Venere Notes Booklet

476 6170
Venere, Adone e Amore
S erenatas and Cantatas by
ALESSANDRO SCARLATTI
ANTIPODES is a sub-label of ABC Classics
devoted to the historically informed
performance of music from the Renaissance,
Baroque and Classical periods.
Alessandro Scarlatti 1660-1725
CD1
Venere, Adone e Amore (Venus, Adonis and Cupid)
Serenata for two sopranos and alto, with instruments
Text by Francesco Maria Paglia
[53’19]
£ Sinfonia e Aria con trombe (Amore): Senti le trombe altere
$
Jane Edwards Venere
Tessa Miller Adone
James Sanderson Amore
%
1 Sinfonia: Largo – Presto – Tremolo e grave – Corrente
2 Recitativo (Venere): Dal giardin del Piacere
3’32
0’53
From the garden of Pleasure
3 Aria (Venere): Onde belle dall’aure agitate (Adagio)
^
&
3’00
*
Beautiful waves, tossed by breezes
4 Recitativo (Amore, Venere): Madre!... Figlio!
1’24
(
Mother!... My son!
5 Aria (Venere): Vanne, vola, alato arciero
1’32
)
Go, fly, winged archer
6 Recitativo (Amore, Adone, Venere): Taci, ch’egli già viene
1’10
¡
Hush, he’s coming now
7 Aria (Adone): Se tu muovi alle mie pene
2’48
™
If my pain moves you
8 Recitativo (Venere, Adone, Amore): Adone, io son gelosa
0’39
Adonis, I am jealous
#
9 Aria (Amore): Credigli, o Dea severa
1’52
Believe him, O severe Goddess
¢
0 Recitativo (Venere, Adone, Amore): Perché dunque mi lascia?
0’44
Then why does he leave me?
∞
! Aria (Adone): Io d’altra non m’accendo
2’48
My heart does not burn for another
§
@ Recitativo (Adone): S’io rimiro un bel ciglio
1’05
If I admire a fair brow
2
Hear the proud trumpets
Recitativo (Adone, Amore, Venere): Cupido che m’intende
Cupid understands me
Trio (Adone, Amore, Venere): Amore è solo ardore ma non è fedeltà (1706)
Love is all passion but he is not faithfulness
Recitativo (Venere, Adone, Amore): Quante beltà tradite vidde Amor per ferire
How many betrayed beauties did Cupid see and wound
Aria (Venere): D’elemento ch’è instabile e infido, io son figlia (Allegrissimo)
Of an unstable and faithless element am I the daughter
Recitativo (Amore, Venere, Adone): Della mia genitrice io la cuna difendo
I defend the cradle of my mother
Aria (Amore): Adone ha ragione
Adonis is right
Recitativo (Venere, Adone): Ben mio, sì ch’hai ragione
My love, of course you are right
Duetto (Venere, Adone): M’amerai?... T’adorerò (Adagio)
Will you love me?... I shall adore you
Aria (Adone): Ch’io mai ti lasci, o bella (Stretto)
If ever I should leave you, O my fair one
Recitativo (Venere): Non mi mancar di fede
Do not be unfaithful to me
Aria (Venere): Non v’è maggior vendetta che dar la libertà
There is no greater vengeance than to grant freedom
Recitativo (Adone, Venere): Quando piace il legame
When the bond brings pleasure
Aria (Adone): A dispetto del cordoglio
In spite of the heartache
3
3’22
0’38
1’23
1’28
1’09
1’50
2’13
0’59
1’49
1’34
0’34
2’10
1’06
3’09
Appendix
¶ Aria (Amore): Adone ha ragione (1706)
2’43
Filli e Clori (Phyllis and Chloe): Amica, ora che Aprile
Duet for two sopranos with violins
1’41
Jane Edwards Filli
Miriam Allan Clori
Adonis is right
• Recitativo (Trio): Amore insegn’ ardore ma non la fedeltà (1696)
Love teaches passion but not faithfulness
ª Recitativo – Aria (Venere): Non v’è maggior vendetta che dar la libertà (1706)
3’33
8 Recitativo (Filli): Amica, ora che Aprile
2’56
1’01
Perdono, Amor (Forgive me, Love)
Cantata for alto solo
9
Total Playing Time
53’19
0
CD2
[14’38]
Lidio e Clori (Lydio and Chloe)
Duet for soprano and alto with violins
!
@
Jane Edwards Clori
James Sanderson Lidio
£
1 Duetto: Dove fuggi, o bella Clori?
3’17
Where are you fleeing, beautiful Chloe?
$
2 Recitativo (Clori): Io quando amar volessi
0’38
%
Even if I wanted to love
3 Aria (Clori): Da quel dì ch’Amor pretese (Spiritoso)
2’40
^
From the day that Love presumed
4 Recitativo (Lidio): Di sì lieta ventura non andar sì festosa
0’20
&
Do not be so exultant at such happy fortune
5 Aria (Lidio): Quando Amore schernito si vede (Spiritoso)
When Love sees himself scorned
6 Recitativo (Lidio, Clori): Dunque fermati, o Clori
So stay awhile, Chloe
7 Duetto: Ah! sì, purtroppo è vero (Allegro)
3’46
Ah! It’s true, alas
4
0’39
My friend, now that April
Aria with ritornello (Filli): Vieni, vedrem di Flora la fronte verdeggiar
Come! We will see Flora crowned in green leaves
Recitativo (Filli, Clori): Fra le mure di Roma
Within the walls of Rome
Aria with ritornello (Clori): Libertà, libertà
Liberty, liberty
Recitativo – Aria (Filli): Ma se Amor non ti punge…Vieni, potrai col dardo
But if Love does not pierce you…Come, you can shoot your darts
Recitativo (Filli, Clori): Sara’, s’io ben conosco
If I’m not mistaken
Aria with ritornello (Clori): Gemme che mi cingete il sen
Jewels that adorn my breast
Recitativo – Aria (Filli): Andiam, che più se tarda…Di te mai più bella arciera
Let’s go, it’s getting late…No archeress fairer than you
Recitativo (Clori): Innocente bellezza, se medita rigori
If innocent beauty is planning cruel sports
Duetto: Si prepari la destra a ferire
Let hands be prepared for the hunt
There is no greater vengeance than to grant freedom
[17’29]
1’38
0’52
3’23
1’49
0’43
3’47
2’43
0’31
1’25
[10’03]
James Sanderson countertenor
* Introduzione – Recitativo: Perdono, Amor!
1’17
Forgive me, Love!
( Aria: Non è vero, che tu sia quel mensogniero (Allegro)
It’s not true that you are the liar
2’56
5
) Recitativo: Io vidi un vago oggetto
0’36
I saw a beautiful creature
¡ Aria: Il pensar, ch’il mio ben m’ha tradito (Allegro – Adagio – Allegro)
The thought that my beloved has betrayed me
™ Recitativo: Torna, Idol mio
Come back, my love!
# Aria: Pur m’alletti e pur mi piaci (Allegro)
And yet you enchant and delight me
Cantata Pastorale
Pastoral Cantata for voice with violins
⁄ Aria with ritornello: Sì, sì, non dormite (Allegro)
2’23
¤
0’38
‹
2’11
›
[15’59]
fi
2’04
Yes, yes, sleep not
Recitativo – Arioso: Quindi da’ vostri sguardi
However, your glances
Aria: Vago fior, ch’in notte algente (Andante grave)
A lovely flower, which in the chilly night
Recitativo: Ma no, riposa, o bella
But no, sleep, O lovely one
Aria: Dormite, posate, pupille adorate (Adagio)
Sleep, rest, beloved eyes
1’15
2’12
0’36
2’21
Total Playing Time
James Sanderson countertenor ¢, ∞, §
Miriam Allan soprano §, ¶
74’15
CD3
¢ Introduzione – Recitativo: Non so qual più m’ingombra (Allegro)
I know not what troubles me more
∞ Aria: Che sarà? Chi a me lo dice? (Moderato)
What will happen? Who will tell me?
§ Recitativo: È nato! alfin mi dice
He is born!
¶ Aria Pastorale: Nacque, col Gran Messia, la pace (Moderato)
With the great Messiah, peace was born
Orché di Febo ascosi (Now that the splendid rays of Phoebus)
Serenata for soprano solo with violins
Olimpia (Olympia)
Chamber cantata for soprano solo and instruments
2’40
4’57
1’11
7’12
[15’35]
Jane Edwards soprano
1 Introduzione (Allegro – Adagio – Allegro)
2 Recitativo: Su la sponda del mare
• Introduzione (Largo – Andante) – Recitativo: Orché di Febo ascosi
Now that the splendid rays of Phoebus
ª Aria: Cara Notte (Grave e piano)
Dear Night
º Recitativo: Ma chi m’addita, o Dio
But who shows me, O God
2’45
3’46
0’36
6
2’40
1’44
On the seashore
3 Aria: Agiutatemi a morire (Largo assai)
4
5
Jane Edwards soprano
[16’22]
6
7
4’31
Help me to die
Recitativo [stromentato]: O Mare, o Stelle, o Venti
O sea, O stars, O winds
Aria with ritornello: Le procelle si fan calma (Adagio)
The storms are calmed
Recitativo: Or così tra se parla
Thus she talks to herself
Aria: Quanto è simile il mio core a quel scoglio (Spiritoso)
How like my heart is to that rock
7
1’03
3’16
0’41
2’28
Del Tirreno sul lido (On the shore of the Tyrrhenian Sea)
Cantata for alto solo
[7’13]
James Sanderson countertenor
8 Recitativo: Del Tirreno sul Lido
0’31
3’41
The sighing of the fair lady
0 Recitativo: Era il bel crine
Her lovely hair
! Aria: Venere bella, non lagrimar (Allegro)
Beautiful Venus, leave your weeping
1’11
1’50
Silenzio, aure volanti (Be silent, fleeting breezes)
Cantata for soprano solo with violins
[18’17]
Vivien Hamilton soprano
@ Introduzione – Recitativo: Silenzio, aure volanti…Venti, quietatevi
4’17
2’30
Blind shadows, shadows of the night
$ Largo: E mentre il cor del mio ben sol si duole
&
*
(
James Sanderson countertenor
Hans-Dieter Michatz treble recorder
Recitativo: Tu sei quella, che al nome sembri giusta, pietosa
You are she who in name seemed just and merciful
¡ Aria: Dal nome tuo credei che fosse in te pietà (Andante)
From your name, I believed that you would be merciful
™ Recitativo: Fedeltade, ne pur ottien ricetto
Nor does Constancy find refuge
# Aria: Il nome non vanta di Santa colei (Vivace)
She cannot glory in the name of Grace
E come, o Dio (And how is it, O God)
Cantata for soprano solo
3’23
3’32
1’21
4’05
[7’09]
Jane Edwards soprano
Be silent, fleeting breezes…Winds, be calm
£ Aria with ritornello: Ombre cieche, ombre notturne
^
[12’21]
) Introduzione (Adagio – Lento alla Francese) –
On the shore of the Tyrrhenian Sea
9 Aria: Della bella il sospirare (Adagio)
%
Bella dama di nome Santa (Fair lady called Grace)
Chamber cantata for alto solo with recorder and violins
0’53
And while my heart grieves for my Love alone
Aria with ritornello: Adoro un’ ingrata
I adore an ungrateful woman
Recitativo: Dunque così schernita
Will you be thus scorned
Aria: Piangerò (Largo)
I will weep
Recitativo: Sì, sì, piangete pure, occhi dolenti
Yes, keep weeping, my sorrowing eyes
Aria: Si placa una crudel
A cruel woman is appeased by death alone
3’35
1’16
¢ Recitativo: E come, o Dio, lontana dal mio Cor, viva son io?
And how is it, O God, that away from my beloved, I yet live?
∞ Aria: Tutta mi sciolgo in pianto
I dissolve utterly in weeping
§ Recitativo: Quando sarà quel giorno
When will come the day
¶ Aria: Cagion di mille pene
Source of a thousand miseries
1’19
3’02
1’14
1’35
2’40
• Toccata da cimbalo (Toccata for harpsichord) – attrib. A. Scarlatti
1’18
[Adagio] – Allegro – Adagio – Allegro – Adagio – Spiritoso – Allegro
Rosalind Halton harpsichord
1’47
8
9
5’45
Lontan dall’Idol mio (Parted from my beloved)
Cantata for soprano solo
[6’56]
Vivien Hamilton soprano
ª Recitativo: Lontan dall’Idol mio
1’42
Parted from my beloved
º Aria: Egro che langue (Adagio)
A sick man will languish
⁄ Recitativo: E come di te privo
Deprived of you
¤ Aria: Quanto contento ancor godrebbe questo cor
How happy would be this heart of mine
2’10
0’44
2’21
Total Playing Time
chacona
Rosalind Halton director
Lucinda Moon principal violin
Sarah Dunn, Alice Evans, David Irving violins (CD1)
Stephen Freeman violin II (CD2 & 3)
Nicole Forsyth viola, violin (CD2 1, 3, 7, ∞, CD3 ¡, #)
Hans-Dieter Michatz treble recorder ¡, #
Jamie Hey cello
Rosemary Webber violone (CD2 & 3)
Elizabeth Harré double bass (CD1)
Leanne Sullivan, Helen Gill trumpets (CD1 £)
Tommie Andersson theorbo, lute and Baroque guitar (CD2 & 3)
Rosalind Halton harpsichord
74’53
Within the repertoire of the Italian cantata, no
composer produced more vivid or varied music
than Alessandro Scarlatti. Noted in every music
history textbook as the founding figure of the
da capo aria, Scarlatti was prolific even in the
context of his times. A compulsive worker,
driven perhaps by the poverty of his childhood in
famine-stricken Sicily, he made an early success
as an opera composer in Rome, under the
protection of the eccentric but highly cultured
Queen Cristina of Sweden.
of 1704-05, with its many solo works dedicated
to Adami. The favourite of Cardinal Ottoboni
(who was also Scarlatti’s patron) and Maestro of
the Sistine choir from 1701 to 1714, Adami had
been noted as a fine performer of Stradella’s
cantatas. We may imagine Adami as an
important link between these two generations
of cantata composers – a singer normally
excluded from opera but ideally suited to the
subtle and expressive art of the cantata.
Singing was also cultivated in the Scarlatti home
– both Domenico (otherwise renowned for his
keyboard mastery) and Flaminia, the daughter
who remained with Alessandro through his old
age, were noted for their fine singing. The
cantata was presumably a genre for domestic
as well as regal and aristocratic recreation.
Scarlatti never ceased to cultivate his aristocratic
and ecclesiastical contacts in Rome, though it
was in Naples that he secured his most
enduring periods of employment. Above all,
Rome offered Scarlatti the opportunity to
develop the cantata and serenata genres, while
the operas into which he poured his finest
inspiration were composed for Ferdinando de’
Medici in Florence. Opera was banned
altogether by Papal ordinance during much of
the period that he worked in Rome, but the
existence of the Accademia Arcadiana, and the
academies of the Roman artistic patrons
Cardinals Ottoboni and Pamphili and Prince
Ruspoli, brought poets and musicians into
regular contact with a sophisticated audience.
Several types of cantata appear in Scarlatti’s
work and examples of each are found on this
recording. The Cantata da camera (e.g. Olimpia)
is one of the principal types, in which a solo
singer may be accompanied by various
instrumental combinations – typically two violin
parts and basso continuo, or more rarely, two
violins, ‘violetta’ (viola) and basso continuo. The
Duetto da camera is usually a playful dialogue
between two characters with basso continuo,
or more rarely (as in Lidio e Clori ) with violins.
In the exclusive environment of the Accademia
Arcadiana the castrato Andrea Adami was clearly
a leading performer as well as a close friend of
Scarlatti – as seen in the so-called ‘cantata diary’
10
The serenata in the output of Scarlatti, and
Stradella before him, was a semi-dramatic work
composed for a evening’s entertainment; but the
11
onto the page with few revisions; arias that
occasionally contain second thoughts about
metre or proportions, but with the melodic line
almost invariably established before pen went to
paper. The neatness and clarity of the hand itself
is striking, the detail of punctuation, bass figuring
and performance indications unusually specific
for the period.
term ‘serenata’ was also applied by Scarlatti to
solo compositions for voice and continuo, or with
violins, such as Orché di Febo ascosi. Designed
for performance outdoors or on a balcony in the
evening, these works often have a theme of
night and dreams, soloistic instrumental writing,
and an atmosphere of mystery. The
unaccompanied vocal ending is a favourite effect
employed by Scarlatti, as in Orché di Febo
ascosi. The solo vocal ending also occurs in
several of his dramatic serenatas, including
Venere, Adone e Amore, where it has been seen
as a possible cue for the fireworks display that
would follow such festive entertainment.
Scarlatti’s decisive approach to poetry is matched
by an entirely original approach to musical imagery
and declamation. Interruptions, hesitations,
doubts, illusions built up only to be dashed, are all
part of this expressive language. The repetition of
individual words or short phrases is a recurrent
feature of Scarlatti’s recitative style, creating
animation and emphasis by breaking into the
regularity of the poetic metre.
By far the most numerous category in the Italian
cantata repertory is the solo cantata with basso
continuo (e.g. Del Tirreno sul lido). Having only
two composed lines of music, it is realised in
performance by a singer declaiming impassioned
poetry, accompanied by harpsichord, cello and/or
other chordal instruments such as archlute. Many
of Scarlatti’s solo cantatas feature active bass
lines, suggesting they were destined for virtuoso
cellists such as Giovannino Lulier, Giovanni
Bononcini and Filippo Amadei. The aria with
continuo is the principal type used in Scarlatti’s
earlier operas and other vocal works, figuring
prominently in the 1696 version of Venere,
Adone e Amore.
The exploration of unexpected and remote key
areas is always significant in Scarlatti’s
compositional designs: sharp keys portray a
character in intense agitation, or a situation of
deceit or illusion; keys tending towards the flat
side (E-flat major, C minor) are chosen to express
resignation or sadness. Both contrast with the
stability and confidence of those who sing in
keys based on the natural hexachord – C, G and
F major. Scarlatti was a pioneer of formal design
in the cantata, but he never abandoned some
features inherited from the 17th century – such
as the merging of recitative into arioso. The
master of the da capo aria, he reserved some of
his finest inventions for through-composed arias,
as in Orché di Febo ascosi.
Though only a small proportion of Scarlatti’s
cantatas survive in autograph, these manuscripts
give insight into an exceptionally lucid
compositional process. The autographs indicate a
fluent and decisive composer: recitative written
12
Rome, from which he ‘brought with him…a
passion for opera and the kind of pastoral poetry
associated with the Arcadians. His appointment
promised to be the occasion for a reinvigoration
of the cultural life of Naples.’
CD1
Venere, Adone e Amore : Serenata, 1696
It was a highly delightful sight to see the sea
covered with ships filled with an infinite crowd,
just as all the banks were, to feast their ears on
the symphony of instruments and three of the
choicest voices, who sang this most highly
acclaimed Serenata of Sig. Abbate Francesco
Maria Paglia, and the Maestro of the Royal
Cappella, Sig. Alessandro Scarlatti, who had
most wonderfully set it to music. – Gazzetta di
Napoli, 17 July 1696
For Alessandro Scarlatti, maestro di cappella of
Naples, it was an auspicious turn of events: with
the Viceroy came the librettist Francesco Maria
Paglia, whose poetry had inspired some of
Scarlatti’s most innovative cantatas of the early
1690s. It was not long before the two were
working together in Naples on some larger
projects, starting with the opera La Didone
Delirante (Dido Delirious).
The serenata performed on this idyllic occasion
was Venere, Adone e Amore, recorded here for
the first time. Dinko Fabris describes in his book
Music in Seventeenth Century Naples the
Neapolitan custom, dating back to the 16th
century, of the Spassi di Posillipo, ‘great festivals
by the sea’ which took place in July and August.
Thus when in July 1696 Scarlatti and Paglia
presented their ‘most noble Serenata on the
water, late in the day, and dedicated to the
ladies of Naples who flocked to it’, with many of
the aristocratic audience arriving in splendidly
decked out gondolas, they were continuing a
well-established tradition in the bay of Posillipo.
The collaboration between Scarlatti and Paglia
peaked in the next six months. July saw the
production of at least two serenatas, with operas
to come in November 1696 and February 1697.
Venere, Adone e Amore was presumably a more
modest affair than the extravagant Trionfo delle
Stagioni (The Triumph of the Seasons), given a
mere ten days later, but its marine setting of
Posillipo was equally spectacular.
The choice of Venus, Adonis and Cupid was well
calculated for a serenata ‘dedicated to the
ladies’, with its skirmishing between all three
characters, climaxing in a triumph for Venus over
her lover Adonis and son Cupid. Women played
an important role in Naples’ intellectual and
cultural communities: the Arcadian Academy of
Patron of the proceedings was the new Viceroy
of Spain, the Duca di Medina Coeli, son of
Caterina d’Aragona. On 3 April 1696, Medina
Coeli officially took over the reins of government
in Naples, having spent the previous six years in
13
Naples was open to women including poets,
painters and patrons – the most influential being
Aurora Sanseverino, the ‘queen of the salon’.
Sigra. Vittoria Bombace; Sigr. Dom.o L’Aquilano’
– the same singers who created the parts of
Venere, Adone and Amore.
Like many serenatas, this was a commedia in
musica consisting of a debate between lovers:
Whose infidelity is the most conspicuous –
Venus or Adonis – and who should wear the
blame? The role of Amore (Cupid) is to fuel the
debate, until he points out that theirs is the
strife of lovers, and that what they are hearing
are the trumpets of love, not war £. It is a
scenario that leads to quick fiery exchanges in
recitative, short vivid musical numbers, and
Venus’s grand declaration, ‘I am no woman, I am
Goddess’ ^. The realisation that even Venus can
be wounded by Cupid’s arrow of human love lifts
both drama and music to a dénouement in
which forgiveness and reconciliation lead (for the
time being) to a renewal of the bonds of love, in
an atmosphere of dream and enchantment
hinted at already by the music of the Sinfonia.
Matteo Sassano (1667-1737), known as
Matteuccio and ‘the nightingale of Naples’ was
one of the most enduring castrati in the Naples
opera, his name appearing up till 1724 in the
Gazzetta, and always in glowing terms. In 1696,
aged 29, he was at the peak of his powers.
Returning from Vienna only two days before the
performance at Posillipo, Sassano’s late arrival is
acted out in the drama: Adone is the last character
to be introduced, after an exasperated exchange
between Venere and Amore. He is immediately
berated for staying away dallying with nymphs –
or maybe, with the audience of Vienna.
As for Venere, played by Vittoria Tarquini, known as
‘La Bombace’: ‘Her singing is irregular, not from
lack of art, but of breath,’ noted an opera goer in
1694; and in 1696, ‘La Bombace, who received
all the applause in the best roles in years gone by,
now seems very inferior.’ Merely malicious
criticism? In December of the same year, Tarquini
created the title role in Bononcini’s wildly
successful opera Il trionfo di Camilla. Scarlatti
tested her in the character of Venus – she has
two patter arias with barely any rests 5, &.
The names of the singers who played the parts
of Venus, Adonis and Cupid coincide with those
named on the title page of yet another serenata
dated 1696, Il genio di Partenope (The Genius of
Parthenope), which is bound together with a
copy of Venere, Adone e Amore in a manuscript
of Neapolitan provenance found in the library of
Montecassino. Both are headed ‘Serenata à 3
con Stromenti’; and the title page of Partenope
goes on to list the cast: ‘il Sig. Matteo Sassani;
Of the contralto who played Amore, nothing
seems to be known beyond his nickname,
‘L’Aquilano’. In terms of arias his part is the
smallest, as he leaves the two lovers to kiss and
14
make up about two-thirds of the way through
the work. But it’s a far from insignificant part –
Cupid is the catalyst of the debate between the
lovers, and provides the turning point of their
quarrel and reconciliation. He leaves them to it
with a sublime aria accompanied by violin solo,
a menuet of five-bar phrases: ‘Adone is right if
he has a faithful soul’ (, ¶.
preserved almost intact with only some small
differences for emphasis, which have been
adopted in this recording – possibly improvised
by singers of the time.
With its intriguing mixture of 17th-century tunes
and 18th-century textures, Venere, Adone e
Amore is a work of pivotal significance in
Scarlatti’s move from one century to another,
and from the musical traditions of one famed
musical centre to another.
We have no performance details regarding the
revised version of the serenata headed ‘Roma
Agosto 1706’. But the score was extensively
reworked in terms of orchestration,
recomposition of many arias, and addition of
new ones: all this suggests that Scarlatti was
commissioned to revise the piece to make a
longer and more impressive entertainment
tailored to Roman orchestral resources.
The two versions of Venere, Adone e Amore –
1696 and 1706
Apart from numbers £-%, of which the 1706
version has been chosen, this recording
presents the 1696 version intact. The 1706
version of the Sinfonia con trombe £ was
chosen because the trumpet parts of 1696
(unaltered from the violin parts) contain
passages unplayable on the natural trumpet. It is
likely that the players adapted their parts at the
first performance. The 1706 version not only
gives new and practicable trumpet parts, but
introduces Amore’s following aria Senti le
trombe altere with a fanfare and punctuating
chords throughout the aria: the trumpets of love,
not of war, as Amore says. The 1706 Trio % was
chosen for its new approach to composing for
vocal ensemble: instead of singing one after the
other, as in the 1696 Trio, the characters interact
vocally and bring their contrasting points of view
together in a thrilling climax. The 1696 version of
the Trio is given in an Appendix •.
Possibly it was the revised Venere, Adone e
Amore that was given in August 1706, in Rome’s
Piazza Navona under the patronage of the
Marchese Ruspoli, in an aquatic setting maybe
designed to recapture the marine environment
of Posillipo. Scarlatti was inducted into the
Arcadian Academy in April 1706, so it is hardly
surprising that his output of works with an
Arcadian theme should increase sharply in this
year: six serenatas are dated 1706. For the new
version, the fully scored arias were retained,
while the arias with continuo were largely
replaced with new arias with violins. The
recitative was adapted to replace Neapolitan
references with Roman, but was otherwise
15
A Sinfonia with trumpets marks the midway
point of the drama, and in the expanded Rome
version, it opens the Second Part of the
serenata, leading straight into Cupid’s aria, ‘Hear
the proud trumpets inviting us to pleasure’ £.
The debate nears its crux as the character of
Cupid is called into question $. Here follows the
only Trio of the work (1706 version), in which
each character contributes his or her angle on
Cupid, fidelity and beauty %. The accusations fly,
until Venus reminds Adonis, ‘I am no woman, I
am Goddess.’ Cupid revels in their quarrel ^.
Venus declares that although she was born of
that fickle element water, carried aloft on the
sea’s wave, she is also the Goddess of Love &.
Cupid starts to take pity on his mother as she
expresses pain that he should wound her,
of all people *.
The Appendix also includes two arias from 1706:
Amore’s aria Adone ha ragione rescored (¶, cf
(), and the new setting, with violin solo, of
Venere’s final aria (ª, cf ¢).
Synopsis
Venus is found in the ‘garden of Pleasure’ lonely
and lamenting 2, 3. She scolds Cupid for not
realising that it is the absence of her lover
Adonis that is causing her pain: he admits that
he knows where Adonis is 4. ‘Go, fly, winged
archer, tell my love that my thoughts will find no
happiness without him,’ sings Venus 5. Upon
Adonis’ entrance, Venus makes him feel her
annoyance at being abandoned for a crowd of
nymphs 6. In his first aria, Adonis tries to
persuade her that he is faithful 7. But she
insists she is jealous – Cupid delights in the
lovers’ quarrel. Adonis begs him to speak on his
behalf 8, which he does in a persuasive aria –
though in the ‘deceitful’ key of E major 9. Venus
is on the attack again: ‘Then why does he leave
me?’ to which Adonis responds with the weak
argument, ‘I seek in other places that which may
resemble you,’ with Cupid noting quietly that the
lovers do not suspect the power of blind love 0.
Adonis’ next aria is a defence of his position,
that he burns only for Venus, and that her beauty
is present in all other beauties !. He continues,
in a recitative, to portray himself as the eloquent
lover, captured by all the charms of Venus @.
Cupid sings a tender aria designed to make the
lovers kiss and make up – and leaves them to it
(. The lovers admit they have been hasty and
over-critical ). They find reconciliation in a duet:
‘Will you love me?’ ‘I shall adore you!’ ¡.
Adonis swears in a forthright aria that he would
rather be struck down by lightning bolts than
waver in his love for Venus ™. Venus warns
Adonis not to trifle with the daughter of Jove:
‘There is no greater vengeance than to grant
freedom’ #, ¢. The lovers consider their new
commitment to the chains of love, which both
now embrace ∞. Adonis’ final aria refers to the
‘sea of hope’ in which he will follow Venus,
through an elaborate play of coloratura to
16
Apartments [of the Cancelleria]’ for Cardinal
Ottoboni gives the date 13 July 1694. All copies
show the unusual absence of any sort of
instrumental Introduzione or Sinfonia, opening
with Phyllis’ invitation to her friend Chloe to go
and breathe the sweeter air of the countryside,
now that the spring is here 8, 9. She taunts
Chloe that it must be Love that is making her so
unsociable 0 – Chloe denies it, but sings a
melancholy aria about the chains of love !.
convince her that he is a rock of fidelity. The
serenata ends with Adonis’ unaccompanied
notes ‘[My soul] will follow you’ §.
CD2
Lidio e Clori (Dove fuggi, o bella Clori?) is
found in a single source in the Santini Collection,
Münster. Headed ‘Duetto di Camera a soprano e
contralto con Violini del Sigr. Aless˚. Scarlatti’
(Chamber Duet for soprano and contralto with
violins, by Mr Alessandro Scarlatti), it is the only
surviving work by Scarlatti for this scoring.
Throughout, the solo arias have two stanzas
with an instrumental ritornello which often
overlaps the end of the singing, as indicated
specifically in several of the manuscripts. One
ingenious means of varying this scheme occurs
Phyllis’ first aria, since its second strophe is
separated in the music by the first dialogue
between the two girls, and Chloe’s first aria.
The scene is of two lovers quarrelling. Lydio is in
pursuit, Chloe in flight. ‘My heart scorns Love,’
she says, protesting in her recitative and solo
aria that Love has already made a fool of her;
from now on she will resist his advances 2, 3.
Lydio replies that Amor is not to be despised:
sooner or later he takes his revenge on those
who scorn him 4, 5. A more intense recitative
6 with rapid exchanges culminates in Chloe’s
melisma: ‘Who lives afar from Love is always
happy’ – suggesting with her swift passagework
that this time she has escaped. In the powerful
concluding duet 7 they agree: ‘It’s true, alas: he
who follows the archer god lives but to suffer.’
Phyllis urges Chloe to come hunting with her;
Chloe, worn down by Phyllis’ repeated
invitations, declares that she will try this rustic
life @, £. Phyllis raises her invitation to a more
tempting level in the second strophe of her first
aria, depicting the joys of the hunt. Chloe
anticipates the life of simplicity in which she will
throw away her city finery for ‘the poverty of a
flower’ $. Phyllis’ next aria looks forward to her
friend’s new conquests as Diana, goddess of the
hunt %. Chloe protests she will adopt an
innocent strategy that will ‘make beasts her
prey, and not the hearts of men’ ^. The cantata
finishes with an exquisite short duet in 3/8
Filli e Clori (Amica, ora che Aprile) is the work
for two sopranos and violins most often found in
manuscripts of Alessandro Scarlatti’s duet
cantatas, indicating its popularity. Documentation
of a performance ‘in the loggietta of the noble
17
dance metre &, in which the girls look forward
to dancing, banishing their cares, and some new
victories in love.
Library, is dated December 1716. A version of
the poem appears with it – a rare example of
the text from which the composer presumably
worked, revealing a few differences from the
words used by Scarlatti.
Perdono, Amor (June 1701/02?) comes from an
autograph manuscript in the Santini Collection
dating from Scarlatti’s last year in Naples before
he embarked upon a freelance career in Rome.
The text is bitter and ironic, as the singer seeks
forgiveness for having blamed on Love the
troubles which he now admits are his own fault.
The centrepiece is the second aria ¡, a 3/8
Allegro in a warlike C major contrasted with a
central Adagio in the ‘pathetic’ style. Finally
comes an aria of invective against the sins of
infidelity and betrayal #, with motivic cells of
obsessive, repetitive quality. The virtuosity of the
cello part throughout and the dramatic scope of
the vocal part make this cantata one of
Scarlatti’s most satisfying works for solo alto
with basso continuo. The Introduzione for solo
harpsichord which opens this performance is
found in a Roman manuscript containing
Scarlatti’s basso continuo handbook, Regole per
principianti (Instructions for beginners).
The introductory accompanied recitative ¢ is
based on imagery of spring and the renewal of
hope. The antithesis of light and darkness and
the melting of winter’s ice find expression in
musical textures diverse in orchestral invention
and harmonic colour.
The two arias cover a wide stylistic range to
reflect the search for resonance between head
and heart. The first aria ∞ (‘What will happen?
Who will tell me?’) is a masterpiece of modern
galant style; the second aria, entitled Aria
Pastorale, epitomises the ‘old’ pastoral style,
popularised in England by Handel in pieces such
as ‘He shall feed his flock’ in Messiah.
The duality between head and heart (il pensiero
and il cor ) comes to the fore in the Aria
Pastorale ¶ with its insistent phrases (‘my
reason tells me’) resolving in the line ‘and my
heart confirms it’. The image of renewal returns
in the final bars of the B section, with Christ
portrayed as the flower in the midst of the ice –
a remarkable moment, in which the voice has a
long sustained note clearly notated to contrast
with the short chord and rests of the
accompanying instruments.
The Cantata Pastorale ‘Non so qual più
m’ingombra’ represents Scarlatti’s art at its
height in the perfect fusion of poetic image and
musical idea. It belongs to the tradition of music
composed on the subject of the Christmas
revelation, probably for performance on
Christmas Eve. The autograph manuscript, held
in the Music Department of the Berlin State
18
The only two keys featured in the work are one
semitone apart – F major and E major – a clearly
symbolic contrast of key colour. While the
‘strained’ key of E major is chosen for the first
aria, to signify perhaps the questioning of the
intellect, F major returns for the second aria,
with its theme of revelation and intuitive belief.
The designation of the voice part as ‘canto’, as
well as the contrasting vocal styles, suggested
the idea of portraying them as two different
allegorical characters, as in an oratorio. ‘Reason’
(Recitative and Aria I) is sung here by
countertenor, with ‘Intuition’ (end of Recitative II
and Aria II) represented by soprano.
in the icy ground ‹. As in the Cantata Pastorale,
the image is of the sun warming the ground so
that the flower – of love – bursts into life. In the
aria’s short phrase repetitions, we find
Alessandro forging a style that would be taken
up by his son Domenico. The final aria, one of
Alessandro’s most delectable, puts to rest all the
tensions of the work with its dreamy string
texture and vocal part in cantus firmus style: ‘Let
your fury sleep for I am leaving: Farewell!’ fi. As
the instrumental parts cease, the voice ascends
into the night alone.
Orché di Febo ascosi is a serenata for high
soprano solo and strings, believed to date from
1704, according to a source now lost. A Corellilike Sinfonia • sets the scene for the lover who
aims to steal a glimpse of his beloved, with the
conspiratorial help of ‘dear Night’ and
Amphitrite, goddess of risqué situations ª.
A succession of innovative forms and textures
follows: first an aria, ‘Sleep not, lovely eyes’ ⁄,
constructed over a repetitive bass figure which
moves through a wide range of keys, with
following ritornello, leading into a Largo: ‘Your
glances bring to my suffering sweet relief in the
midst of my sighs’ ¤.
The plight of abandoned or betrayed heroines
makes up a strong group of cantata subjects in
Scarlatti’s output. This cantata setting of Olimpia
for soprano solo and strings is undated but,
unusually, the autograph survives, held in the
Austrian National Library, Vienna. Olimpia is one
of the abandoned heroines of Renaissance
literature. Her story appears in Ariosto’s great
epic Orlando furioso, the poem that provided
plots for some of the best-known Baroque
operas on the subject of Armida and Rinaldo.
Olimpia’s situation is comparable to that of
Arianna (Ariadne), the subject of Monteverdi’s
famous lament ‘Lasciatemi morire’. Brought to
an island by Bireno as a young bride, Olimpia
awakes to find herself alone. From the shore
she calls down curses upon him as she watches
his boats disappear.
CD3
Next is an extraordinary (non da capo) aria in
C minor, with darting violin scales around the
vocal line portraying the shivering of the flower
19
The overture of the cantata 1 sets a scene of
storm-tossed waves and desperation. The first
aria 2 is a lament with full accompaniment; at
the centre of the work is an invocation to the
waves 4, an example of the recitativo
stromentato or instrumental recitative which
Scarlatti pioneered in his opera Olimpia vendicata
(1686). The final aria, with its octave doublings
between violin and viola parts, has a furious
energy depicting the image of Olimpia as a rock
in the ocean, constantly pounded by waves 7.
In the poem, Olimpia’s plea for vengeance is
answered: Bireno is struck down by the King of
Ireland, who rescues Olimpia from her island,
and marries her.
Del Tirreno sul lido, for alto and basso continuo,
is dated 1697 in the only source, Santini MS
3909, thus belonging to the first Neapolitan
period of Scarlatti’s work. It expresses the
sympathy of an onlooker for a lady in distress –
the King of Ireland as he gazes on the abandoned
Olimpia? Though there is no actual connection
between the two pieces, apart from the key of E
minor, the sentiments of this work seem to make
a counterpart to the outrage of Olimpia. In
contrast to her cry, ‘For me fate cannot change,’
the onlooker says, ‘Beautiful Venus, leave your
weeping, for your cruel fate will change.’ The
piece shows that lyrical simplicity which marks
Scarlatti’s composition from the late 1690s, a
period in which he turned away from the semi-
improvisatory forms and chromatic complexity of
his work earlier in that decade.
for the most part in 8-foot range, but using the
bass range to GG.
The combination of unrequited love and nighttime is a common theme in the Italian cantata,
and one that Scarlatti often chose, as it offered
scope for his favourite musical imagery of
mystery and solitude. ‘Do not wander in lonely
places at night,’ Ovid declared in the Ars
amatoria: ‘It encourages melancholy in the
unrequited lover.’ The portrayal of melancholy
came easily to Scarlatti. (He once denied in a
letter to Ferdinando de’ Medici that it was the
predominant colour of his music!) The
introduction to Silenzio, aure volanti is based
on the opening of his early opera, Olimpia
vendicata (1686), complete with the memorable
sound of the voice rising out of the violins –
here depicting the night breezes. Recitative
forms the B section of this unique opening
da capo design @.
Bella dama di nome Santa is one of a pair of
cantatas from a Neapolitan manuscript, scored
for alto, flauto (recorder) and strings. F minor
and F major are the keys of the two works, with
Bella dama the more outgoing of the pair. Its
introduction ) is a grandly scored Adagio,
Corelli-style, followed by a light menuet, Lento
alla Francese. Scarlatti’s mature recitative style is
combined with two arias of his most exuberant
invention. The last of these is a concertino for
the recorder – one of the few pieces in which
Scarlatti reminds us of Vivaldi’s concerto style,
though the harmonic angles with which he
suggests the deceptive nature of ‘the fair lady
called Grace’ are totally characteristic of the
Scarlatti family style.
The next two arias are accompanied by continuo
and punctuated by instrumental ritornelli,
indicating a date pre-1700 for the work, as does
the quotation from Olimpia vendicata. Here too,
we hear the voice surrounded by violins in arioso
$, (. The final aria Piangerò & is a great lament
with string accompaniment to compare with
Dido’s Lament in Act III of Purcell’s Dido
and Aeneas.
The bass instrument used throughout this work
is not the cello but the 12-foot violone, playing
20
miseries’ ¶. The tunefulness of the piece seems
to leap out of the rhythm of the text – a long
way from the tortured chromaticism of Scarlatti’s
later style. The piece can be dated to the late
1690s on grounds of style and structure, as well
as manuscript evidence. The principal source is
found in a Roman manuscript of the Santini
Collection, Münster. Other copies in the
Bodleian Library, Oxford, and Bibliothèque
Nationale, Paris, appear to be the work of an
English and a French copyist respectively,
suggesting the widespread appeal of the work.
The Toccata da cimbalo is the only keyboard work
among the cantatas of manuscript 864 held in the
Santini Collection. It contains evidence pointing to
Alessandro’s authorship of this previously
unidentified toccata (see Saraband Edition SM24,
ed. R. Halton). The appearance of the manuscript
strongly suggests Scarlatti’s hand with its fine,
sloping small note-shapes, and the paper is
identifiable as derived from the same source as
that on which is copied the autograph cantata
Quella pace gradita, which follows directly. The
Toccata’s structure consists of the alternation of
adagio chordal sections with fugal allegro sections,
and finishes with a dance-like 3/8 Allegro. This
contains a fingerprint of the Scarlatti father and son
– the whirling semiquavers in close canonic texture
appear both in the second aria of Alessandro’s solo
cantata Farfalla che s’aggira (Circling butterfly), and
later in Domenico Scarlatti’s haunting Sonata in
E minor, K203 (Vivo non molto).
The two cantatas for soprano and continuo are
on the theme of lontananza (literally ‘distance’,
or separation) – a theme that recurs continually
in the cantata texts set by Scarlatti. Both were
composed in the last years of the 1690s, while
the composer was still maestro di cappella at
the court of Naples. In E come, o Dio, we are in
the world of the ‘frenetic lover’, whose
separation from her beloved provokes an
outburst of suspicion after the ‘dissolving in
weeping’ of the beautiful and asymmetrically
phrased first aria ∞. Resignation prevails in the
final aria, which reflects ruefully on, rather than
railing against, lontananza, ‘source of a thousand
21
Convegno internazionale di studi (Reggio Calabria,
16-17 maggio 2003), edited by Nicolò Maccavino,
Vol. II 451-522. Reggio Calabria: Laruffa.
Lontan dall’Idol mio is dated 1699 in one
English manuscript. From the first bars we find
Scarlatti’s vocabulary of expressive extremes –
for instance, the interval of a minor ninth to
express the word ‘distant’ (lontan). The illusion
of Amarilli being close (in the poet’s thoughts)
though far away in reality (suggesting
Petrarchian influence) finds expression through
key relationships: A-flat, the key of illusion,
dissolving within F minor/major to return to the
‘reality’ of G minor.
Roberto Pagano. 2006. Alessandro and Domenico
Scarlatti: Two Lives in One, translated by Frederick
Hammond. Hillsdale: Pendragon Press.
Chacona
The ensemble chacona was formed in 1997 by
Rosalind Halton, Lucinda Moon and Jamie Hey,
becoming known to Australian audiences
through highly praised live broadcasts on ABC
Classic FM. Chacona perform a repertoire
ranging from the virtuoso string music of Biber,
Stradella, Lonati and Vivaldi to chamber music
from the French Baroque. They have appeared in
festivals in Melbourne and Sydney, including the
Sydney International Spring Festival of
Contemporary Music. The members of chacona
have a special love of working with music that
brings instruments into dialogue with the voice,
making the music of Alessandro Scarlatti a
particularly rich source for exploration.
The first aria, Egro che langue º, is a serene piece
in B-flat major, but the second in G minor is
unexpectedly intense, with its high-placed cello
line in the first section and abrupt chordal
juxtapositions in the second section to illustrate
crudo martire (‘cruel suffering’) ¤. The final line
‘How happy would be this heart of mine to turn
and see you – and then to die’, seems to absorb
the pain of the second section in calm resignation.
Rosalind Halton © 2007
References
Dinko Fabris. 2006. Music in Seventeenth Century
Naples. Aldershot: Ashgate Books.
Thomas E. Griffin. 1993. Musical References in the
Gazzetta di Napoli, 1681-1725. Berkeley: Fallen
Leaf Press.
Expanded for these recordings through
collaboration with some of Australia’s finest
musicians in Baroque performance, chacona aim
to contribute through research and performance
to the rediscovery of the rich repertoire of Italian
Baroque music.
Nicolò Maccavino. 2007. ‘La Serenata a Filli “Tacete
Aure Tacete” e le altre Serenate datate 1706 di
Alessandro Scarlatti’, in La Serenata tra Seicento e
Settecento: musica, poesia, scenotecnica. Atti del
22
Harpsichord (ABC Classics), winner of a
Soundscapes recording award in 1997.
Rosalind Halton harpsichord, musical director
Rosalind Halton has been researching and
performing the cantatas of Alessandro Scarlatti
for over twenty years – a life-long project begun
while completing her DPhil at Oxford University,
on the music of Haydn. Encouraged by Denis
Arnold, she extended her research from
performances of Scarlatti’s solo cantatas with
soprano Kate Eckersley in the UK in the 1980s,
to examine cantata manuscripts in libraries
throughout Europe. The present recordings
represent her study of cantatas and serenatas,
and her research into the many performance
practice issues of this repertoire. In addition to
recordings and performances, she has published
over 30 editions of Italian cantatas. As Research
convenor in Music at the University of
Newcastle, she has stimulated research activity
in Baroque performance, including a collaboration
with Marie-Louise Catsalis in editions of
serenatas by Alessandro Scarlatti, and
performances of Stradella serenatas.
Lucinda Moon principal violin
As concertmaster of the Australian Brandenburg
Orchestra since 1995, Lucinda Moon has toured
within Australia and to Japan and Europe,
working with many of the leading international
performers of Baroque music. As well as
numerous recordings with the ABO for ABC
Classics, including Sanctuary and Il Flauto Dolce,
she has performed and recorded with many
prominent Baroque ensembles including
Adelaide Baroque, Salut! Baroque, the Elysium
Ensemble and chacona. She has appeared in the
Melbourne Autumn Music, Barossa Music and
Coriole Music Festivals, and at the Sydney
Spring Festival of Contemporary Music. In 2004
she performed in Poland and the Netherlands
with the Orchestra of the 18th Century in a
production of Jean-Philippe Rameau’s opera
Les Indes Galantes. She also travels regularly to
Vancouver, Canada, to perform as guest director
and soloist with the Pacific Baroque Orchestra,
with whom she has appeared as the soloist in
Vivaldi’s Four Seasons.
Rosalind Halton has performed and broadcast
with ensembles throughout Australia and as a
soloist in Europe, Australia, Canada and in her
native New Zealand, where she began her
career as performer/researcher under the
guidance of Peter Platt. Her harpsichord studies
with Colin Tilney have been an important
influence. She has recorded two CDs of French
harpsichord music, including The French
Jamie Hey cello
A member of the Australian Brandenburg
Orchestra since 1995, Jamie Hey took up the
position of Principal Cellist of the orchestra in
2002. In the same year he was the recipient of
23
II Collection. Other releases include Salut! for
Walsingham, The Gentle Muse for Artworks,
Down Longford Way for Tall Poppies, and on
ABC Classics, Haydn’s Arianna a Naxos,
Synergy’s Ethereal Eye and the song collection
Love Me Sweet.
the Dean’s Medal for outstanding achievement
as an Honours graduate of the Newcastle
Conservatorium of Music. He also undertook
advanced studies in Japan and the USA with
Hidemi Suzuki and Phoebe Carrai. Pursuing an
active research interest in 17th- and 18th-century
Italian cello music, Jamie Hey is greatly in
demand as a continuo player, accompanying
many leading exponents of early music including
Emma Kirkby, Graham Pushee and Maria
Cristina Kiehr. His broadcast solo performances
include recitals for the Melbourne Autumn
Music Festival, concerto performances and
recordings with the Australian Brandenburg
Orchestra, and chamber recitals with chacona.
Most recently she has appeared with the
Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, Elision, the
Australia Ensemble, The Queensland Orchestra
and Sydney Philharmonia Choirs, in recital at the
Sydney Conservatorium of Music, Melbourne
Festival, Musica Viva Yarra Valley Festival and the
Art Gallery of NSW, and in partnership with
artists including Derek Lee Ragin, Australian
String Quartet, Brodsky Quartet, Geoffrey Morris
and the Goldner String Quartet.
Jane Edwards soprano
Jane Edwards appears regularly in concert
throughout Australia, and has performed at all
our major festivals. She was a long-time
member of The Song Company, and prior to
moving to Tasmania in 2006, was a Lecturer in
Voice at the Sydney Conservatorium for many
years. Career highlights include engagements
with the Australian Brandenburg Orchestra,
Australian Chamber Orchestra, Florilegium,
Stockholm Bach Choir, Danish Radio Choir,
Victoria State Opera and all the principal
Australian symphony orchestras. She performs
lieder and chamber repertoire with partners
including Ian Munro, Marshall McGuire, Geoffrey
Lancaster and David Bollard, and can be heard in
the Oscar-winning film Shine and on the Swoon
Tessa Miller soprano
Tessa Miller’s career has encompassed a wide
range of styles and great versatility, however it is
in the field of Baroque music that she has
attracted international accolades. As a recipient
of a Churchill Fellowship in 1991, she studied
intensively in the UK under the guidance of
Emma Kirkby and Anthony Rooley; again in 1995
the award of a scholarship took her to the
Netherlands to study basso continuo song with
Thérèse de Goede. Tessa Miller is a member of
Adelaide Baroque and Musica da Camera, the
longest-running early music group in Australia.
She sings throughout Australia and broadcasts
regularly on ABC Classic FM; she has also
24
Miriam Allan soprano
performed in the UK, Hong Kong, Singapore
and China.
Born in Newcastle, NSW, Miriam Allan has been
based in London since 2003. In Australia, she
has been a soloist with Sydney Philharmonia
Choirs, the Australian Chamber Orchestra and
Coro Innominata, and she continues to appear in
concert and ABC broadcasts when in Australia.
She appears on numerous Australian recordings
including Purcell’s The Fairy Queen and
Rameau’s Dardanus with Pinchgut Opera (ABC
Classics), Handel – Italian Cantatas (Tall Poppies)
and on soundtracks, including the feature film,
The Man Who Sued God.
As a sought-after performer of contemporary song
and music theatre, Tessa Miller has helped create
many premieres, most recently the role of Jean
Rhys in The Portrait by Becky Llewellyn, and she
regularly performs contemporary works written for
Baroque instruments with Adelaide Baroque, such
as the 2007 song cycle commission The Four
Seasons by Natalie Williams.
James Sanderson countertenor
James Sanderson has a reputation for creating
dramatically convincing performances of works
ranging from the 16th to the 20th centuries. He
lives and works in the UK, appearing around the
world in opera and concert. As General Editor of
the online editing project Cantata Editions and
Scarlattiproject.com, James Sanderson provides
an important forum for dialogue between
performers and researchers in the field of Italian
Baroque vocal music. Since founding Cantata
Editions, he has contributed to the catalogue
over 250 works in first modern editions, mainly
in the genre of the cantata da camera, as well as
numerous editions of sacred 18th-century Italian
vocal music. His main area of interest lies in the
music of the Neapolitan masters such as Nicola
Porpora, Leonardo Leo, Francesco Mancini and
Alessandro Scarlatti.
Since moving to London, Miriam Allan has
appeared as a soloist with many European
ensembles including Concerto Copenhagen,
Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir, Il
Fondamento, Gewandhaus Kammerchor, London
Handel Orchestra, Leipzig Chamber Orchestra
and Concerto Köln. She made her German debut
appearances in 2004 at the Leipzig Gewandhaus
and at the Handel Festival in Halle. In 2006 she
appeared with Sir John Eliot Gardiner and the
Monteverdi Choir in the USA, France, Spain and
at the BBC Proms. She has also performed with
Les Arts Florissants and toured Pergolesi’s
Stabat Mater with Michael Chance and the
Israel Camerata.
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Vivien Hamilton soprano
Executive Producers Robert Patterson, Lyle Chan
Recording Producer Ralph Lane OAM
Recording Engineer Virginia Read (CD1 & 2),
Allan MacLean (CD3)
Editor Ralph Lane (CD1 & 3), Virginia Read (CD2)
Mastering Virginia Read
Editorial and Production Manager Hilary Shrubb
Publications Editor Natalie Shea
Product Coordinator Anna-Lisa Whiting (CD2 & 3)
Booklet Design Imagecorp Pty Ltd
Cover Photo Pietro Fabris (fl. 1756-1792) Marine
Festival in the Bay of Naples (The Procession of the
Royal Ships at Posillipo) © Patrimonia Nacional, Spain
Scottish-born soprano Vivien Hamilton enjoys a
performing career which includes solo art song
recitals, theatre and opera, oratorio, vocal
ensemble performances and contemporary
repertoire projects. She is however best known
to Australian audiences through her broadcasts
with ABC Classic FM’s Sunday Live program,
recordings on various CD labels and
performances at major festivals throughout
Australia. In 2006, for example, she appeared in
the Melbourne International Festival singing the
Lyric Soprano part in Steve Reich’s Tehillim with
ensemble 21; in 2007 she performed the role of
Clorinda in the Castlemaine Festival production
of Il combattimento di Tancredi e Clorinda.
Recorded 14-17 February 2002 (CD1) and 14-17
February 2000 (CD2) in the Conservatorium Hall,
University of Newcastle, and 17-21 May 1999 (CD3)
in the Cardinal Ceretti Memorial Chapel, St Patrick’s
Estate, Manly.
Vivien Hamilton is well known for her musical
collaborations with Renaissance and Baroque
music specialist ensembles such as chacona,
Consort Eclectus, Convivio, ensemble 21,
La Compañia and Ludovico’s Band, and
with lutenists Rosemary Hodgson and
Samantha Cohen.
All the works performed on these discs have been
researched and edited by Rosalind Halton from
manuscript sources. Venere, Adone e Amore is in
preparation for publication by A-R Editions; the
cantatas on discs 2 and 3 are available online at
cantataeditions.com
The following libraries and their librarians are
thanked for friendly and expert assistance in
providing access to manuscripts:
She is a committed educator who teaches for
the Music Faculty of the University of
Melbourne; under the umbrella of the Early
Music Studio she is musical director of the Early
Voices Vocal Ensemble, a group of 16-20 singing
students who are passionately devoted to the
performance of Medieval, Renaissance and
Baroque music.
Santini Collection, Bischöfliches Seminar, Münster.
Venere, Adone e Amore, Rome 1706; autograph,
Perdono, Amor ; Filli e Clori (Amica, ora che Aprile) ;
Del Tirreno sul lido; E come, o Dio; Serenata
Orché di Febo ascosi; Lidio e Clori; Silenzio, aure
volanti; Toccata da Cimbalo (attrib. A. Scarlatti)
26
Österreichische Nationalbibliothek, Vienna:
autograph, Olimpia
Thanks are also due to Nathan Scott, Nigel Kentish,
Philip Sketchley and Michael Kelly of the
Conservatorium of Music, University of Newcastle
for invaluable assistance and technical support with
the recording sessions of CD 1 and 2; and to the
Music Library staff of the University of Newcastle.
Staatsbibliothek, Berlin: autograph, Cantata Pastorale.
Christ Church College, Oxford: Serenata Venere,
Adone e Amore; Lontan dall’Idol mio
Financial support for the recording of CDs 1 and 2
was received from the Research Branch of the
University of Newcastle. A University of New
England Internal Research Grant provided funding for
editions and the recording of CD 3, 1993-1999.
Bodleian Library, Oxford: Filli e Clori (Amica, ora che
Aprile) ; Lontan dall’Idol mio; E come, o Dio; Silenzio,
aure volanti
British Library, London: Filli e Clori (Amica, ora che
Aprile); Lontan dall’Idol mio
James Sanderson appears courtesy of Opera Australia.
Biblioteca del Conservatorio, Naples: Bella dama di
nome Santa; Serenata Orché di Febo ascosi
Harpsichords by David Halton, Armidale 1986 and
1987, after Gregori, early 18th-century Italian.
The study by Edwin Hanley, Alessandro Scarlatti’s
‘Cantate da Camera’: a Bibliographical Study, PhD
dissertation, Yale University, 1963, forms the
indispensable basis for all the manuscript research
undertaken in this project.
ABC Classics thanks Alexandra Alewood and
Melissa Kennedy.
 2001 CD2 & 3  2007 CD1 Australian Broadcasting
Corporation. © 2007 Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
Distributed in Australia and New Zealand by Universal
Music Group, under exclusive licence. Made in Australia.
All rights of the owner of copyright reserved. Any copying,
renting, lending, diffusion, public performance or broadcast
of this record without the authority of the copyright owner
is prohibited.
Rosalind Halton warmly thanks Professor Nerida
Newbigin (Department of Italian, University of
Sydney) for invaluable advice on texts and
translations; Dr Marie-Louise Catsalis, for many
years of shared research on the sources and
performance of Alessandro Scarlatti’s vocal music;
James Sanderson, for transcription of the solo alto
cantatas, Del Tirreno sul lido and Perdono, Amor,
and for his work as general editor of
cantataeditions.com; and Dr Steven Campbell,
for technical support with editions.
27