisio Pagliani-Gagliardi and not least of study with Bertoni in Venice. His early commissioned context. He was, needless to say, immensely prolific as a alongside Andrea Leone Tottola. These two librettists Simon Mayr. compositions were largely in the form of sacred oratorios, composer, with nearly seventy operas to his credit between determined the formation and direction of operatic texts in but in 1794 his opera Saffo was staged in Venice. His turning 1794 and 1824, and some six hundred sacred works. to opera owed much to the encouragement he received from The architect Antonio Niccolini and the new theatre of San Carlo in Naples Piccinni and Peter von Winter, and other operas followed for Keith Anderson Initially the 'classicist' Antonio Niccolini came to Naples in ceiling fresco for the new Teatro San Carlo was based on 1807 as a set designer at the San Carlo and del Fondo Niccoliniʼs blueprints. The rebuilt theatre was ceremonially theatres. From 1816 he worked as architect at the royal court inaugurated on 12th January 1817, the birthday of Ferdinand (Architetto della Real Casa), from 1817 as professor at the I, with a performance of Simon Mayrʼs cantata Il sogno di School of Scenography and from 1822 as director of the Partenope (Partenopeʼs Dream) a melodramma allegorico. Institute of Fine Arts in Naples. Giuseppe Cammaranoʼs Isabella Colbran sang the title-rôle. The soprano Isabella Colbran Not only did Simon Mayr write the cantata Il sogno di brandʼ – must have acknowledged the singerʼs importance. Partenope for the Spanish soprano Isabella Colbran but he “Signora Colbran is generally pleasing” Mayr wrote from tailor-made for her his cantata Arianna in Nasso (Ariadne on Venice to his friend the tenor Francesco Fiorini on 17th Naxos). The range of her expressive voice was almost three January 1810. She sang many parts in works by Mayr until, octaves. Colbran was the star of Domenico Barbaiaʼs opera having been Barbaiaʼs mistress, she married Rossini in 1822. company and it was he who first recognized her voice and Mayr also originally conceived the rôle of Athalia for her. stage presence. “This first man in the kingdom, theatre The affluent Isabella Colbran was useful to the composer director and gambler promoted Mlle Colbrand, his leading Rossini not only for her musical qualities but also for one lady, who teased him all day long and consequently had him specific asset. Stendhal wrote: “Before his marriage to Mlle on a tight rein. Mlle Colbrand, who today is Madame Rossini, Colbrand, who generated twenty thousand pounds in was one of the finest singers in Europe from 1806 to 1815.” earnings for him, Rossini bought himself only two tailcoats a (Stendhal, Rossini). year.” (Stendhal, Rossini). Even the critical Stendhal – he mostly called her ʻCol- Iris Winkler On the mythology Men and women from the godʼs entourage cheer Ariadne religious aura; heaven and earth come together in the love @#. There follows a three-part aria with chorus in which of Bacchus and Ariadne $. The finale is a short, joyous The Greek god Dionysus or Bacchus (his Roman counter- example in Ovid. The daughter of Minos had helped the Ariadne sings of her happiness in the times to come. The celebration of farewell %. part) was regarded as the conqueror of Asia who, according young Athenian Theseus to slay the Minotaur and to find appearance of a solo harp imbues the scene with a quasi- to Euripides, returned to Thebes after he gained Lydia. He his way out of the labyrinth where the monster dwelt. After planned a peaceful invasion and civilization of the east. In that she had fled with Theseus but he then abandoned her Franz Hauk English version by David Stevens what was in essence a triumphal procession the god and his on Naxos which was also the favourite island of Dionysus. followers overcame even India, the end of the known world, It was on Naxos that Dionysus encountered the lamenting with his thyrsus instead of spears, and with ceremonial- Ariadne, fell in love immediately and married her. As a instead of battle-music. It was there that he introduced wine wedding gift Ariadne received a crown of jewels which after The Simon Mayr Chorus and Ensemble and his good deeds. her death went up into heaven as a constellation. Ariadne The Simon Mayr Chorus and Ensemble were established by Franz Hauk in 2003. The chorusʼs repertoire ranges from the Dionysusʼs meeting with the Cretan princess Ariadne herself led Dionysus out of Hades onto Mount Olympus sixteenth to the twentieth century and a special emphasis is laid on historical performance techniques and the performance has been used time and again in works of literature, as for where she became a goddess. of vocal music by Simon Mayr. Members of the chorus include vocal students from the Munich Hochschule für Musik und Theater and singers from Ingolstadt and the surrounding region. The chorus made its début in 2003 in Bachʼs Mass in B The action minor with the Wasa Baroque Orchestra in Norway. The chorus and ensemble, its players drawn from leading German The two-part Sinfonia, which Mayr also used in his opera Le New Scene: A march in E major 5, beginning quietly and orchestras, have recorded for Naxos a number of works by Simon Mayr. due Duchesse (1814), begins with the premier coup becoming gradually louder, with sections in the minor, dʼarchet, a fortissimo chord with the famous ascending signals a change of mood: a ship appears on the horizon and rocket figure in the strings 1. In the introduction two a lively chorus in 6/8 is heard 6. On board the ship is alternating menʼs choruses sing of the terrible fate of the Bacchus, the son of Zeus, who is heading for Naxos sleeping Ariadne: the sailors prepare for their departure from following his peaceful conquest of the eastern world. the island of Naxos. The choruses join forces in ʻResta Bacchus is presented as the emperor of pleasure and innocente vittimaʼ; with triplets in the violins set against geniality, not as the bringer of the clangour of war 7.