"There are still numerous manuscript copies of his compositions to be found in libraries all over Europe, as testimony to the immense range and effect of his work. In strange contrast to the above we must add that hardly any of these wonderful compositions are available in modern editions. Lotti's sphere of activity was limited almost entirely to the Cathedral of San Marco in Venice. He probably grew up in Hanover (where his father Matteo Lotti was Hofkapellmeister); in Venice, we first find him studying with Giovanni Legrenzi, then as an extra alto in the choir, later as an organist and finally as 'maestro di cappella'. He had only one extended absence from his adopted home: in 1717, he accepted an invitation to the Court at Dresden from the Saxon Elector Friedrich August II and over the following two years he wrote several operas and much new sacred music there. In a report of November 22, 1717, we read:
"'In a manner quite unfamiliar here the Italian composers sent by His Excellency the Elector from Venice to Dresden have exalted our church by preparing in honour of Sain Cecilia within the octave of her feast day a sung High Mass lasting nearly three hours and executed with such admirable artistry both in respect of the singing voices and of the instruments as has never before been heard in Dresden.'
"Unfortunately it can no longer be determined with certainty which works Lotti brought with him to Dresden, which he composed there and which he sent to Dresden after his return to San Marco. Clearly the composer and the Elector remained in contact for some years. Many of these compositions are still in the archives of the Sächsische Landesbibliotek in Dresden. The operatic works 'Alessandro Severo', 'Ascanio', 'Teofane' and 'Giove in Argo' (with which the new Court theatre in the Zwinger was opened on September 3, 1719) are to be found in the library along with a string of important sacred works. Most of them are available in performing parts as well as in full score; some of them were prepared in the 1730s by the Dresden threatre and court composer Giovanni Alberto Ristori. Johann Sebastian Bach copied Lotti's 'Missa sapientiae' when he was in Dresden and joins the company of George Frideric Handel, Jan Dismas Zelenka and Johann Georg Pisendel among those German composers whose work was influenced by the encounter with Lotti and his music.
"The works on this recording are characteristic of Lotti's masterly treatment of diverse forms and compositional techniques. The 'Requiem in F major' is remarkable for its sheer abundance of invention. Artfully extended chordal harmony of laconic brevity; all the varieties of polyphony are tried up to eight-part harmony, and juxtaposed in thrilling contrast. Lotti by no means eschews the operatic gesture (see his six-part 'Rex tremendae majestatis') and touches the heart with his cantabile 'dolcezza' and tenderness in the arias and duets (with particular emphasis in the 'Recordare, Jesu pie' and 'Lacrimosa'). The sonic range of the orchestra is augmented with many new tone colours by imaginative and sometimes idiosyncratic use of the various instruments (e.g. the combination with muted trumpet).
"The 'Miserere in D minor' - performed annually in the cathedral of San Marco in Venice till the end of the 18th century during Lauds on the Thursday morning of Holy Week - shows Lotti's feeling for harmonic modulations of great sweetness and suppleness. It is impressive and instructive to see how the expansive Miserere text is here structured within a larg-scale plan of harmonic architecture and assembled into large units - and some may have thought this first happened with Bruckner!
"With its virtuoso-concertante style, the 'Credo in F major' is not dissimilar to Vivaldi's church music of the same period, even if one cannot entirely escape the impression of the conventional. In the Crucifixus, the heart of this five-section work, Lotti piles up the dissonances that we can only concur with a contemporary account which related that Antonio Lotti's sacred works are of such 'amazing euphony that one cannot say if this should conduce more to lamentation or to holy delight.'" (Thomas Hengelbrock, tr. Janet & Michael Berridge. From the liner notes.)
Performers: Balthasar-Neumann-Ensemble, Balthasar-Neumann-Chor, Thomas Hengelbrock
1. Requiem In F Major: Requiem Aeternam
2. Requiem In F Major: Kyrie Eleison
3. Requiem In F Major: Dies Irae
4. Requiem In F Major: Quantus Tremor
5. Requiem In F Major: Tuba Mirum
6. Requiem In F Major: Mors Stupebit
7. Requiem In F Major: Liber Scriptus
8. Requiem In F Major: Judex Ergo
9. Requiem In F Major: Quid Sum Miser
10. Requiem In F Major: Rex Tremendae
11. Requiem In F Major: Recondare, Jesu Pie
12. Requiem In F Major: Quaerens Me
13. Requiem In F Major: Juste Judex
14. Requiem In F Major: Ingemisco
15. Requiem In F Major: Qui Mariam
16. Requiem In F Major: Preces Meae
17. Requiem In F Major: Inter Oves
18. Requiem In F Major: Confutatis Maledictis
19. Requiem In F Major: Oro Supplex
20. Requiem In F Major: Lacrimosa
21. Requiem In F Major: Judicandus
22. Requiem In F Major: Domine Jesu Christe
23. Requiem In F Major: Hostias Et Preces
24. Requiem In F Major: Quam Olim
25. Miserere Mei Deus
26. Credo: Credo In Unum Deum
27. Credo: Crucifixus
28. Credo: Et Resurrexit. Presto
29. Credo: Sanctus. Allegro
30. Credo: Et Vitam
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