Stelle Ottone

This luxurious set containing 39 CDs, 3 DVDs, 1 CD-Rom and four detailed booklets will tell you the full story of Baroque opera in Italy, France, England, and Germany. No fewer than 17 complete operas (including two on DVD) and two supplementary CDs (the dawn of opera, Overtures for the Hamburg Opera) provide the most comprehensive overview of the genre ever attempted! The finest performers are assembled here under the direction of René Jacobs and William Christie to offer you 47 hours of music. An opportunity to discover or to hear again the masterpieces of Baroque opera, some of which have been unavailable on CD for many years.

Unlike today, neither George Frideric Handel nor Antonio Vivaldi was the most famous and most performed opera composer in the first third of the 18th century, but rather Leonardo Vinci (ca. 1696-1730). Educated in Naples, he was successful there from 1719, initially with several operas buffe before he turned to the more prestigious opera seria in 1722 with immediate success. As one of the most important representatives of the Neapolitan School, he left his mark on the Italian and soon also the European opera scene. Even Handel in faraway London could not avoid his music: in order to satisfy the public's taste, he put several pasticcios with their arias on the repertoire of his failing opera company. In 1730 Vinci died suddenly after colicky pains, and it was soon rumored that he had been the victim of a poison attack.

This performance from the 1950s sounds surprising after decades of authentic performance. The instruments are modern, the forces large and the style of singing rich, full and almost romantic. Yet the effect is electrifying. All the performers sing with such conviction that this Poppea moved me and it makes some authentic performances sound thin and academic by comparison.

Senesino, the voice that inspired Handel's greatest operas showpiece arias by Handel, Lotti, Albinoni, Porpora and Scarlatti. One of the truly outstanding voices of today, star countertenor Andreas Scholl celebrates one of the 18th Century's greatest vocal superstars, the remarkable male alto known as Senesino. Senesino's place in history was secured by his extraordinary association with Handel, who after travelling to Dresden to hear him, brought him to London to join his Italian Opera Company, where he was greatly celebrated by the public, and much admired by the ladies.