La passione di nostro signore Gesù Cristo (Salieri)
La passione di nostro signore Gesù Cristo (German: The Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ) is an oratorio by Antonio Salieri based on a text by Pietro Metastasio . The text was originally written for Antonio Caldara and then set to music over 70 times .
Libretto and plot
The plot of the oratorio corresponds to that of Metastasio's libretto.
history
Salieri wrote his version of the famous model in 1776 for the Wiener Tonkünstlersozietät , where it was premiered on December 18 and 23, 1777. Salieri conceived the difficult soprano part of Maddalena for his pupil Catarina Cavalieri , and the tenor part of Pietro for Vincenzo Righini . In this work, too, Salieri ties in with the reform efforts of his mentor Christoph Willibald Gluck , without, however, completely excluding vocal brilliance and coloratura. The numerous accompaniment recitatives and several large-scale complexes of scenes with which Salieri tries to counteract the schematism of the libretto are striking. The numerous minor tones that set dramatic accents are also remarkable. According to Salieri, the overture describes Peter's torments of conscience.
The elderly Metastasio is said to have valued Salieri's setting of the Passione and declared in the presence of Emperor Joseph II , “This music is the most expressive of all that was made on this poem”, as Salieri's first biographer Ignaz Franz von Mosel tells posterity has - kudos for the then 26-year-old composer. Even Johann Adolf Hasse has spoken highly of the work, especially about one of the great choral fugues, decide to each part.
The work was extremely popular with contemporaries, including performances in Leipzig (1786), Copenhagen (1790), Leipzig (1791) and Berlin (1793). There is evidence that Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach performed the piece in Hamburg.
In recent times the work has been played more and more often thanks to two available print editions, so u. a. 1995 in Verona, 1999 and 2002 in Heidelberg, 2000 in Vienna, 2002 in Brno, 2003 in Cologne, 2006 in Düsseldorf, Cologne and Leverkusen, as well as in Bitonto, Brindisi and at the Teatro la Fenice in Venice and in Salieri's hometown Legnago, 2007 in As part of the Valle d'Itria Festival in Martina Franca, Brindisi and Cerignola as well as in Caen, France, in 2008 in the Dresden Frauenkirche .
Recordings
- 1995: CD with the Cappella Musicale della Cattedrale di Verona under the direction of Alberto Turco . Soloists: Daniela Citino, Maria Teresa Toso, Nikola Yovanovitch, Mario Scardoni.
- 2004: CD with the Neuen Orchester and the Chorus Musicus Köln under the direction of Christoph Spering . Soloists: Melba Ramos (soprano), Franziska Gottwald (alto), Florian Mock (tenor), Hanno Müller-Brachmann (bass).
- 2006: CD with the Salieri Chamber Orchestra and the Wiener Jeunesse Choir under the direction of Giovanni Pelliccia. Soloists: Michela Sburlati (Maddalena), Matteo Lee Yeong Hwa (Pietro), Chiarastella Onorati (Giovanni), Roberto Abbondanza (bass).
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ Antonio Salieri: La Passione di Gesù Cristo - Alberto Turco. CD information from Allmusic , accessed on May 9, 2015.
- ^ Antonio Salieri: La Passione di Nostro Signore Gesu Cristo - Christoph Spering. CD information from Allmusic , accessed on May 9, 2015.
- ↑ Metastasio: La Passione di Gesù Cristo (Version by Salieri) [Hybrid SACD] - Chiarastella Onorati, Salieri Chamber Orchestra, Wiener Jeunesse Choir. CD information from Allmusic , accessed on May 9, 2015.