Fire and Music
Both mezzo-soprano Vivica Genaux and violinist/conductor Fabio Biondi have been in the forefront of this Vivaldi renaissance, joining forces for a complete Bajazet as well as Alessandro Scarlatti’s La santissima Trinità.
Pyrotechnics
Although Vivaldi claimed authorship of 94 operas, only about 50 titles have been identified, and around 30 scores have been found, usually in less than complete state, creating incredible headaches for musicologists and conductors. Some of his better known operas (Bajazet, for instance) are pasticcios, where arias from other composers abound. Bajazet’s most famous aria, “Sposa son disprezzata” was originally composed by Giacomelli as “Sposo non mi conosci”. As in most of the other pasticcios, Vivaldi wrote new music for the heroes of this opera, while keeping the other composers’ original music for the villains.
Interestingly enough, he took the trouble to write the recitatives in all of his operas, a task most composers of the time would delegate to their students or even to the singers.
The opening aria on Pyrotechnics, “Come invano il mare irato”, from Catone in Utica, is indicative of the tone of the recording. A quintessential “aria di tempesta”, this Allegro Molto in C major exceeds two octaves in vocal range and features every possible ornamentation the human mind can conceive and the human voice can perform: cascate scempie, cascate doppie, gruppetti, simple trills, ribattuti trills, mordents, trills with mordents, double cadences with mordent, and more. The singer is also required to sing fast coloratura for twelve bars without taking a breath.
Numerous are the “arie di furore”; the most interesting excerpts are “Destin avaro” from La fida ninfa, and “Vibro il ferro” (probably from the opera Ipermestra), where frenzied semiquavers evoke the character’s inner tumult.
Another staple of Baroque opera was the “imitation” aria, which is here represented by “Nella foresta leone invitto” (Catone in Utica), where Emilia compares her suffering to the moans of a wounded lion, with the horns imitating the beast’s roars. Even more emblematic of the genre, “Quell’usignolo” (L’oracolo in Messenia) embodies the time-honored metaphor, the nightingale’s love song.
A few slower-paced arias are welcome in the midst of such relentless, dizzying fireworks. The Larghetto “Vorrei dirti il mio dolore” (from Rosmira fedele) is a touching, subdued love song that makes ample use of the so-called coloratura di grazia, or galante, a light graceful agility to be performed as a gentle arabesque.
My personal favorite aria of the disc is the lament “Splender fra’l cieco orrore,” composed for a revival of Tito Manlio. Vocally more restrained and less demanding, its true allure derives from the orchestral accompaniment, particularly the opposition between the sustained viola and violin parts, and the basso continuo with its brisk semiquavers, which create an uneasy and anxious atmosphere of inexorability, perfectly in tune with the sentiments expressed in the text.
Genaux is squarely in her element and this music fits her instrument like a glove. Although she labels herself a mezzo-soprano, her powerful, sinewy timbre sounds more like a contralto to my ears. Armed with an extremely clean, yet energetic and vigorous agility, the Alaskan singer overcomes the infinite difficulties of Baroque singing with amazing nonchalance and aplomb, demonstrating what “coloratura di forza” really means.
The top is not the very best part of her voice: anything above a high G can often sound a bit squeezed and pinched, especially if sung forte. In this particular recording, however, this limitation is not so pronounced because the tessitura tends to be low, with excursions to the highest register only very rarely sustained.
I am happy to note that on this disc Genaux avoids a mannerism I have noticed in other performances of hers: the straight tone she often employs on a sustained note, particularly at the beginning of an aria or one of its sections. Here she sings almost always with a controlled but full vibrato. Before I get excoriated, I must mention that I am perfectly aware of the controversies surrounding this particular issue. Nonetheless, I am firmly entrenched in the camp of those scholars (these days the majority) who believe that Baroque singing required a vibrato rich in overtones, where the straight tone (nota fissa) was employed as an occasional effect, and not as the norm.
Sicilian conductor Biondi and his orchestra Europa Galante are nothing short of magnificent. The rhythmic vigor with which Mr. Biondi leads the original instruments of his ensemble is infused with a sort of enthralling, gripping nervousness and tension. This irresistible race towards an objective embodies the highly imaginative expression of the Baroque aesthetic, with its taste for “wonder” (“il meraviglioso”) and its desire for the impossible. Such a vibrant and intoxicating musical route makes his interpretation extremely original and distinctive. His dynamics are clean and sharp, electrified by feverish excitement. It is a vision of Baroque music light-years away from so many anemic Baroque specialists.
In a few succinct words, this CD is a valuable, exhilarating addition to the growing number of Italian vocal Baroque recordings. Listening to it is pure pleasure, not a “sacrificium!”
“… way more interesting than what Vivaldi had to say.”
I think that is true of most opera composers of any stature! Vivaldi is the master of the formulaic.
“Well-research” in regards to an opera recording usually means that some scholar has taken all the life out of the music and you’re about to listen to something that will put you to sleep.
It’s like when they used to refer to a singer as “an intelligent singer.” That used to mean that the voice was so ugly they had to come up with something nice to say. Example: John Aler.
As for narrow-minded, it’s been my experience that the most narrow-minded group of music lovers is those who like “early music.” They seem to think that music stopped when Mozart died, won’t listen to anything from the 19th century on. Conversely, there’s the “new music” crowd (example: Mark Swed) who thinks that anything written before 1950 was trash. I can do without both groups.
My music loves range from Byrd and Palestrina to Britten and Tan Dun. But I’m honest and realistic about most baroque (not all) opera and its form. Some of it I like but a great deal of it is conventional, dull, too long, and repetitious. As an example, Monteverdi’s Poppea. This would have made a great 90 minute to 2 hour opera but it drones on for 4 hours and leaves you numb. Wagner never does that because there is so much interesting going on in the orchestra — an advance unknown to Monteverdi. So when the vocal writing gets dull there is nothing to search for — and find — to hold your interest. At least that’s my take on it.
I love Handel’s music but most of the operas never rose to the level of musical inventiveness as Cesare or Messiah. And I love the re-discovery of some, though not all, of these works of his.
But to think that there are all these great masterpieces by Vivaldi or Haydn or whomever just waiting out there. That’s hogwash.
As for Bartoli, most of the roles named above (Elvira, Fiordiligi, etc.) are things she should never have sung. She’s a mezzo with a top but she seems to think she’s a soprano. She records more than she sings on stage. I find her boring and watching her? Don’t get me started or I’ll have to make another “sour” commment.
Cassandra: Just 5? Off the top of my head, I can think of some of these HIP types (hysterically ignorant performers) whose attempts to conduct major symphony orchestras in the US have been a joke or non-existent:
John Eliot Gardiner
Roger Norrington
Christopher Hogwood
William Christie
Fabio Biondi
Christophe Rousset
Biondi, Brueggen, Jacobs, and Leonhardt are geniuses? Are you serious?
Harnoncourt I can take more seriously. He’s very good. His complete set of the Beethoven Piano Concerti with Aimard is brilliant.
But those other 4 are specialist hacks who when the history of conducting is written won’t even get a mention.
I also don’t know what “vulgar “might mean here. The use of chest voice in Baroque music is quite complex, and many theories abound. For those who wish to explore the matter I would recommend a book called “History of belcanto” by Rodolfo Celletti. It’s a truly exquisite book, written by the scholar who in my view knew about voice emission more than anybody else.
Of course they are only incidentally conductors — partly since the role of conductor had not been invented in that repertory. It’s a later development for later repertory. They are not conductors but virtuosi.
John Aler has/d an ugly voice? Wow, sure not to my ears. Love his recording of Liszt songs.
I agree with operabitch. Get a Baroque performer talking and all yes….. ALL they can ever talk about is ‘101 ways of what is style’…’performing style’….or the evolution of Baroque performing style over the last 10,20,30 or whatever …yawn …. etc etc etc. They ‘mag’ their heads off 24.7. They love to tell you how it should be performed and then commence to bore the shit out of the music itself, and the listener as well. Autopsy exponents in concert uniforms operating with their wheezing musical saws and ably assisted by their loyal contributing Frankensteinish voice mutants.
They are but historical parrot-rote learning ‘antique – research queens’ searching for fame, surrounded by their clutter of fake ‘hallmarked’ pieces of not silver but worthless musical lead. To provide for their dubious validity, we all pay the price: by having inflicted on us, these performed special specimens of corrupted and virulent tripe, evidently dear to the hearts and mind of those supplying the polluting stuff. Such toxic material : saved and dug up from music’s compositional garbage tips and murky wells, deep in the dark dusty dungeons of some Jurassic Park music museum in places the World forgot. The patron sainted heroine of the Cause presently, is of course that famed music rag & bone picker, Cecilia B. – that female Steptoe , well suited to – adapt survivor for this Recorded Age. such baroque-fest creatures as these, are emblazoned: knowing that their souls have being indelibly tattooed with some ’scholar’s good elephant stamp’ given out via praise, by some positively potty music professor, perhaps maybe their record company’s P.R department or by their misguided ‘cutie’ followers having fainting fits sans the smelling salts, on hand.
Imagine the same ridiculous situation two centuries from now. Some conservatory clowns trying to discover the correct instrumentation and performing style for the then unknown A.L.Webber ….or say that, for 20th century ‘modernish’ Eric Siegmeister’s horrid piano works. The latter could be then easily authenticated by heretic performance (just start banging the keys or commence smashing the piano!)
From the few things i’ve heard, I think Genaux is a wonderful singer. I just can’t bare to watch her (and I have a pretty high tolerance for facial ticks). That flapping of her jaw is just too distracting. A singer friend of mine told me that it has to do with tension, which causes the flapping. If you notice, there’s even some flapping on sustained notes, not just in the coloratura.
But if I don’t have to watch her, she is wonderful.
“The lady (actually, ladies: operabitch, Harry, et.al.) doth protest too much, methinks.” WAY too much.
I love Monteverdi, especially Poppea. There’s a serene, other-worldly beauty to the music that is so special. I’ve heard that the gorgeous final duet actually wasn’t composed by Monteverdi himself. Anyone have any insight on this?
The duet does not exist in Monteverdi’s hand nor does it exist in at least 1 of the libretti that is used as a reference for editions of the opera.
Scholars have put forth the theory that the opera could be a collaborative effort in which Monteverdi took part and somehow, through time was given the full credit.
Thanks, Lindoro. As well as the highlights that have been mentioned (all of Ottavia’s scenes, Seneca’s death, the Nurse’s lullaby), I love the scene where Drusilla is accused for attempting to murder Poppea.
you say that like it is the first time…
Well researched means that there has been an effort to select music and to prepare editions that will conform somehow to what the composers and or performers (and also audiences) saw in their time. What you talk about is not research but performance; there is a difference, learn it. While it is true that there is still some to be desired in the performance of early and barroque music, the research that is been happening around it is exceptional.
I for one think Haydns Orfeo is a masterpiece. It is beautifully constructed and beautifully composed.
As for the roles that Bartoli sang, once again, she sang what fir her voice. Yes, she is a mezzo soprano and if you notice the 2nd part of that, there is a soprano attached to that. A mezzo soprano is not the same as a contralto, as many might supposed. There shouldn’t be that much of a difference between a Mezzo soprano and a soprano, specially when they are young and the voice is still sitting a little higher than normal.
Harry & operabitch attack Baroque opera and its fans with such vehemence, I’m beginning to wonder if poor Baroque ran over their dogs.
I blinked a little at that, too. Lovely singer.
Some people write in such a way that, even when they post on the internet, it’s in green crayon.
Ah, those poor tacky ruffled feathers .It works both ways.
I do not need the short pants and braces Elliot Gardiner to ‘enlighten’ me by trying to do the same thing with the likes of Lehar or Puccini too. Ever heard his Verdi Requiem?????
Nor for instance, do I need Bruggen to buggar up other pieces I might like.
Or David Daniels trying to do some songs from Berlioz’s Nuits d’ete, and try to sound like a poor twilight ‘drag version’ of Janet Baker…who incidentally also stuffed up herself the second time – she recorded this work.
Why should people stay silent and stomach such nonsense because their fans are forever willing to devour the stuff?
Jeez….some artiste’ are labeled or pedaled as ‘Baroque specialists’ by some and then all of a sudden: they are then made the Mother Teresas’ of music. To then question ‘artists slumming around, where they should not have gone’ is seen as some form of blasphemy… As some cruel attempt at bruising those more genteel and tender sensibilities of Baroque ‘purists”
Talk about the sacrosanct suck-suck nature surrounding that manufactured craft of projecting and maintaining that embalmed aura :’The Performance Art of Baroque’ being seen as an separate entity in itself……Totally away, from the actual music on any page. As I said earlier, ( since the shown reactions to those comments, would tend to reinforce my previous opinion) it is all about various fossilized forms of constipated ’style’ – or refined modes of contained approach and listening. Where real emotion is seen as dangeous.
A case:
” More tea, one lump of sugar and a finger biscuit Maude! That opera was so sweet, didn’t you think’? And please be careful, and do not spill the tea on that precious starched embroidered lace table cloth, Grandma-ma promised and left in her Will!”
On the other hand, those people more at home in the 19th & 20th Century, are red blooded passionate people. We do not care if you hate this or that composer, loathe this or that conductor, and want to strangle this or that singer or instrumentalist. If people think they deserve it, they speak up.
If people think they deserve it, they speak up
Why would they? Just mentioning that they like Baroque opera means they’ll be attacked by you and operabitch ten times over.
And really Harry, I know you read this site pretty regularly, so you should know by now that I personally love opera from the 19th and 20th centuries, want to hear more from the 21st century, and am interested in trying 18th century opera. So characterizing all Baroque opera fans as passionless is just nonsense.
Dear CruzSF,
You said it! I love me some Baroque opera. I just spent last month listening to all my Handel…from Agrippina to Serse. But sometimes I think Baroque Opera does need to be rescued from the Baroque Specialists. Handel needs to be sung with the same commitment that you would need for any 19th or 20th century opera (although not the same volume!)Handel didn’t write for anemic shrinking violets. His singers were world-class and passionate.
Horne vs Sills? Tebaldi vs Callas? We call those feuds? Cuzzoni and Faustina once got into a fist fight over equal time….ON STAGE!
That is passion! Maybe Genoux and Bartoli can get into it during a performance and scare up some press.
And this exactly the point I was trying to make in the review. Baroque opera requires singers like Marilyn Horne (and these days Genaux), not Emma Kirby with her straight fischietto.
I appreciate you being able to discuss without resorting to attacks.
But Baroque opera is not even Emma Kirkby’s domain. She’s more a Campion or Dowland lute-song singer, though she used to do more oratorios and things like Mozart Masses — partly from great public demand, by the way. She never set out to be a Marilyn Horne and never claimed to be, any more than Emmy Lou Harris should be dissed because she’s not Montserrat Caballé.
Come on, guys. We don’t have to be so provincial to protect our favorite repertory and our favored ways of getting it delivered. And Harry continues to set up the same old parodistic straw-men of absent-minded professors and tea cozies and such as his evidently uninformed image of one of the liveliest parts of the current musical world. No one could have heard — or seen — the recent Juilliard ARIODANTE and slavered on the way he and Operabitch are doing here. That sort of young, skilled music-as-drama and some of the new music going on in places in Brooklyn most of us hardly know about certainly compare favorably to the frequent sleep-walking mediocrity we’re always bitching about at the Met and other places.
Celletti is someone who you either agree with 100% or you mostly disagree 100% as well (this from a scholarly point of view), so you might want to try and get some second opinions, or even read the original texts themselves.
To those who think fine baroque singing didn’t exist until the advent of Harnoncourt, Elliot Gardiner, and Christie I offer this example…it’s about as exquisite a piece of singing as you are likely to find anywhere.
And of course, there is La Sills in “se pieta”…giving a masterclass in the art of using the trill as an expressive device…no one has bettered her in this music.
Tamerlano, you pulled out same top guns for sure. Passion, commitment, poignancy as well as great singing with luscious and appropriate ornamentation. These Baroque divas didn’t preserve the music, they breathed life into it. When I was a kid I thought “V’adoro Pupille” was Sills’ greatest achievement in Cesare, but as I grew up I came to understand that it was indeed the “Se Pieta”. (And she makes the recitatives as meaningful as the arias)
Well, I did say off the top of my head. I try not to think about the subject much.
May I use that phrase (sang the shit out of the role), or have you copyrighted it?