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  • Monday, May 27, 2024 at 1:48 pm #8324
    John Fitzmaurice
    Keymaster

    Saturday, July 20, 2024 at 5:54 pm #8494
    John Fitzmaurice
    Keymaster

    Aci, Galatea e Polifemo (HWV 72) is a serenata for three voices by George Frideric Handel. It was first performed at Naples on 19 July 1708; the completed score is dated to 16 June 1708. A sort of dramatic cantata, the work was commissioned by Duchess Donna Aurora Sanseverino for the wedding of Tolomeo Saverio Gallo, Duke of Alvito, and Beatrice Tocco di Montemiletto, Princess of Acaja and the duchess’s niece.[1] Its Italian libretto was by Nicola Giuvo, secretary and adviser to the duchess,[1] and it prefigures that of Handel’s 1718 English-language masque Acis and Galatea, although Handel drew little on the music of the serenata when he prepared the masque (he did take care to make the villain, the one-eyed giant (cyclops) Polyphemus, half-lovable, with a signature comic aria demanding virtuosity: “O ruddier than the cherry”). In the serenata the cyclops’ role entails actions with lethal consequences for Aci and is notable for its range and the vocal agility it requires; it rises from the D below the bass staff to the A above it — and that in its satirical, ponderous buffa aria, “Fra l’ombre e gl’orrori“; it may have been taken at the premiere by the bass Antonio Manna, who sang at the court chapel in Vienna.[1]

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    Händel c. 1710

    Sources
    [1]Hawkes, Katy (2019). “Programme Note” in programme to Aci, Galatea e Polifemo HWV72, Wigmore Hall, London, 3 April 2019.
    Hogwood, Christopher. Handel (1988), Thames and Hudson, ISBN 0-500-27498-3.
    External links
    Aci, Galatea e Polifemo: Scores at the International Music Score Library Project
    Score of Aci, Galatea e Polifemo (ed. Friedrich Chrysander, Leipzig 1892)
    Libretto from http://www.haendel.it
    Aci, Galatea e Polifemo – Wikipedia
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aci,_Galatea_e_Polifemo

    Saturday, July 20, 2024 at 6:52 pm #8500
    John Fitzmaurice
    Keymaster

    Handel’s “Fra l’ombre e gl’orrori” from Aci, Galatea e Polifemo
    performed by Trevor Eliot Bowes with Ensemble Tempus Fugit

    Saturday, July 20, 2024 at 7:16 pm #8502
    John Fitzmaurice
    Keymaster

    Cecilia Bartoli
    CLASSICAL MUSIC REVIEW
    When Opera Was Forced Under
    the Radar
    By Anthony Tommasini
    Oct. 21, 2005
    Even the most ardent fans of the mezzo-soprano Cecilia Bartoli must sometimes question whether she is making full use of her remarkable gifts and extraordinary popularity. By the late 1990’s, the opera world wondered what she would do next. Expand her operatic repertory and take on touchstone soprano roles in Bellini operas? There was talk that Debussy’s Mélisande might become a signature part. Instead, she restricted her appearances and looked back to the 18th century, uncovering neglected arias from operas by Gluck and Salieri. Who would have thought that her 1999 Decca release “The Vivaldi Album,” a program of essentially unknown arias by the composer of the ubiquitous “Four Seasons,” would top the charts?
    Ms. Bartoli brought her latest exploration, “Opera Proibita,” to Carnegie Hall on Wednesday night, a sold-out, ecstatically received concert strategically linked to the release of her recent Decca recording of the same title. This time Ms. Bartoli is focusing on the first decade of the 18th century, when Pope Clement XI, alarmed by growing political conflicts that threatened the authority of the church, banned operatic performances in Rome, deeming musical theater dangerously arousing and incendiary. Handel, Alessandro Scarlatti and Antonio Caldara, among others, simply turned to the oratorio, writing works full of impassioned arias with love stories thinly disguised as allegorical tales. These oratorios were actually stealth operas.

    Saturday, July 20, 2024 at 7:47 pm #8506
    John Fitzmaurice
    Keymaster

    null
    Acis and Galatea by Claude Lorrain

    From OVID’s Metamorphoses
    …Scylla’s dark waist is girt with savage dogs. She has a maiden’s face, and, if we may believe what poets tell, she was in olden time a maiden. Many suitors courted her, but she repulsed them; and, because she was so much beloved by all the Nereids, she sought these nymphs and used to tell how she escaped from the love-stricken youths.
    [738] But Galatea, while her loosened locks were being combed, said to her visitor,—“Truly, O maiden, a gentle race of men courts you, and so you can, and do, refuse all with impunity. But I, whose sire is Nereus, whom the azure Doris bore, though guarded by so many sister nymphs, escaped the Cyclops’ love with tragic loss.” And, sobbing, she was choked with tears. When with her fingers, marble white and smooth, Scylla had wiped away the rising tears of sorrow and had comforted the nymph, she said, “Tell me, dear goddess, and do not conceal from me (for I am true to you) the cause of your great sorrows.” And the nymph, daughter of Nereus, thus replied to her:—
    [750] “Acis, the son of Faunus and the nymph Symaethis, was a great delight to his dear father and his mother, but even more to me, for he alone had won my love. Eight birthdays having passed a second time, his tender cheeks were marked with softest down. While I pursued him with a constant love, the Cyclops followed me as constantly. And, should you ask me, I could not declare whether my hatred of him, or my love of Acis was the stronger.—They were equal. O gentle Venus! what power equals yours! That savage, dreaded by the forest trees, feared by the stranger who beholds his face contemner of Olympus and the gods, now he can feel what love is. He is filled with passion for me. He burns hot for me, forgetful of his cattle and his caves. Now, Polyphemus, wretched Cyclops, you are careful of appearance, and you try the art of pleasing. You have even combed your stiffened hair with rakes: it pleases you to trim your shaggy beard with sickles, while you gaze at your fierce features in a pool so earnest to compose them. Love of flesh, ferocity and your keen thirst for blood have ceased. The ships may safely come and go!
    [770] “While all this happened, Telemus arrived at the Sicilian Aetna—Telemus, the son of Eurymus, who never could mistake an omen, met the dreadful fierce, huge Cyclops, Polyphemus, and he said, That single eye now midmost in your brow Ulysses will take from you. In reply, the Cyclops only laughed at him and said,`Most silly of the prophets! you are wrong, a maiden has already taken it!’ So he made fun of Telemus, who warned him vainly of the truth—and after that, he either burdened with his bulk the shore, by stalking back and forth with lengthy strides, or came back weary to his shaded cave.
    [778] “A wedge-formed hill projects far in the sea and either side there flow the salty waves. To this the giant savage climbed and sat upon the highest point. The wooly flock, no longer guided by him, followed after. There, after he had laid his pine tree down, which served him for a staff, although so tall it seemed best fitted for a ship’s high mast, he played his shepherd pipes—in them I saw a hundred reeds. The very mountains felt the pipings of that shepherd, and the waves beneath him shook respondent to each note. All this time I was hidden by a rock, reclining on the bosom of my own dear Acis; and, although afar, I heard such words as these, which I can not forget:—
    [789] “`O Galatea, fairer than the flower of snow-white privet, and more blooming than the meadows, and more slender than the tall delightful alder, brighter than smooth glass, more wanton than the tender skipping kid, smoother than shells worn by continual floods, more pleasing than the winter sun, or than the summer shade, more beautiful than fruit of apple trees, more pleasing to the sight than lofty plane tree, clearer than pure ice, and sweeter than the ripe grape, softer than soft swan-down and the softest curdled milk; alas, and if you did not fly from me, I would declare you are more beautiful than any watered garden of this world.
    [798] “`And yet, O Galatea; I must say, that you are wilder than all untrained bullocks, harder than seasoned oak, more treacherous than tumbled waters, tougher than the twigs of osier and the white vine, harder to move than cliffs which front these waves, more violent than any torrent, you are prouder than the flattered peacock, fiercer than hot fire, rougher than thistles, and more cruel than the pregnant she-bear, deafer than the waves of stormy seas, more deadly savage than the trodden water-snake: and, (what I would endeavor surely to deprive you of) your speed is fleeter than the deer pursued by frightful barkings, and more swift than rapid storm-winds and the flitting air. But Galatea, if you knew me well you would regret your hasty flight from me, and you would even blame your own delay, and strive for my affection. I now hold the choice part of this mountain for my cave, roofed over with the native rock. The sun is not felt in the heat of middle day, nor is the winter felt there: apples load the bending boughs and luscious grapes hang on the lengthened vines, resembling gold, and purple grapes as rich—I keep for you those two delicious fruits. With your own hands, you shall yourself uncover strawberries, growing so soft beneath the woodland shade; you shall pluck corners in the autumn ripe, and plums, not only darkened with black juice but larger kinds as yellow as new wax. If I may be your mate, you shall have chestnuts, fruits of the arbute shall be always near, and every tree shall yield at your desire.
    [821] “`The ewes here all are mine, and many more are wandering in the valleys; and the woods conceal a multitude —and many more are penned within my caves. If you perchance should ask me, I could never even guess or count the number; it is for the poor to count their cattle. Do not trust my word, but go yourself and see with your own eyes, how they can hardly stand up on their legs because of their distended udders’ weight. I have lambs also, as a future flock, kept in warm folds, and kids of their same age in other folds. I always have supplies of snow-white milk for drinking, and much more is hardened with good rennet liquefied.
    [831] “`The common joys of ordinary things will not be all you should expect of me—tame does and hares and shegoats or a pair of doves, or even a nest from a tall tree—for I have found upon a mountain top, the twin cubs of a shaggy wild she-bear, of such appearance you can hardly know the one from other. They will play with you. The very day I found them I declared, these I will keep for my dear loved one’s joy.
    [838] “`Do now but raise your shining head above the azure sea: come Galatea come, and do not scorn my presents. Certainly, I know myself, for only recently I saw my own reflection pictured clear in limpid water, and my features pleased and charmed me when I saw it. See how huge I am. Not even Jove in his high heaven is larger than my body: this I say because you tell me how imperial Jove surpasses.—Who is he? I never knew. My long hair plentifully hangs to hide unpleasant features; as a grove of trees overshadowing my shoulders. Never think my body is uncomely, although rough, thick set with wiry bristles. Every tree without leaves is unseemly; every horse, unless a mane hangs on his tawny neck; feathers must cover birds; and their soft wool is ornamental on the best formed sheep: therefore a beard, and rough hair spread upon the body is becoming to all men. I have but one eye centered perfectly within my forehead, so it seems most like a mighty buckler. Ha! does not the Sun see everything from heaven? Yet it has but one eye.—
    [854] “`Galatea, you must know, my father is chief ruler in your sea, and therefor I now offer him to you as your own father-in-law—But oh, do take some pity on a suppliant,—and hear his prayer, for only unto you my heart is given. I, who despise the power of Jove, his heavens and piercing lightnings, am afraid of you — your wrath more fearful than the lightning’s flash — but I should be more patient under slights, if you avoided all men: why reject the Cyclops for the love that Acis gives? And why prefer his smiles to my embraces, but let him please himself, and let him please you, Galatea, though against my will. If I am given an opportunity he will be shown that I have every strength proportioned to a body vast as mine: I will pull out his palpitating entrails, and scatter his torn limbs about the fields and over and throughout your salty waves; and then let him unite himself to you.—I burn so, and my slighted passion raves with greater fury and I seem to hold and carry Aetna in my breast—transferred there with its flames—Oh Galatea! can you listen to my passion thus unmoved!’

    [870] “I saw all this; and, after he in vain had uttered such complaints, he stood up like a raging bull whose heifer has been lost, that cannot stand still, but must wander on through brush and forests, that he knows so well: when that fierce monster saw me and my Acis—we neither knew nor guessed our fate—he roared: ‘I see you and you never will again parade your love before me!’ In such a voice as matched his giant size. All Aetna shook and trembled at the noise; and I amazed with horror, plunged into the adjoining sea. My loved one, Acis turned his back and fled and cried out, `Help me Galatea, help! 0, let your parents help me, and admit me safe within their realm; for I am now near my destruction!’ But the Cyclops rushed at him and hurled a fragment, he had torn out from the mountain, and although the extreme edge only of the rock could reach him there. It buried him entirely.
    [885] “Then I did the only thing the Fates permitted me: I let my Acis take ancestral power of river deities. The purple blood flowed from beneath the rock, but soon the sanguine richness faded and became at first the color of a stream, disturbed and muddied by a shower. And presently it clarified.—The rock that had been thrown then split in two, and through the cleft a reed, stately and vigorous, arose to life. And soon the hollow mouth in the great rock, resounded with the waters gushing forth. And wonderful to tell, a youth emerged, the water flowing clear about his waist, his new horns circled with entwining reeds, and the youth certainly was Acis, though he was of larger stature and his face and features all were azure. Acis changed into a stream which ever since that time has flowed there and retained its former name.

    Saturday, July 20, 2024 at 7:58 pm #8509
    John Fitzmaurice
    Keymaster

    UNIVERSITY OF VICTORIA DEAN’S LECTURE SERIES 2023
    Dr. Maria Virginia Acuña
    Amusing the King: Gender, Parody and Musical Theatre in Early 18th Century Spain

    In this talk, we will explore the world of Spanish baroque musical theatre through the lens of Acis y Galatea (Acis and Galatea), an operatic work performed for King Philip V of Spain in 1708. What makes this work interesting and worthy of attention is that it reverses gender roles of the era, while also satirizing the archetype of the male lover so commonly found in dramatic works of the period. Also, as we shall see, it mocks operatic conventions of the baroque. Why and how does it do so? Please join me to find out!

    Dr. Maria Virginia Acuña is assistant teaching professor in the School of Music at the University of Victoria. Her research interests include early music, opera, and Spanish music and culture of the early modern era, specifically the intersection of gender, politics and race in baroque musical theatre. Her research appears in Eighteenth-Century Music, Early Music, the Bulletin of the Comediantes, and in conference proceedings. She is also co-author of Claudio Monteverdi: A Research and Information Guide (Routledge, 2018).

    UVic Continuing Studies

    Saturday, July 20, 2024 at 8:29 pm #8528
    John Fitzmaurice
    Keymaster

    BRILLIANT CLASSICS Handel Edition 65 CD Box Set

    Liner notes by Reinhard Strohm and Marco Vitale from the 65-CD BRILLIANT CLASSICS Handel Edition CD37-38

    ACI, GALATEA E POLIFEMO
    Aci, Galatea e Polifemo (HWV72) is the only serenata Handel composed in Italy, yet it is by no means isolated in his output. Il Parnasso in festa, performed in London 13 March 1734 for the wedding of Princess Anne with William of Orange, is classifiable as a serenata, and there are several other similar works, including the secular oratorio Il trionfo del tempo e del disinganno (Rome, 1707) and of course the well-known English Acis and Galatea (Cannons, 1718), a “masque” or “pastoral entertainment”. Serenatas were a frequent form of musical entertainment in noble households in Italy and soon also in Germany and England; the performers were usually accomplished vocal soloists, supported by an often substantial orchestra. Performances took place at night and often outdoors, in private gardens, or in a theatre, but without stage action; the characters might wear costume and there might be lavish decorations such as painted backdrops. The poetic texts were often allegorical or mythological, and the most usual function of the genre was to congratulate a patron on a happy occasion. Handel’s Neapolitan Aci, Galatea e Polifemo, for three soloists, is unusually dramatic for a serenata. The characters are strongly delineated in both text and music; there are dialogues (for example in the very first two lines), trialogues, monologues and asides, just as in a dramatic libretto. The action is itself a compelling drama: there is a mounting tension between the loving couple (Aci and Galatea) and the jealous monster (Polifemo), who finally kills Aci. A happy end is, however, imposed artificially, when all three soloists unite to sing a final chorus in praise of faithful love: the occasion for the performance was a wedding.

    Handel’s music is as rich and vivid as that of his cantatas, early operas and chamber duets: it paints the emotions and the background with both the vocal and the chosen instrumental forces. The extraordinary compass of Polifemo’s bass part is in itself an allegory of the mythical monster’s body, and Aci and Galatea present themselves in their soprano arias as graceful, passionate, young and genteel. Among the instruments, the oboe has many characterful solos, and the two trumpets add physical force and an outdoors feeling – as was proper for a serenata. The melodic invention is remarkable; the most intriguing motifs are falling or downward pointing. Although the composition was commissioned and written at short notice, Handel, fully familiar with the type of musical imagery expected here, could muster his best musical ideas. The work holds its own in comparison with the English Acis and Galatea, as it represents not only a drama, but also celebrates the beauty of Italian nature and culture.
    © Reinhard Strohm

    During Handel’s travels in Italy in 1708, he spent some ten weeks in Naples, from about the beginning of May to the second week of July. He composed Aci, Galatea e Polifemo during his stay in the city. He was 23 years old. On completing the work Handel notated on the last page of the autograph: Napoli lì 16 di Giugnio.1708. d’Alvito. Although there is no firm evidence, it is likely that he composed the work for the wedding festivities of the fifth Duke of Alvito, Tolomeo Saverio Gallo, and Beatrice Tocco di Montemiletto, Princess of Acaja. The wedding was celebrated on 19 July 1708, one month after the completion of the work. John Mainwaring, Handel’s first biographer, wrote that the work was composed “at the request of Donna Laura”. Recent studies suggest that the mysterious “Donna Laura” was most probably Donna Aurora Sanseverino, Duchess of Laurenzano, and Beatrice Tocco’s aunt. The opening duet “Sorge il di, spunta l’aurora” seems to be a confirmation that Aurora Sanseverino herself commissioned the work. Handel himself performed the work only once, in July 1708. Aci, Galatea e Polifemo was performed again for the wedding of Pascale Gaetani d’Aragona, Aurora Sanseverino’s eldest son, with Maria Maddalena di Croy. The wedding took place on 6 December 1711, and according to Luigi Michele Mutio’s Lettera diretta a Vienna d’Austria al Sig. Silvio Stampiglia the performance took place on 9 December. Aurora Sanseverino’s letters about the preparations for the festivities give information about the musical performance, and reveal the name of the author of the libretto: his name is Nicola Giuvo, private secretary and literature adviser to the Duchess Aurora Sanseverino. A third performance took place in Palazzo Reale in Naples on 26 July 1713, for the name day of the daughter of the fourth Austrian Viceroy of Naples, Graf Wirich Philipp Lorenz von Daun. The orchestration of the work is very varied, with a different affect for every aria, and the text is perfectly rendered. It is a very demanding work for the singers and the orchestra. The range of Polifemo (Bass) is remarkable: a compass from D to a’, with extraordinary leaps of two and a half octave. An outstanding singer must have been available in Naples and the young Handel took full advantage of his abilities. Some researchers have concluded that the role of Polifemo was composed for Don Antonio Manna, a bass singer who served in the Royal Chapel of Naples and the Hofkapelle in Vienna.

    The libretto is based on Ovid’s Metamorphoses (XIII, 738- 897). The Sicilian legend tells of the love between Acis, son of Faunus and the nymph Symaethis (a river in Sicily), and the sea nymph Galatea, daughter of Nereus and Doris. Their love was destroyed by the Cyclops Polyphemus, an ugly giant with one eye in the middle of his forehead. Polyphemus, son of Neptune, the God of the sea, was also in love with Galatea, who remained faithful to her beloved Acis. The Cyclops, in a jealous rage, crushed the young shepherd Acis with a rock. The gods, feeling pity for Galatea’s torment, changed Acis’ blood into a limpid river that flows eternally, allowing Acis to find eternal peace in Galatea’s arms.

    The two lovers are joined in an infinite and immortal embrace. Today the river Aci flows underground near Acireale (Sicily) and surfaces in the “Miuccio”, a spring called by locals “u sangu di Jaci” (Acis’ blood). Nine towns and villages in that area bear the name of Acis (Aci in Italian), including Acireale, Acicastello, Aci Catena and Aci Trezza. On the coast of Aci Trezza are three tall, column-shaped islands. According to local legend, these great stones are the very same ones thrown at Ulysses by Polyphemus in Homer’s Odyssey.

    Handel rarely prescribes the specific instrumentation of the basso continuo, but when he does give indications, he is always clear and precise. For Polifemo’s aria “Fra l’ombre e gli orrori” Handel asks for a Violone Grosso. This term has often been understood to mean the double bass.

    This reading does not apply to Handel’s music composed in Italy. In his early Italian music Handel clearly shows that he knows the difference between Violoncello, Contrabasso and Violone Grosso, as he uses the three different names in his autographs, even within the same composition.

    For example, in the oratorio “La Resurrezione” (Rome, 1708), he writes Violoni senza Cembalo for the aria “Ferma l’ali, sui miei lumi”. Four arias later, in “Naufragando va per l’onde”, we find Violoncelli senza Cembalo e Contrabassi. Handel also asks for Violone Grosso in the opening aria of the cantata “Tra le fiamme” HWV170 (Rome, 1707).

    After comparing these compositions (written in 1707 and 1708) and carefully studying the original sources, I noticed that Handel asks specifically for violone when he wants to obtain a particular colour. He combines this instrument with flutes, viola da gamba and muted violins to create an exceptional affect related to the text.

    The instrument used for Polifemo’s aria is a 12’ violone tuned G’-C-F-A-d-g, which is not transposing at the lower octave, like the double bass 16’. Playing the bass line at the written octave makes Polifemo the lowest voice of the ensemble at times, holding his low E-flat as a sustained pedal, while the violone plays its line above Polifemo’s note. Handel did not specify any particular instrumentation for the arias “Benché tuoni e l’etra avvampi” (B-section), “Dell’aquila l’artigli” and “Impara, ingrata, impara”. I decided to accompany these arias with harpsichord solo: this choice is supported by the presence of Handel’s typical virtuoso keyboard writing (broken chords, fast repeated notes and big arpeggios), which we often find in his harpsichord solo music.

    Most probably Handel himself played these arias, in duet with the singers, delighting the fortunate audience with his exceptional ability at the harpsichord.
    © Marco Vitale

    HANDEL EDITION Extensive Liner Notes & Sung Texts – Brilliant Classics – 95050
    https://www.brilliantclassics.com/media/1293426/95050-HANDEL-EDITION-Extensive-Liner-Notes-Sung-Texts-Download.pdf

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