Andreas Scholl and Friends Handel Cantatas and Sonatas

Monday 21 January 2008 at 7.30pm
Andreas Scholl and Friends
Handel Cantatas and Sonatas
Handel
Trio Sonata Op 5 No 2 12’
Cantata: Nel dolce tempo 11’
Cantata: Tu fedel? tu costante?
Cantata: Mi palpita il cor 13’
16’
interval
Cantata: Vedendo amor 13’
Trio sonata Op 2 No 1 10’
Amarilli vezzosa (Il duello amoroso)
25’
Tiziano Bagnati archlute/theorbo
Marta Graziolino harp
Marcello Gatti flute
Ottavio Dantone harpsichord/conductor
Stefano Montanari violin
Fiorenza De Donatis violin
Marco Frezzato cello
Nicola Dal Maso violone
Andreas Scholl counter-tenor
Klara Ek soprano
There will be one interval of 20 minutes in this performance.
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Notes
George Frideric Handel (1685-1759)
Cantatas
Nel dolce tempo (HWV 135b)
Tu fedel? tu costante? (HWV 171)
Mi palpita il cor (HWV 132c)
Vedendo amor (HWV 175)
Amarilli vezzosa (Il duello amoroso) (HWV 82)
Handel spent over three years in Italy, from late 1706 to
early 1710, where he drew on the compositional skills he
had learnt in Halle and Hamburg, and refined them
though direct contact with the leading Italian performers
and composers of the day. Most of his music from this
period is vocal, ranging from opera, oratorio and choral
works for the Latin liturgy to cantatas of various kinds
composed (sometimes at short notice) for the private
concerts of patrons, especially those held by his most
important Roman benefactor, the Marchese Ruspoli. The
Italian cantata was much in vogue throughout western
Europe at the time, and Handel continued to compose
further examples during his first years in England,
particularly during the period 1712-18, when he stayed first
with the Earl of Burlington and later with the Duke of
Chandos, though nothing certain is known about the
circumstances of their composition. The cantatas in this
programme, all but one from the Italian period, display the
considerable variety of Handel’s contribution to the form.
Two are accompanied only by the continuo (a bass line
harmonized by the harpsichord or other chord-playing
instrument), while the others have additional instruments, a
flute in one case and two-part violins in the others.
(stream) in the first recitative is replaced by ‘bel Volturno’
(‘the fair Volturno’), identifying it as the river that reaches
the sea just north of Naples. It is a typical example of the
short cantata accompanied by continuo alone.
Captivated by the sight of a beautiful girl in springtime,
the shepherd represented by the singer first expresses his
love in a lilting triple-time aria. The girl gives an
encouraging response, but lays stress on her honour,
and in a second aria of greater urgency, the shepherd
declares that her virtue makes him love her even more. In
Tu fedel? tu costante? (probably written in Rome early in
1707) the girl, unusually, takes centre stage. After a brisk
opening Sonata for the instruments, hinting at her
exasperation, she berates her fickle lover Fileno for his
numerous affairs, finally resolving to ditch him and to live
freely on her own if she cannot find a more constant
lover. The four arias map the progress of her thoughts.
As in the case of many of the cantatas, Handel drew on
the music for later compositions: the theme of the second
aria was re-used in Rodrigo and Agrippina, the
infectious tune of ‘Se non ti piace amarmi’ reappears in
Alexander’s Feast (1736) and the final aria with its
teasing rhythms was reworked in Teseo.
The subject of virtually all Italian cantatas is some aspect
of love, often frustrated or unrequited, as supposedly
experienced by idealized shepherds or shepherdesses in
a pastoral landscape. Handel may have composed Nel
dolce tempo during his visit to Naples in the summer of
1708, since in some sources the word ‘ruscelletto’
Vedendo amor is the sequel of another cantata, Venne
voglia ad amore. Both deal with a theme often found in
the cantatas: love brings delight but also the loss of
liberty. The idea is explored through the metaphor of
‘Amore uccellatore’ (‘Love the birdcatcher’), in which the
god of Love is depicted setting traps for those not yet
2
Notes
attached in order to bring them under his rule. In the
earlier cantata the young man represented by the singer
escapes from Love’s nets, but in Vedendo amor he is
caught. He drops his guard while asleep and Love
captures him by causing him to fall for Eurilla. The three
arias are delightfully different in mood. In the first, the
uneasy minor key anticipates the downfall to come.
Eurilla’s stealthy tread as she approaches her quarry is
suggested in the repeated bass notes of the second aria,
‘Camminando lei pian piano’, an idea that Handel took
up again in the famous aria ‘Va tacito e nascosto’ in
Giulio Cesare. The theme of the buoyant final aria
marking the joint triumph of Love and Eurilla also makes
a later operatic appearance, in one of Oronte’s arias in
Alcina.
Mi palpita il cor has the distinctive feature of a solo flute
as a partner to the voice. It was originally composed as a
cantata for soprano voice and oboe, probably in
England around 1712. Handel must have made the
revised version for alto and flute shortly afterwards. The
theme is again a popular one, that of the unrequited
lover, here bemoaning the indifference of his beloved
Chloris. The opening idea, depicting the lover’s hesitant
heartbeat, was used in several other contexts by Handel,
notably in the aria ‘Then long eternity’ in the oratorio
Samson. The first full aria is a lament in a minor key, but
the second aria is lively and in a major key, as the singer
hopes that his love will eventually be rewarded.
Il duello amoroso is an example of the dramatic cantata,
with the two singers representing individual characters in
what is almost a miniature opera. It was written in Rome
immediately after Handel’s visit to Naples, as is known
from a bill for copying the music dated 28 August 1708.
The boy, Daliso (alto), frustrated by the coldness of his
beloved Amarilli (soprano), threatens to use force, but
she is more than equal to the situation, and he earns a
humiliating rejection. The opening Sonata begins with a
swift movement, possibly suggesting a chase though the
woods, and concludes with a Minuet, later echoed in a
minor key in the final duet of the cantata. In the vocal
music Daliso’s rather wistful arias contrast with the more
spirited ones of Amarilli. A year later Handel re-worked
the three of the numbers in Agrippina (though a new
version of the final duet was deleted from the opera
before first performance) and there are further echoes of
the musical ideas in later operas.
Trio sonatas
Trio sonata in B minor, Op.2 no. 1 (HWV 386b)
Andante - Allegro non troppo - Largo - Allegro
Trio sonata in D major, Op. 5 no. 2 (HWV 397)
Adagio - Allegro - Musette (Andante) - Allegro - Musette - Marche - Gavotte (Allegro)
The trio sonata, written for two high instruments and
continuo bass (and needing a fourth player to provide
the continuo harmonization), was one of the most
popular instrumental forms in the baroque period. Two
sets of trios by Handel were published in London during
his lifetime, designated Opus 2 and Opus 5. The Opus 2
set, consisting of six sonatas, was issued around 1730 by
the London publisher John Walsh, first under a false
imprint, then shortly afterwards in a ‘more correct‘
edition with his own imprint. (This trick, also used for the
solo sonatas of Handel’s Opus 1, may have been
Walsh’s way of imposing publication on the composer.)
The origins of the Opus 2 set are somewhat mysterious,
since Handel’s autographs do not survive, and only in
the case of no. 1 are there early copies independent of
the published versions. The music itself suggests that nos.
3
Notes/texts and translations
2 and 6 are early works, while the others probably date from the
1720s, all having musical relationships with works that Handel
composed while residing with the Duke of Chandos in 1717-18, and
generally developing the ideas in more sophisticated form. The
early copies of no. 1, with flute and violin as the high instruments,
indicate that that it was composed in C minor, but the published
version is transposed down a semitone to B minor, a more
congenial key for the 18th-century flute. The opening Andante has
a steadily treading bass line over which the upper instruments
sometimes imitate each other and sometimes join in harmony. Both
the fast movements are fugal in style, the final Allegro being based
on a speeded-up version of a theme from the solo ‘Why so full of
grief’ in the Chandos anthem As pants the hart. In the third
movement the violin enriches the accompaniment with repeated
low-lying chords out of which the flute emerges to spin an eloquent
melody.
with whom Handel established a more co-operative relationship,
and it was under this new arrangement that a second set of trio
sonatas, seven in number, were published in 1739 as the
composer’s Opus 5. The set was undoubtedly prepared under
Handel’s supervision, but five of the sonatas are to some extent
pasticcios, with some new music but largely made up of
movements drawn from the overtures to the Chandos anthems of
1717-18 and from the dance music that Handel wrote for
Ariodante, Alcina and other operas produced in the season of
1734-35. No. 2 in D major is typical of this group. It begins with the
overture to the Chandos anthem O be joyful in the Lord, then
continues with the beautiful Musette and a vigorous Allegro from
Ariodante. The Musette is repeated, and the trio is rounded off by
a March and a Gavotte, the former probably written as an
independent piece in the 1720s, the latter apparently a new piece
added to bring the sonata to a cheerful conclusion.
Walsh died in 1736 and the business passed to his son (also John),
Programme notes © Anthony Hicks 2007
Nel dolce tempo (HWV 135b)
In the sweet time
Recitative:
Nel dolce tempo, in cui ritorna a noi,
di novello colore adorna e piena,
la bella età fiorita,
che a’diletti d’amor ne chiama e invita,
leggiadra ninfa e vaga
d’un ruscelletto in riva,
là dove un alto pin l’erba copriva;
vidi da lunge starsi,
e di rose e viole il petto ornarsi.
Onde ratto ivi giunto, o Dio! mirai
due lumi, un labbro, un seno, un crin sì vago,
che n’arsi a un tratto e del mio ardor son pago.
Quindi volto a colei ch’ho sempre al core,
dissi così, pietà chiedendo e amore.
Recitative:
In the sweet time, when the lovely season
of flowers returns to us,
adorned and filled with new colour,
calling and inviting us to love’s delights,
on the bank of a stream,
there where a tall pine-tree shades the grass,
I saw a graceful and charming nymph,
standing there a while,
roses and violets adorning her breast.
Swiftly approaching her, oh gods! I saw
two eyes, lips, a bosom, such lovely tresses,
that immediately I was on fire, and pleased with my passion.
Then turning to her who is always in my heart,
I spoke thus, asking for compassion and for love.
Aria:
Pastorella, coi bei lumi,
erbe e fiori
anch’innamori,
pastorella del mio cor.
E quest’aure, e questi fiumi,
Aria:
Shepherdess, with your fair eyes,
even the grass and the flowers
are in love,
shepherdess of my heart.
And these breezes, and these streams,
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Texts and translations
sussurando,
mormorando,
per te sol parlan d’amor.
whispering
and murmuring,
speak only of love for you.
Pastorella ecc.
Shepherdess etc.
Recitative:
Di pallido color la ninfa intanto
coprì il bel viso, ed ostro poscia il tinse,
qual chi, temendo e vergognando, suole
mostrare in volto or rose ed or viole.
Pur sorridendo alfine onestamente,
a me rivolta disse:
pastor, tua nobil alma,
tuo costume gentil, tuo vago viso,
dolce fiamma d’amor destano al core,
ma dell’amore è l’onestà maggiore!
Ond’io risposi allora:
piacemi, bella, il tuo leggiadro aspetto,
ma più dell’alma ancor la virtù rara,
onesta t’amo più, più mi sei cara.
Recitative:
Meanwhile the nymph’s fair face was covered
with paleness, then crimson shaded it,
like one who, timid and shy, is accustomed
to display in her face now roses, now violets.
Then at last smiling openly,
turning to me, she said:
‘Shepherd, your noble soul,
your gentle manner, your charming face,
awaken the sweet fire of love in my heart,
but honour is greater than love!’
So I then replied:
‘Fair lady, your graceful appearance delights me,
but even more the rare virtue of your soul,
the more I love you for your honour, the more dear you are to me.’
Aria:
Senti, di te, ben mio,
cantar dal bosco al rio,
l’augelli ancora.
In questa piaggia e in quella,
lodar di te, mia bella,
i lumi, i labbri, il cor,
l’onesto e fido amor,
s’ascolta ognora.
Aria:
Listen, my beloved, even the birds
from the woods to the streams
sing of you.
On this shore and on that,
praise of you, my fair one,
of your eyes, your lips, your heart,
your sincere and faithful love,
is always to be heard.
Senti, di te ecc.
Listen etc.
Tu fedel? tu costante? (HWV 171)
You faithful? You constant?
Recitative:
Tu fedel? tu costante? Ah, non è vero!
Tu usurpi ingiustamente
titoli così belli, empio Fileno!
Tu fedel? cui scintillano nel seno
sempre nove faville?
Tu costante? ch’il cuore
vanti diviso in mille parti e in mille?
Recitative:
You faithful? You constant? Ah, it’s not true!
Unjustly you assume
such fine titles, wicked Philenus!
You faithful? In whose breast
new sparks are always flickering?
You constant? whose heart boasts
of being divided into thousands of parts?
5
Texts and translations
Aria:
Cento belle ami, Fileno
e poi vanti aver in seno
un costante e fido cor!
Stolta è ben colei che crede
ch’in te costanza e fede,
empio, infido, mentitor!
Aria:
You love a hundred beauties, Philenus,
yet you claim to have in your breast
a constant and faithful heart!
Foolish is she who believes
in your constancy and fidelity,
wicked, treacherous liar!
Cento belle ecc.
You love a hundred etc.
Rectitative:
L’occhio nero vivace
di Filli a te dà pena;
di Licori ti piace
il labbro lusinghiero;
di Lidia il biondo crine
al tuo core è catena;
in me ti piace il brio:
e con vario desio
or per Lidia, or per Filli, or per Licori,
ed or per me, vantando nel tuo seno
nudrir costanti ardori
con volubile genio ed incostante,
sei di tutte, o Fileno,
infido traditor, non fido amante.
Recitative:
The lively, dark eyes
of Phyllis give you anguish;
the beguiling lips
of Lycoris give you pleasure;
the blonde tresses of Lydia
are a chain around your heart;
my liveliness delights you,
and with ever-changing desire,
now for Lydia, now for Phyllis, now for Lycoris,
and now for me, as you boast in your heart
of nurturing undying passions,
with your fickle and shifting nature,
you, Philenus, are a faithless traitor
to us all, not a faithful lover.
Aria:
Se Licori, Filli ed io
abbiam parte nel tuo core,
come poi dir, traditore,
ch’il tuo core è tutto mio?
Se a me doni ed a Licori
ed a Lidia il cor, Fileno,
quanti mai racchiudi in seno?
Dillo, ingrato, quanti cori?
Aria:
If Lycoris, Phyllis and I
all have a share in your heart,
how, treacherous man, can you say
that your heart is all mine?
If, Philenus, you have given your heart
to me, and to Lydia, and to Lycoris,
how many hearts are you hiding in your breast?
Tell me, callous man, how many?
Recitative:
Ma, se non hai più d’un sol cuore in petto,
o tralascia d’amarmi, o fai che sola
io sia dell’amor tuo gradito oggetto;
che a me più duole, e pesa
del non essere amata,
l’esser da te tradita e vilipesa.
Recitative:
But if you have just one heart in your breast,
either cease to love me, or make sure that
I alone am the happy object of your love;
what grieves and weighs upon me more
than not being loved,
is to be betrayed and despised by you.
6
Texts and translations
Aria:
Se non ti piace amarmi,
forzar non ti poss’io;
se amor mi vuoi negar,
non mi potrò doler.
Ma se per oltraggiarmi
quel cor, che già fu mio,
ad altri vuoi donar,
io non saprò tacer.
Aria:
If it does not please you to love me,
I cannot force you to do so;
if you would deny me your love,
it will not grieve me.
But if, to spite me,
you would give your heart,
which once was mine, to another,
I could not keep silent.
Se non ti piace ecc.
If it does not please you etc.
Recitative:
Ma il tuo genio incostante
non può lasciar d’amare,
e ti fa sempre amante
or di questa, or di quella,
che sembra agli occhi tuoi vezzosa e bella;
che farò dunque? che farò? Spietato,
infido traditor, spergiuro ingrato,
più non mi tradirai!
Sì, lascierò d’amarti,
e tanto t’odierò quanto t’amai.
Recitative:
But your fickle nature
cannot help loving,
and always makes you the lover
now of this girl, now of that one, whoever
seems pretty and charming in your eyes;
What, then, shall I do? What shall I do? Pitiless,
faithless traitor, heartless perjurer,
no longer will you betray me!
Yes, I shall cease to love you,
and I shall hate you as much as I loved you.
Aria:
Sì, crudel, ti lascierò,
novo amante troverò
che per me sia tutto amor.
Se non trovo, tornerà
all’antica libertà
senza amar questo mio cor.
Aria:
Yes, cruel man, I shall leave you,
I shall find a new lover
who will give me all his love.
If I cannot find him, my heart
will regain its former liberty,
free from love.
Mi palpita il cor (HWV 132c)
My heart throbs
Aria:
Mi palpita il cor, né intendo perché.
Agitata è l’alma mia, né so cos’è.
Aria:
My heart throbs, and I do not understand why.
My soul is troubled, and I do not know the reason.
Recitative:
Tormento e gelosia,
sdegno, affanno e dolore,
da me che pretendete?
Se mi volete amante, amante sono,
ma, oh dio!, non m’uccidete,
ch’il cor, fra tante pene,
più soffrire non può le sue catene.
Recitative:
Torment and jealousy,
rage, grief and sorrow,
what do you want from me?
If you want me to be a lover, a lover am I,
but, ah! do not kill me,
for my heart, amid such anguish,
can no longer endure its chains.
7
Texts and translations
Aria:
Ho tanti affanni in petto
che qual sia il più tiranno,
io dir, io dir no’l so.
So ben che dò ricetto
a un aspro e crudo affanno
e che morendo io vo.
Aria:
I have so many troubles in my breast
that I cannot say
which is the most oppressive.
I am sure that I give refuge
to a cruel and bitter grief,
and that I am dying.
Ho tanti affanni ecc.
I have so many troubles etc.
Recitative:
Clori, di te mi lagno, e di te, o nume,
figlio di Citerea, ch’il cor feristi
per una che non sa che cosa è amore.
Ma se d’egual saetta
a lei ferisci il core,
più lagnarmi non voglio;
e riverente innanti
al simolacro tuo, prostrato a terra,
umil, devoto, adorerò quel dio
che fé contento e pago il mio desio.
Recitative:
Chloris, it is of you that I complain, and of you,
oh god, son of Venus, who has wounded my heart
for one who does not know what love is.
But if you have wounded her heart
with a similar arrow,
I would complain no more;
and in reverence before
your image, prostrate on the ground,
humble and adoring, I will worship that god
who happily fulfilled my desire.
Aria:
Se un dì m’adora
la mia crudele,
contento allora
il cor sarà.
Che sia dolore,
che sia tormento,
questo mio seno
più non saprà.
Aria:
If one day
my cruel lady adores me,
happy then
will be my heart.
What sorrow is,
what torment is,
this heart of mine
will no longer know.
Se un dì ecc.
If one day etc.
Vedendo amor (HWV 175)
Love, seeing that he had woven
Recitative:
Vedendo amor che per me tesse invano
avea le sue reti,
e che fuggito a caso di sua mano,
passava i giorni miei contenti e lieti,
tanto dietro mi strette
che suo schiavo mi rese,
e quando nol pensava al fin mi prese.
Recitative:
Love, seeing that he had woven his nets
for me without effect,
and that, having by chance escaped from his grasp,
I was spending my days content and happy,
he pressed me so closely
that he made me his slave,
and finally caught me when I was not thinking of him.
8
Texts and translations
Aria:
In un folto bosco ombroso
io prendea dolce riposo,
una notte fredda e scura.
A un tempo così strano,
io credea amor lontano,
ma la mia libertà non fu sicura.
Aria:
In a dense, shady wood
I was taking a delightful rest
on a cool and dark night,
At such an unusual time
I thought love to be far away,
but my freedom was not safe.
In un folto bosco ecc.
In a dense, shady wood etc.
Recitative:
In quel bosco sen venne cheto, cheto,
e acciò nol conocessi,
mutò l’arco in balestra,
in sporta la faretra
ove teneva in veci di saette
più piccoli pallette
di terra assai tenace,
e d’Imeneo la face
accese in un frugnolo.
Egli non era solo,
Eurilla aveva seco
che lui guidava in apparenza cieco.
Recitative:
Into that wood he came softly, softly,
and so that I would not recognize him
he changed his bow into a catapult,
and his quiver into a basket
where he kept, instead of arrows,
many tiny pellets
of hardened earth,
and the torch of Hymen
he lit in a lantern.
He was not alone:
he had Eurilla with him,
guiding him who appears to be blind.
Aria:
Camminando lei pian piano,
con frugnolo accesso in mano,
finalmente mi scuoprì.
Disse allor: il semplicetto
su quel picciolo rametto
egli dorme, vello lì.
Aria:
She, advancing very softly,
with the lantern in her hand
finally noticed me.
Then she said: the fool
on that little branch
he’s sleeping, look at him!
Camminando ecc.
She, advancing etc.
Recitative:
Caricò, scaricò, subito amore,
e dove appunto il colpo avea diretto
mi colpì sotto il petto.
In terra io caddi allora,
più per timor smarrito,
che per esser ferito;
cercai di liberarmi
e da loro salvarmi.
Ma sì presto ebbi addosso, e lui, e lei,
che fuggir non potei.
Recitative:
Immediately Love loaded and fired,
and precisely where he had aimed the shot,
he hit me beneath my breast.
Then I fell to the ground,
confused more by fear
than by being wounded;
I tried to free myself
and save myself from them.
But so quickly were they upon me, him and her,
that I could not escape.
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Texts and translations
Aria:
Rise Eurilla, rise amore,
che di già mio vincitore
mi teniva in servitù.
Ed io misero non spero,
or ch’io son lor prigioniero
di goder pace mai più.
Aria:
Eurilla laughed, Love laughed
to see that my conqueror
now held me in servitude.
And I in misery have no hope,
now that I am their prisoner,
of ever again enjoying peace.
Rise Eurilla ecc.
Eurilla laughed etc.
Recitative:
Fra tanto sono in gabbia,
dove la notte e giorno,
io canto per amor, ma più per rabbia.
Recitative:
Meanwhile I am in a cage,
where all night and all day,
I sing for love, but more for rage.
Amarilli vezzosa (‘Il duello amoroso’)
(HWV 82)
Pretty Amaryllis
SONATA: Allegro - Menuetto
Daliso
Amarilli vezzosa,
appunto in questa solitaria foresta,
dove ne pur giungon del sole i rai,
di pianto sospirai;
quante pene soffersi,
sol per cagion del tuo superbo orgoglio:
o la mercede, o la vendetta io voglio.
Daliso
Pretty Amaryllis,
just here, in this lonely forest,
where even the sun’s rays do not reach,
I have sighed in tears;
how many agonies have I suffered,
only because of your arrogant pride.
Now I would have recompense or revenge.
Aria:
Pietoso sguardo
vezzo bugiardo,
più non lusingano
questo mio cor.
Tempo è da cedere
alle mie lagrime,
che più resistere
non sa’l dolor.
Aria:
A pitying glance,
a deceitful endearment,
no longer beguiles
this heart of mine.
It is time to give way
to my tears,
for my grief
can no longer be restrained.
Pietoso sguardo ecc.
A pitying glance etc.
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Texts and translations
Amarilli
Dunque tanto s’avanza
d’un pastorel che m’ama
la temeraria voglia? E, stolto, credi
che la mercé che chiedi
ti possa dar necessita d’impegno?
Misero, e non t’avvedi
che quel piacer ch’oggi il tuo cor desia
figlio del genio mio d’uopo è che sia.
Amaryllis
So does the bold desire
of a shepherd who loves me
dare so much? And, fool, do you think
that the obligation of a pledge
can give you the reward you seek?
Wretched man, do you not realize
that the pleasure which today your heart desires
must be the offspring of my own inclination?
Aria:
Piacer che non si dona
per opra del piacer
più tosta è pena.
Forza crudel che sprona
l’altrui voglia goder
fende l’arena.
Aria:
The pleasure that is not bestowed
by an act of pleasure
very soon becomes pain.
The cruel force that incites
another to enjoy his desire
comes to nothing.
Piacer ecc.
The pleasure etc.
Daliso
Sì, sì, crudel, ti accheta;
o sia forza, o sia genio, o sia dispetto,
pria di morir fra lusinghieri affanni
meglio è rapir ciò che donar si vieta.
Daliso
Yes, yes, cruel one, you shall be subdued;
whether by force, inclination or resentment,
before my sighs lead me to death,
it is better to seize what is denied as a gift.
Amarilli
Semplicetto che sei, cangia consiglio:
mal si gode quel bene
che dall’odio si acquista o dal rigore:
il vero amor solo d’Amore è figlio.
Amaryllis
Fool that you are, change your plan:
poorly enjoyed is a gift
gained by hate or cruelty:
true love is the child of Love alone.
Aria:
Quel nocchiero che mira le sponde
la tema dell’onde
dal sen discacciò.
Ma se intanto pretese conforto,
in vece del porto
lo scoglio trovò.
Aria:
The sailor who espies the shore
dismisses the fear of the waves
from his heart.
But if meanwhile he thinks he is safe,
instead of the harbour
he finds a rock.
Quel nocchiero ecc.
The sailor etc.
11
Texts and translations
Daliso
Amarilli, Amarilli, in vano tenti
con speranze fallaci uscir dal laccio
ove ponesti il piede;
che di tua data fede
benché fossero mille i giuramenti
sempre in sostanza poi
o il rio l’accolse o li rapiro i venti.
Daliso
Amaryllis, Amaryllis, in vain you try
with false hopes to escape the trap
in which your foot is caught;
though a thousand might be the oaths
of your pledged faith, either the stream
washes away its substance,
or the winds blow it away.
Aria:
È vanità d’un cor
quel vivere in Amor
sempre sperando.
Convien più volte udir
promesse di gioir
ma non il quando?
Aria:
It is useless for a heart
to live always
hoping for love.
Is it enough to hear many times
promises of joy,
but not know when they may be fulfilled?
È vanità ecc.
It is useless etc.
Amarilli
Or su, già che ostinato
oscurar d’onore il preggio,
il core trapassami col ferro;
e poi, crudele, di questo sen fedele,
di cui non curi il tormentoso affanno,
renditi pure a tuo piacer tiranno.
Amaryllis
Come on then, if stubbornly you will
shut out the merit of honour;
pierce my heart with a dagger;
and then, cruel man, over this faithful heart,
for whose agonizing grief you have no thought,
become a tyrant for your pleasure.
Daliso
Come? Amarilli? Oh Dio, dunque...
Daliso
What? Amaryllis? O God, then ...
Amarilli
Non più, desio
l’empia voglia saziar che ti tormenta:
barbaro! Su, che fai?
Prendi lo strale e in questo sen l’avventa.
Amaryllis
No more! I would have you satisfy the
wicked desire that torments you.
Cruel man, come, what will you do?
Take the blade and plunge it into my heart.
Daliso
Vincesti, ah sì vincesti, ora ti chiedo
pietade all’error grave;
alma che di penar fu sempre accesa,
già sitibonda aspetta
giusto risentimento all’alta offesa.
Daliso
You have triumphed, ah, you have triumphed!
now I ask forgiveness for a grave misdeed;
my soul, always ravaged by suffering,
already eagerly expects
your just anger at my great offence.
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Texts and translations
Amarilli
Ecco giunge opportuno
Silvano il mio buon padre; or sappi
amico semplicetto pastorello,
che tu credendo a lusinghieri detti
del mio timore usato,
perdesti il tempo ed il piacer bramato.
Amaryllis
Here, at the right moment,
comes Sylvanus, my good father;
now understand, dear and simple shepherd,
that when you believed the deceitful words
of my well-practised fear, you lost
your opportunity and the pleasure you desired.
DUETTO
Daliso
Sì, sì, lasciami ingrata,
ma pria rendimi il cor.
Sei tu selce spietata,
priva di senso e ardor.
Daliso
Yes, yes, leave me, ungrateful girl,
but first give me back my heart;
you are as hard as flint,
void of feeling and passion.
Amarilli
Su, su, restati in pace
né più chiedermi Amor;
no, non hai tu la face
per accender ardor.
Amaryllis
Come, come, be at peace
and no longer seek love from me;
no, you do not have the torch
to kindle love’s flame.
Translations by Anthony Hicks
13
About the performers
Andreas Scholl counter-tenor
International Bach Academy Stuttgart; Elijah in her debut
with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra; her American
Andreas Scholl has released a series
debut with the Minnesota Orchestra; and a performance
of solo recordings including Heroes,
of Sandström’s Christmas Oratorio for her first
a disc of arias by Handel, Mozart,
appearance with the Malmö Symphony Orchestra.
Hasse and Gluck; Robert Dowland’s
2007/08 season highlights include performances of Die
A Musicall Banquet; Vivaldi Motets
Schöpfung with Orchestre National de Bordeaux
with the Australian Brandenburg
Acquitaine, a programme of Handel’s Italian cantatas
Orchestra; Wayfaring Stranger, a selection of specially
with Andreas Scholl and Accademia Bizantina and
arranged English and American folksongs with Orpheus
Susanna for Göteborgs Operan.
Chamber Orchestra; and Arcadia, a collection of rare and
unpublished cantatas by composers from Rome’s
Arcadian Circle. His discography also includes Solomon
Ottavio Dantone
and Saul under Paul McCreesh. His recordings of Vivaldi’s
harpsichord/conductor
Stabat Mater and Caldara’s Maddalena ai piedi di Cristo
won Gramophone Awards. His latest recording is Il duello
Ottavio Dantone took his diploma
amoroso.
in organ and harpsichord at the
Conservatorio Giuseppe Verdi in
A committed recital artist, Scholl performs in the world’s
Milan. In 1985 he was awarded a
leading concert halls and festivals, while his operatic
prize for basso continuo at the
engagements include Bertarido Rodelinda at
International Competition in Paris, and then in 1986 at the
Glyndebourne Festival Opera and The Metropolitan
International Competition at Bruges, and was the first
Opera, and title role Giulio Cesare at the Royal Danish
Italian to have had such recognition as a harpsichordist
Opera and Théâtre des Champs-Elysées. Season
at international level. Since 1996 he has been musical
highlights include a programme of Handel Cantatas with
director of Accademia Bizantina in Ravenna. In 1999, the
Accademia Bizantina, and Messiah with the Berlin
first performance in modern times of Giulio Sabino by
Philharmonic. On the opera stage he will appear as
Giuseppe Sarti marked his debut in the field of opera.
Giulio Cesare at Opéra de Lausanne.
Since then his usual role as soloist and musical director of
chamber ensemble has become that of conductor, as he
performs both well- and lesser-known operas, often as
Klara Ek soprano
world premieres in the latter case. In 2005 he conducted
Since her debut at the Royal Danish Handel’s Rinaldo for Pier Luigi Pizzi’s stage production at
Opera in the role of Susanna in Le La Scala, Milan. His regular concert commitments have
nozze di Figaro in 2003, Swedish
taken him to the most prestigious opera houses and
soprano Klara Ek has made several international festivals. He can be heard on numerous
important debuts including First
radio and television recordings in Italy and abroad, as
Lady Die Zauberflöte at La
well as on recording labels as both soloists and
Monnaie under René Jacobs, La Musica/Proserpina
conductor. Since 2003 he has been recording for Decca.
L’Orfeo at Stuttgart Opera and Echo Ariadne auf
Naxos. In concert she was invited by Vladimir Ashkenazy
Stefano Montanari has been first violin with
to sing Mahler’s Fourth Symphony with both the
Accademia Bizantina since 1995. He performs with C.
Philharmonia Orchestra and NHK Symphony Orchestra,
Rousset, and with Concerto Köln as leader and conductor,
Tokyo and she made her Wigmore Hall debut singing
as well as with Kammerorchester Basel with whom he will
Haydn arias with the Classical Opera Company. Other
be making a world premiere recording of the violin
concert highlights include a tour of Mozart’s Exsultate
concertos by A. Montanari for Sony records. He has
Jubilate with conductor Helmuth Rilling and the
14
About the performers
recorded extensively, winning many international prizes.
He teaches at the International Music Academy of Milan
and teaches a specialisation course in Early Music in
Urbino. He recently made his debut as conductor with
Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro for I Pomeriggi Musicali
di Milano. He directed the Orchestra of the Bergamo G.
Donizetti Music Festival in the opening concerto and in the
opera Don Gregorio by Donizetti. In December he
performed and conducted Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons
with Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia.
Fiorenza De Donatis began playing the violin at the
age of six and studied at the Swiss Italian Conservatory
and at the Sweelinck Conservatorium, Amsterdam. She
has been a member of the European Union Baroque
Orchestra and regularly collaborates with Europa
Galante, the Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra, the Zefiro
ensemble and Mozart Akademie. She is a member of
Accademia Bizantina and I Barocchisti and with Andrea
Rognoni, Stefano Marcocchi and Marco Frezzato she
created the Alea Ensemble. In 2002 she won first prize at
the International Contest for Ancient Music in Bruges and
has recently started to teach baroque violin at the
Sweelinck Conservatorium.
Marco Frezzato studied with Mario Brunello, Antonio
Meneses and Amedeo Baldovino. He went on to attend
the Accademia Chigiana di Siena, the Scuola di Musica di
Fiesole and the Scuola Civica of Milan. Since 2002 he has
played first cello in the Accademia Bizantina under Ottavio
Dantone. With the Accademia, he performed in many
recordings. He also plays with the Alea Ensemble.
Tiziano Bagnati studied composition at the
Conservatorio Giuseppe Verdi in Milan where he took his
final exams in classical guitar. He then devoted himself to
the philology of early music by studying theorbo and lute,
qualifying at the Conservatoire in Milan. He has performed
with Europa Galante, Concerto Italiano, Complesso
Barocco, and he plays regularly with the Accademia
Bizantina. He has taken part as a basso continuo player in
baroque operas staged in La Scala, Milan, the City
Theatres in Florence and Treviso, the Fenice, Venice, the
Massimo Theatre, Palermo and the Semper Opera House,
Dresden. He has taught in the Conservatoires of Parma,
Vicenza and Milan, and is currently teaching lute in the
Conservatoire ‘Benedetto Marcello’ in Venice.
Marta Graziolino was born in Turin, Italy. She studied
with Gabriella Bosio at the Conservatory of Music of her
home town, where she obtained the Certificate in
modern harp in 1997. She studied baroque and
renaissance harp with Mara Galassi at Civica Scuola di
Musica of Milano in 2002 and went on to obtain her
Certificat d’Etudes Complementaires Supérieures with
lute player Eugène Ferré at the Conservatoire National
Supérieur in Lyon, France, in 2004. She plays with the
following ensembles: Accademia Bizantina, Europa
Galante, La Scintilla, La Venexiana, Tetraktys and
Cantica Symphonia.
Marcello Gatti was born in Perugia, Italy and
graduated at the Conservatory F. Morlacchi in flute in
1986. He completed his studies in baroque and classical
flute with Barthold Kuijken at the Royal Conservatory in
The Hague where he obtained the soloist diploma in
Nicola Dal Maso studied under Gianni Amadio and
1997 and the chamber music diploma dedicated to the
went on to attend numerous courses in Italy and abroad renaissance repertoire. He has played all over Europe,
on the interpretation of baroque and classical music. He America, Japan, Australia and Middle East with
currently plays with Accademia Bizantina under Ottavio ensembles such as Accademia Bizantina, Zefiro,
Dantone, Le Concert d’Astrée under Emanuelle Haim,
Cappella della Pietà de’ Turchini, Ensemble Aurora,
L’Amoroso under Guido Balestracci, I Sonatori della
Attaignant Consort, Armonico Tributo Austria, Cantus
Gioiosa Marca under Giorgio Fava, L’Ensemble
Cölln, Le Concert de Nations, Piccolo Concerto Wien,
Barocco under Alan Curtis and Les Talens Lyriques under Capriccio Basel, Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra,
Christophe Rousset. He has recorded extensively and
Accademia Montis Regalis. He teaches renaissance,
plays a Vincenzo Ruggeri double bass made in 1735, a
baroque and classical flute in Milan, Vicenza and on
Bernardo Calcanius made in 1755, a violone in G of the
various international courses.
Florentine School at the end of the 17th century, and a
violone grosso, a reproduction of a Gasparo Da Salò of
1590.
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