Daniela Grygarová ‎ Hudba Na Hranici Života

A hitherto little-known manuscript now in the Czech National Library contains a Missa defunctorum by Caldara that comprises the first three sections of the Requiem liturgy (the Introit, Kyrie and Sequence). Nothing is known about the origins of the music or how it ended up in Prague, but it probably dates from the Venetian’s long years of service at the Habsburg court in Vienna (and it is known that he deputised for his boss Fux at the coronation of Emperor Charles VI in Prague in 1723).

The 350th anniversary of Alessandro Scarlatti’s birth fell in 2010 but did not receive the fuss that one of the most fascinating Italian Baroque composers deserves. His operas are particularly neglected but Daniela Barcellona and Concerto de’ Cavalieri go some way towards remedying this situation. Director Marcello Di Lisa has chosen a fascinating programme of sinfonias and arias from Scarlatti’s six last extant serious operas (1716-21), written for the Teatro San Bartolomeo in Naples (Tigrane, Carlo re d’Allemagna and Cambise) and for Rome’s Teatro Capranica (Telemaco, Marco Attilio Regolo and Griselda). Most are unpublished and have been edited from manuscript sources; 20 pieces receive world premiere recordings.