Emilio Jannings

Emilio de' Cavalieri - Rappresentatione di Anima e di Corpo - René Jacobs (2015) {Harmonia Mundi}
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© 2015 Harmonia Mundi | HMC 902200.01
Classical / Vocal Music / Renaissance / Opera / Oratorio

Composed at a time when neither oratorio nor opera existed, Emilio de' Cavalieri's musical drama Rappresentatione di anima et di corpo combines song, stage action, dance, and instrumental music in perfect harmony. The work's libretto, attributed to Agostino Manni, presents a musical morality play in which soul and body dispute, with the participation of other allegorical characters and angels and souls both in heaven and hell. On this new recording, maestro Rene Jacobs illuminates this key work, which was written at the dawn of the Baroque revolution.

Who better to perform a further instalment in the exploration of Spanish Baroque musical life on record than Emilio Moreno and El Concierto Español, whose latest Glossa project tackles the dramatic work Iphigenia en Tracia by one of the leading lights of the time, José de Nebra! Having recently also given us readings of popular musical comedies from the end of the 18th century (La Tirana contra Mambrú) and a royal marriage commemoration by Antonio Caldara when in Barcelona at the start of it (Il più bel nome), Moreno now looks to the middle of that century when Nebra was attracted to one of Euripides' Iphigenia stories for one of his mythological zarzuelas.

How do you present music by an unknown composer on a market which already overflows with discs and in particular in a time of economic decline? You can devote a whole disc to this repertoire, but there is a good chance that a considerable part of the target group would remain sceptical. So many interpreters pretend that the music they have discovered is of world-class quality. Do we need to believe them? Emilio Percan tries to convince us that the music of Giovanni Antonio Piani is really worthwhile. He does so by presenting it together with music by two well-known masters of his time. That seems the most sensible way: if the listener is disappointed about Piani, he still has Handel and Geminiani to enjoy.
– Johan van Veen, MusicWeb International

Emilio Arrieta (1821-1894), the first Spanish composer whose music was heard at the Royal Theatre (Ildegonda, in 1854), and the first to have it sung in Spanish (Marina, in 1871), is an essential figure in 19th-century musical Spain.