Christoph Willibald Gluck - Iphigénie en Tauride

"Recordings of Gluck's 'Iphigénie en Tauride' run the stylistic gamut. And while, say, the full-blooded, almost Verdian, productions starring Maria Callas in the 1950s would never be confused with the more scholarly efforts from recent years, they are inarguably aspects of the same piece. John Eliot Gardiner's 1985 recording, starring Diana Montague, John Aler, and Thomas Allen, represents an extremely elegant approach - one that keeps an even keel, but which bubbles with an understated dramatic tension, most notably in the orchestra. It certainly represents one valid interpretation of Gluck's reformist ideals, maintaining a uniformity of expression that prevents individual moments from distracting from the overall effect of the piece.

"Gardiner's unique touch is most audible in the orchestra and the ensembles. He brings articulations out of the strings especially that add incredible depth to Gluck's instrumental storytelling, and the women's chorus, here playing priestesses of the goddess Diana, delivers a crystalline, tonally pure performance. As the heroine, Diana Montegue sings clearly and capably, but she surrenders center stage to her more vocally assertive costars. Aler's tightly focused, somewhat throaty tenor is a good match for the role of Pylades, making the most of his more lyrical moments. Thomas Allen makes short work of the tricky-high 'Dieux quit me poursuivez', and then delivers an almost eerily peaceful 'Le calme rentre dans mon coeur' over Gardiner's pulsing strings. Although he sounds more distant than the other singers, he still manages to steal the show.

"If the recording has one persistent flaw, it is the too-distant-by-half focus of the voices, which don't quite cut the way they should. They lack punch. But overall this is a strong choice as a first or primary recording of Iphigénie." (Review by Allen Schrott for AllMusic. See here.)

Performers: Orchestre de l'Opéra de Lyon, Monteverdi Choir, John Eliot Gardiner, Diana Montague, Thomas Allen, John Aler, René Massis, Nancy Argenta, Sophie Boulin, Colette Alliot-Lugaz, Danielle Borst, René Schirrer, Jane Armstrong, Suzanne Flowers, Carol Hall, Lucinda Houghton, Nicola Jenkin, Jean Knibbs, Rachel Platt, Mary Seers

1.1. Acte I, Scène I: 'Grands Dieux! Soyez-nous Secourables'

1.2. Acte I, Scène I: 'Iphigénie, Ô Ciel!'

1.3. Acte I, Scène I: 'Ô Toi Qui Prolongeas Mes Jours'

1.4. Acte I, Scène II: 'Dieux! Le Malheur En Tous Lieux Suit Mes Pas'

1.5. Acte I, Scène III: 'Les Dieux Apaisent Leur Courroux'

1.6. Acte I, Scène IV: Ballet/Scène V: 'Il Nous Fallait Du Sang'

1.7. Acte II, Scène I: 'Quel Silence Effrayant!'

1.8. Acte II, Scène I: 'Dieux Qui Me Poursuivez'

1.9. Acte II, Scène I: 'Unis Dès La Plus Tendre Enfance'

1.10. Acte II, Scène II: 'Etrangers Malheureux'

1.11. Acte II, Scène III: 'Le Calme Rentre Dans Mon Cœur'

1.12. Acte II, Scène IV: 'Vengeons Et La Nature Et Les Dieux'

1.13. Acte II, Scène V: 'Je Vois Toute L’horreur'/Scène VI: 'Patrie Infortunée'

1.14. Acte II, Scène VI: 'Ô Malheureuse Iphigénie!'

1.15. Acte II, Scène VI: 'Honorez Avec Moi Ce Héros'

2.1. Acte III, Scène I: 'Je Cède À Vos Désirs'/Scène II: 'Voici Ces Captifs Malheureux'/Scène III: 'Ô Joie Inattendue!'

2.2. Acte III, Scène IV: 'Je Pourrais Du Tyran Tromper La Barbarie'

2.3. Acte III, Scène IV: 'Et Tu Prétends Encore Que Tu M’aimes'

2.4. Acte III, Scène IV: 'Ah! Mon Ami, J’implore Ta Pitié!'

2.5. Acte III, Scène V: 'Malgré Toi, Je Saurai T'arracher Au Trépas!'/Scène VI: 'Puisque Le Ciel À Vos Jours S'intéresse'

2.6. Acte III, Scène VII: 'Divinité Des Grands Âmes'

2.7. Acte IV, Scène I: 'Non, Cet Affreux Devoir'

2.8. Acte IV, Scène II: 'Ô Diane Sois-nous Propice'

2.9. Acte IV, Scène II: 'Chaste Fille De Latone'

2.10. Acte IV, Scène II: 'Quel Moment! Dieux Puissants'/Scène III: 'Tremblez! Tremblez!'

2.11. Acte IV, Scène IV: 'De Tes Forfaits La Trame Est Découverte'/Scène V: 'C'est À Toi De Mourir!'/Scène VI: 'Arrêtez! Écoutez Mes Décrets Éternels'

2.12. Acte IV, Scène VII: 'Ta Sœur! Qu’ai-je Entendu?'

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Christoph Willibald Gluck - Orpheo ed Euridice

"The myth of Orpheus and Eurydice is woven in to the history of opera. Its story of the power of love and music over the inevitability of death inspired the earliest operatic experiments in the late 16th century, and produced the genre's first masterpiece, Monteverid's 'Orfeo' of 1607. It has recurred in further musical versions by Luigi Rossi, Charpentier, Haydn, Krenek, Birtwistle and others. Each operatic version reveals something of the ideals and aesthetics of its composer's period: some culminating in tragedy, others with a happy ending; some focus on one character rather than another; some have only three principal roles, while others feature more than a dozen.

"Gluck's 'Orfeo' came about thanks to a happy meeting of artistic collaborators in Vienna in the early 1760s. Count Giacomo Durazzo, the impresario of the city's Burgtheater, had a mind to modernise 'opera seria': this was the conventional style of operas by composers such as Handel, Vivaldi and Pergolesi, dictated to a great extent by the librettos written by Metastasio, using a formulaic pattern of recitative interspersed the 'da capo' arias. Durazzo's plan involved reconciling the schools of Italian and French music. The heavy French influence on Gluck's 'Orfeo' shows; Gluck is in many ways the successor to Lully and Rameau.

"Durazzo had in 1760 already brought together several artists sympathetic to his reformist ideas: besides the composer Gluck there was the choreographer Gasparo Angiolini, the set designer Giovanni Maria Quaglio and the writer Ranieri de' Calzabigi. Together they created 'Don Juan', a 'balletpantomime' notable for its dramatic coherence and its revival of what was believed to be 'le goût des Anciens'.

"Opera had always sought to revive the art of the ancients - this had been the stimulus behind the earliest experiments in the genre around 1600. But now, after excavations of the ruins of the cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum had begun in earnest during the 1730s and 1740s, the resurgence of interest in the classical world had a different slant. The archaeologist Johann Joachim Winckelmann, a contemporary of Gluck, published his 'Thoughts on the Imitation of Greek Works' in 1755: 'the one way for us to become great, perhaps inimitable, is by imitating the ancients'. Gluck similarly sought to return to ancient, uncorrupted ways, rescuing 'opera seria' from 'abuses [...] which have too long disfigured Italian opera'. In fact, the phrase Winckelmann had used to describe the ideals he deemed worth imitating in Greek art - 'a noble simplicity and a calm grandeur' - became a motto for the age, and was paraphrased by Gluck in his writings on music. It is perhaps our key to understanding a piece such as 'Orfeo ed Euridice'.

"The artistic team behind the new 'Orfeo' was armed in various ways for the task of reforming opera: the librettist Calzabigi was an expert on the works of Metastasio, having produced a complete edition of his libretti during the 1750s, but viewed the older man's work with a critical eye and saw how it could be adapted using knowledge of French operatic style. Gluck's music reflects this: the opera combines arias, duets, dances and numerous chorus numbers in a way that is infinitely more fluid than the strict pattern of alternating 'secco' (unaccompanied) recitatives and arias that prevailed in 'opera seria'. And a significant addition to the team was the castrato singer Gaetano Guadagni - the 'primo uomo' of operas and oratorios by Handel and others. His interpretation of the role of Orfeo was informed by the training he received in London from the celebrated Shakespearean actor David Garrick, who promoted realistic acting, rather than the bombastic style which dominated the stage in the first half of the 18th century. Together with the new, narrative choreography of Angiolini (perhaps influence by his French contemporary Noverre) and the set designs of Quaglio, the creative team was to set new standards for musical drama.

"After a buoyant overture, we are plunged into a scene of lamentation at the death of Euridice; this opening scene is reminiscent of the scene of mourning which opens Rameau's 'Castor et Pollux', one of the most popular operas in France at the time. The sound of the cornett (frequently used in Viennese churches during the 18th century) is a coincidental reminder of the instruments that had accompanied Monteverdi's 'Orfeo' 150 years before.

"Above the chorus, Orfeo can be heard crying out the single word 'Euridice', in an arresting departure from the formal utterances of Italian 'opera seria'. This is followed by a recitative, but this too is surprising: the Italian text is accompanied by the orchestra, not just the customary harpsichord continuo. Orfeo's first aria, 'Chiamo il mio ben così', is not the traditional 'da capo' aria of 'opera seria' but a 'rondeau' - a form, used throughout the opera, that alternates lyrical refrains with section of more direct dramatic expression.

"The aria culminates in a dramatic recitative 'Numi! Barbari Numi!' as Orfeo vows to rescue his bride from the underworld. He is interrupted by a character familiar from almost every French opera of the period: Amore, or Cupid, who offers to help our hero in a coquettish triple-time aria, 'Gli sguardi trattieni'.

"Act II opens with a dance and chorus for furies and spectres in the underworld. Their threatening chanting is juxtaposed magically with the sound of the harp, evoking Orfeo's lyre. Again, Gluck is attempting dramatic and structural devices utterly foreign to 'opera seria'. Just as the opera's opening chorus had been punctuated by Orfeo's dramatic cries of 'Euridice', so here Orfeo's plaintive pleas for leniency are interrupted by violent 'No's' from the chorus as they refuse to cooperate.

"Finally, however, the gentle plucking of the harp makes the furies relent, and by the second scene of Act II, Orfeo has been admitted to the Elysian fields, where he finds himself surrounded by a dancing 'chorus of heroes and heroines'; one can imagine Angiolini's new style of dramatically expressive choreography set in Quaglio's Arcadian stage designs.

"The chorus finally ushers in Euridice, ready to be led back to the world above. In Gluck's characterisation, Euridice reveals a far more feisty personality than in Monteverdi's opera. Indeed, Cupid's injunction that Orfeo may neither look at his wife nor explain to her the reason why he may not, leady to a fully-fledged lover's tiff. During a vigorious duet ('Vieni, appaga il tuo consorte'), Euridice exclaims to Orfeo that she would rather stay dead, than live with her apparently unfeeling husband. Her aria which follows ('Che fiero momento') is one of rage.

"The tension mounts in the succeeding recitative to the story's climax - the moment where Orfeo turns to look at Euridice. Unlike Monteverdi's version, where Orfeo acts on romantic impulse alone, Gluck's protagonist here is responding to something deeper, more empathetic: a desire to assuage his lover's insecurities, even if it means he will lose her once more. Monteverdi's Orfeo had been condemned by the chorus for his weakness. In contrast, Gluck's Ordeo responds to his wife's bewilderment with strength of character and stoic resolution: it is, in fact, an act of noble self-sacrifice typical of Metastasian 'opera seria'.

"Orfeo's famous aria, 'Che farò senza Euridice', is perhaps the epitome of the 'bella semplicità' (beautiful simplicity) advocated by Gluck and Calzabigi. Here, there are no Metastasian similes, no extravagant roulades, and no opportunities for wild cadenzas by the soloist. Instead, Gluck employed the simple 'rondeau' form, and the purity of diatonic C major.

"Orfeo is saved from suicide by Amore, who rewards him for his devotion by reuniting him with Euridice (understandably bewildered to find herself alive for a third time). The shepherds and shepherdesses who had lamented at the very start now return, dancing and singing in praise of Love. This 'deus ex machina' happy ending would have been expected by Gluck's 18th century audience, who would otherwise by disturbed by the moral implications of undeserved suffering: a divergence from classical tragedy, which had no qualms about horrifically tragic endings.

"Ironically enough, the archaeologist Winckelmann's admiration of the white purity of classical sculpture was a fallacy: we now know that the Arthenian Parthenon would have been covered in colourful paint. Similarly, Gluck's and Calzabigi's vision of the antique world was inescapably a product of the beliefs and constraints of their own time.

"The dramatic and musical innovations in 'Orfeo ed Euridice' had powerful repurcussions: before the end of the 18th century, it had been seen all over Europe, from St. Petersburg to Dublin. Gluck capitalised on the work's French features by making a French-language version for Paris in 1774.

"The opera made a first appearnace in London as early as 1770, featuring once more Guadagni in the title role; but this production proved to be the first of numerous bowdlerisations of the piece: extra music by other composers was added; and over the years new characters were introduced, choruses were cut and in 1792 a version was performed at the Theatre Royal, Coven Garden, where virtually the only part of the original score that survived - amid music by Handel, Bach and Sacchini - was Orpheus's famous 'Che farò'.

"This recording is almost completely true to the original 1762 performance. Only one addition has been made: an exquisite evocation of the Elysian Fields taken from Gluck's Paris version, for solo flute and strings." (James Halliday. From the liner notes.)

Performers: La Nuova Musica, David Bates, Iestyn Davies, Sophie Bevan, Rebeca Bottone

1. Ouverture

2. Atto I, Scena I: 'Ah! Se Intorno A Quest'urna Funesta'

3. Atto I, Scena I: 'Basta, Basta, O Compagni'

4. Atto I, Scena I: Ballo. Larghetto

5. Atto I, Scena I: 'Ah! Se Intorno A Quest'urna Funesta'

6. Atto I, Scena I: 'Chiamo Il Mio Ben Così'

7. Atto I, Scena I: 'Euridice! Ombra Cara, Ove Sei?'

8. Atto I, Scena I: 'Cerco Il Mio Ben Così'

9. Atto I, Scena I: 'Euridice! Ah, Questo Nome San Le Spiagge'

10. Atto I, Scena I: 'Piango Il Mio Ben Così'

11. Atto I, Scena I: 'Numi! Barbari Numi!'

12. Atto I, Scena II: 'T'assiste Amore'

13. Atto I, Scena II: 'Gli Sguardi Trattieni'

14. Atto I, Scena II: 'Che Disse! Che Ascoltai!'

15. Atto I, Scena II: Presto

16. Atto II, Scena I: Ballo

17. Atto II, Scena I: 'Chi Mai Dell'Erebo'

18. Atto II, Scena I: Ballo

19. Atto II, Scena I: 'Chi Mai Dell'Erebo'

20. Atto II, Scena I: Ballo

21. Atto II, Scena I: 'Deh! Placatevi Con Me'

22. Atto II, Scena I: 'Misero Giovine!'

23. Atto II, Scena I: 'Mille Pene, Ombre Moleste'

24. Atto II, Scena I: 'Ah, Quale Incognito Affetto Flebile'

25. Atto II, Scena I: 'Men Tiranne, Ah! Voi Sareste'

26. Atto II, Scena I: 'Ah, Quale Incognito Affetto Flebile'

27. Atto II, Scena II: Ballo

28. Atto II, Scena II: Ballo

29. Atto II, Scena II: 'Che Puro Ciel'

30. Atto II, Scena II: 'Vieni A' Regni Del Riposo'

31. Atto II, Scena II: Ballo

32. Atto II, Scena II: 'Anime Avventurose'

33. Atto II, Scena II: 'Viene Euridice'

34. Atto III, Scena I: 'Vieni, Segui I Miei Passi'

35. Atto III, Scena I: 'Ma Vieni E Taci!'

36. Atto III, Scena I: 'Qual Vita È Questa Mai'

37. Atto III, Scena I: 'Che Fiero Momento!'

38. Atto III, Scena I: 'Ecco Un Nuovo Tormento!'

39. Atto III, Scena I: 'Ahimè! Dove Trascorsi!'

40. Atto III, Scena I: 'Che Farò Senza Euridice!'

41. Atto III, Scena I: 'Ma Finisca, E Per Sempre, Co' La Vita Il Dolor!'

42. Atto III, Scena II: 'Orfeo! Che Fai?'

43. Atto III, Scena III: 'Ballo-Trionfi Amore, E Il Mondo Intero Serva All'impero Della Beltà'

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Giovanni Legrenzi - Missa Opus 1; Sonata da Chiesa

"Giovanni Legrenzi (1626-1690) belonged to a generation that came between the early Baroque composers, such as Claudio Monteverdi, and the great masters of the eighteenth century, including Johann Sebastian Bach and Antonio Vivaldi.

"Most of his career was spent in Bergamo and in Venice, where he held several positions at the city's 'ospedale', before becoming 'maestro di cappella' of St. Mark's in 1685. Through his works, but also through his pupils, he had a profound influence on late seventeenth-century musical life.

"'How did Legrenzi come to your notice?'

"Olivier Opdebeeck: 'As is always the case in the field of musicology, chance and intuition both took a hand. On a field trip to Venice, I was looking chiefly for works by one of my favourite composer, Antonio Lotti. Legrenzi being alphabetically close to Lotti in the catalogue, I happened to look him up too... I discovered a work entitled 'In Nativitate Domini', which existed only in separate parts. When I got back to Paris, I found several of the composer's works in the Bibliothèque Sainte-Geneviève and the Bibliothèque Nationale. Legrenzi barely exists in the record catalogues. That seemed to me unfair, and I felt it had to be put right.'

"'Can we regard Legrenzi as a Venetian composer?'

"'Although he was not born in Venice, Legrenzi is in the tradition of the great Venetian composers who came before him, Monteverdi, Rovetta, Grandi and Cavalli. He probably studied with Monteverdi or Rovetta, who was then 'vice-maestro di cappella' of St. Mark's. Like every self-respecting Venetian composer, Legrenzi distinguished himself not only in religious works, but also in opera. It would be interesting to revive his great dramatic works. Finally, after a long and fruitful career in various prominent positions in the city, Legrenzi spent the last years of his life in the supreme office for a Venetian musician, that of 'maestro di cappella' of St. Marks.'

"'What is his place in the history of music?'

"'Legrenzi is the 'missing link' between Monteverdi and Vivaldi. From the former he learned to be concise, and also how to blend the voices and the instruments, and create a balance between music and liturgy. To the latter, who may have studied with him when he was very young, he passed on his taste of musical instruments, and particularly for violins. Legrenzi increased the number of instrumentalists at St. Mark's considerable - in 1687 there were thirty-four!'

"'How would you describe his Mass Opus 1?'

"'It was his first publication, so Legrenzi wanted to show just how far his talent went. His Mass is amazingly strong in its structure and diverse in its moods, and many of the elements he used in it were to be taken up later. The violins are given transitional ritornellos between the 'Kyrie' and the 'Christie', which was something very new at the time. The soloists also stand out more clearly from the ensembles. Finally, the composer also knows how to handle major forms such as fugue (second 'Kyrie'). And in the division of the movements, he anticipates the great composers of the eighteenth century.'

"'What sources did you have?'

"'Our main soruce was of course the edition that was published in 1654 in Venice. It is in separate books, as was often the case at the time. So we had to bring them together to create a full score. We then compared that score to two manuscript sources which contain many small difference in rhythm and in the accidentals. Publishers did not necessarily pay much attention to accurace in the seventeenth century, and we had to choose the variants according to the coherence of the voices. This fascinating work was carried out, first of all, at the table, then in practice with all the musicians.'

"'And what about his instrumental music?'

"'Legrenzi appears to have been the inventor of the trio sonata - two violins and a cello with 'basso continuo' - a genre that had a bright future ahead of it in Italy, then in the rest of Europe. Each movement is very clearly characterised: one could amost place a 'subtext' beneath each one! The three instruments are on an equal footing. It really is a trio, even though the 'continuo' occasionally joins the cello.

"'What is so original about this programme?'

"'Legrenzi's 'Opus 1' groups together a certain number of liturgical works. First of all a 'Mass' in three movements, 'Kyrie', 'Gloria' and 'Credo' (the 'Sanctus' and the 'Agnus Dei' were quite often ommitted in Venetian masses). To that we have added two 'Sonatas', played at the 'Gradual' and the 'Offertory'. A 'Motet' is performed at 'Communion'. For the work to be complete, we must record the 'Vespers', which come at the end of the opus: that will be the subject of the second volume.'" (Olivier Opdebeeck. From the liner notes.)

Performers: Ensemble Olivier Opdebeeck, Cori Spezzati, Oliver Opdebeeck

1. Missa Opus I: Kyrie

2. Missa Opus I: Ritornello

3. Missa Opus I: Christe

4. Missa Opus I: Ritornello

5. Missa Opus I: Kyrie

6. Missa Opus I: Gloria

7. Missa Opus I: Domine Deus, Rex Caelestis

8. Missa Opus I: Domine Fili

9. Missa Opus I: Dominus Deus, Agnus Dei

10. Missa Opus I: Qui Tollis

11. Missa Opus I: Qui Sedes

12. Missa Opus I: Quoniam Tu Solus

13. Sonata 'La Tassa'

14. Missa Opus I: Credo

15. Missa Opus I: Crucifuxus

16. Missa Opus I: Et Resurrexit

17. Missa Opus I: Et In Spiritum

18. Sonata 'La Benaglia'

19. Missa Opus I: In Laudem Sanctae Crucis. Adoramus Te

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André Grétry; Jean-Jacques Rousseau - Richard Cœur de Lion; Le Devin du Village

"At the time when 'Richard Cœur de Lion' was first performed, at the Comédie Italienne on 21 October 1784, its composer, André-Modeste Grétry, was one of the favourites of the French stage, and a master of opéra-comique, a genre which at the end of the eighteenth century was experiencing an unequalled expansion. Believe it or not, this extremely popular entertainment, liked by all levels of society, was only eighty years old. The vaudevilles and comedies interspersed with songs which for a time made the trestle-theatres so popular, flouring at Saint Germain and Sain Laurent, the most important fairs in the capital, had long had their days, as had the parodies and pastiches of grand opera. One constraint remained, and would persist throughout the following century, before being set aside: that of alternating spoken dialogue and sung couplets, the Académie Royale de Musique (otherwise known as the Opéra) reserving itself the privilege of putting on works which were entirely sung. But as to the choice of subject, imagination was the order of the day. François-André Philidor and Pierre Alexandre Monsigny had led the way: Grétry was to be their worthy successor.

"In 1768, for the two-act 'Le Huron', he had found a note collaborator in the person of Jean-François Marmontel; with 'Zémire et Azore' in 1771, they turned success into triumph. They had a fruitful collaboration up until 'La fausse Magie' (1775). But for 'Le Magnifique', in 1773, another writer lent his words to the composer's music: Michel-Jean Sedaine (1719-1797). It was to his librettos that Grétry composed some of his most ambitious works, 'Richard Cœur de Lion' (1784), which is always cited if never heard, together with 'Raoul Barbe-bleue' (1789) and 'Guillaume Tell' (1791). The comedy sung couplets and the 'opéra-comique' were Sedaine's chosen ground, to the extent that his career as a playwright would always suffer. Back in 1756, for 'Le Diable à quatre ou la double métamorphose', he had partnered Philidor, with whom he worked again three years later on 'Blaise le savetier'. He teamed up with Monsigny for 'On ne s'avise jamais de tout' (1761). In 'Le Paradoxe sur le comédien', Diderot wonders: 'Without wishing to prefer Sedaine over Voltaire or Voltaire over Sedaine, could you tell me what would have come out of the head of the author of 'Le Philosophe sans le savoir, Le Déserteur' and 'Paris' if, instead of spending thirty-five years of his life mixing plaster and cutting stone, he had used all that time, like Voltaire, or you and me, reading and thinking about Homer, Virgil, Tasso and so on? We should never have had his vision of things, and he would never have learned to speak like us. I regard him as a great-nephew of Shakespeare.' As for Voltaire, he was only too glad to send him a most affable letter: 'I was very sick when I received the two plays you were good enough to send me; they made me forget all my ills. I know no-one who understands the theatre better than you and who allows his actors to speak more naturally.'

"Under Sedaine's hand, 'opéra-comique' changes its tone, deserting the fairy tale and approaching bourgeois drama and sentimental comedy of the kind exemplified also by Diderot; the world of the imaginary became that of sentiment, and not only was music to appeal to the spirit, it was to speak directly to the heart, just as a picture by Greuze can - it should not be forgotten that Sedaine's and Monsigny's 'Le Déserteur' made a whole generation weep. 'Richard Cœur de Lion' is innovative in more than one way. Considered as the ancestor of French historical opera, it is also the first musical stage-work to go over to that troubadour style which would be so dear to the early romantics: it evokes a fantasy-Middle Ages by means of romantic adventures, but starting out from the true story of one of the period's most significant figures, and moreover a King of England (there are traces of the captivity of Richard Cœur de Lion on his way home from the crusades in the various avatars of 'Robin Hood', as well as in Walter Scott's 'Ivanhoe'). The sovereign's deliverance may be said to adumbrate the 'rescue' genre, highly esteemed during the Revolution. Librettist and composer here effect a kind of skilful synthesis of various tendencies, under the banner of sentiment, simplicity and naturalness. Sedaine is certainly not a first-class stylist, but he knows how to manage a plot, and also how to delineate a character - a quality all the more praiseworth since those in 'Richard Cœur de Lion' embrace the most disparate levels of society, from the nobility to the peasantry, as well as Blondel, the faithful squire and the real hero of the piece, who as a poet is classless.

"Grétry's score easily matches this variety of inspiration, by turns amiable, touching, lively and amusing To those who would reproach him for not being learned enough, the composer, in his 'Mémoires', which he started to compile soon after he completed 'Richard', vouchsafed the secret of his aesthetic: 'The misuse of learning is more dangerous in relation to music than to any other art... We will dare to say that there are still far too many of those would-be 'savants' in music who must have harmonic transitions at all costs, without stopping to think whether they are justified by the sense of the words... Learning can have only one definition, that is, the study of nature; as soon as it departs from that, we say boldly that this learning is an abuse'. Incidentally, Lauretta's aria 'Je crains de lui parler la nuit' has, by adoption, taken on a life of its own: it is in fact the song with which the Countess in Tchaikovsky's 'The Queen of Spades' recalls the happy days of her past.

"That is something which would have pleased Jean-Jacques Rousseau, who was a great admirer of Grétry. To be honest, although he fancied himself as a composer, the apostle of the return to nature is far from having left to prosterity any imperishable masterpieces in the sphere of music. He was a theoretician and above all a polemicist. In his 'Letter on French music' of 1753, he is scathing: 'I think I have shown that French music has neither rhythm nor melody, because the language does not take to it; that French singing is just a continual howling, which is unbearable to any ear not accustomed to it; that its harmony is crass, without expression, and above all a mere schoolboy's exercise...'. A fierce champion of the Italians in the 'Querelle des Bouffons', he was to change sides twenty-five years later, taking Gluck's part against Piccinni. First performed at the court of Fontainebleau on 18 October 1752 by such famous artists as Marie Fel, the tenor Pierre Jelyotte and the baritone Cuvillier, his 'Le Devin du village' (The Village Soothsayer) is a brightly coloured trifle. Louis XV, who was fond of it, apparently sang its opening aria 'with the most out-of-tune voice in the kingdom'. In 1768, Mozart used the same libretto, in German, for 'Bastien and Bastienne'; at the age of twelve he outdid his predecessor, whose delicate little one-acter was unable to free itself of the out-of-date graces of the 'Ancien Régime'." (Michel Parouty, tr. Hugh Graham. From the liner notes.)

Performers: Orchestre de Chambre de la RTB, Edgard Doneux, Mady Mesplé, Charles Burles, Michel Trempont, Orchestre de Chambre Louis de Froment, Louis de Froment, Janine Micheau, Nicolai Gedda, Michel Roux

1.1. Richard Cœur De Lion, Acte I: Overture/'Chantons, Chantons, Célébrons Ce Bon Ménage'

1.2. Richard Cœur De Lion, Acte I: 'Antonio, Qu'entends-je?'

1.3. Richard Cœur De Lion, Acte I: 'La Danse N'est Pas Ce Que J'aime'

1.4. Richard Cœur De Lion, Acte I: 'Va, Mon Fils... Oui, Voilà Des Tours'

1.5. Richard Cœur De Lion, Acte I: 'O Richard, Ô Mon Roi!'

1.6. Richard Cœur De Lion, Acte I: 'Quoi! De La Part Du Gouverneur?'

1.7. Richard Cœur De Lion, Acte I: 'Rentrez Dans La Maison'

1.8. Richard Cœur De Lion, Acte I: 'Je Crains De Lui Parler La Nuit'

1.9. Richard Cœur De Lion, Acte I: 'Vous L'aimez Donc Bien, Belle Laurette?'

1.10. Richard Cœur De Lion, Acte I: 'Un Bandeau Couvre Les Yeux'

1.11. Richard Cœur De Lion, Acte I: 'Ah! Voici Je Ne Sais Combien De Personnes'

1.12. Richard Cœur De Lion, Acte I: 'Que Le Sultan Saladin Rassemble'

1.13. Richard Cœur De Lion, Acte II: 'Ronde De Nuit'

1.14. Richard Cœur De Lion, Acte II: 'L'aurore Va Se Lever'

1.15. Richard Cœur De Lion, Acte II: 'Si L'univers Entier M'oublie'

1.16. Richard Cœur De Lion, Acte II: 'Mon Garçon, J'aime Á Respirer'

1.17. Richard Cœur De Lion, Acte II: 'Une Fièvre Brûlante'

1.18. Richard Cœur De Lion, Acte II: 'Sais-tu, Connais-tu, Qui Peut T'avoir Répondu?'

1.19. Richard Cœur De Lion, Acte II: 'Voici Monsieur Le Gouverneur'

1.20. Richard Cœur De Lion, Acte II: 'Ah! Monseigneur!'

1.21. Richard Cœur De Lion, Acte III: 'Il Faut Que Je Lui Parle'

1.22. Richard Cœur De Lion, Acte III: 'Sire Williams'

1.23. Richard Cœur De Lion, Acte III: 'Oui, Chevaliers'

1.24. Richard Cœur De Lion, Acte III: 'Ah! Chevaliers'

1.25. Richard Cœur De Lion, Acte III: 'Le Gouverneur, Pendant La Danse'

1.26. Richard Cœur De Lion, Acte III: 'Et Zic Et Zic Et Zic'

1.27. Richard Cœur De Lion, Acte III: Danses

1.28. Richard Cœur De Lion, Acte III: 'Que Richard À L'instant'

1.29. Richard Cœur De Lion, Acte III: Marche

1.30. Richard Cœur De Lion, Acte III: 'O Ma Chère Comtesse'

2.1. Le Devin Du Village: Ouverture

2.2. Le Devin Du Village: 'J'ai Perdu Tout Mon Bonheur'

2.3. Le Devin Du Village: 'Elle Compte Dans Sa Main'

2.4. Le Devin Du Village: 'Perdrai-je Colin Sans Retour?'

2.5. Le Devin Du Village: 'Si Des Galants'

2.6. Le Devin Du Village: 'Je Vous Rendrai Le Sien'

2.7. Le Devin Du Village: 'L'amour Croit Qu'il S'inquiète'

2.8. Le Devin Du Village: 'J'ai Tout Su De Colin'

2.9. Le Devin Du Village: 'L'amour Et Vos Leçons'

2.10. Le Devin Du Village: 'Non, Non, Colette N'est Pas Trompeuse'

2.11. Le Devin Du Village: 'Ce N'est Point Un Berger'

2.12. Le Devin Du Village: 'Je Vais Revoir Ma Charmante Maîtresse'

2.13. Le Devin Du Village: 'Je L'aperçois'

2.14. Le Devin Du Village: 'Ma Collette, Êtes-vous Fâchée'

2.15. Le Devin Du Village: 'Ta Foi M'est Point Ravie'

2.16. Le Devin Du Village: 'Hélas!'

2.17. Le Devin Du Village: 'Tant Qu'à Mon Colin'

2.18. Le Devin Du Village: 'A Jamais, Colin'

2.19. Le Devin Du Village: 'Je Vous Ai Délivres'

2.20. Le Devin Du Village: 'Colin Revient À La Bergère'

2.21. Le Devin Du Village: 'Dans Ma Cabane Obscure'

2.22. Le Devin Du Village: Pantomime

2.23. Le Devin Du Village: 'Il Faut Tous'

2.24. Le Devin Du Village: 'Quand On Sait Bien Aimer, Que La Vie Est Charmante'

2.25. Le Devin Du Village: 'Allons Danser'

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Carl Ditters von Dittersdorf - String Quartets

"'Fame is a fickle thing; it can burst out like a shooting star and fade away just as quickly. Most composers have enjoyed their moment of fame, but for Karl Ditters von Dittersdorf, his was a long and glorious moment indeed. In his hey-day, Dittersdorf's career even overshadowed Franz Joseph Haydn and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. His music was 'that will live on forever' [...] but it seems that history has seen to it that this was proven a false prophecy, and the music of Haydn and Mozart probably hammered in the nails that sealed Dittersdorf's coffin.' (Joshua Lilly)

"'I know for a fact that my name and works are famous all over Europe, so I hope I have given pleasure to half a million people in this well-populated part of the world. If only each of these people were to give one penny 'in omni et toto' to me - or rather to my family, since it would be of little use to me now - it would represent a tiny oulay for the giver, but what a huge difference it would make for the bereft, disconsolate family of a man who, like the one in the parable, did not bury his talent in the ground!'

"It is certainly tru that Vienna-born Karl Dittersdorf (1739-1799) did not bury his talent: he produced four oratorios, various masses, some fifty stage works, as well as symphonies, concertos and chamber music. He did what he could to develop his talents and to become accepted in society. As one of the outstanding violin virtuosos of his generation he travelled widely, and as a highly respected composer for the stage he was invited to many of the great opera houses. His singspiel 'Doktor un Apotheker' (Doctor and Apothecary) was even more famous in his day that Mozart's 'Marriage of Figaro'. Yet, as befalls so many of those who are swept aloft on waves of applause, the end of his life brought total insignificance and the painful realisation that he was already forgotten in his own lifetime. That same world in which admiration once held sway continued to turn, and had spun away in a different direction. Nevertheless, Kart Dittersdorf, not yet sixty but already almost crippled by gout, worked away doggedly at a late composition, a set of several new pieces. He announced it for subscription in specialist journals, only to be disappointed: not a single buyer came forward for any of the pieces. Out of kindness of heart a prince took pity on him and his family and gave them a home.

"Instead of resigning himself to his fate, he dictated an autobiography to his son. This is a remarkable document in many respects. It is a rich source of information on life at small Central European courts, such as Grosswardein and Johannisberg, where Dittersdorf spent much of his career. One learns, for instance, that a prince bishop had so little to do that he could afford to spend a week translating a cantata text from Italian into Latin for the astonishing reason that oridnary gentlemen and ladies, the musical amateurs who formed the greater part of the operatic ensemble at small courts of this kind, knew no Italian but were fluent in Latin.

"The autobiography is remarkable also because Dittersdorf's account of his life is straightforward and honest, unembellished, at times bitter, and usually spiced with apt touches of irony. His time was one of wars that altered the political landscape, shifting power structures, plots and intrigues at the courts of princes and emperor, long journeys that took a toll on health, poor standards of hygeine, a lack of social security provision; but on the other hand it was a time when drama and orchestral music flourished even in the smallest towns; a time when the world seemed stable and untroubled by doubt. There was dignity and social etiquette (though also hypocrisy). In Vienna Haydn, Mozart, Vanhal and Dittersdorf met to play string quartets together for their own pleasure, occasionally joined by Paisiello, and there were times when the musical director at a princely court might also be called upon to fill the role of chief forester. They were times no less strange than our own.

"Dittersdorf was ennobled in 1773, an honour that cost him, as he ruefully recalls, 1100 gulden, of which 50 ducats went to an agent, Herr von Hoffmann, evidently an intermediary in these matters, although the prince did present him with 400 gulden. Dittersdorf is remembered today chiefly as a composer for the double-bass - which is absurd to start with. Many of his works are thoroughly original, but others are not. He never saw himself as a genius but as a person who strove to do the best he could in order to build a career for himself and become a respected member of society. No romanticism in this. And this explains why people nowadays would rather listen to Mozart work that is not entirely original than to an original one by Dittersdorf - yet amongst the potboilers there a handful of highly original works.

"As always, our contacts with historical figures tell us more about ourselves than about them. We are fortunate enough to have the wherewithal to introduce music from totally different historical contexts into our daily listening and thus to acquire a taste for music of all periods; this gives us the notion that we stand higher, see further, and understand better and more than preceding generations. This notion may not even be a mistaken one. But the Dittersdorfs alive today in our town, in our own country, in our own days, may die just as miserable and unregarded a death as Dittersdorf himself a couple of centuries ago. That's life.

"One thing emerges from Dittersdorf's life and autobiography: then as nowadays, the overriding concern was getting enough money to achieve a certain standard of living, and the romantic ideas that have always hovered the (dead) composer are nonsense. Dittersdorf the composer was pleased when an orchestral movement turned out particularly well, and he was pleased when a prince requested him to perform his piece.s The same was doubtless true of Mozart. But one must be allowed to ask this question: what else were they supposed to do to survive?

"'Laden with honour and money I arrived back in Johannisberg and was welcomed with happy smiles by my family and with friendly but quzzical looks by my creditors.' Thus wrote Dittersdorf. He is worth reading and listening to. He was one of the most entertaining composers and men." (Andreas Daams, tr. Celia Skrine. From the liner notes.)

Performers: Sharon Quartet

1. String Quartet No. 1 In D Major: I. Moderato

2. String Quartet No. 1 In D Major: II. Menuetto

3. String Quartet No. 1 In D Major: III. Finale. Allegro

4. String Quartet No. 3 In G Major: I. Moderato

5. String Quartet No. 3 In G Major: II. Menuetto. Moderato

6. String Quartet No. 3 In G Major: III. Finale. Presto

7. String Quartet No. 4 In C Major: I. Allegro

8. String Quartet No. 4 In C Major: II. Menuetto. Allegro

9. String Quartet No. 4 In C Major: III. Andante

10. String Quartet No. 5 In E-Flat Major: I. Allegro

11. String Quartet No. 5 In E-Flat Major: II. Menuetto

12. String Quartet No. 5 In E-Flat Major: III. Finale. Allegro

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Carl Ditters von Dittersdorf - Sinfonias on Ovid's Metamorphoses Nos. 1-3

"In the autobiography dedicated to his son Carl Ditters gives a brief account of his parentage. He was born in Vienna in 1739, the son of a costume-maker employed at the court theatre under Charles the Sixth, a man who also served as a first lieutenant in the citizen's artillery and took part in the war that followed the death of that ruler. He had a good general education and in 1751 joined the musical establishment of the Prince of Sachsen-Hildeburghausen, where he was able to undertake a more concentrated study of music, with composition lessons from Giuseppe Bonno. The Prince left Vienan in 1761 and disbanded his musical establishment, finding a position for Ditters and some of his colleagues under Count Durazzo in the court opera and orchestra. This brought a close acquaintance with dramatic music, not least through Gluck, with whom he traveled to Italy in 1763, making an impression himself as a violinist and meeting Italian musicians of distinction, including Padre Martini and the castrato Farinelli.

"In 1764 Count Durazzo resigned his position, compelled to do so by the hostile intrigues of Reutter and others associated with the court, and was appointed ambassador to Venice, a position he held for some twenty years. Ditters found difficulty in working under Durazzo's successor and resigned in order to take up an appointment as Kapellmeister to the Bishop of Grosswardein, where he succeeded Michael Haydn, younger brother of Joseph Haydn. When the musical establishment was disbanded in 1769, he found employment as Kapellmeister to the Prince-Bishop of Breslau, Count Schaffgotsch, at Johannisberg, coupling this position with that of Forstmeister (forestry superindendent) in the Neisse region. In 1773 he was ennobled by the Empress, taking the additional title of von Dittersdorf. This enabled him to become Amtshauptmann, chief official, of Freiwaldau, retaining this position and his work at Johannisberg in spite of an apparent suggestion that he become court composer in Vienna, in succession to Gassmann, who had died in 1774. The war of the Bavarian succession brought difficulties for his patron and consequently for Dittersdorf, who spent the years after the Prince-Bishop's death in 1795 in retirement. He had been able, in 1793, to provide a series of Singspiel for Friedrich-August of Brunswick-Öls, continuing a form of composition in which he had long been distinguished, but which were now impossible at Johannisberg. He died in 1799 at Neuhof in Bohemia, where he had settled at the invitation of Baron Ignaz von Stillfried.

"Dittersdorf was prolific as a composer, winning a reputation for his dramatic works, notable in the form of Singspiel, and his instrumental music, the later including some 120 symphonies, a series of concertos and a quantity of chamber music. His vocal and choral music included four successful oratorios. The Irish tenor Michael Kelly, the first Don Basilio in Mozart's 'Le nozza di Figaro', reports having heard Dittersdorf in a quartet at the house of his friend Stephen Storace, with Haydn playing first violin, Dittersdorf second, Mozart viola and the composer Vanhal cello. Dittersdorf as a respected figure in the musical circles of the time, welcomed and engaged in conversation by the Emperor himself, as he recounted to his son.

"Six of the twelve 'Symphonies after the Metamorphoses of Ovid' survive in their original form. These were written in 1783 and introduced to the public in Vienna three years later, when Dittersdorf had occasion to visit the city for the first performance of his oratorio 'Giobbe' (Job). He related in his autobiography how, by special permission of the Emperor, he had arranged to have six of the symphonies performed in the Augarten, an event for which Baron van Swieten, arbiter of musical taste at court and patron of Mozart and Haydn, had taken a hundred tickets. Bad weather led him to try to postpone the concert, but difficulties arose when he sought permission from the police, since a new decision of the cabinet was needed for any such change of plan. Dittersdorf was obliged to seek out a court official to authorise the postponement and in doing so found himself in conversation with the Emperor himself, an even that he recounts in some detail.

"The 'Metamorphoses' of the Roman poet Ovid contains, in its fifteen books, a compendium of Greek and Roman mythology and legend. In spite of the title, this is not simple a book of changes in Latin hexameters, but an inspired and episodic narrative, in which stories are only loosely connected one to the other. Opening with Chaos, Ovid soon moved on to the four ages of the world, the subject of the first of Dittersdorf's symphonies, the 'Sinfonia in C major, Die vier Weltalter'. Scored for flute, pairs of oboes, bassoons, horns, trumpets and timpani, with strings, the first movement introduces the peace of the golden age - 'aurea prima sata est aetas', the golden age was first established, an age in which men kept faith without any compulsion. The movement is dominated by its tranquil opening theme and is followed by an evocation of the silver age - 'subiit argentea proles auro deterior', there followed the silver race, lesser than gold, more precious than tawny bronze, now with its four season. The music is livelier in a tripartite sonata-form movement. This leads to the 'Minuetto con garbo', a graceful minuet, to represent the age of bronze - 'teria post illas successit aëna proles', third after those followed the bronze race, more savage in spirit and prompter to make war. The A minor minuet is angular in theme, with a trio section of greater suavity. The symphony ends with the age of iron - 'de duro est ultima ferro', the last is of hard iron, an age when all wickedness is let loose. A descending chromatic figure opens the movement in increasingly rapid note values, continuing with a military fanfare and music of greater excitement which eventually subsides, leading a final 'Allegretto' that is gracious enough at first, but ends with the agitation of an age of violence.

"The second of the set, the 'Symphony in D major, Der Sturz Phaëtons', with similar instrumentation but no timpani, deals with Ovid's version of the legend of Phaëthon, son of Helios (the Sun) and Clymene, a mortal. Phaëthon sought out his father, who offered him one gift, whatever he should ask. Phaëthon asked to drive his father's chariot for one day and, in spite of his father's warning, attempted this feat. The horses of the Sun bolted and brought danger of fire to the earth, until Zeus, the king of the gods, hurled a thunderbolt at him. Phaëthon fell into the river Eridanus, where he died. Dittersdorf's first movement reflects the first line of Ovid's narrative - 'Regia Solis erat sublimibus alta columnis', the royal seat of the Sun was on high with lofty columns, bright with shining gold and gilded bronze like flames. Syncopation lends a feeling of impending doom to the music, with its scintillating ornamentation and, in the 'Allegro', contrasts of dynamics. The narrative continues in the 'Andante' - 'deposuit radios propiusque accedere iussit', the Sun laid aside the shining rays about his head and ordered the boy to come nearer, accepting him as his son. Here the bassoon doubles the first violin at the octave, accompanied by a descending accompanying figure in the other strings, with music that again offers the dynamic contrast of divine father and mortal son. 'Paenituit iurasse patrem', his father was sorry to have sworn to grant Phaëthon's wish, for this is the one thing he would have denied him. The story and symphony end with the final catastrophe - 'Intonat, et dextra libratum fulmen ab aure / misit in aurigam pariterque animaque rotisque / expulit et saevis compescuit ignibus ignes', Zeus thunders and hurled his thunderbolt at the charioteer, expelling him from life and from his chariot and curbed fire with savage fire. Opening in B minor, with syncopation again suggesting what is to come, the music gives a dramatic representation of the fall of Phaëthon, ending in hushed tones, the solar eclipse that took place as the Sun mourned his loss.

"The 'Symphony in G major, Verwandlung Aktäons in einen Hirsch', now also without trumpets, is a true tale of metamorphosis, taken from the following, third book of Ovid's poem. Dittersdorf chooses only a short phrase as superscription - 'per devia lustra vagantes', wandering through out-of-the-way woods, as the young men end their hunting. The music brings suggestions of the hunt in its ascending fanfare arpeggios and its haloos, but is followed by a gentler pastoral 'Adagio', with a flute solo over the traditional figuration for murmuring streams of breezes. The quotation from Ovid at the head of the movmement declares that 'hic dea silvarum venatu fessa solebat / virgineos artus liquido perfundere rore', here the goddess of the woods, tired from hunting, was wont to bathe her virgin limbs in dew. A minuet introduces Actaeon, grandson of Cadmus - 'Ecce nepos Cadmi' - who strays in the grove where the goddess is. The finale sees the goddess take her revenge. Actaeon is changed into a stag and torn apart by his own dogs - 'dilacerant falsi dominum sub imagine cervi', the dogs tear their master apart under the false appearances of a stag. Once again the agitation of the music subsides, as the story comes to an end." (Keith Anderson. From the liner notes.)

Performers: Failoni Orchestra, Hanspeter Gmür

1. Sinfonia No. 1 In C Major 'The Four Ages Of The World': I. Larghetto

2. Sinfonia No. 1 In C Major 'The Four Ages Of The World': II. Allegro E Vivace

3. Sinfonia No. 1 In C Major 'The Four Ages Of The World': III. Minuetto Con Garbo

4. Sinfonia No. 1 In C Major 'The Four Ages Of The World': IV. Finale. Prestissimo - Allegretto

5. Sinfonia No. 2 In D Minor 'The Fall Of Phaëton': I. Adagio Non Molto - Allegro

6. Sinfonia No. 2 In D Minor 'The Fall Of Phaëton': II. Andante

7. Sinfonia No. 2 In D Minor 'The Fall Of Phaëton': III. Tempo Di Minuetto

8. Sinfonia No. 2 In D Minor 'The Fall Of Phaëton': IV. Finale. Vivace Ma Non Troppo Presto - Andantino

9. Sinfonia No. 3 In G Major 'Transformation Of Actaeon Into A Stag': I. Allegro

10. Sinfonia No. 3 In G Major 'Transformation Of Actaeon Into A Stag': II. Adagio (Più Tosto Andantino)

11. Sinfonia No. 3 In G Major 'Transformation Of Actaeon Into A Stag': III. Tempo Di Minuetto

12. Sinfonia No. 3 In G Major 'Transformation Of Actaeon Into A Stag': IV. Finale. Vivace

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Carl Ditters von Dittersdorf - Doktor und Apotheker

"'Dittersdorf's musical merits are universally known, his works having brought much enjoyment to the educated in all Europe and one hears them with the feeling of receiving a warm greeting from a well-known friend.' These words begin Dittersdorf's biography which appeared as an anonymous work from 1810 in Erturf entitled 'Gallerie der berühmtesten Tonküunstler des achtzehnten und neunzehnten Jahrhunderts' or 'Gallery of the most famous composers of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries'. At this point in time the fame of the composer who had shone first as a violin virtuoso and then as the creator of more than 40 stage works, oratorios, over 120 symphonies and chambers pieces had faded.

"The life and works of this master of the 'Wiener Klassik' may be studied in this first complete recording of his most famous opera 'Doctor and Apothecary', the only work which, since its premiere in 1786, has kept the name Dittersdorf in circulation in the musical world. Although his less thorough critics might view him as a prototype of the prolific and unimpressive 'lesser light' at the side of Mozart and Haydn, Dittersdorf's comprehensible pieces over the more complicated works of both great composers who, for their own part, also respected him as a composer. In the years 1783-87 Haydn produced many of Dittersdorf's operas at the court of Esterház and Mozart didn't hesitate to premiere his Piano Concerto in E-flat major KV 482 as 'interlude music' between the two acts of Dittersdorf's oratorio 'Esther' on December 23, 1785. Both composers played string quartets with Dittersdorf and Bohemian composer Johann Baptist Vanhal in the following order: 1st violin - Haydn, 2nd violin - Dittersdorf, viola - Mozart, violoncello - Vanhal.

"Carl Ditters (as of 1773 Ditters von Dittersdorf) was born the son of a theatre employee originally from Danzig and employed at the k.u.k. court in Vienna on November 2, 1739. He began studying the violin at age seven and made such swift progress that he was taken to the court of the musically-inclined imperial officer Josef Maria Friedrich Wilhelm Prince von Sachsen-Hildburghausen. There the young Dittersdorf became a member of the Prince's orchestra - the oldest private orchestra among the Viennese nobility. Dittersdorf came to view the Prince as a second father and was duly instructed at the Prince's residence - also in violin by the Italian Trani and in composition under the Italian court music master Giuseppe Bonno. He showed considerable talent in composition as well and, after seeing a production of Pergolesi's 'La Serva Padrona' at his patrons residence, developed a life-long enthusiasm for musical theatre.

"Upon taking over the regency at Hildburghausen, the Prince dissolved his Vienna orchestra but also provided the musicians with positions elsewhere, Dittersdorf came as violinist to the Wiener Hofoper orchestra and there was able to expand his knowledge of opera literature. In 1763 he traveled to Bologna with Gluck for the premiere of Gluck's opera 'Il trionfo di Clelia' and was celebrated there as a virtuoso. Two years later he followed Michael Haydn in the post of conductor for the Bishop of Grosswardein in Hungary following a disagreement with the Hofoper director in Vienna over a raise in salary. Here Dittersdorf began a time of fruitful productivity. He enlarged and schooled the orchestra there (composed partially of amateur musicians - among them a confectioner by trade) and introduced the usage of the clarinet as well as the Viennese method of playing while seated - both of which Mozart had to do without in Salzburg - much to his chagrin. During this time Dittersdorf also emerged as a composer with early operas created for a small theater which he himself had begun, with cantatas, the world premiere of his staged oratorio 'Isacco figura del Redentore', as well as orchestral and chamber works.

"However the need to look for a new position came in 1769 when the Bishop dissolved the orchestra due to rumors concerning his 'worldly' lifestyle which were circulated by his enemies at the Viennese court. A short time later Dittersdorf became acquainted with the Bishop von Breslau, Count Schaffgotsch, who was at that time on unfriendly terms with Frederick the Great, and who, in turn, invited Dittersdorf to visit his estates in Johannisberg in Silesia. Originally intending to spend only the winter months of 1769-70, Dittersdorf ended in remaining and taking over the direction of the Count's orchestra of nine musicians. As a sign of gratitude the Count insured Dittersdorf's reception of the papal decoration of the golden spur, which the 14-year-old Mozart also received in the same year. Because the Bishop's finances wouldn't allow him to hire Dittersdorf as a conductor he had him named forestry master of the principality of Neisse and later of Freiwaldau, the reason for which he was made a member of the nobility in 1773 by Empress Maria Theresia - an event which Dittersdorf valued more than his successes as a composer.

"Despite the limited possibilities (his orchestra then numbered 17) - he was so satisfied with his work in the country that he turned down a call to the position of court conductor in Vienna as successor to Florian Leopold Gassmann. In Johannisberg in 1771 he married the Hungarian singer Nicolina Trink who had already appeared as prima donna in his operas a Grosswardein. Between 1770 and 1777 eleven Italian comic operas were composed, among them 'Il vaggiatore americano' and 'Il finto pazzo per amore'. During occasional visits in Vienna he produced his oratorios 'Esther' (1773) and 'Giobbe' or 'Job' (1785) which brought him much recognition as did the productions of his first six program symphonies on Ovid's Metamorphoses played at the Augarten in the spring of 1786 and in the theater. In his autobiography Dittersdorf describes his deep satisfaction at the success of those concerts and further writes:

"'I was about to pack my bags when the actor Stephani the Younger (also supervisor at the Deutsche Oper) visited me on behalf of the management, requesting the composition of a German opera for the usual fee of 100 ducats. I agreed; Mr. Stephani provided the text and in half a year 'Doctor and Apothecary' was being performed. Upon an additional request from the management I wrote two more German operas and one Italian opera - all within a seven-month period. My three German works 'Doktor und Apotheker', 'Betrug durch Aberglauben' and 'Liebe im Narrenhaus' went well; however the Italian opera 'Democrito' was not a success'

"'Before embarking on my return to Silesia in February, 1887, I went to thank the Emperor for his reward for my four operas and held a conversation with him similar to the last time, only that, in addition, he asked my opinion on the Italian operas I had heard in Vienna. I freely gave him my opinions both positive and negative. Whereupon he said, among other things, 'I imagine my musical knowledge to be quite good since my judgement always coincide with yours. When do you intend to leave?' I: 'Day after tomorrow.' Emperor (after having paced up and down thoughtfully): 'Couldn't you postpone your trip eight days?' I: 'If your majesty orders it.' Emperor: 'Good! Do that and - listen - this coming Saturday evening I will order a repeat performance of 'Doctor and Apothecary' and I think the local audience would be pleased to see you at the podium and in the program once again.' I: 'As your Majesty wishes.' Emperor: 'Then it's settled. I will also be there at the theater to see you once more. Farewell until then!' I prepared everything and my opera was performed. The following morning Mr. von Horvath, the head bookkeeper for all the theater box offices, appeared with a roll of 200 gold ducats from the Emperor - who was so kind as to present me with the entire income from my opera. At von Horbath's suggestion I immediately hurried to thank the Emperor before he went to Mass. He received me gladly, we conversed for more than half an hour and he complimented me on my serious and comic styles, ending with the words: 'Come to Vienna as often as you wish and your business allows and come to see me each time. I'll always be happy to receive you, especially since we are both of one mind concerning music.'

"The success of the first opera, 'Doctor and Apothecary', was much greater than one may read out of Dittersdorf's own reports. Its sensational premiere on July 11, 1786 was overshadowed by the likewise successful premiere of Mozart's opera 'Le nozze di Figaro' two months before on May 1st and thereafter the piece was practically dropped from the theater program. Nevertheless, Dittersdorf's high regard for Mozart as well as the problems he faced with the composer's music (as did most of Mozart's contemporaries) may be noted in a conversation between the composer and Emperor Joseph II which Dittersdorf records in his autobiography:

"'Emperor: 'What do you say to Mozart's composition? I: 'He is undoubtedly one of the greatest original geniuses and I've never known any composer to possess such a wealth of ideas. I wish he weren't so wasteful with them. He doesn't allow the listener time to breathe; then, as soon as one has begun to ponder a beautiful idea, there appears another wonderful one to take its place. This continues to such a degree that, at the end, one has not been able to commit even one of these ideas to memory.''

"The years from 1785 to 1790 made up the high point of Dittersdorf's career. In 1789 he travelled to Berlin where he composed six string quintets with two violincelli for the cello-playing Prussian king, Wilhelm II. His star then began to fade in '90's although he continued to be extremely productive - writing, for the most part, German 'Singspiele' or musical dramas. Upon the death of his employer, Dittersdorf was pensioned off with a wretched yearly sum of 300 talers - hardly enough to support himself and his family. At last, the once-celebrated and now nearly-forgotten composer, ill and plagued by gout, found a modest position with the Baron Ignaz von Stillfried at Schloss Rothlhotta in Bohemia where he composed a few more operas (for the theater in Oels, among others, 'The Merry Wives of Windsor') and dictated his life story to his son. Two days following the autobiography's completion Dittersdorf dired on October 24, 1799.

"This autobiography, in which at the end Dittersdorf pleads with society not to allow his family to starve, was published in 1801 in slightly edited form by the author Karl Spazier. It is one of the most revealing, amusing and unsettling documentations of the musical and cultural history of the 18th century as well as an excellent portrayal of a musician's life at this time with all its highs and lows.

"At the same time it has often been regretted that so little about the creation of Dittersdorf's pieces and their reception by the public may be learned from the book. Its wealth of (partially silly) anecdotes of various singers or the not always very meaningful conversations with important personalities does, however, speak for the composer's theatrical talents. That his 'Doctor and Apothecary', the first of his German operas written for Vienna, was a milestone in the history of this genre was first ascertained after the fact. The degree of family the piece enjoyed during Dittersdorf's lifetime may not be found in his autobiography but its success may be verified through other facts. After the Viennese world premiere in 1786 the 'Doctor and Apothecary' (the title in the piano score and text reads, 'The Doctor and the Apothecary' as apposed to the above-mentioned version which appears in the autobiography) appeared in Pressburg in the same year, in 1787 in Kassel, Hamburg, Berlin and Budapest, 1790 in Prague, Riga and Agram, 1792 in Amsterdam and 1793 in Warsaw. The text was translated into English, French, Danish, Swedish, Dutch, Hungarian and Russian before 1800. A piano score drawn up by Dittersdorf had already appeared in print in Vienna by Gottfried Friedrich in 1787.

"A reprint appeared a year later by Schott in Mainz containing all the arias and ensembles except both finales and the 2nd-act sextet. Separate editions of these were also offered. Arrangements of the most popular pieces for piano or string quartet were published as well as the Danish and English versions (the latter of which was quite distorted by numerous deletions and additions by the Mozart student Stephen Storace - a custom of that time). The English rendtion was played 36 consecutive times at the Drury Lane Theater in 1788. None of Mozart's operas enjoyed such wide-spread popularity before 1790.

"What were the reasons behind the fact that this particular piece helped propel Dittersdorf to such heights of popularity? Firstly, the text by Gottfried Stephani the Younger (1741-1800), actor and theater director in Vienna, must be mentioned. Stephani also wrote the libretti to Mozart's 'Die Entführung aus dem Serail' (1782) and 'Der Schauspieldirektor' (1786). For Dittersdorf's piece he used, as was common then, a foreign literary model - 'l'Apothecaire de Mercie' from the French by Count de N. - as it is written in the title. Stephani, a Prussian soldier from Breslau and stationed in Vienna, was certainly not a well-known author; however, a later description of him as 'the evil spirit of this theater period' is just as surely unjustified. Mozart, who had found in Stephani a librettist with whom he worked well, made a more competent judgement in a letter to his father from June 16, 1781: '[...] I believe and wish it as well that he will write an opera for me. Whether he has written his comedies alone or with help [...] he understands theater and his comedies are always well-received. - [...]' The linguistically somewhat abstruse but nevertheless very humorous text offered a musician such as Dittersdorf opportunity for varied structuring of arias and the creation of lively give-and-take of duets, ensembles and especially in the two intricately-developed act finales, despite long-winded dialogue and hair-raising, illogically-resolved dramaturgical complications.

"More important, however, to the pieces public success was Dittersdorf's music. It was his master touch in the creation of melodies which charmed his audiences - something that missed in Mozart's operas before his 'Magic Flute'. Dittersdorf was also, for the most part, successful in avoiding triviality in this genre and even wrote an essay a year before his death in letter form for the musical publication the Leipziger Allgemeine Musikalische Zeitung, including his maxims for composers of comic opera. 'As the serious composer (that is, the composer of serious opera themes) must interest his audience mainly through new ideas, I venture to say frankly that the author of the comic opera music secure interest through the offering of light, easily-understood and easily-repeated musical ideas. The truly talented composer will, of course, be able to please the educated listener, as well with these same ideas through instrumental accompaniment, variation and other devices.' The 'Doctor and Apothecary' provides three examples of this hypothesis: the duet Sichel/Gotthold, 'Wenn man will zu Mädchen gehen', the duet Rosalie/Leonore, 'Zwei Mädchen sassen manche Nacht' and Sichel's aria, 'Nur nicht lange sich besonnen'.

"Leonore's aria, 'Zufriedenheit gibt mehr als Kronen' best shows how the widely-educated Dittersdorf, highly familiarized with the opera literature of his time, not only used the typical song and rondo forms for the singspiel genre but also was able to incorporate the large, da capo aria borrowed from the opera seria with brilliant impact. At the time same time he succeeded in portraying folk melodies in a fresh and vibrant way, thus characterizing the various figures in the piece. Gotthold and Leonore, the 'serious' couple, articulate their lovelorn position in virtuosically ornamented or in more sentimentally presented arias whereas the buffo or comic pair, Rosalie and Sichel, are assigned the light, memorable melodies. The composer prepared a wide range of musical styles and expressive modes for the two title roles in the splendidly-characterized arias, 'Galenus und Hippocrates' (Stoessel) and, 'Ein Doktor ist bei meiner Ehr' (Krautmann) as well as in the furious, mentally-abusive 'Sie sind ein Scharlatan), ranging from the prattling parlando of the opera buffa to the parodistically-used dramatic gesure of the opera sria or of Gluck's type of 'Reformoper'. The orchestra also plays an important role here - brilliantly orchestrated in the form of tone-painting which is especially well-illustrated in a scene of the first-act finale where Sturmwals, in a severe state of drunkenness, falls asleep and begins to snore. Dittersdorf differentiates tonally through the inerchange of instrumentation (ranging from simple string orchestra to full use of winds and tympani in the overture and the second-act finale) and through the solo usage of the woodwinds. We may also find apt observations of Dittersdorf's skill in characterization in the afore-mentioned biography of 1810: 'What a wealth of comic, sharply definied characterizations may be found in 'Doctor and Apothecary'! Who is unable to see the satire of the ridiculous solemnity in the aria, 'Galenus und Hippocrates' and the empty gesturing and absurd self-praise of the doctor in 'Ein Doktor ist bei meiner Ehr! der Grösste Mann im Staate!'? How the grave song is ridiculed through the triplets and baroque agility of the violins. The doctor, like the market crier 'Knallerpraller', is laughed at by his audience as he praises himself his cures!'

"In 1914 Lothar Riedinger, the respected researcher of Dittersdorf's operas, formulated the makings of this particular opera's success which laster into the early 1800's and, in spite of a following period of disinterest, nevertheless remained an event in opera history. Riedinger is of the opinion that ,with his 'Doctor and Apothecary' (and subsequent works), Dittersdorf lent final reinforcement to the German comic opera form. He sought to combine the efforts of the singspiel composers (from Hiller's simpler work to the more developed opera buffa) with folk melodies and large-scale ensembles and finales. Richard Wagner commented very correctly - so Riedinger - that one could trace the many phases of the German opera's development through the performance of the 'Jagd', the 'Doktor und Apotheker', 'Zar und Zimmermann' and the 'Meistersinger'.

"The first complete recording of 'Doctor and Apothecary' is based on a piano score published in 1787 by the composer, found at the Österreichische Nationalbibliotek in Vienna, the 1778 republication of this score by Schott and the original text, offering, (with the exception of a few small cuts in the number 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10 and 11 in Act I and numbers 2, 5, 6, 7, 8, 12 and 13 in Act II), the opera in its full length with the original text to the songs. Here and there the spoken dialogues have been smoothed over and reworked. In preferring the original version over the less satisfactory adaptions from the 19th and 20th centuries (Wittmann, Hirschfeld, Kleinmichel, Burkard, Fischer-Gessner) this recording has succeeded in giving a proper and meaningful salute to a truly amusing, imaginative and well-rendered piece of music. Perhaps, upon hearing this opera, we may agree with the comments of one of Dittersdorf's contemporary critics when he wrote about the composer's operas in general in 1791:

"'Although the melodies are not always new or noble one is tempted to sing along. The arias are so brilliantly composed that one must applaud though the text may appear to need revision in places. Add the truly comedic vein of the composer and his outstanding accompaniments with their abundant usage of wind instruments, and one need not wonder at the popularity his operas have enjoyed.'" (Joachim Draheim. From the liner notes.)

Performers: Staatsorchester Rheinische Philharmonie, James Lockhart, Harald Stamm, Waltraud Meier, Hildegard Uhrmacher, Donna Woodward, Wolfgang Schöne, Frieder Lang, Gerhard Unger, Martin Finke, Alois Perl, Thomas Pfeiffer

1.1. Ouvertüre

1.2. Akt I: 'O Wie Herrlich! O Wie Labend'

1.3. Akt I: 'Nun, Herr Hauptmann, Sie Haben Auch Manche Solche Nacht'

1.4. Akt I: 'Wie Kann Freude Noch In Meinem Herzen Wohnen?'

1.5. Akt I: 'Nein, Nein, Das Tut Nicht Mehr Gut'

1.6. Akt I: 'Fürs Erste Ist Zu Wissen'

1.7. Akt I: 'Das Weib Ist Mein Ruin'

1.8. Akt I: 'Wann Hörst Du Auf, Geliebte Qual'

1.9. Akt I: 'Wenn Man Will Zu Mädchen Gehen'

1.10. Akt I: 'Sie Wird Mich Doch Nicht Trügen?!'

1.11. Akt I: 'Holla! Holla! Aufgemacht!'

1.12. Akt I: 'Meine Neue Methode Erregt Aufsehen'

1.13. Akt I: 'Sind Gegen Mich Nur Stümper'

1.14. Akt I: 'Haben Sie Jemals Einen Größeren Narren Gesehen?'

1.15. Akt I: 'Der Wein, Der Wein, Der Wein Ist Ein Specificum'

1.16. Akt I: 'Zwei Mädchen Saßen Manche Nacht'

1.17. Akt I: 'Meinst Du Nicht Auch, Salchen'

1.18. Akt I: 'Verliebte Brauchen Keine Zeugen'

1.19. Akt I: 'Salchen, Hör Zu'

1.20. Akt I: 'Wer Wird Im Schiffbruch Sich Besinnen'

2.1. Akt II: 'Ein Doktor Ist Bei Meiner Ehr''

2.2. Akt II: 'Herr Doktor, Sie Sind Schon So Früh Unterwegs?'

2.3. Akt II: 'Vermaledeit Sei Die Methode!'

2.4. Akt II: 'Ein Unverschämter Kerl!'

2.5. Akt II: 'Viel Eher Soll Sie Gar Nicht Frei'n'

2.6. Akt II: 'Sichel. Seine Verkleidung Ist Vortrefflich'

2.7. Akt II: 'Wahre Liebe Läßt Zwar Hoffen'

2.8. Akt II: 'Alle Wetter, Das Dauert Eine Ewigkeit'

2.9. Akt II: 'Was Ist Das Für Ein Betragen?'

2.10. Akt II: 'Noch Sind Wir Nicht Über'm Berg'

2.11. Akt II: 'Zufriedenheit Gilt Mehr Als Kronen'

2.12. Akt II: 'Recht So, Mein Kind'

2.13. Akt II: 'So Verfährt Man Mit Soldaten?'

2.14. Akt II: 'Halt. Wo Wollt Ihr Hin?'

2.15. Akt II: 'MIt Dir, Du Esel, Geht Mein Spiel'

2.16. Akt II: 'Was? - Wo Sind Die Beiden Hin?'

2.17. Akt II: 'Nur Nicht Lange Sich Besonnen!'

2.18. Akt II: 'Ich Kann Nicht Mehr'

2.19. Akt II: 'Sie Sind Ein Scharlatan. Ein Ignorant'

2.20. Akt II: 'Nun, Liebste, So Weit Wären Wir Doch'

2.21. Akt II: 'Jedem Ist Sein Los Beschieden'

2.22. Akt II: 'Noch Seh Ich Ihn Nicht'

2.23. Akt II: 'Nie Werd' Ich Mich So Weit Vermessen'

2.24. Akt II: 'Seht Nur, Da Kommt Er'

2.25. Akt II: 'Ha! Potz, Pulver Und Kanonen!'

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