Note on the reconstruction of the responsories
The liturgical structure of the Matins requires each lesson to be followed by a responsory. Here, in addition to the lessons, Porpora put the responsories to music, too, although only the instru-mental line has survived intact in the parts that have come down to us (from both 1743 and 1760). The music for each responsory immediately follows each lesson with the indication
“segue (ri)pieno”, “segue tutti” or “segue coro”, which indicates that in all likelihood they were performed by a chorus rather than by soloists. The only vocal part that reached us is Domine quando veneris. It is true that the vocal part is actually crossed out (while “segue rip-ieno”is not). However, the fact that the corresponding music in the orchestra parts is not scored out leads us to think that the anonymous copyist who crossed out the soprano part must have first transcribed it, together with the solo part, even if afterwards he realised his mistake and crossed it out and then copied it on separate sheets together with all the other choral parts; the latter were evidently stored separately and, therefore, lost.
Fortunately, having this material available made it possible to work on the integration of the miss-ing parts without havmiss-ing to resort to our own personal creativity since, wherever possible, we
reproduced as much information as possible from the original music that survived. We rigorous-ly maintained the melodic contours outlined as well as the characteristics and stylistic elements of the lessons: the goal was to restore the overall conception of the music. The work of integrating the missing parts was carried out respecting as much as possible Porpora’s style and his treatment of the rhythm of the lyrics in this score.
Clearly the lessons and responsories were intimately intertwined, above and beyond the logic of the tonal sequence that is thus restored (some of the lessons end with the dominant and only the subsequent responsory resolves the harmonic tension thus created, which would otherwise be illogical). In fact, continuous, specific references can be found in the surviving material between lesson and responsory (for example, the figures that had ended in minor mode in the previous lesson are reproduced in major mode in the conclusion of Memento mei Deus).
One question remains unanswered: though the instrumental parts of eight responsories sur-vived, nothing remains of the ninth, envisaged in the Ordo defunctorum, the Libera me Domine.
The last lesson of the third nocturne ends with a lengthy, quite conclusive cadenza, clearly stat-ing the epilogue of a great cycle; moreover, the word “finis” explicitly appears on all of the parts. There is no musical reason for any further continuation, nor is there any external ele-ment that would lead us to claim the existence of any more lost music.
One further word before concluding: this CD is completed with two previously unpublished instrumental pieces by the extraordinary and still unknown Neapolitan composer Nicola Fiorenza. This juxtaposition – conceived by our musicologist, the author of this brilliant pro-gramme – demonstrates how Fiorenza must have shard many aesthetic sensitivities with Porpora.
ANDREA FRIGGI & STEFANO DEMICHELI (TRANSLATION REBECCA NAIDIS)
Monica Piccinini
After completing her violin studies, Monica Piccinini took up the study of singing and in par-ticular delved into the interpretation and style of 17th and 18th century vocal music, of which she is a renowned performer, ranging from early Baroque to cantata, oratory and opera.
She is regularly invited to sing with prestigious orchestras and ensembles throughout Europe:
Hesperion XXI and La Capella Reyal de Catalunya, Concerto Italiano, Accademia Bizantina, Europa Galante, Ensemble Aurora, Le Parlement de Musique, Al Ayre Español, the Bayerische Rundfunk Orchestra, the Orquesta barroca de Sevilla and the Orquesta barroca de la Universidad de Salamanca.
She has sung under the direction of Jordi Savall, Rinaldo Alessandrini, Ottavio Dantone, Fabio Biondi, Enrico Gatti, Wieland Kuijken, Martin Gester, Fabrizio Maria Bressan and Eduardo Lopez-Banzo in the most prestigious European theatres and festivals including the Teatro Real of Madrid, Cité de la Musique in Paris, the Concertgebouw of Amsterdam, the Konzerthaus and Musikverein of Vienna, the Auditorio Nacional de España, the Accademia di S. Cecilia, the Teatro Regio of Turin and the Flanders Festival.
She has recorded for Naïve, Opus 111, Stradivarius, Tactus, Symphonia and Dynamic.
Romina Basso
Born in Gorizia, Romina Basso obtained a diploma in singing at the Conservatorio di Venezia and earned a degree in the Humanities from the University of Trieste. She has performed with prestigious orchestras and instrumental ensembles (La Cappella Reyal de Catalunya, Le Concert des Nations, Concerto Italiano, Europa Galante, Accademia Bizantina, Il Complesso Barocco, Venice Baroque Orchestra, Ricercar Consort, The Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, the Symphonic Orchestra of Birmingham and Bayerisches Rundfunk) as well as with many conduc-tors who specialise in the Baroque repertoire (Peter Maag, Jordi Savall, Rinaldo Alessandrini, Fabio Biondi, Alan Curtis, Ottavio Dantone, Emmanuelle Haim, Andrea Marcon).
She has toured throughout Europe, Japan and Australia. She has made recordings for Bongiovanni, Kikko Classic, Dynamic and Deutsche Grammophon. She has sung in many Italian
traditional theatres and in Australia (Melbourne International Arts Festival), England (Glyndebourne Festival Opera, Barbican Centre London, Symphony Hall Birmingham), Germany (Munich Philharmonic), Belgium (La Monnaie, BOZAR), France (Festival d’Avignon, La Folle Journée de Nantes, Festival de Radio France/Montpellier) and Japan (Tokyo and Kobe).
La Stagione Armonica
La Stagione Armonica was founded in 1991 by a group of madrigallers from Padua’s Centro di Musica Antica, who have formed its core members since 1981. In the years that followed the ensemble came to specialise in Renaissance and Baroque music, working with many conductors, including Andrea von Ramm, Anthony Rooley, Nigel Rogers, Jordi Savall, Peter Maag, Gianandrea Gavazzeni, Gustav Leonhardt, Andrea Marcon, Ottavio Dantone and Reinhard Goebel. They have performed with various groups such as Hesperion XX, Orchestra da Camera di Padova e del Veneto, Il Giardino Armonico, Accademia Bizantina and Orchestra Barocca di Venezia. They have participated in the major festivals and concerts in Italy and abroad (Musica e Poesia a San Maurizio (Milan), Settembre Musica (Turin), Festival d’Ambronay, York Early Music Festival, Festival van Vlaanderen, Festival Europäische Kirchenmusik, Festival Monteverdi of Cremona). They have held concerts in Switzerland, Germany, France, Portugal, Austria, Spain, Great Britain, Belgium and the Netherlands and have worked together with institutions and asso-ciations such as the Teatro La Fenice in Venice, the Ente Lirico Arena of Verona, the Unione Musicale of Turin and the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis. They have made recordings for RAI and for television and radio in Germany, Switzerland, France and Belgium. The Stagione Armonica has likewise recorded for Astrée, Rivo Alto, Tactus, Denon, Argo-Decca, Bongiovanni, Arabesque, Symphonia, CPO, Deutsche Grammophon and for the Amadeus review.
Since 1996 Sergio Balestracci has been the ensemble’s conductor and coach as well as their artistic director.
Dolce & Tempesta
Dolce & Tempesta – formerly “La Tempesta” – is an early music ensemble which plays on ori-ginal instruments. The ensemble was established in 2002 by Stefano Demicheli.
The name selected for the group immediately defines its poetics: to enhance the contrast inhe-rent in 18th century music between its continuous, penetrating melodic expression, revisited
through a Mediterranean prism, and its strong Latin character, which hinges on its rhythm and virtuosity. The whole programme is presented here in the firm conviction that the music of this century still has a relevant message to communicate today. The use of the word “dolce” in music has early origins: in 18th century Naples, musical scores commonly used “dolce e forte” to indi-cate “piano e forte” almost as if to add an expressive connotation to the usual dynamics.
Dolce & Tempesta was born of the desire of a few friends who, at a mature stage in their careers, launched this project by pooling their diverse experiences in order to share the genuine pleasu-re of making music together. The musicians in the ensemble all bring ample experience to the group, having performed as first chair in the most important European early music ensembles (including Accademia Bizantina, Giardino Armonico, Europa Galante, Concerto Italiano, Ensemble “Zefiro”, “I Barocchisti”, Freiburger Barockorchester, Concerto Köln, Le Concert des Nations, Les Talents Lyriques). They have also collaborated regularly with well-known soloists (amongst others Anner Bijlsma, Ton Koopman, Jordi Savall, Reinhard Goebel, Christophe Rousset, Fabio Biondi, Alfredo Bernardini and Giovanni Antonini). The group’s membership was based on the idea of bringing together the musicians who best represent Italy in the world of early music: all of them artists with great strength as soloists who are deeply imbued with the chamber music spirit. The intention was to create this ensemble with musi-cians who have different characters, training and career paths, but who are motivated by a new, shared objective and deep ties of friendship. Their aim is to pool their own diverse experiences in this collective project, in which human harmony and respect amongst individuals who hold each other in high esteem are the most important values. The ensemble has been well-received from the outset by the public and critics, who have praised their astonishing technical agility and profound communicative depth. Dolce & Tempesta has earned a place of prestige in the world of ensembles specialising in this repertoire right across Europe.
Dolce & Tempesta has various configurations and performs regularly with singers such as Gemma Bertagnolli, Roberta Invernizzi, Jacek Laszczkowski, Max Emanuell Cencic, Monica Piccinini, Romina Basso, Maria Grazia Schiavo and Lucia Cirillo.
Dolce & Tempesta devote their work and research to the 17th and 18th century repertoire of chamber music for strings, also including wind instruments, depending on the programme.
They also have a very large vocal music repertoire. In addition, Dolce & Tempesta collabora-te excollabora-tensively with musicologists and academics to rediscover and showcase unknown compo-sers and less well-known pieces by renowned compocompo-sers, premiering forgotten masterpieces.
The staff of Dolce & Tempesta includes expert philologists who prepare, for performance by the ensemble, exclusive, prestige issues which are absolutely accurate historically.
Musica e Poesia in San Maurizio (Milan), Festival “Claudio Monteverdi” (Cremona), Amici per la Musica (Florence), Festival de Musique et Ancienne et Baroque of Saint-Michel en Thiérache, Les concerts parisiens a la salle Gaveau (Paris), Les nuits musicales d’Uzès, Les Heures Musicales de l’Abbaye de Lessay, Kissinger Winterzauber (Bad Kissinger), Mozart Festival Würzburg, Musikfest Bremen, Dresden Frauenkirche, Festival de Mafra (Lisbon), Los conciertos de Radio Clásica RNE (Madrid), Festival de Peñíscola, Semana de Musica Sacra San Cristóbal de la Laguna (Tenerife) are some of the institutions that regularly welcome Dolce & Tempesta.
Dolce & Tempesta have recorded for French, German and Spanish national radio broadcasters (Radio France, Radio Clasica RNE, WDR 3, Bayerischer Rundfunk) and some of their projects have been broadcast extensively on French national television (France 3). In 2006 an agreement was concluded with the Belgian music publisher “Fuga Libera”: the first recording, published in 2007, is devoted to previously unpublished sacred music by Nicola Antonio Porpora.
Dolce & Tempesta participates in Hugues de Courson’s project O’Stravaganza (the fusion of Vivaldi and Celtic music), performing in 2006 at the Festival Interceltique of Lorient before an enthusiastic audience of more than 5000 people.
Stefano Demicheli
Stefano Demicheli was born in Turin in 1975 and has a degree in organ, composition and harp-sichord.
He began studying harpsichord at the age of 13 under the guidance of Ottavio Dantone, with whom he earned his degree. Amongst the most influential figures in his training are Emilia Fadini and Lars-Ulrik Mortensen.
Even as a student he was in demand as a soloist and continuo player for many Baroque music groups, including Accademia Bizantina (Ottavio Dantone), Il Giardino Armonico (Giovanni Antonini), Freiburger Barockorchester, Concerto Köln, I Barocchisti (Diego Fasolis), “Zefiro”
ensemble (Alfredo Bernardini), La Cappella della Pietà dei Turchini (Antonio Florio), which was the beginning of his extremely intensive concert activities.
He performs regularly in the most important concert halls and theatres across Europe (inclu-ding La Scala in Milan, Festival van Vlaanderen in Bruges, Fundacio “La Caixa” in Barcelona, Auditorio Nacional in Madrid, Oude Muziek in Utrecht, Rheingau Musik Festival, Internationale Musikfestwochen in Lucerne, “Musica e Poesia in San Maurizio, Milan, London Festival of Baroque Music). He has worked together with renowned concert and opera soloists and has collaborated with major conductors (Claudio Abbado, Riccardo Chailly, Corrado Rovaris, Gottfried van der Goltz, Ivan Bolton, Giovanni Antonini, Paul Goodwin, René Jacobs) and a variety of orchestras.
He has recorded for many recording companies and the principal European radio and televi-sion broadcasters.
Since 2000 he has been a professor at the Corso Internazionale di Musica Antica in Urbino and assistant to Ottavio Dantone.
His innate passion for the vocal music repertoire and his quest, on every musical instrument, for a natural sound inspired by the human voice have led him to work for many years as assis-tant to René Jacobs, working in prestigious theatres throughout Europe (including Berlin-Deutsche Staatsoper Unter den Linden, Paris-Théâtre des Champs-Elysées, Brussels-Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie).
Menu
NOTTURNO I LEZIONE I
1. Parce mihi Domine, nihil enim sunt dies mei.
Quid est homo quia magnificas eum aut quia ponis erga eum cor tuum? Visitas eum diluculo et subito probas illum. Usque quo non parcis mihi nec dimittis me ut glutiam salivam meam?
Peccavi. Quid faciam tibi, o custos hominum?
Quare posuisti me contrarium tibi et factus sum mihimet ipsi gravis? Cur non tollis pecca-tum meum et quare non aufers iniquitatem meam? Ecce nunc in pulvere dormiam et si mane me quaesieris non subsistam.
2. Credo quod Redemptor meus vivit et in novissimo die de terra resurrecturus sum et in carne mea videbo Deum salvatorem meum.
V.: Quem visurus sum ego ipse et oculi mei conspecturi sunt.
LEZIONE II
3. Taedet animam meam vitae meae: dimittam adversum me eloquium meum, loquar in ama-ritudine animae meae. Dicam Deo: noli me condemnare, indica mihi cur me ita iudices.
Numquid bonum tibi videtur si calumnieris me et opprimas me, opus manuum tuarum, et consilium impiorum adiuves? Numquid oculi carnei tibi sunt aut sicut videt homo et tu videbis? Numquid sicut dies hominis dies tui et anni tui sicut humana sunt tempora, ut quaeras iniquitatem meam et peccatum meum
scrute-NOTTURNO I LEZIONE II
1. Pietà di me Signore, nulla infatti sono i miei giorni. Che cosa è l’uomo perché tu lo magni-fichi o perché tu rivolga a lui il tuo cuore? Lo scruti ogni mattina e subito lo metti alla prova.
Fino a quando non avrai pietà di me? Sino a quando non mi lascerai neppure inghiottire la mia saliva? Ho peccato: che farò ora, o custode degli uomini? Perché mi hai posto contro di te e sono divenuto di peso a me stesso? Perché non sollevi il mio peccato e non cancelli la mia iniquità? Ecco, presto dormirò nella polvere; e se domattina mi cercherai, io non sarò più.
2. Credo che il mio redentore è vivo e che nel-l’ultimo giorno risusciterò dalla terra; vedrò Dio mio salvatore quando sarò tornato nel mio corpo.
V.: Lo vedrò io stesso e i miei occhi lo con-templeranno.
LEZIONE II
3. La mia anima è stanca della mia vita: a me rivolgerò il mio discorso, parlerò nell’amarezza della mia anima. Dirò a Dio: non mi condan-nare. Indica perché mi giudichi così. Forse ti sembra cosa buona disprezzare e opprimere me, opera delle tue mani, e favorire il progetto dei malvagi? Forse hai anche tu occhi di carne o vedi come vede l’uomo? Forse i tuoi giorni sono come i giorni dell’uomo e i tuoi anni scorrono come quelli umani, tanto da scovare la mia iniquità e scrutare il mio peccato? E
latin italiano Menu
NOTTURNO I LEZIONE II
1. Laisse-moi, car ma vie n’est qu’un souffle.
Qu’est-ce donc que l’homme, pour que Tu en fasses tant de cas, pour que Tu daignes prendre garde à Lui, pour que Tu le visites tous les matins, pour que Tu l’éprouves à tous les ins-tants? Quand cesseras-Tu de porter le regard sur moi ? Quand me laisseras-Tu le temps d’avaler ma salive ? Si j’ai péché, qu’ai-je pu Te faire, oh toi, gardien des hommes ? Pourquoi me mettre en butte à Tes traits? Pourquoi faire peser mes faiblesses sur mes épaules ? Que ne pardonnes-Tu mon péché, que n’oublies-pardonnes-Tu mon iniquité?
Car je vais me coucher dans la poussière ; Tu me chercheras, et je ne serai plus.
2. Je crois que mon Sauveur est vivant et qu’au dernier jour je surgirai de la terre. Le jour viendra où dans ma propre chair je verrai Dieu, mon Rédempteur.
V.: C’est Lui que je reconnaîtrai, de mes yeux je Le contemplerai.
LEZIONE II
3. Mon âme s’afflige de ma vie ; je m’abandonne-rai à ma plainte, je parlem’abandonne-rai dans l’amertume de mon âme. Je dirai à Dieu : « Ne me condamne pas ; pourquoi plaides-Tu en ma défaveur ? Te plait-il de m’opprimer, de dédaigner l’ouvrage de Tes mains, de bénir les desseins des
méchants ? As-tu des yeux de chair ? Vois-tu comme voit un mortel ? Tes jours sont-ils comme les jours d’un mortel ? Tes années sont-elles comme les jours de l’homme, pour ainsi pourchasser mon iniquité et T’informer
NOTTURNO I LEZIONE II
1. Have mercy upon me, o Lord, for my days are vanity. What is man, that thou shouldest magni-fy him? And that thou shouldest set thine heart upon him? And that thou shouldest visit him every morning, and try him every moment?
How long wilt thou not depart from me, nor let me alone till I swallow down my spittle? I have sinned. What shall I do unto thee, o thou preserver of men? Why hast thou set me as a mark against thee, so that I am a burden to myself? And why dost thou not pardon my transgression, and take away mine iniquity? For now shall I sleep in the dust; and thou shalt seek me in the morning, but I shall not be.
2. I know that my Redeemer liveth and that I shall stand at the latter day upon the earth and in my flesh I shall see God.
V: I shall see him and my eyes will see him.
LEZIONE II
3. My soul is weary of my life: I will leave my complaint upon myself; I will speak in the bit-terness of my soul. I will say unto God: do not condemn me, shew me wherefore thou con-tendest with me. Is it good unto thee that thou shouldest oppress, that thou shouldest despise the work of thine hands, and shine upon the counsel of the wicked? Hast thou eyes of flesh?
Or seest thou as man seeth? Are thy days as the days of man? Are thy years as man’s days, that thou inquirest after mine iniquity, and
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ris? Et scias quia nihil impium fecerim, cum sit nemo qui de manu tua possit eruere.
4. Qui Lazarum resuscitasti a monumento
4. Qui Lazarum resuscitasti a monumento