Fred DE Palma IL Cielo Non CI Vuole

The opera opened in 1786, the same year as Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro , and both were revived in Vienna three years later. In the revival of Il bubero di buon cuore , since Martín y Soler was then in the court of Catherine the Great in St. Petersburg, Mozart wrote two new arias for Madama Lucilla. “Chi sa qual sia l’affano” and “Vado, ma dove, o Dei?,” which are beautifully sung on this recording by Véronique Gens, the first aria on CD 1, track 18, and the second on CD 2, track 4.

João de Sousa Carvalho was one of the most important Portuguese composers of his generation. L’Angelica was his first opportunity to write a courtly drama after being appointed as music master to the royal princesses, and impressing these noble patrons was a top priority. Setting a libretto by the great poet Metastasio, Carvalho brings out every ounce of dramatic intensity in his richly expressive score, the story of how the beautiful Angelica uses and misuses her seductive charms told in music so captivating that Queen Maria entrusted her composer with key royal commissions thereafter.

Demofoonte dates from the early Milan years of Christoph Willibald Gluck (1714-1787), long before the radical reform operas for which he is most famous and his break with opera seria and the librettos of Pietro Metastasio. Gluck arrived in the northern Italian city in 1737 and was mentored there by composer Giovanni Battista Sammartini. Though Sammartini primarily composed symphonies and music for the church, Milan boasted a vibrant opera scene, and Gluck soon formed an association with one of the city's up-and-coming opera houses, the Teatro Regio Ducal.

Emilio de' Cavalieri - Rappresentatione di Anima e di Corpo - René Jacobs (2015) {Harmonia Mundi}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 484 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 233 Mb
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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.