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Antonio Vivaldi (1678-1741)
L'Incoronazione di Dario
Harmonia Mundi
France Musique d'abord 1901235.37 (3 CDs)
Recorded in 1986 at Nice, France
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Vocal
transvestism at work?
Argument
After the death of Ciro, King of the Persians, there are three
candidates for the throne. Dario, Arpago and Oronte. To avoid the
conflict and bloodshed, Dario makes suggestion: the crown
shall go to successful suitor for Statira, the eldest daughter of the
deceased
king. The story has an added complexity since not only the three
suitors,
but also Nicero, her instructor is also in love with her. At the same
time, Statora's cunning sister, Argene is in love with Dario. Finally,
the Median princess Alinda is in love with the one of the suitor,
Oronte. Argene allies with Niceno and try to abandon her naive sister
in the forest for the wild animals. The deceit is finally discovered by
Dario who marries to Statira and her sister is severely punished.
Comment
Complex love triangles get even more complex, as
one can see from the following casting table, three of four female
roles
are sung by male altos and two of the four male roles are sung by
female sopranos. Moreover, one of the soprano, Isabella Poulenard*
sings two different roles, one male and one female. Vocal transvestism at
work? For good measure
to confuse
the listener even more, the 100 page libretto gives no translation, but
only
a synopsis in English, French and German. It is challenging to follow
the story but there are plenty of good music and good singing to enjoy.
Considering the very modest cost of Musique d'abord series, this set is
well
worth for investiment. This performance is given 2.5 stars out of 3 in
Penguin
Guide to Compact Disks 1999.
| Female Roles |
Male Roles |
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Statira
(naiveprincess, oldest daughter of King Ciro)
Gerard
Lesne, counter-tenor
Argene (her younger
sister)
Henri
Ledroit, counter-tenor
Flora
(lady-in-waiting and confidante for two princesses)
Dominique
Visse, counter-tenor
Alinda (princess of
Media, in love with Oronte)
Isabelle
Poulenard*, soprano
|
Dario (future king
of Persia)
John
Elwes, tenor
Arpago (rival of
Dario, desires to marry Statira)
Isabelle
Poulenard*, soprano
Oronte (rival of
Dario, Persian nobility desires to marry Statira)
Agnes
Mellon, soprano
Niceno (Philosopher
and instructor of two princesses)
Michel
Verschaeve, baritone
|
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Benedetto
Marcello (1686-1739)
Estro poetico armonico
Kikko Classic KC019CD
Recorded in 1998 at Milan, Italy
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Switching gender rolls
Soloists
Claire
Brua, contralto
Paola Franco, contralto Simone Bartolini, sopranista www.simonebartolini.it
Background
Marcello was a lawyer and not
a professional musician. He belonged to a group of Venetian nobles who
applied their brilliance
to music. Estro poetico armonico is considered to be his most
important work. As Marcello did not have to please anyone but himself,
he could take a very liberal approach. The contents of this collection
of
50 Psalms are not oratorio, nor cantatas, nor liturgical compositions.
It is a rather free spirited paraphrases that often stray from the
biblical text of the Psalms. They were written by another Venetian
noble,
Giustiniani, in Italian and not in latin with the intention of bringing
them to common people. Marcello used old Jewish melodies in this work,
as he wanted to revive the "true" music of the Ancient World. He didn't
allow any kind of ornaments for the sake of "pure music".
Comment
Apart from the intrinsic uniqueness of the music, even more unique
thing about this CD is that the higher vocal part (soprano) is assigned
to a male sopranista while the lower alto part is sung by a
female contralto. This very curious gender
roll switch occurs in
the Salmo III " O Dio perchè
cotanto è mai cresciuto" although this situation may not
match
the original setting by Marcello.
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