Vanità

First performed at the Brussels court during Lent 1706, this second oratorio by Pietro Torri is the oldest to have been given in the capital of the former Spanish Netherlands, and for which a score survives. Sung by the leading artists of the time – the very same who went on to participate in the first performances of the early Handel operas – it played a decisive role in the dissemination of Roman oratorio in northern Europe. Torri, who had a lifelong attachment to the court of the Electors of Bavaria, left behind the most substantial corpus of oratorios – both in French and in Italian – before Handel, whom La Vanità del mondo anticipates by the beauty of its arias and its dramatic power.

Philippe Jaroussky brings his musical and dramatic powers to a programme of music from Italian oratorios of the baroque era, including five arias in world premiere recordings. La vanità del mondo, takes it's name from an oratorio by Pietro Torri and among the other composers are Händel, Scarlatti, Vivaldi, Hasse, Fago and Caldara. "I think composers of this period often give of their best when setting the great stories of the Old Testament," says Jaroussky. "And if oratorio stories are more static than opera, they allow for deeper reflection on the place of mankind in the universe. I think that resonates with particular intensity in 2020, a year of pandemic."