Alessandro Scarlatti (1660-1725): 6 Concerti Grossi
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- Опубліковано 15 тра 2024
- Solisti dell'Orchestra "Scarlatti" Napoli; Ettore Gracis, direttore
00:00 Concerto Primo in F minor: Grave - Allegro - Largo - Allemanda: Allegro
11:19 Concerto Secondo in C minor: Allegro moderato - Grave - Minuet
19:00 Concerto Terzo in F major: Allegro - Largo - Allegro ma non troppo - Largo - Allegro
28:05 Concerto Quarto in G minor: Allegro ma non troppo - Grave - Vivace
34:08 Concerto Quinto in D minor: Allegro - Grave - Allegro - Minuet
40:06 Concerto Sesto in E major: Allegro - Allegro - Largo - Affetuoso
At present about as much - or as little - can be said about Alessandro Scarlatti (1660-1725) as could be said, for example, about J. S. Bach and Handel before the appearance of the monumental studies by Spitta and Chrysander. Their books were supported by the complete editions of the composers’ Works, which were brought out at about the same time. With Scarlatti the position is different: we have a monograph by E. J. Dent (London, 1905), and some later writings dealing with particular aspects of his music, but there is as yet no critical edition of his complete works. Nevertheless the historical significance of this composer is undisputed, a fact reflected both by the opinions of earlier «chroniclers, some of whom were his contemporaries (Johann Joachim Quantz, Charles Burney), and by later judgements which have singled Scarlatti out as the “founder of the Neapolitan school”. The shortcomings of this last stylistic view are evident upon closer examination of the “musical poetics” of the so-called “Neapolitan school”. Scarlatti did not regard melody as an end in itself; he was a decided opponent of the “pathetic”, as himself wrote in a letter to the Grand Duke Ferdinando di Medici. He placed purely musical considerations above the expression of a feeling : “Where ‘grave’ is marked I do not mean ‘malenconico’; sondante’ is not ‘presto’ but ‘arioso’ ; ‘allegro’ judged so that too much is not demanded of the singer ...” - and this is exactly the opposite to what his pupil J. A. Hasse, a “Neapolitan” on account of his stylistic attitude, and the most successful opera composer of the 18th century, was to practise.
Although Scarlatti’s style of composition seemed old-fashioned to the tastes of many in the 18th century, it was undoubtedly thanks to him that Naples became the centre point of the musical life of that time. Apart from the clear separation of recitative and aria, the shortening of recitatives, the almost complete restriction of da capo forms to arias, and the “Italian Overture”, we are also indebted to him for the advice (“because it is agreeable to the ear”), when arriving at the subdominant in a minor key, to add a minor sixth ; the resulting chord has been known ever since as a “Neapolitan sixth”.
“VI Concertos in Seven Parts for two Violins and Violoncello Obligate with two Violins more a Tenor and Thourough Bass, Compos’d by Sigr Alexander Scarlatti” is the fide of the works recorded here in the extremely rare edition which was printed in London by Benjamin Cooke, a publisher and music dealer of New Street, near Covent Garden. The date of apublication is unknown, but it was probably around 1740 or shortly after that. This date is suggested by a manuscript score of the 6 Concertos in the British Museum. This score bears the following menage written by Cooke on the last page: “Dear B. Jonny, these compositions are by none other than Alessandro Scarlatti, and I desire you to tell no one that things of the greatest worth are concerned. London, 18. 10. 1740”.
This message on the score refers to a minor mystery, the manner in which the six Concertos carne into the hands of the London publisher. It was unusual for concertos by composers already dead to be published, except in the case of a rare jewel in the sphere of instrumentai music, and it is more than a little surprising that Corelli’s Opus 6 was published posthumously in 1714 by Roger of Amsterdam. Scarlatti himself had published his Opera 1 and 2 with Roger: “Cantate a una voce e due voci” (1701) and “Concerti¨ (probably 1705), but he was unable to publish the two cycles of Concertos which have come down to us: the 6 Concerti grossi for strings and the 12 “Sinfonie di Concerto grosso”.
It is difficult to establish what the original scoring of the 6 Concerti for strings may have been. Was this primarily a case of a “quartet” for soloists, or of an orchestral score in four parts? In the manuscript of the famous Santini collection the 4 Concertos in minor keys (Nos 1, 2, 4 and 5) are brought together under the title “Sonate a quattro”, the term “Concerti grossi” applied to them by Cooke thus appearing in the light of a concession to the preference of audiences for concertos with solo parts. The Third Concerto contains a solo for the first violin, while the Second and Sixth both feature a genuine concertino group.
Burney was fully aware of the solemn character of the Concertos when he wrote “that they are possibly too severe to be played anywhere except in a church; but the fugues, the harmonies and modulations are very fine” - a stylistic judgement to be understood primarily in the context of the history of such works; as Dent emphasized, the influence of Corelli, above all that of his Con- certi da chiesa, extended to all the orchestral works of Scarlatti’s maturity. The differences of artistic purpose which kept Scarlatti at a distance from the orchestral innovations of his time led him to adhere generally to the traditions of the first masters of the Concerto grosso, with whom he had become acquainted in Rome during his youth: Stradella, Legrenzi and Vitali. We have in mind particularly the Concertos in minor ‘keys, Nos. 1, 2, 4 and 5, which derived from four-part sonatas, and which may have been composed before Concertos Nos. 3 and 6 in the majof. These begin not with fugal movements but with Allegros in concertante style, so that in this respect, too - especially the "Third Concerto (F major) - they are akin to the instrumental works of Corelli. Concerto No. 4 in G minor is most marked by archaic features, in particular the final movement in three-eight time with its syncopated accents such as often occurred in 17th-century Venetian ballets. "The Second Concerto (C minor) also consists of three movements (Allegro moderato - Grave - Minuet), among which the introductory Fugue and the charming Minuet are especially worthy of imention; in the latter there is a striking interpolation of a gently modulating middle section in the major, which interrupts the symmetrical eight-bar periods of the main part of the movement.
The First Concerto in F minor approaches closer than the others to the strict style of the Sonata da chiesa. Its polyphonic strictness is relaxed in the scansion of the Allemanda, after the Venetian fashion. Especially rich in contrasts are Concertos Nos. 3, 5 and 6 in F major, D minor and E major respectively. The final movement of the Third Concerto (F major) is highly individual - a kind of Tarantella, full of Baroque tonal splendour, and breathtaking in its animation. The Fifth Concerto opens with a Fugue which owes its unusual expressiveness to the character of its theme and of its harmonic development. The Sixth Concerto, like the Third, begins with a brief Allegro in concertante style. This is followed by a Fugue (4/2, alla breve), marked by a counter-subject which attains ever-increasing autonomy as the movement. develops. A boldly modulating Largo of 17 bars leads to an ingratiating dance movement, the particularly attractive Finale to what is probably the most “galant” Concerto in this set, whose characteristics point especially to three stylistic attributes: polyphonic part-writing, tonal definition, and harmonic clarity.
Gioacchino Lanza Tommasi (1968)
Este o manieră componistica naturală, oarecum figurativa, ce exprima natura, mai ales începând cu primul concert, în care, se arată zorile dimineții, și lumina crește în intensitate, peste toată natura, din ce în ce mai mult. Este o muzică sublimă, inspirată de bunul Dumnezeu.
Magnificent. From the very first note.
Всегда считала музыку Генделя и Баха самой совершенной .а когда недавно услышала произведения А.Скарлатти нашла еще большее совершенство .И он был создателем этого, совершенства ,его отцом.. Она меня просто завораживает своей красотой.
Que hermosa música...tremendo compositor...!!!
Спасибо за совершенство!
Wunderbar!
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