Organization

Singer

Countertenor

Clint van der Linde

counter tenor

Soprano

Mariana Castello-Branco

soprano

Mezzo-soprano

Ana Paula Russo

contralto

João Fernandes

Herodes

Fundação Centro Cultural de Belém

Avres Serva

Lisbon

Portugal

CCB Centro Cultural de Belém

Pequeno Auditório

Avres Serva: San Giovanni Battista Stradella

Public

St John the Baptist

Approved

Alessandro Stradella became famous for being murdered and not so much for his music. His work includes about 200 cantatas, sacred and instrumental music. San Giovanni Battista, a work composed for the church of San Giovanni dei Fiorentini in 1675, and the best known of his oratories, was also performed in Modena (1688), Florence (1693), and again in Rome (1698). It tells the story of the death of John the Baptist at the hands of the executioner of King Herod, as requested by Salome, who bewitches the monarch with her seductive dance, having asked for the prophet's head in exchange. This gripping yet tragic tale gave him the opportunity to create a powerful and intriguing work of highly dramatic music. The presence of 5 solo voices (2 sopranos, alto, tenor and bass) who also sang the choirs was a common practice in this type of oratory. The orchestra in Stradella also had its own treatment, which contributed to the development of the Italian Baroque tradition with its division into two groups: theconcertino , a small group, and ripieno , a larger group. This instrumental layout results in striking contrasts and other dynamic effects, clearly exemplified in Herodes' aria Tuonerà fra mille turbini , in which its first part is accompanied by ripieno and the second part by concertino . The work contains complex and demanding passages in general, attributed particularly to pagan characters. As she cannot, in this context, perform a dance that so bewitches Herod, Salome decides to enchant the tyrant with his voice. The recitative Deh, che più tardi , followed by the aria Queste lagrime e sospiri, involves a series of coloratura and chromatic passages that drag the listener into a labyrinth of unexpected tonality changes, captivating him in a kind of auditory seduction. Salome thus achieves the status of an anti-heroine, a mirrored and distorted image of female protagonists in oratories, and who more often suffer the misfortunes of other biblical heroines with their strong personalities, boldly daring, but also seductive. Juxtaposed with the vocal exuberance of Herod and Salome, we have the sober and dignified vocal style of John the Baptist. In the first performance, in 1675, the role was assumed by the famous castrato Giovanni Francesco Grossi, known as Siface. Renowned interpreter of the operas of Cavalli, Pasquini and, later, Scarlatti, he might well have expected Stradella to present him with a vocal part with flamboyant characteristics. Instead, the composer focused on the nobility and itspathos , vocal qualities fully explored in the first part of the aria Io per me non cangerei , in which John the Baptist, imprisoned by Herod and feeling that death is approaching, insists that he would not exchange his present condition for his former happiness. The violins end up intertwining with the vocal line, winding themselves in spirals, suggesting an image of the ties that unite it. The same impression of serenity predominates in his aria Soffin pur rabbiosi fremitiagainst the fury of the storm, a metaphor for the hardships of life, with the light of faith breaking out in triumph. Allied to the total mastery of counterpoint, which guarantees an extraordinary interaction between the vocal and instrumental parts, the composer stands out among his contemporaries as a first-rate literary and musical playwright.

English

Avres Serva by Stradella, Alkaen (2022/2022), CCB Centro Cultural de Belém, Lisbon, Portugal

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