Baustelle LA Moda Del Lento

A highly prolific composer, Giovanni Legrenzi practised his art in oratorios and other works for the church, as well as in opera and chamber music. In fact he explored all the musical genres of his period, taking over the baton handed on by Gabrieli and Monteverdi, and enjoying an enviable reputation among his contemporaries. Better known during his lifetime (1626-1690) for his operas rather than for his religious music, Legrenzi was widely admired and copied all over Europe.

First performed at the Brussels court during Lent 1706, this second oratorio by Pietro Torri is the oldest to have been given in the capital of the former Spanish Netherlands, and for which a score survives. Sung by the leading artists of the time – the very same who went on to participate in the first performances of the early Handel operas – it played a decisive role in the dissemination of Roman oratorio in northern Europe. Torri, who had a lifelong attachment to the court of the Electors of Bavaria, left behind the most substantial corpus of oratorios – both in French and in Italian – before Handel, whom La Vanità del mondo anticipates by the beauty of its arias and its dramatic power.