Nicola Porpora - Passio: Music on the Passion of the Christ

"At the beginning of the 50s of the Eighteenth century, the artistic route of Nicola Antonio Porpora (1686-1768) seems to have come to its natural end: after being - with Leonardo Leo and Leonardo Vinci - one of the major proponents and promoters of the universalisation of the Neapolitan 'new style', after a career played in the most prestigious theaters of the time (in his hometown and in Venice, London, Milane, Rome, etc.), after creating as a singing teacher stars such as Farinelli, Caffarelli and Porporino, after receiving assignments of primary importance in the Venetian 'Ospedali Grandi' and in the Neapolitan 'Conservatori', Porpora was hired hired at the Dresden court in 1747, being appointed Kapellmeister the following year (with Hasse's great scorn). In 1752/3 he retired to private life, leaving the court of Saxony-Poland with the guarantee of an unusual rich annual pension of 400 tallers.

"The composer then elected Vienna as his city of residence: here he appears to seek no more continuous assignments of absolute important, but only to teach singing and composition (among his students, Franz Joseph Haydn), writing sometimes a few pages of church music. However, in the 1756 the Prussian invasion of Saxony disrupted the life of the old musician, leading to the immediate termination of his pension and bringing Porpora to a state of great economical need: in a poignant letter to Farinelli, Metastasio portrays the composer as 'ridotto alla positiva mancanza del pane quotidiano' ('reduced to a substantial lack of daily bread'). Given the situation and the absence of main patrons in Austria, Porpora went back to Italy - old and tired - to find some job to earn money to support himself. As it is known, the musician died in total destitution, after twelve difficult years.

"In the midst of his stay in Vienna, however, the unlucky composer gave birth to two of his highest masterpieces: two collections that can be read as a kind of musical guidance of his abilities, his taste and his inventiveness. In 1754 the 'Sonate XII di violino e basso' were printed with a dedication to Princess 'Maria Antonia Walpurga di Braviera' (his patroness in Dresden); dated the same year are also the six duets 'da cantarsi nelli venerdì di Quaresima nella Cappella di Sua Altezza Serenissima l'Elettore di Sassonia' ('to be sung on Lent Fridays in the Chapel of His Most Serene Highness, the Electoral Prince of Saxony').

"These six vocal pieces on Latin text form an autonomous cycle, very different in shape and use from the 'Passions' from the Protestant and German-speaking areas, and also from the Italian Oratorios on the Passion of Christ: we have to think of these duets as an organized set of compositions designed to accompany step by step (presumably one for each Friday) the personal reflections of the members of the Saxon royal family in the most crucial period of the liturgical calendar. The collection, known under various titles, had considerable success among some of the greatest admirers of the 'stile antico' music in the late Eighteenth century and at the beginning of the Nineteenth, even leading to a full printed edition by Gaetano Nava (1802-1875) for Breitkopf & Härtel. Mistakenly believed to be the offspring of a commission for the singers of Charles VI of Hapsburg (who died fourteen years before their composition), these duets charmed key personalities in the movement for the rediscovery of early music, such as Fortunato Santini (1768-1861) and Raphael Georg Kiesewetter (1773-1850), both promoters of their performance in private concerts.

"Kiesewetter especially showed great enthusiasm, writing on a manuscript copy of the music the Virgil quotation 'Sic itur ad astra!' ('So you climb to heaven!'). The composer Giuseppe Gazzaniga (1743-1818), among the last Porpora students, described the duets as being made 'di musica divina' ('of divine music'). In Germany during the Nineteenth century, printed editions of the individual pieces of the collection, with piano accompaniment, tailored to the needs and tastes of the time, were in circulation. The first major encyclopedias of music mentioned as some of the main points of Porpora's output the so-called 'Duetti latini sulla Passione di Nostro Signore Gesù Cristo' ('Latin duets on the Passion of Jesus Christ, Our Lord') or 'Duetti per la Quaresima' ('Duets for Lent'). To fully understand the choices made by the composer in creating these musical treasures one must first pay attention to two key points: the historical moment in which the 'Duetti' were conceived, and the musical genre they belong to.

"As already mentioned, they are contemporary to the printing of the 'Sonate XII', organized according to a precise plan, clearly stated in the dedication by Porpora: in it the Neopolitan musician proclaims that he wanted to give a demonstation of its technical background and his ability to write in different styles (ancient and Italian, modern and French), mixing them and dedicating two different attitudes (conservative and free) to the two sections into which the volume is divided. Thus the first six sonatas show a more severe attitude compared to the remaining ones, and have complex fugues as second movements, including that well known example of shameless virtuosity: a Diatonic Enharmonic Chromatic fugue, in the 'Sonata VI'. These pieces impressed very much the contemporary counterpoint connoisseurs, as we can see thanks to some Neapolitan manuscript copies of the fugues made by composition pupils and the to the most famous keyboard adaption by Muzio Clementi (1752-1832), who published them within the first volume of his 'Selection of Practical Harmony' (1801).

"Porpora, by signing the 'Sonate XII' volume and bearing the most prestigious title of Kapellmeister of the Elector of Saxony, was consciously not only giving life to a monumental and elegant collection of violin sonatas, but also publishing a monument to the various styles and technical aspects he elaborated during his entire life. The duets can also be seen in the same light. These six songs fit perfectly into the definition of the genre of the Italian Chamber Duet (Italianische Kammerduette), with the only peculiarity of presenting a Latin text. Written as 'da capo' arias for two voices and continuo, at this time the Italian Chamber Duets are usually intended as the refined genre par excellence, difficult to perform, requiring listeners able to grasp the subtleties that were expected to characterize it (poignant counterpoint, audacious harmony, and melodies very tied to the lyrics, sometimes almost 'madrigalistic'). The Chamber Duets, for Porpora and his contemporaries were the perfect theater of technical ability of a composer, of the intelligence and skill of the performers in showing the details of his writing, and of the competence of the selected audience that attends to the performance: an aesthetic game of the highest intellectual and performative kind.

"The materical and formal shape of the Latin lyrics of the 'Duetti' by Porpora shows that they probably were not born for this kind of musical treatment. It is likely that his choice should be attributed to an autonomous idea by the composer: to adopt a 'high' musical genre for texts related to the highest topic of Christianity, in order to please his very musically competent patrons. The six duets show between them very different stylistic aims, and thus appear to be designed, as well as the violin sonatas, to show the absolute versatility of the composer: the first one is a magnificent example of sever and strict counterpoint; the second one shows an ivdence initial reference to the model of the 'French' duet, as carefully defined by Johann Mattheson (1681-1764) in his 'Der vollkommene Capellmeister', with two voices involved in parallel running of the test and vocalizations. The third duet makes a strong use of chromaticism, devoting harmony delays to expressive purposes. The fourth seems to makr the abandonment of 'severe' writing, proclaiming the glory of the holy cross with long passages of coloratura in triplets, imitation of writing for trumpet, references to the ancient use of the so-called 'nomina sacra', and a remarkable simplification of the harmonic texture. The fifth duet even becomes a little dramatic scene, completely disrupting the assumption of the imitative writing of the genre: partially different texts (in the first verse of the lyrics) are assigned to the bass and to the soprano, which then are used to describe two different emotional attitudes with contrasting vocal styles (pathetic for the soprano, 'di segno' - 'of anger' - for the bass). The sixth duet, finally, provides a partial concertante role for the organ, for which Porpora also defined the precise registration (octave): here the voices sing music stylistically very far from that exemplified by the first duet, music open to some of the main stylistic features of the so-called Viennese Classicism.

"At the end of this CD you will find an unpublished anonymous 'Miserere' for two voices and basso continuo, in many ways conceptually opposed to the 'Duetti'. Porpora's devotional duets are 'musica reservata' par excellence, written by a famous Neopolitan composer for private devotional use of a strongly competent German court: on the other hand, this 'Miserere' represents a perfect example of 'everday' music; written for the same liturgical season, but for a public performance during vespers in a town church of the remote prince of the Kingdom of Naples (presumably Campobasso or, maybe, the tiny Civitacampomarano). Copied for Lent of 1772, the music combines charming modern stylistic features to deliberately stereotyped archaic ones, resolving itself in a fair and strictly functional satisfaction of the small splendor required by those country holy services, with a vocal cast forcibly restricted for economic reasons and not necessarily technically founded as the one needed to the performance of chamber duets.

"Thanks to the Eighteenth-century devotional expectations of the people, the work of professional but less known composers also inclucded this: to bring the good taste and style encoded by revered masters of the rank of Porpora, Vinci, Leo, Hasse, even in the small villages which constituted the majority of the urban centers of the kingdom of Naples.

"In performing the 'Duetti', we followed the evidences emerging from the score and the context for which it was born: it wasn't difficult to establish that the instrument used at the time for the basso continuo playing was an organ, to which we added as small bow bass instrument the cello. Given the esthetical nature of chamber duets, we choose to flourish very few of the vocal lines, changing in the 'da capo' more emphases, attitudes to pronunciation, expressive colors given to individual words, dynamics, than pitches, making only brief cadenzas where required.

"In the 'Miserere', following the usual practice, the composer scored only the odd lines, leaving the other ones to be sung in chant. For the performance practice of the latter, it was considered appropriate to refer at closely as possible to the nearer geographically and chronologically relevant composition that has been given to analyze: the autograph of the 'Miserere concertante a due cori' (1739) by Leonaro Leo, held at the Conservatory of San Pietro a Majella in Naples. The composer wrote here also the 'Gregorian' chant verses of the text, providing them with basso continuo and with the exact duration of individual values. So, observing the criteria used in a very standardized way by Leo, we performed all the ommitted verses of the Psalm to give a complete picture of the score and its function." (Stefano Aresi. From the liner notes.)

Performers: Stile Galante, Stefano Aresi

1. Sei Duetti Latini Sulla Passione Di Nostro Signore Gesù Cristo: Duetto I. Crimen Adae Quantum Constat!

2. Sei Duetti Latini Sulla Passione Di Nostro Signore Gesù Cristo: Duetto II. Rigate Lacrimis Facies Populi

3. Sei Duetti Latini Sulla Passione Di Nostro Signore Gesù Cristo: Duetto III. Mortis Causa Tu Fuisti

4. Sei Duetti Latini Sulla Passione Di Nostro Signore Gesù Cristo: Fuga V

5. Sei Duetti Latini Sulla Passione Di Nostro Signore Gesù Cristo: Duetto IV. In Hoc Vexillo Crucis

6. Sei Duetti Latini Sulla Passione Di Nostro Signore Gesù Cristo: Duetto V. Tamquam Agnus Immolatur

7. Sei Duetti Latini Sulla Passione Di Nostro Signore Gesù Cristo: Duetto VI. Ab Imo Pectore Ede Suspiria

8. Sei Duetti Latini Sulla Passione Di Nostro Signore Gesù Cristo: Fuga VI. Diatonico Enarmonico Cromatico

9. Anonymous - Miserere

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Nicola Porpora - Sonata XII di Violino e Basso

"Nicolò (or Nicola) Antonio Porpora remains today one of the least explored and recognised of the great 18th-century Italian composers. The son of a bookseller, born inNaples in 1686, he studied with Gaetano Greco at the Conservatorio dei Poveri di Gesù Cristo. In 1708 he made his Neapolitan debut as an opera composer with 'Agrippina'. Employed from 1711 to 1725 by Philip, Prince of Hessen-Darmstadt, head of the Imperial army in the kingdom of Naples, in 1713 he also entered the service of the Portuguese ambassador in Naples, and with the Lusitanian court he kept excellent relations throughout his career. Between 1715 and 1722 he taught at the Naples Conservatory of Sant'Onofrio, where he trained some of the most renowned singers of those days, such as the famous Farinelli, Caffarelli and Regina Mingotti. In 1725 he moved to Venice, where he took up the position of chapel master at the Ospedale degli Incurabili, which he kept up to 1733. He then moved to London where he competed with Haendel until 1736. It was in the English capital that some of his most important operas were staged, like the outstanding 'Arianna a Nasso' (1733), and his first instrumental compositions were published. Having returned to Italy, he spent some time in Naples and then moved again to Venice. In 1742 he followed the Venetian ambassador to Vienna; from there he moved to Dresden where he worked from 1747 to 1751; back in Vienna, he remained in the Austrian capital for seven years, and had among his pupils Franz Joseph Haydn. In 1760 he made his final return to Naples, where he lived in considerable poverty until his death (1768).

"Porpora was not endowed with an easy character, but had a literary culture uncommon for a composer of his days, and became famous not only as an opera composer but also as a singing teacher. He wrote some sixty operas, very few of which have enjoyed philologically credible revivals in modern times. While Porpora's style has the imprint of his Neapolitan training, it also shows the influence of the composer's cosmopolitan experiences and of his being personally acquainted with the works of composers of the Venetian and German schools. His instrumental output is numerically scanty but qualitatively excellent and it includes, besides a Concerto for flute and one for cello, the authenticity of which has recently been under debate, the 'Sonatas for two cellos and two violins with b.c.' (1745), the '12 Sonatas for violin and b.c.', and few other minor compositions.

"The 'Sonate XII di Violino, e Basso / Dedicate / A S.A.R. La Principessa Elettorale di Sassonia / Maria Antonia Walburga / di Baviera / da / Niccolò Porpora / Maestro di Cappella di S.M. il Re di Polonia' ('12 Sonatas for violin and bass, dedicated to H.R.H. Maria Antonia of Bavaria, Electoral Princess of Saxony, by Niccolò Porpora, chapel master of H.M. the King of Poland'), as the original title reads, were published in Vienna in 1754. The beautiful edition, superbly printed and engraved, includes a short dedication to the Princess of Saxony, commissioned by Porpora to his friend Pietro Metastasio, in which he expresses the criteria behind his composing the 12 sonatas. Writes Porpora/Metastasio: 'I have endeavoured to bring peace among the most educated nations of Europe, in constant debate as far as their musical preferences of old over modern, Italian over French music. You will note that in the first six (particularly in those where I made special use of the three genera: diatonic, enharmonic and chromatic), written in polyphonic fashion and in strict observance of the rules, there is however reason for the most eager followers of the ornate modern style to be delighted: and that, on the other hand, the severe custodians of the most rigid traditional style will find nothing to complain about in the lively and capricious blend of old and modern, Italian and French, characterising the other six.'

"The 12 sonatas therefore were meant as a sort of 'Goûts Réunis', as a sum of international significance - not by chance published in Vienna, imperial capital -, of all aesthetics and styles of instrumental music developed in Europe in that period.

"With their noble grandeur and retrospective quality, the Neapolitan composer's 12 Sonatas constitute one of the last and most significant expressions of Baroque music, which the galant style would soon push into oblivion in the name of a spontaneity and ease of composition that a great exponent of the old school such as Porpora would probably have regarded with ill-concealed contempt. In the same years another great musician, Johann Sebastian Bach, was turning his back to contemporary trends, taking refuge in the abstractedness of his last speculative compositions, such as 'The Art of Fugue' and 'The Musical Offering'. A liaison to the style of the day is, in any case, present in the 12 Sonatas; however it is filtered by a professional conscience that was illdisposed to come to too obvious terms with the allurement of 'ease' and 'pleasantness', traits of a style that, in the space of a few years, would have made his violin Sonatas appear completely out of fashion.

"The first six works, written in a severe and archaic fashion, are all structured in four sections, after the Church sonata, featuring ample and elaborate fugues as second movements. These fugues - which would be transcribed for piano by Muzio Clementi several years later - reveal the mature Porpora's profound knowledge of counterpoint and of violin technique (in 1754 the composer was sixty-eight), and require extraordinary skill of the performer. The first Sonata of this group, in A Major, is the only one that features an opening 'Prelude (Grave)'; its final 'Allegro' in 12/8 time is written in the form of a 'Gigue'. The second Sonata opens with a 'Sostenuto' and a very complex 'Fugue', followed by an 'Aria Cantabile' that witnesses to Porpora's experience as an operatic composer. Sonata No. 6, in C Major, contains the most complex fugue of the entire collection of 12, the one in which Porpora made use of the three genera - diatonic, enharmonic and chromatic - mentioned above. In all six works the soloist's technical skills are put to the test by the repeated use of double stops and by instrumental writing that is often awkward, privileging musical content to mere bravura display.

"The subsequent six sonatas, lighter and relatively more modern in character, are technically easier and modelled after the 'Chamber sonata'. Only one out of the six (Sonata No. 9 in E Major) features the more modern structure in three movements instead of four. Here the tone is less severe and the technical passages less exacting; there are even a few occasional openings to the galant style (final 'Allegri' of Sonatas Nos. 7 and 8, and 'Andantino' of Sonata No. 9), though they remain set into a composed formal context. All of this corresponds to music writing that is less spontaneous than that of the previous group of six, as was rightly remarked by Francesco Degrada in his essay on Porpora's instrumental output. There is no lack, however, of fine and original pages, as for example: the first 'Allegro' of Sonata No. 7 in F Major; the 'Lento' of Sonata No. 9; the melancholic and pensive 'Lento assai' of Sonata No. 10; the very lively 'Presto' of Sonata No. 11; or the intense and vibrant 'Sostenuto' of Sonata No. 12. Significant, finally, is Porpora's habit of linking the various movements thematically to each another, which is particularly evident in Sonatas Nos. 7, 8, 9 and 11." (Danilo Prefumo, tr. Daniela Pilarz. From the liner notes.)

Performers: Giovanni Guglielmo, Pietro Bosna, Andrea Coen

1.1. Sonata I In A Major: I. Preludo (Grave)

1.2. Sonata I In A Major: II. Fuga

1.3. Sonata I In A Major: III. Adagio

1.4. Sonata I In A Major: IV. Allegro

1.5. Sonata II In G Major: I. Sostenuto - Fuga

1.6. Sonata II In G Major: II. Aria Cantabile

1.7. Sonata II In G Major: III. Allegro

1.8. Sonata III In D Major: I. Largo - Fuga

1.9. Sonata III In D Major: II. Andantino

1.10. Sonata III In D Major: III. Vivace

1.11. Sonata IV In B-Flat Major: I. Adagio

1.12. Sonata IV In B-Flat Major: II. Fuga

1.13. Sonata IV In B-Flat Major: III. Adagio

1.14. Sonata IV In B-Flat Major: IV. Allegretto

1.15. Sonata V In G Minor: I. Adagio

1.16. Sonata V In G Minor: II. Fuga

1.17. Sonata V In G Minor: III. Adagio

1.18. Sonata V In G Minor: IV. Allegro

1.19. Sonata VI In C Major: I. Adagio

1.20. Sonata VI In C Major: II. Fuga

1.21. Sonata VI In C Major: III. Aria

1.22. Sonata VI In C Major: IV. Allegro

2.1. Sonata VII In F Major: I. Cantabile

2.2. Sonata VII In F Major: II. Vivace

2.3. Sonata VII In F Major: III. Lento

2.4. Sonata VII In F Major: IV. Allegro

2.5. Sonata VIII In C Major: I. Adagio

2.6. Sonata VIII In C Major: II. Allegretto

2.7. Sonata VIII In C Major: III. Adagio

2.8. Sonata VIII In C Major: IV. Allegro

2.9. Sonata IX In E Major: I. Andantino

2.10. Sonata IX In E Major: II. Lento

2.11. Sonata IX In E Major: III. Allegro

2.12. Sonata X In A Major: I. Cantabile

2.13. Sonata X In A Major: II. Allegro

2.14. Sonata X In A Major: III. Lento

2.15. Sonata X In A Major: IV. Allegro

2.16. Sonata XI In D Major: I. Moderato

2.17. Sonata XI In D Major: II. Presto

2.18. Sonata XI In D Major: III. Lento

2.19. Sonata XI In D Major: IV. Allegro

2.20. Sonata XII In D Minor: I. Sostenuto

2.21. Sonata XII In D Minor: II. Vivace

2.22. Sonata XII In D Minor: III. Lento

2.23. Sonata XII In D Minor: IV. Allegro

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Nicola Porpora - Or Sì M'avveggio, Oh Amore: Cantatas for Soprano

"'I have been studying Handel and his era for more than two years; [...] to my great astonishment, I have observed the superiority of Porpora in respect of both grandeur of style and dramatic power.'

"This forceful statement, taken from a private letter which Romain Rolland sent to the Italian scholar Giuseppe Radiciotti around a century ago, displays an attitude verging on consternation at the unexpectedly high standard the Frenchman had discovered in the music of Nicola Porpora. Even today the Neapolitan composer remains completely unknown to the general public. In musicological circles, although his output has not yet been systematically studied, there is at least a general acknowledgment of his importance, and there has been some valuable research into specific aspects of his work. We have chosen to include on this CD cantatas that are not only of outstanding quality (and thus intrinsically deserving of revival), but which also convey the least monolithic view of Porpora's style. By representing the diversity of Porpora's music, we can do justice to some of the variables inevitable in the work of a prestigious composer: the tastes and demands of patrons, the historical moment at which his creative achievements took shape, and the natural and continuous transformation of his aesthetic philosophy over the course of time.

"The parallel often drawn between Handel and Porpora has long-established roots, and is closely connected with the two men's open rivalry on the London operatic scene. The Italian composer arrived on English soil between late summer and autumn 1733 at the invitation of the so-called Opera of the Nobility, for which he worked until its collapse in 1736–7. While it is true that the ferocious controversies arising from this rivalry have long clouded the image of Porpora with reductive, rough-and-ready judgements (he is often mentioned solely as Handel's 'opponent'), it did at least ensure, by acting as a stimulus to research now and then, that his name never entirely disappeared from music history books. In 1951, Frank Walker (a pioneer of Porpora studies) gave the first clearcut description of the composer's importance at the time of his arrival in London: 'When Porpora came to England in 1733, at the age of forty-seven, he had done more than pursue his own shadow. He had to his credit, after a quarter of a century's hard work, twenty-eight operas, three oratorios and a dramma sacro, six or seven serenatas and much church music.' Porpora was indeed one of the most sought-after composers in the celebrated theatres and principal musical establishments of the major European cities. Both before and after his sojourn in Britain he maintained a highly prestigious international career (divided between Naples, Venice, Dresden, Vienna, Turin, Rome, Milan, and so on), enjoying considerable influence on the contemporary musical scene and leaving a large number of excellent pupils (including Haydn, Farinelli, Caffarelli and Corri). One aspect of Porpora's work which Walker did not seem to hold in high esteem when writing his article (and he could hardly have done otherwise, since the fundamental thesis on the subject, by Everett Lavern Sutton, appeared only in 1974) was his significance as a composer of chamber cantatas, a repertory to which he made an abundant contribution in terms of both quantity (over 130 works) and quality.

"At the peak of Porpora's London popularity there appeared an extremely successful collection of twelve cantatas (for soprano or contralto with basso continuo or obbligato harpsichord, and in certain cases a concertante instrument as well) entitled 'Nuovamente composte opre di musica vocale' ('Newly composed works of vocal music'). Published in an elegant edition in 1735 (neatly and accurately printed, on high-quality paper and with ample margins), these exquisite pieces were subsequently to become, from the late eighteenth century to the end of the nineteenth, the principal yardstick for assessing the composer's style in dictionaries of music, along with the 'Sonate XII di violino e basso' ('Twelve sonatas for violin and bass'), the 'Sei duetti latini sulla Passione di Cristo' ('Six Latin duets on the Passion of Christ'), and a few sacred pieces. The high production costs of the publication were borne by Frederick, Prince of Wales, who evidently saw in this collection a fitting monument to his patronage: integrally planned and executed by a refined avant-garde composer of the calibre of Porpora, and setting unpublished texts by the greatest poet of the age (Metastasio), it epitomized the aesthetic aims which the prince championed in England in the realms of opera, poetry, and painting.

"The cantatas assembled in this volume clearly display the principal features of Porpora's compositional style at this stage in his career, notably his legendary melodic elegance, the remarkable fidelity of the music to the sentiments expressed in the text, and his skill in writing recitative, which was regarded as exemplary (more than one author described him as 'the father of recitative'). 'Già la notte s'avvicina (La pesca)' was included in this sumptuous publishing venture, and neatly illustrates all these stylistic features, as well as the unusual nature of the bass line in the pieces in the collection, which owes its exceptional cantabile quality to the fact that it was mostly conceived for the cello (an instrument of which the Prince of Wales was a creditable amateur exponent). Also connected to England, but for quite different reasons, is 'Or sì m'avveggio, oh Amore', whose forces include a concertante cello for the only time in Porpora's cantatas. This work has survived only because it is contained in a volume from the private collection of the London musician Benjamin Cooke (the younger), whose books were transferred in 1883 from the library of the Sacred Harmonic Society to constitute a substantial part of the collections of the newly founded Royal College of Music. How the piece came into Cooke's hands has still to be established, even though the use he made of it is obvious enough: well known at the time as an excellent teacher, he adapted it as a tool for his pupils to study continuo. The voracious but selective curiosity of this late eighteenth-century collector must have had no difficulty in finding compositions by Porpora on the market even years after he left England: works by the Neapolitan composer were still circulating and arousing the interest of British musicians (and would long continue to do so), and we know that precious manuscript copies passed through the hands of such personalities as William Savage, Richard Stevens and William Robinson. However, there is nothing to show that 'Or sì m'avveggio, oh Amore' was actually written in England. Stylistic analysis does not yield any elements that can help us to date it very precisely: we can do no more than assert that this cantata broadly corresponds to traits shown by the composer during his years in Naples in the 1720s and his London period of the mid-1730s, although it certainly dates from a few years before the publication of the 'Nuovamente composte opre di musica vocale' (1735).

"We can, however, be sure of the dating of the earliest cantata on this CD, 'Credimi pur che t'amo', completed in Rome (as is indicated by Porpora himself on his conducting score) on 4 July 1712. A constant exchange of composers and performers between Naples and the capital of the Papal States was the norm in the early eighteenth century: one need only think, for example, of the careers of Alessandro Scarlatti and Giovan Carlo Cailò and their respective influence on the Roman operatic scene and the Neapolitan string school. The young and promising Porpora must have quickly entered this virtuoso circle, assimilating the influences of the surroundings in which he found himself. Although the instrumental sections of this cantata are written in the style of the concerto grosso (with systematic alternation between soli and tutti), and while some passages in the vocal lines display a Scarlattian flavour, and the character of the recitatives and certain harmonic options immediately call to mind the Roman milieu, there are many elements which (even to a modern ear) evince considerable originality and powerful innovations. An example is found in the conclusion of the last movement of the opening Sinfonia. Such innovations would not have stood out so strongly in the artistic climate of Naples, where the far-reaching transformations of musical language that Porpora himself, Leo, Vinci and their contemporaries were shortly to export to the world were already being prepared and tried out.

"'Or che d'orrido Verno' is among Porpora's finest chamber cantatas. It cannot be securely dated, but may have been written when the composer was active in Naples or Venice (or perhaps even Dresden), between 1725 and 1730, or else in the late 1740s. The work features a twosection sinfonia (with no tempo marking) and assigns exceptionally brilliant roles to both the singer and the concertante flute. However, the demands on virtuoso technique do not overshadow the prominent, delicately handled echoes between voice, solo instrument and string accompaniment that characterize the writing (a typical trait of the composer, here illustrated in exemplary fashion in the sensual, poignant 'Lungi dal ben che s'ama'). Indeed, refinement, subtle interplay between the parts, and highly intensive (at times obsessive) exploitation of the thematic material were among the distinctive features of Porpora's output in general. These elements, combined with extremely rich melodic invention, a mastery of compositional technique, and a keen sense of theatre and dramatic pacing, marked him out for a successful career. Today, after centuries of neglect, all these characteristics surge from the pages of his scores with explosive force, showing how groundless are the widespread stereotypes which portray Porpora exclusively as a skilful purveyor of bravura arias for the use of his pupils. In the aesthetics of so profound and refined a musician, virtuosity was a means to an end: his requirement of an extremely high level of technique from performers was an instrument to enable him to obtain a seductive, spellbinding naturalness of style, necessary in its turn to create for the intellect and the senses a pleasure that would 'move the passions'." (Stefano Aresi, tr. Charles Johnston. From the liner notes.)

Performers: Auser Musici, Carlo Ipata, Elena Cecchi Fedi

1. Or Sì M'avveggio, Oh Amore: I. Or Sì M'avveggio, Oh Amore

2. Or Sì M'avveggio, Oh Amore: II. Dolce Pace, Lieta Calma

3. Or Sì M'avveggio, Oh Amore: III. Più Che Nel Ciel Tra' Numi

4. Or Sì M'avveggio, Oh Amore: IV. S'asconde Amor Nel Volto

5. Credimi Pur Che T'amo: I. Sinfonia. Presto

6. Credimi Pur Che T'amo: II. Sinfonia. Andante, E Spiritoso

7. Credimi Pur Che T'amo: III. Sinfonia. Allegro

8. Credimi Pur Che T'amo: IV. Credimi Pur Che T'amo

9. Credimi Pur Che T'amo: V. Sì, Sì, T'adoro Ma

10. Credimi Pur Che T'amo: VI. Sarò Pur Nell'amarti

11. Credimi Pur Che T'amo: VII. Amami E Non Languir

12. Già La Notte S'avvicina 'La Pesca': I. Già La Notte S'avvicina

13. Già La Notte S'avvicina 'La Pesca': II. Lascia Una Volta, Oh Nice

14. Già La Notte S'avvicina 'La Pesca': III. Non Più Fra Sassi Algosi

15. Or Che D'orrido Verno: I. Sinfonia. [Untitled]

16. Or Che D'orrido Verno: II. Sinfonia. [Untitled]

17. Or Che D'orrido Verno: III. Or Che D'orrido Verno

18. Or Che D'orrido Verno: IV. Lungi Dal Ben Che S'ama

19. Or Che D'orrido Verno: V. Pur Fra Tanta Mia Pena

20. Or Che D'orrido Verno: VI. Nocchier Che Mira

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Nicola Porpora - 6 Sinfonie da Camera, Op. 2

"Nicola (Antonio) Porpora was an Italian composer of Baroque operas and teacher of singing, whose most famous singing student was the castrato Farinelli. He graduated from the music conservatory Poveri di Gesù Cristo of his native city, where the civic opera scene was dominated by Alessandro Scarlatti.

"Nicola Porpora's first opera, 'Agrippina', was successfully performed at the Neapolitan court in 1708. His second, 'Berenice', was performed at Rome. In a long career, he followed these up by many further operas, supported as maestro di cappella in the households of aristocratic patrons, such as the commander of military forces at Naples, the prince of Hesse-Darmstadt, or of the Portuguese ambassador at Rome, for composing operas alone did not yet make a viable career. However, his enduring fame rests chiefly upon his unequalled power of teaching singing. At the Neapolitan Conservatorio di Sant'Onofrio and with the Poveri di Gesù Cristo he trained Farinelli, Caffarelli, Salimbeni, and other celebrated vocalists, during the period 1715-1721. In 1720 and 1721 he wrote two serenades to librettos by a gifted young poet, Metastasio, the beginning of a long, though interrupted, collaboration. In 1722 his operatic successes encouraged him to lay down his conservatory commitments.

"After a rebuff from the court of Charles VI at Vienna in 1725, Nicola Porpora settled mostly in Venice, composing and teaching regularly in the schools of La Pietà and the Incurabili. In 1729 the anti-Händel clique invited him to London to set up an opera company as a rival to Händel's, without success, and in the 1733-1734 season, even the presence of his pupil, the great Farinelli, failed to save the dramatic company in Lincoln's Inn Fields (the 'Opera of the Nobility') from bankruptcy.

"An interval as Kapellmeister at the Dresden court of the Elector of Saxony from 1748 ended in strained relations with his rival in Venice and Rome, the hugely successful opera composer Johann Adolph Hasse and his wife, the prima donna Faustina, and resulted in Nicola Porpora's departure in 1752. From Dresden he went to Vienna, where he gave music lessons to the young Joseph Haydn, who lived with Porpora as accompanist and in the character of a valet, but allowed later that he had learned from the maestro 'the true fundamentals of composition'. Then Porpora returned in 1759 to Naples.

"From this time Nicola Porpora's career was a series of misfortunes: his florid style was becoming old-fashioned, his last opera, 'Camilla', failed, his pension from Dresden stopped, and he became so poor that the expenses of his funeral were paid by a subscription concert. Yet at the moment of his death Farinelli and Caffarelli were living in splendid retirement on fortunes largely based on the excellence of the old maestro's teaching.

"A good linguist, who was admired for the idiomatic fluency of his recitatives, and a man of considerable literary culture, Nicola Porpora was also celebrated for his conversational wit. Besides some four dozen operas, there are oratorios, solo cantatas with keyboard accompaniment, motets and vocal serenades. Among his larger works, his 1720 opera 'Orlando, one mass, his 'Venetian Vespers', and the serenata 'Arianna in Nasso' (1733) have been recorded." (Biography from The Bach Website. See here.)

Performers: Artifizii Musicali, Guy Delvaux

1. Sinfonia No. 4 In D Major: I. Adagio

2. Sinfonia No. 4 In D Major: II. Allegro

3. Sinfonia No. 4 In D Major: III. Adagio

4. Sinfonia No. 4 In D Major: IV. Allegro

5. Sinfonia No. 5 In E Minor: I. Affettuoso

6. Sinfonia No. 5 In E Minor: II. Allegro

7. Sinfonia No. 5 In E Minor: III. Adagio

8. Sinfonia No. 5 In E Minor: IV. Giga. Allegro

9. Sinfonia No. 3 In G Minor: I. Adagio Sostenuto

10. Sinfonia No. 3 In G Minor: II. Allegro

11. Sinfonia No. 3 In G Minor: III. Adagio

12. Sinfonia No. 3 In G Minor: IV. Allegro

13. Sinfonia No. 1 In G Major: I. Adagio

14. Sinfonia No. 1 In G Major: II. Allegro

15. Sinfonia No. 1 In G Major: III. Allegro

16. Sinfonia No. 1 In G Major: IV. Presto

17. Sinfonia No. 2 In C Major: I. Adagio

18. Sinfonia No. 2 In C Major: II. Allegro

19. Sinfonia No. 2 In C Major: III. Affettuoso

20. Sinfonia No. 2 In C Major: IV. Allegro

21. Sinfonia No. 6 In B-Flat Major: I. Adagio

22. Sinfonia No. 6 In B-Flat Major: II. Allegro

23. Sinfonia No. 6 In B-Flat Major: III. Affettuoso

24. Sinfonia No. 6 In B-Flat Major: IV. Adagio

25. Sinfonia No. 6 In B-Flat Major: V. Allegro

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Nicola Porpora - Notturni per i Defunti

"In 1975 the American musicologist Everett Laverne Sutton devoted a small part of his pioneering doctoral thesis (on compositions for solo voice by Nicola Porpora) to some 'Notturni per i defunti' ('Nocturnes fir the Dead'), preserved as scores and individual parts at the Library of the Conservatorio di San Pietro a Majella in Naples. The analyses and historical hypotheses developed by Sutton — who worked in an environment in which gaining access to archives and information was an adventurous task — still reflect, many years later, the methodical researcher's perplexity in the face of the unusual and difficult task of situating the rediscovered repertoire. Recently, given the progress made in studies of Porpora and his life and times, we gained a fair understanding of the historical and liturgical context in which his music was created and of the transmission of some of his principal works. Both of these are fundamental to finding one's way through the chaotic critical-chronological puzzle of the manuscripts in which the Notturni are preserved.

 

"Its likely that these pieces were composed between 1739 and 1743, a period of the composer's life in which there are so many grey areas that what little information is known is uncertain (if not contradictory). In 1737 Porpora left London (where he was Handel's rival), settling in Venice and returning to opera composition. He replaced Johann Adolf Hasse as maestro at the Ospedale degli Incurabili. That same year the musician accepted imperial commissions in Vienna, such as the oratorio 'Il Gedeone' (performed on the 28th of March) and the cantata 'Il Ritiro.' 

 

"When Hasse returned to the Incurabili in September 1738, Porpora left the city for his native Naples, where from June 1739 he worked as maestro at the Conservatorio di S. Maria di Loreto. Then, in October 1741 the composer requested and obtained temporary leave from the institute to go to Venice. But, despite the commitments made in Naples, Porpora did not return. Having become maestro at the Ospedale della Pieta in 1742, in July of that same year he established a close relationship with the Ospedale dei Derelitti, where he was officially hired (after two years' unpaid service) on the 2nd of February 1744. The hypothesis that the Neapolitan could have been in London on the 24th of January 1743 for the first performance of 'Temistocle' seems somewhat doubtful today in light of the, recently researched, ongoing activities at the Derelitti. But what role did the 'Notturni' play in all of this?

 
"As indicated above, the music survives in one score (which is from the end of 18th century and contains only the lessons) and in some individual parts (which also include fragments of responsories). The parts can be divided into two main groups, which are linked to two distinct copying phases, both of which took place between the months of September and October in 1743 and 1760. There can be no doubt that these are linked to the activities of the Conservatorio di Loreto, since the copyists (in most cases the performers themselves) left in footnotes their own names and annotations such as 'written by Fica for the Holy House' or 'I, Geremia Gizzo wrote in the service of the Casa di Loreto': unequivocal signs that they belonged to the entourage of the institution. 

"It is a known fact that students of Neapolitan conservatories were under contract to provide services to churches linked to these institutions as well as — on special occasions — to chapels (including private ones) and convents, whose contracts with these educational institutions made up for the lack of a stable musical establishment. In the spring of 1760, because of the ever-worsening state of his own finances (above all the loss of a pension granted to him by the ruling House of Saxony), Porpora left Vienna, to which he had retired after honourable service to the court of Dresden. In April 1760 he returned to Naples and took up the special post of supernumerary maestro at the Conservatorio di Loreto, granted to him on the basis of his great renown. That same year moreover, the elderly composer also received (but declined) the title of maestro at another of the city's conservatories, Sant'Onofrio. The conclusion to be drawn from this state of affairs is simple: for an autumn 1760 celebration that was meant to be carried out by the students of the Conservatorio di S. Maria di Loreto — we'll see which one in a moment — Porpora re-used his own works (most likely revising them), which had been com-posed for a similar event about twenty years earlier (as attested by the pages copied in 1743).
 

"What the occasion was remains to be clarified. The period's liturgy required that the nocturnes for the dead be recited on two specific occasions: either for funeral rites or on All Souls Day, the 2nd of November. It is important to note how Porpora incorporates into the music each lesson from all of the nocturnes, something the liturgical rubrics justified only when celebrating the death of an extremely important person (for example, the Pope or the king) or on the specific occasion of the 2nd of November. No one with a status that would justify reciting the complete Office died in Naples or amongst Christians in either 1743 or 1760, whereas the copies were certainly made (in both cases) just before the commemoration of All Souls' Day. 

"One point remains to be explained. As we have seen, in 1743 Porpora had been in Venice since two years, busy with commissions and extra work for the Derelitti and he did not leave the city at all in October or November. How, then, can we explain the performance of his music in Naples? Simply by assuming a perfonnance taking place in his absence and by recalling that the accurate dating of the copies of parts does not in any way preclude the possibility that there were other, previous ones, of which there is no longer any trace. Porpora most likely wrote the music for the 2nd of November Office of the Matins as maestro of the Conservatorio di Loreto between 1739 and 1741, and it was so well received that it was used again. Or the composer could have sent a score from Venice in time for copies to be made for the celebrations in 1743: this thesis, however, has to be checked against historical evidence of the pace at which the composer worked at the Derelitti and with the possible deterioration of relations between Loreto and the musician, a point on which no definitive views can be stated yet.
In any case, of everything that Porpora put to music at this time, only the lessons survive in their entirety. Clearly reflecting a distinctively Neapolitan taste, they are presented (as is cus-tomary) as a splendid and expressive sequence — with very little rigidity — of recitatives, ariose and arias with no 'da capo.' Each lesson displays vocal writing with rather distinct character-istics because the intonation comes from nine different singers; the names inscribed on the indi-vidual parts for the 1760 performance indicate that the performers were the soprano castrati Albanese, Bertucci, Zingarelli and Zuattasis and the contraltos Gavigli, Gazzelli, Giovannini, Giuliano and Sacchini. Nothing is known, however, about the 1743 performers. 

"The rest of the Office is lost — assuming it was ever completely put to music. Nonetheless, the orchestral parts of the responsories following the individual lessons have survived together with a fragment (although it's crossed out) of the soprano part of 'Domine quando veneris.' It should be said that, from a philological point of view, restoration of the musical text of the lessons creates enormous problems, to which any sensible response has to be based on an informed hypothesis, though nothing can ever be said with absolute certainty. The large number of known variants is very difficult to manage, especially considering that the correlation between the manuscripts remains dangerously ambiguous in the absence of errors that would allow to relate them . It is also evident that at some point in time the link between lesson and responsory (envisaged at the outset) was broken by someone (who?), at least at the time of (or prior to?) the preparation of the late 18th century score, in which the individual lessons are clearly understood to be autonomous. 

"As has been said, little remains of the responsories: their inclusion in this recording must, therefore, be seen as the result of a new creative act motivated by the exceptional beauty of what did survive." (Stefano Aresi, tr. Rebecca Naidis. From the liner notes.)

 

Performers: La Stagione Armonica, Dolce & Tempesta, Stefano Demicheli, Monica Piccinini, Romina Basso

1. Nicola Porpora - Notturno Primo: Lezione I. Parce Mihi Domine

2. Nicola Porpora - Notturno Primo: Responsorio, Credo Quod Redemptor Meus Vivit

3. Nicola Porpora - Notturno Primo: Lezione II. Taedet Animam Meam

4. Nicola Porpora - Notturno Primo: Responsorio, Qui Lazarum Resuscitasti

5. Nicola Porpora - Notturno Primo: Lezione III. Manus Tuae Fecerunt Me

6. Nicola Porpora - Notturno Primo: Responsorio, Domine Quando Veneris

7. Nicola Fiorenza - Sinfonia In F Minor: I. Largo

8. Nicola Fiorenza - Sinfonia In F Minor: II. Allegro

9. Nicola Fiorenza - Sinfonia In F Minor: III. Largo

10. Nicola Fiorenza - Sinfonia In F Minor: IV. Allegro

11. Nicola Porpora - Notturno Secondo: Lezione I. Responde Mihi

12. Nicola Porpora - Notturno Secondo: Responsorio, Memento Mei Deus

13. Nicola Porpora - Notturno Secondo: Lezione II. Homo Natus De Muliere

14. Nicola Porpora - Notturno Secondo: Responsorio, Hei Mihi Domine

15. Nicola Porpora - Notturno Secondo: Lezione III. Quis Mihi Hoc Tribuat

16. Nicola Porpora - Notturno Secondo: Responsorio, Ne Recorderis

17. Nicola Fiorenza - Sinfonia In F Major: I. Largo

18. Nicola Fiorenza - Sinfonia In F Major: II. Allegro

19. Nicola Fiorenza - Sinfonia In F Major: III. Largo

20. Nicola Fiorenza - Sinfonia In F Major: IV. Non Presto

21. Nicola Porpora - Notturno Terzo: Lezione I. Spiritus Meus

22. Nicola Porpora - Notturno Terzo: Responsorio, Peccantem Me Quotidie

23. Nicola Porpora - Notturno Terzo: Lezione II. Pelli Meae Consumptis Carnibus

24. Nicola Porpora - Notturno Terzo: Responsorio, Domine Secumdum Actum Meum

25. Nicola Porpora - Notturno Terzo: Lezione III. Quare De Vulva 

 

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Nicola Porpora / Georg Friedrich Händel - Porpora and Handel in London: Duel

"The rivalry between Handel and Porpora in London would appear to have been one of the most heated feuds in the history of 18th century music, a subject that critics and admirers of the whole dramma per musica repertoire found particularly fascinating. So it's almost a pity that this contest, strife, dispute between giants never actually took place in the terms that are commonly reported. Granted, rivalry existed within musical circles at the time, but this had more to do with individual singers, aesthetic concepts and the patrons of the two different opera companies in London, and often had little to do with music as such. There was certainly no blazing personal row between the two composers, and though both were relatively hot-tempered, neither appears to have considered the other an enemy. Indeed, there is evidence to suggest that the two artists actually admired each other's work. Suffice it to recall that Porpora kept a copy of Handel's 'Tolomeo re d'Egitto' made in the very years in whith this curious 'rivalry' was in full swing (see 'Stille amare,' track 17). By the same token, Handel greeted the publication of 'Porpora's Cantate op. 1' in 1735 with enthusiasm, as Giuseppe Sigismondo (1739-1826) points out in his 'Apoteosi della musica del Regno di Napoli,' an essential source for the history of Italian music. 

 

"The huge misunderstanding regarding the whole question of 'rivalry' probably derives from the effectively heated climate of opinion prevailing in England between 1733 and 1737, when the two composers were working there. So it certainly makes sense to explain the setting in which the purported challenge took place. Until 29 December 1733, with the first performance of 'Arianna in Naxo' at Lincoln's Inn Fields, opera audiences in London had never heard an entire original work by Porpora. That said, however, just as his fame in Venice was beginning to grow, his name had appeared in association with a new production, 'Elisa,' staged at the Haymarket in 1726. Nine arias by Porpora, slightly modified, were then included by Handel in four pasticcios between 1730 and 1732: 'Ormisda' (1730), 'Venceslao' (1731), 'Lucio Papirio dittatore' (1732) and 'Catone in Utica' (1732). Depending on the case, these pieces were performed in England as a choice of the singers who had already sung them on the continent or, sometimes (as in the case of 'Quando piomba improvvisa saetta,' from Porpora's 'Poro' - track 18) because Handel himself wanted them into the scores. 

 

"Handel exercised an absolute monopoly over opera in London, and Propora's arrival in the city to head the Opera of Nobility regarded both art and politics. Although London audiences consisted of little more than a thousand or so people, these came from the most important social strata, who were becoming increasingly aware that the musical style and dramaturgy then in fashion in Europe did not coincide with what the company directed by Handel had been staging for many years. Opera houses on the continent hosted works based on extremely modern librettos, often written by Metastasio, the foremost Italian poet of the century. Moreover, the composers connected with the best Neapolitan avant-garde circles had embraced a style that could accommodate both the liveliest dramatic requirements and constantly evolving vocal tastes introduced by a new generation of singers. Just imagine the impact of an aria such as 'Nume the reggi 'l mare' on an audience accustomed to the use of orchestral accompaniment and voice a la Handel, which was considerably less gallant than the Italian standard of the time (track 2). Although the situation in London was not entirely impermeable to all of this, it was nevertheless distinctly static and dominated by the conflict between the Tory and the Whig political perspectives, some ill-concealed anti-German sentiments, and a general discontent caused by price increases for the audiences who attended Handel's works. Moreover, the poet Paolo Rolli and the singer Senesino were scheming in favour of a new company that was overtly opposed to the existing one. A group of aristocrats within the sphere of Frederik, Prince of Wales, were bent on creating new produdions, calling in the best musicians then available in Europe. To create an outstanding vocal cast, the London star singers of the time (Francesca Cuzzoni, Senesino and Antonio Montagnana) were joined by Carlo Broschi Farinelli. The sets were to be designed by artists of the calibre of Jacopo Amigoni, and to cap it all, the composer they had in mind was Porpora, internationally acclaimed as one of the most solid points of reference with regard to musical quality and innovation. Indeed, Porpora was not only one of the foremost representatives of the heroic style connected with Pietro Metastasio's librettos, but also an undisputed master of recitative and a great connoisseur of the human voice. 

 

"All sorts of things happened during the course of those difficult years in London, where there were two opera companies that vied with each other: duels fought to their lethal conclusion during performances, violent financial crises, and evenings when Farinelli sang for an almost empty house. Yet most of this had little to do with the individual choices of the two composers involved, their main focus being the need to stage their creations by coordinating the instrumentalists and the singers. Handel and Porpora were certainly facing a challenge, but not among themselves. The aim of both of them was to attract audiences. Encouraged by his dose collaboration with Rolli, Porpora was more inclined to experiment, achieving greater formal freedom and an appealing take on local theatrical usage. Handel, for his part, soon had to resort to hiring singers who made a great impact on audiences (one of them was Giovanni Caregtini). In this he glowed skill in quickly adapting to the requirements of the moment, thinking up original ways of making his productions more attractive, including integrating ballets in his operas, which often meant engaging the dancer Marie Salle. 

 

"A particularly famous case in point is Handel's opera 'Ariodante.' Although the libretto was a rather modest adaptation of an earlier text by Antonio Salvi, the opera itself reveals the composer's genius in exploiting the opportunity of having Carestini in the cast and being able to count on a good ballet company. For this recording we have decided to include two musical episodes of particular importance from the opera: 'Scherza infida' (here performed with the variations of the B section and the Da Capo preserved in a well-known Engligh manuscript of the 18th century (track 9), and the ballet that closes the second act (tracks 11-14). The famous aria represents an extraordinary example of Handel's mastery in giving musical form to the theatrical requirements of the libretto, in particular in the delicate balance between vocal line and instrumental accompaniment (with bassoon obbligato and muted strings), thus complementing the state of mind of the protagonist In April of the same year, the company also staged 'Alcina,' whith includes 'Sta nell'ircana pietrosa tana' (track 1), especially written for Carestini to underline the singer's technical agility more than his power to move audiences, given the completely different dramatic context. 

 

"Right around the opening of 'Ariodante,' Porpora and his team were staging 'Polifemo,' one of his most convincing scores, based on a delightful new libretto of heroic-pastoral inspiration written by Paolo Rolli. The cast included Farinelli, Senesino, Francesca Cuzzoni, Antonio Montagnana, Francesca Bertolli and Maria Segatti. The aria 'Il gioir qualor s'aspetta' (track 10), sung by Calipso, concludes the masterful third scene of Act III, which tells of how Odysseus blinds of the ferocious giant Polyphemus. The fiery triplets of the vocal score and the animated passages played by the strings brilliantly underline the personal joy of the nymph, who sings of the success of the hero she loves.

 

"There can be no doubt that Porpora proved to be particularly flexible in the way he adapted to London theatre life, which called for approaches that were sometimes at odds with the experience and expectations of a composer trained in Italy. This regarded not only form and style, but also dramaturgy, as in the case of 'Mitridate,' based on a Shakespearean framework far from continental theatrical tastes. In fad it was not until Alessandro Verri's translations of Shakespeare were published in 1777 that the Bard's works began to influence Italian cultural output and, consequently, the stage works performed in Italy. Another essential aspect of the relationship between British audiences and the dramma per musica is the recitative: since knowledge of Italian was uncommon among opera-goers in London, secco recitatives tended to be shorter than in Italy, whereas accompanied recitatives were surprisingly numerous and long compared with what was common on the continent. An exemplary case in point is the intense and delicate sequence of recitative and aria in 'Dolce è su queste alte mie logge a sera... Fu del braccio onipotente,' which is part of the only oratorio Porpora wrote in England: 'David e Bersabea' (tracks 3-4). Here the verses describe the moment in which the King of Israel first sets eyes on the lovely Bathsheba, with whom he falls in love. Although the work comprises some remarkable music, the oratorio turned out to be a tremendous flop, probably because the score reflected tastes that were far removed from those established with such success by Handel. 

 

"In 1737, when excessive costs and insufficient fee-paying audiences led to the collapse of Opera of Nobility, Porpora returned to the continent, and to composing in a fashion that was more akin to Italian reality. Although he reused very little of the material he had composed in London, he did rework a scene from his 'Ifigenia in Aulide' to turn it into a chamber cantata for two voices: 'Calcante e Achille.' This is the source of the aria originally written for Farinelli 'A questa man verra' (track 8). The rest of his English output was completely forgotten, and the whole subject of the relationship between Handel and Popora only surfaced much later, at the start of the 19th century, when various legends, since disproved, began to circulate about Handel's unlikely admiration for Porpora's 'Berenice,' and for the equally unlikely challenge between the two regarding 'Agrippina.'

"In his life Porpora did have a couple of real adversaries with whom he clashed: Leonardo Vinci and Benedetto Marcello, though only the former constituted for him a real worry. His relationship with Handel during the London years doesn't seem based on personal antagonism: in fact both the composers were duelling with quarrelsome, lively audiences, whose riotous attitudes contributed to the birth of some of the foremost masterpieces of 18th century opera." (Stefano Aresi. From the liner notes.)

 

Performers: Le Concert de l'Hostel Dieu, Franck-Emmanuel Comte, Giuseppina Bridelli

1. Georg Friedrich Händel - Alcina, HWV 34: 'Sta Nell'ircana Pietrosa Tana'

2. Nicola Porpora - Arianna In Naxo: 'Nume Che Reggi 'L Mare'

3. Nicola Porpora - David E Bersabea: 'Dolce È Su Queste Alte Mie Logge A Sera'

4. Nicola Porpora - David E Bersabea: 'Fu Del Braccio Onnipotente'

5. Nicola Porpora - Polifemo, Ouverture: I. Ouverture

6. Nicola Porpora - Polifemo, Ouverture: II. Allegro

7. Nicola Porpora - Polifemo, Ouverture: III. (...)

8. Nicola Porpora - Calcante E Achille: 'A Questa Man Verrà'

9. Georg Friedrich Händel - Ariodante, HWV 33: 'Scherza Infida'

10. Nicola Porpora - Polifemo: 'Il Gioir Qualor S'aspetta'

11. Georg Friedrich Händel - Ariodante, HWV 33, Suite De Ballet: I. Entrée Des Songes Agréables

12. Georg Friedrich Händel - Ariodante, HWV 33, Suite De Ballet: II. Entrée Des Songes Funestes

13. Georg Friedrich Händel - Ariodante, HWV 33, Suite De Ballet: III. Entrée Des Songes Agréables Effrayés

14. Georg Friedrich Händel -  Ariodante, HWV 33, Suite De Ballet: IV: Le Combat Des Songes Funestes Et Agréables

15. Nicola Porpora - Mitridate: 'Alza Al Soglio I Guardi'

16. Georg Friedrich Händel - Tolomeo, HWV 25: 'Inumano Fratel, Barbara Madre'

17. Georg Friedrich Händel - Tolomeo, HWV 25: 'Stille Amare, Già Vi Sento'

18. Georg Friedrich Händel -  Catone In Utica, HWV A7: 'Quando Piomba Improvvisa Saetta'

 

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Nicola Porpora - Il Gedeone

"At the mention of the oratorio genre, music lovers automatically think of George Frideric Handel's 'Messiah' set to English texts from the Bible or Johannes Brahms's 'Ein deutsches Requiem.' But neither of these works is an oratorio in the stricter sense of the term. The oratorio, as a genre and the name of a genre, emerged from a number of different forerunner forms in Italy during the second third of the seventeenth century and initially remained by and large an Italian genre. It was not until 1730 that it established itself internationally, and here the oratorio texts of the Vienna court poet Pietro Metastasio played an important role. 

 

"From 1660 to 1730 there had been only one center of oratorio performance outside Italy, albeit a center of great importance: the Habsburg imperial court in Vienna. Up until the time that Maria Theresa became empress in 1740, oratorios — Italian oratorios — had been performed at the Vienna court on a regular basis. (This makes Nicola Porpora's 'Il Gedeone' of 1737 an extremely late work within the context of the Italian oratorios composed and performed in Vienna.) Vienna was also the model for other Catholic courts north of the Alps such as those in Dresden, Innsbruck, Salzburg, Prague, and Warsaw.

A Habsburg emperor, Leopold I, who him-self composed respectable oratorios, stood at the beginning of this Vienna tradition of the Counter Reformation and with a strong Jesuit stamp. His 'Il transito di S. Giuseppe' was per-formed almost every year for two decades beginning in 1680. For the period between 1660 and 1740 we have about 350 oratorios in text form with some two hundred oratorios by composers known by name and a good dozen by anonymous composers in score form. 

 

"Of the composers, sixteen (including Nicola Porpora) are represented by one oratorio, eleven by two oratorios, and five by three such works. Only those composers who were employed at the Vienna court or maintained close ties to it composed four or more oratorios for performance in Vienna. Oratorios composed elsewhere were 'importedo' mainly from Rome, Bologna, and Venice. It is note-worthy that three of the oratorio composers are known to have been women: Caterina Grazianini and Maria Margherita Grimani are represented with two oratorio premieres and Camilla de Rossi with four. 

 

"The oratorios composed during the great days of the Italian oratorio between 1660 and 1740 by and large exhibited a stable form. The libretti were in two parts and had four hundred to five hundred verses. Usually one character, a figure from the Old Testament, New Testament, or the lives of the saints, stood at the center of the action (and was named in the title), and there were four or five more solo vocal parts. The chorus was employed only sporadically, usually at the end of the two parts and in a very conventional way. The oratorio genre as a whole, especially in comparison to the contemporary opera and (secular) cantata, bore conservative traits. This had to do, especially in Vienna, with the special performance circumstances of the oratorio. At the Habsburg court oratorios were performed first and foremost during Holy Week, during a period in which sorrow and a minimum of musical means constituted the proper tone. In Vienna and else-where oratorios were intended as extraliturgical court devotion, even when they were performed in the court chapel or integrated into the Holy Week liturgy. Unlike what was frequently the case with the opera, they were not subject to public competition or to the pressure to make a profit. These factors played a major role in the shaping of the oratorio style. 

 

"The history of the oratorio was like that of the opera, however, in that the librettists played a role at least as important as that of the composers and often had a decisive influence. In Vienna two court poets brought about enduring changes to the oratorio text: the Venetian Apostolo Zeno (1668-1750, at the Vienna court during 1718-29) and the already mentioned Pietro Metastasio (1698-1782). We know of sixteen libretti by Zeno for what he called 'drammi sacri,' from the years after 1719. The designation 'sacred dramem' meant that Zeno aimed at approximating the form of the oratorio to the drama, to the tragedy, especially to Jean Racine's religious dramas ('Esther' and 'Athalia'). He derived his subject matter exclusively from the Bible and made an effort not to expand this biblical material with invented stories, figures, and episodes. This led to the drastic reduction in the number of oratorios about the lives of the saints in Vienna. 

 

"Pietro Metastasio, the most important Italian dramatic poet of the eighteenth century, had an even more lasting influence. He was the idol of his times and held the post of Vienna court poet beginning in 1730. Between 1730 and 1740, at the time when Porpora wrote his 'll Gedeone,' Metastasio wrote seven oratorio libretti, which, like his opera texts, were submitted to multiple musical settings by numerous composers. It was through Metastasio, not only through the composers, that the oratorio genre gained the status of an international form. 

 

"The life of Nicola Porpora, who was born in Naples in 1686 and died in the same city in 1768, was linked in many ways to Vienna and to the Vienna court poet Metastasio. Porpora set 'Angelica' and 'Gli orti esperidi,' two of Metastasio's early poems intended for musical settings, as serenate for the birthdays of the emperor and empress in the then Austrian Naples in 1720 and 1721. During this time Porpora must have enjoyed the patronage of the Vienna court, perhaps through his employer, the Prince of Hesse-Darmstadt, who himself rendered services to the Austrian monarchy. Between 1725 and 1743 Porpora wrote eight operas to texts by Metastasio and during his early period three or four operas to texts by Zeno. Porpora received his first commission for an opera for Vienna in 1714; it was entitled 'Arianna e Teseo,' set to a text by Pariati, and intended for the emperor's birthday. In 1718 his 'Temistocle' to a libretto by Zeno was premiered at the Vienna court theater on the occasion of the emperor's birthday. Nevertheless, Porpora's rise to fame as an opera composer followed not in Vienna but in Rome and Northern Italy. He settled in Venice in 1726 and then went to London in 1733 at the invitation of the Opera of the Nobility, Handel's rival in the opera business in the English capital. He left England in 1736 —before the Opera of the Nobility, like Handel's opera company, went bankrupt — and returned to Naples. He did not assume a permanent post there again at the Conservatorio di S. Maria di Loreto until July 1, 1739.

"When Porpora wrote the oratorio 'Il Gedeone' for Vienna in 1737, he was a 'free man' who was looking for a job. And, as chance would have it, the Vienna court music director Antonio Caldara had died on December 28, 1736! As one might assume owing to his personal acquaintance with Metastasio, Porpora did not seek in vain for support from him. 'Il Gedeone' was a sort of 'oriol piece' in which Porpora was supposed to show what he could do as a composer. He overlooked the fact, however, that he was supposed to compose a conservative oratorio for Holy Week corresponding to the models of the court composers Caldara and Fux. It is surprising (or perhaps was part of his strategy?) that Porpora did not set a text by Metastasio. 

 

"Porpora was certainly in Vienna for the premiere of 'Il Gedeone' on March 28. When he was unsuccessful in his bid, he returned to his native Naples and resided there from 1739 to 1741. We then find him in Venice and beginning in 1747 at the Dresden court, a center of the Italian opera. It was there that Porpora re-encountered Johann Adolf Hasse, who had been his pupil in 1722. (His other pupils included Farinelli and Caffarelli, the two most famous castrati of the time.) It was not until 1752 or 1753 that Porpora, with a handsome Dresden pension, settled in Vienna. Here he taught song to Wilhelmine, the mistress of the Venetian ambassador Pietro Correr, and to Metastasio's protegée Marianna Martinez. It was probably also Metastasio who introduced Porpora, then a European celebrity, to the young Joseph Haydn. Haydn became Porpora's servant, pupil, and piano accompanist in voice instruction. The outbreak of the Seven Years' War between Prussia and Saxony meant that Porpora lost his Dresden pension in 1757. His financial situation became increasingly precarious until he found new employment in Naples in 1757-60. He had grown old during a time of fundamental new musical developments and was a witness to another epoch, namely to the first, still 'baroque' third of the eighteenth century. Unlike Leonardo Vinci, Leonardo Leo, or Pergolesi, Porpora did not become a composer of the second third of the century, when the foundation was laid for the 'classical' styles in the opera and instrumental music in Italy as well as in Vienna. He spent the last years of his life in abject poverty in the city of his birth, where he died in 1768. 

 

"The libretto of 'Il Gedeone' is by an 'A. Perrucci.' Owing to the relatively early year of his death, it is uncertain whether the author was Andrea Perrucci (1651-1704), a well-known librettist and theater theorist who was active in Naples. On the other hand, Porpora's composition teacher Francesco Mancini set another oratorio libretto by a Perrucci in Naples in 1733 ('II zelo animato dal gran profeta Elia'), and it was based on a text published by Andrea Perrucci in 1691. The text of 'La Debbora profetessa guerriera,' an oratorio of 1691 by the Neapolitan Giuseppe Vignola certainly stems from Andrea Perrucci, and in 1701 the same composer, in his 'Il Gedeone geroglifico,' turned to the material that Porpora would use decades later. 

 

"In form and content the libretto set by Porpora is a text corresponding to the fundamental principles of Zeno's oratorio texts but hardly approximating Metastasio's verbal artistry. The story is derived — without major additions — from Judges 6-8 in the Old Testament, and Gideon [alto castrato], an Israelite liberator chosen by God from the period around 1100 B.C.E, stands at its center. Other characters include his father Joas (the biblical Joash) [bass], his wife Sichemi [soprano] (in the oratorio his only wife, in the Bible his concubine in Shechem, who bore him one of his seventy sons), and Gideon's retainer Fara [alto]. The opposition is represented by the commander Oreb [soprano castrato], a prince of the Midianites named in the Bible, and his officer Silve [tenor]. The poetic text is clearly divided into sixteen recitatives, twelve arias, three choruses (two of which form a remarkably full and lavish conclusion to the two parts), and the instrumental pieces introducing the two parts, an lntroduzione and a Sinfonia. Gedeone's father Joas and Sichemi sing three arias each, Gedeone himself (and his rival Oreb) only two arias, but they are particularly extensive. The two minor characters Fara and Silve are assigned one aria each. Celestial or allegorical figures hardly appear at all, and this too corresponds to Zeno's theories. The biblical angel who commissions Gideon to save Israel and to destroy Baal's altar does not sing in the oratorio. Joas's second aria has been eliminated from the present recording, and some secco recitatives and the concluding chorus — which is monumental enough anyway — have been abridged. 

 

"At the beginning of the second third of the eighteenth century, opera composers like Leonardo Vinci, Leonardo Leo, Johann Adolf Hasse, and Giovanni Battista Pergolesi brought about a fundamental change in musical style in Italy. The encounter with Metastasio's libretti led to a turning away from the baroque pathos of the slow aria and coloratura splendor of the allegro aria and from the dominance of counterpoint to emotionally stirring character, cantability, and the clear recital of the text with clear periodization of the musical phrases and a modest orchestral accompaniment supporting the vocal parts. Within a few years (Bach and Handel still had twenty years to live) a fundamentally new musical idiom came about, an idiom long designated as 'preclassical.' Bach and Handel were not the only two who would did not participate in this decisive stylistic development; Nicola Porpora would also have to be included among their company. In Vienna, however, the oratorio composer Porpora met with an oratorio tradition that not only was entirely and fully obliged to a 'baroqueo' idiom but also employed this old idiom conservatively in the field of the oratorio. Caldara and Fux both employed an 'eruditeo' emphatically contrapuntal-linear writing style in sacred music in general and in the oratorio. To be sure, Porpora himself had been instructed in 'stricto' polyphonic composition in Naples, and the concluding choruses of the two parts of 'Il Gedeone' leave not the slightest doubt about his ability to compose stupendous choral fugues in a manner that we would associate with Handel. Here the measured and serious tone of the choral polyphony of Fux and Caldara was at most one means of design among others. Porpora wanted to show what he could do and put his artistry on display, and reserve and economy were the least appropriate means for doing so. And so it is that 'Il Gedeone' makes a grand display of the brio and imaginative wealth of a genuine theater musician who served up lavish coloraturas and effective trills for the warbling of his vir-tuoso singers and let the castrato part in Gedeone's two arias indulge in concert splendor with oboes and even a solo trumpet (during Holy Week, when this instrument was supposed to keep its silence!). The alto castrato Pietro Casati, who was also active as a composer in Vienna), sang the part of Gedeone; La Pisani, the soprano, was the first Sichemi; and the court singer Praun sang the role of Joas. Vivaldi's concerto style, which had long since made its way to Naples, left clear traces on Porpora's string part, with its dense texture and constant motion. 

 

"This music by Porpora was just as foreign to the Vienna oratorio tradition as it was to the new gentle tones in the Italian operas and oratorios of those years by Leonardo Vinci, Leonardo Leo, Hasse, or Pergolesi. Nowhere is the dramatic impetus of Porpora's music so audible as in the no less than nine accompagnato recitatives with orchestral accompaniment. Here one should pay particular attention to how he works with string tremoli in the accompagnato before the second chorus, the siciliano chorus, and how the thematic design of the chorus together with the pastoral oboes in already anticipated in the recitative. At the same time, the thoroughly traditional delineation of the form (though there are already two-part arias along with the da capo arias that then represented the norm) and compositional technique with fundamental basses proper can no less not be overlooked.

"The dramatic style of this music does not follow as a matter of course from the libretto. The story of Gideon consists of divine calling, battle, and victory. Joas's fatherly warmth and Sichemi's fear counterpoint Gedeone's confident faith, which also makes him certain of victory. But tenderness, trembling, and grief could not find a place in this oratorio, which comes across like a splendid opera for a gala court occasion. 

 

"Porpora did not achieve the goal that he hoped to achieve with 'Il Gedeone' in Vienna, but he went down in grand style. Paradoxically, the very elements of this dazzling, captivating music that sealed his doom in Vienna in 1737 made the first new performance of this work in our time by the Wiener Akademie in the Hofburgkapelle a rousing success in more ways than one." (Jürg Stenzl, tr. Susan Marie Praeder. From the liner notes.)

 

Performers: Vokalensemble Nova, Wiener Akademi, Martin Haselböck, Kai Wessel, Ulf Bästlein, Linda Perillo, Henning Voss, Jörg Waschinski, Johannes Chum

1.1. Parte I: Introduzione

1.2. Parte I: 'Principe A Te Ritorno Apportatore'

1.3. Parte I: 'Quasi Locuste Che Intorno'

1.4. Parte I: 'Ma Forse Disperati'

1.5. Parte I: 'Quell'aura Lusinghiera'

1.6. Parte I: 'Padre Non Più Vana'

1.7. Parte I: 'Tu Se'il Minore De Toui Fratelli'

1.8. Parte I: 'Signor Del Popol Tutto'

1.9. Parte I: 'Mi Vegga, Oh Dio'

1.10. Parte I: 'In Qual Dubbio D'affetti'

1.11. Parte I: 'Di Nemico Sangue Il Campo'

1.12. Parte I: 'Odo Le Strida, Già Vaggo Il Volto'

1.13. Parte I: 'Oh Dio, Che Troppo Sono Potenti'

1.14. Parte I: 'D'una Dolce Speranza'

1.15. Parte I: 'Cadranno I Lupi Fieri'

1.16. Parte I: 'A Quella Omnipotente Man'

1.17. Parte I: 'Signor, Le Tue Minacce Noi Provammo'

 

2.1. Parte II: Sinfonia

2.2. Parte II: 'Sichemi Perche Mai Lui'

2.3. Parte II: 'L'alte Strida'

2.4. Parte II: 'Ove' Son Giunto, Ohime Infelice'

2.5. Parte II: 'À Pur Vinto, O Sorte Barbara'

2.6. Parte II: 'Alfin Sè Giunto Al Varco Dallo'

2.7. Parte II: 'O Beato Fortunato'

2.8. Parte II: 'Che Fia Di Gedeone?'

2.9. Parte II: 'Lodi Al Dio Delle Vittorie'

2.10. Parte II: 'Non Le Mie'

2.11. Parte II: 'Cogliete, Amici, Il Frutto Di Vostra Fede'

2.12. Parte II: 'M'abbondano Le Lagrime Per Doppia Gioia'

2.13. Parte II: 'Chi Nel Signor Confida Non Perisce In Eterno'

 

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Nicola Porpora - L'Amato Nome: Cantatas Opus 1

"The publication of Porpora’s 'Nuovamente composte opre di musica vocale' (Cantatas op. 1) should be placed within this [18th century English] social and artistic milieu: designed as a collection of twelve Italian chamber cantatas on Arcadian subjects (six for soprano and six for alto), it was published in 1735, and dedicated to Prince Frederick. The collection, destined to become one of the Neapolitan musician’s most successful works, sets texts by Pietro Metastasio, and seems deliberately planned as a display of the composer’s different expressive, formal and stylistic skills, for all that it uses the large-scale alternating structures typical of the genre: Aria-Recitative-Aria or Recitative-Aria-Recitative-Aria. The edition itself was very well designed and luxuriously engraved, and includes corrections and variants inserted by Porpora himself during the printing runs. It was printed on high-quality paper and distributed without a cover price, as if intended as a valuable gift for connoisseurs: a “business card” for the poetic and musical world of which Porpora was considered to be one of the greatest representatives.

"On the front page of this refined little volume, Porpora states that the cantatas were newly composed, and personally approved by Prince Frederick’s 'delicate taste': although not known of in manuscripts copied before 1735, it is certain that part of the music was written before the composer arrived in Britain. One of his pupils, Giuseppe Sigismondo (1739-1826), attests in his 'Apoteosi della musica del Regno di Napoli' that: 'He [Porpora] set out for London together with his pupil Farinelli in order to compensate for Handel’s deficiency in heroic theatre. But being as shrewd as a fox, he completed his 12 cantatas with continuo and no other instruments [...] and as soon as he arrived in London he had them elegantly published in 1735.'

"[...] As opposed to what is usually stated, cantatas should not be regarded in any way as 'small opera scenes'. To the eyes of Porpora’s contemporaries, they were a reality in themselves, much closer to the ancient idea of 'musica reservata' than to something staged or in any sense theatrical. They were rather to be enjoyed by a few intimate connoisseurs, and to be enjoyed in detail and in depth. It was a genre designed for singers (often female) and instrumentalists, who were rarely professionals, but rather highly-trained amateurs, who in their performance engaged with a small number of listeners able to grasp two essential elements: the composer’s expertise in setting to music the poet’s words, and the performers’ expertise in exploiting the verbal and musical refinements scattered throughout the score. It is a small world, characterised by intimacy and intellectual tension, a world in which shepherds and nymphs express and live out an infinite variety of delicately-shaded emotions, with a deep connection to the eighteenth-century ideals of love and beauty, which are perfectly embodied in the verses and strophes of Metastasio, and in Porpora’s music." (Stefano Aresi. From the liner notes.)

Performers: Stile Galante, Stefano Aresi

1.1. Cantata V: I. 'Scrivo In Te L’amato Nome'
1.2. Cantata V: II. 'O Pianta Avventurosa!'
1.3. Cantata V: III. 'Per Te D’amico Aprile'
1.4. Cantata X: I. 'Oh Se Fosse Il Mio Core'
1.5. Cantata X: II. 'Se Lusinga Il Labbro E ’L Ciglio'
1.6. Cantata X: III. 'Mi Fa Barbara E Ingrata'
1.7. Cantata X: IV. 'Sento Pietade, Non Son Crudele'
1.8. Cantata VIII: I. 'Or Che Una Nube Ingrata'
1.9. Cantata VIII: II. 'Senza Il Misero Piacer'
1.10. Cantata VIII: III. 'M’intendi? Io Tutto Dissi: Ahi Qual Tormento!'
1.11. Cantata VIII: IV. 'Contemplar Almen Chi S’ama'
1.12. Cantata III: I. 'Tirsi Chiamare A Nome'
1.13. Cantata III: II. 'Se In Amor Che Sia Vicino'
1.14. Cantata III: III. 'Sì, Sì, Benché L’aspetto'
1.15. Cantata III: IV. 'So Ben Che La Speranza In Fronte A Chi S’adora'
1.16. Cantata IX: I. 'Destatevi, O Pastori: Ecco Il Mattino'
1.17. Cantata IX: II. 'Nei Campi E Nelle Selve'
1.18. Cantata IX: III. 'Tornerò Fra Le Gregge'
1.19. Cantata IX: IV. 'Silvio Amante Disperato'
1.20. Cantata VI: I. 'Già La Notte S’avvicina'
1.21. Cantata VI: II. 'Lascia Una Volta, O Nice'
1.22. Cantata VI: III. 'Non Più Fra’ Sassi Algosi'

2.1. Cantata XI: I. 'Oh Dio, Che Non È Vero: Ogni Gran Piaga'
2.2. Cantata XI: II. 'Quella Ferita Ch’io Porto In Seno'
2.3. Cantata XI: III. 'Passano I Fiumi E I Rivi'
2.4. Cantata XI: IV. 'Se Mi Prestasse I Vanni'
2.5. Cantata IV: I. 'Queste Che Miri, O Nice'
2.6. Cantata IV: II. 'Sei Mio Ben, Sei Mio Conforto'
2.7. Cantata IV: III. 'Credimi, Sì, Mio Sole'
2.8. Cantata IV: IV. 'Amo, Né Sarà Mai Che A Più Vezzosi Rai'
2.9. Cantata VII: I. 'Veggo La Selva E Il Monte'
2.10. Cantata VII: II. 'Le Direi Mormorando Fra’ Sassi'
2.11. Cantata VII: III. 'Poscia, Quando Il Pastor Guida La Greggia'
2.12. Cantata VII: IV. 'Ma La Selva, Il Monte, Intanto'
2.13. Cantata II: I. 'Nel Mio Sonno Almen Talora'
2.14. Cantata II: II. 'Pria Dell’aurora, O Fille'
2.15. Cantata II: III. 'Partì Con L’ombra, È Ver'
2.16. Cantata I: I. 'D’Amore Il Primo Dardo'
2.17. Cantata I: II. 'Fra Gl’amorosi Lacci'
2.18. Cantata I: III. 'Ch’io Mai Vi Possa Lasciar Di Amare'
2.19. Cantata XII: I. 'Dal Povero Mio Cor, Che Vuoi Speranza?'
2.20. Cantata XII: II. 'Mensogniera Dici: "Spera"'
2.21. Cantata XII: III. 'Pallido, Ancor Tremante'
2.22. Cantata XII: IV. 'Ha Scogli E Rie Procelle'

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