Galuppi\

"L’Inimico delle Donne" which means someone who doesn’t like women, is an opera written by Galuppi in 1771. He was very well-known at this time but when he died, suddenly his works disappeared from the stages. Among them ”L’Inimico delle Donne” disappeared so well that nobody knew it existed. Hence it has never been played since its first venue in Venice in 1771. Some years ago its manuscript was found in Lisbon and Royal Opéra de Wallonie decided to recreate and to stage it.

The Clemenza di Tito, which goes back to an original libretto by Pietro Metastasio, known even the educated music lover in general only in the version of Mozart (1791), which represents a late culmination of the genus Opera seria. The material was particularly popular in the Age of Enlightenment, no less than 46 different versions are known, some come from greats of the musical life of the time such as Hasse, Gluck, Jommelli, Traetta, Anfossi and Myslivecek. Baldassare Galuppi (1706-1785) was already a mature man and highly respected composer when he created his version for the Venice carnival season in 1760. It was his 65th opera, but there is no sign of fatigue in the score.

Italian master Baldassare Galuppi's catalog is so heavy with opera, sacred vocal works, and solo harpsichord pieces that it tends to dwarf his tiny output of purely instrumental music, a good deal of which awaits proper documentation. The odd-numbered set of seven Concerti a Quattro recorded here by Genoa-based newcomers Ensemble Il Falcone on the Italian Dynamic label originate not with a published set, but a set of manuscript parts in the Biblioteca Estense in Modena. The first printed editions of these concerti came out in the early '60s, and a few have been recorded as separate items, with L'Offerta Musicale being the first to release a recording of the whole set for Tactus in 2000. According to Dynamic, neither of the two published editions was pressed into use here; the music is played from the original manuscript parts.

This production was recorded at the Teatro Malibran of La Fenice in Venice in occasion of the celebrations for the 3rd centenary of Galuppi’s birth. This is the first performance in modern times, and a World Premiere recording on DVD. The Orchestra Barocca di Venezia, conducted by baroque expert Andrea Marcon plays on original instruments from the 18th century. Olimpiade, was written for the opening of the carnival season of Milan’s Teatro Ducale on December 26, 1747. The only available score was kept in Milan, but it was not complete; maybe this explains why the opera was not staged again, even though it collected a huge success. Conductor Andrea Marcon, together with musicologist Claire Genewein had to look for the score’s incomplete parts. Finally the symphony of the opening was found in Regensburg’s library, whereas the final part was found in London.

La diavolessa dates some way into the Galuppi/Goldoni canon, being the 13th of their joint ventures. It was first given during November 1755 at Teatro San Samuele in Venice, and like many of Galuppi’s operas soon traveled beyond the confines of Italy, being taken up in Leipzig and Prague in the year following its Venetian premiere. The motivational force of the plot is greed, but Goldoni also has some pertinent observations on social status to make. The action centers round the Naples home of Don Poppone, a wealthy fool obsessed by the belief that there is hidden treasure in his cellar.

Attorno alla metà del '700 Baldassare Galuppi (1706-1785) era il compositore più completo, di maggiore successo, e il più significativo dell'Italia settentrionale. La fama della sua attività come compositore di opere serie giunse a Londra, dove fu chiamato nel 1741, e a S. Pietroburgo dove Caterina di Russia lo volle nel 1765.Nel 1749 Galuppi iniziò la collaborazione, assai fruttifera, con Carlo Goldoni, dalla quale trasse materia per una dozzina di opere buffe, genere al quale il "Buranello" attese nella parte finale della propria carriera.

Vivaldi discoveries are not infrequent. …a third D major setting by the composer of the Vespers psalm Dixit Dominus, appears here on disc for the first time. It is a splendid piece: with scoring including woodwind and trumpet, it begins with a brief but dazzling chorus and concludes with a rewardingly worked fugue. Among the several intervening sections, a duet for two tenors, highly ornamented and vivaciously sung by Paul Agnew and Thomas Cooley, the chorus 'Juravit Dominus' and a contralto aria… sung with sensibility by Sara Mingardo.

Baldassare Galuppi held the position of church organist, from which he composed operas for the Italian stage. Since his forte was the keyboard, his operas have nice harpsichord recitatives (which usually I detest) and the harmonics are contrapuntal. Galuppi as a youth had studied counterpoint under Antonio Lotti, the first organist at St Mark's. Galuppi became cembalist in the great opera houses of Venice, and was involved in the first presentations of Vivaldi's operas there. Galuppi himself wrote at least 111 operas, the best of which are collaborations with the librettist Goldoni. The young Mozart reused some of the librettos that already existed in settings by Galuppi, and the mature Mozart raised to sublime heights the dramma giocoso form which Galuppi practically invented. This release supplies a missing link between Mozart and the opera world before his time.

Baldassare Galuppi was a Venetian composer, mainly noted for his large output in opera and his collaborations with Goldoni who wrote many a libretto for him, some of which that were re-used by subsequent composers (like Il Mondo della Luna and Haydn). His dates - 1706 -1785 - make him part of a later generation than Bach, Vivaldi, Haendel and Scarlatti but of an older one than Haydn and Mozart, and roughly a contemporary of Bach's two eldest sons - Wilhelm-Friedemann and Carl-Philipp-Emmanuel. The Sonatas featured here are performed in a new edition from the original sources (usually contemporary copies rather than original manuscripts) by Mario Marcarini (who wrote the liner notes) and pianist Andrea Bacchetti.

Bij Venetiaanse muziek van rond 1700 is de eerste naam die bij je opkomt: Antonio Vivaldi. Geen twijfel mogelijk. Moeilijker wordt het als je het nummer twee moet noemen: Albinoni? Marcello? Tartini? Voor luitist (en dirigent) Ivano Zaneghi was er maar één die qua roem en vaardigheden de vergelijking met Vivaldi kon doorstaan, en dat was Baldassare Galuppi (1706-1785). De verfijning in muzikale expressie en de elegante stijl van zijn wereldlijke en geestelijke composities zijn inderdaad opmerkelijk. Sommige van de stukken op deze cd bleven ongepubliceerd. De cantate 'La scusa', vermoedelijk uit de jaren 1770, is bewaard in een manuscript in de Venetiaanse Marciana bibliotheek.