Griselda

Vivaldi’s Griselda, one of more than twenty operas, is based on a story retold in Boccaccio’s Il decamerone about the testing of Griselda’s patience and virtue by her royal husband through a series of cruel trials. The sense of drama that permeates many of Vivaldi’s more programmatic works, such as the Four Seasons, is very naturally carried over into his operas, especially with the use of so-called ‘simile’ arias, in which an emotional state is compared with various natural phenomena.

This is the first authoritative recording of Alessandro Scarlatti's Griselda, rendered with exquisite beauty by René Jacobs, the Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin, and an outstanding cast led by Dorothea Röschmann in the title role. Warming to the story of Griselda (originally by Boccaccio) – the low-born woman who endures a string of indignities as the king, Gualtiero, tests her suitability to be the mother of his heir – is not easy. But the added humanity of Apostolo Zeno's libretto, which invests Griselda with more backbone, and Gualtiero with more sympathy, than they had in Boccaccio's original, and the emotional immediacy of the performances, Röschmann's in particular, make this recording go down smoothly. It is also an abundantly melodic and beautifully orchestrated score, representing Scarlatti at the height of his powers.

Vivaldi’s Griselda, one of more than twenty operas, is based on a story retold in Boccaccio’s Il decamerone about the testing of Griselda’s patience and virtue by her royal husband through a series of cruel trials. The sense of drama that permeates many of Vivaldi’s more programmatic works, such as the Four Seasons, is very naturally carried over into his operas, especially with the use of so-called ‘simile’ arias, in which an emotional state is compared with various natural phenomena. Several very fine examples can be heard in Griselda, including Costanza’s extraordinary ‘Agitata da due venti’ in Act Two; the text compares love and duty with two contrary winds, and the setting is correspondingly wild, with fierce fioriture and wide leaps.

Written in 1735 for his protégée Anna Girò, Griselda takes a story from Boccaccio and turns it into a hymn of praise to nobility and constancy. Yet though the story is tired and true, Vivaldi's music is real and vibrant and as attractive as anything in his instrumental works. In this recording by Jean-Christophe Spinosi leading the Matheus Ensemble with Marie-Nicole Lemeux in the title role, Naïve has released another strong argument for the high quality of Vivaldi's operas. Spinosi has a light hand but a dramatic touch and he keeps the music moving even while granting the soloists ample scope to develop their characters.

Alessandro Scarlatti was both the most celebrated vocal composer of his day, and one of the most prolific to ever live. In his lifetime (1660-1725) he composed nearly 700 cantatas and 66 operas. He was also far more famous then than his son Domenico, whose harpsichord sonatas today have all but completely eclipsed his father's works.