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Track(s) taken from CDA67621

Or sì m'avveggio, oh Amore

composer
author of text

Elena Cecchi Fedi (soprano), Auser Musici, Carlo Ipata (conductor)
Recording details: October 2006
Oratorio di S Domenico, Pisa, Italy
Produced by Sigrid Lee
Engineered by Roberto Meo
Release date: September 2008
Total duration: 11 minutes 34 seconds

Cover artwork: Danae (detail) by Antonio Allegri Correggio (c1489-1534)
Galleria Borghese, Rome / Bridgeman Images
 

Reviews

‘This outstanding disc not only displays unequivocal proof of Porpora's exceptional skill … but also provides some of the most genuinely enjoyable and captivating performances of eighteenth-century vocal music I have heard on disc for a very long time … these are brilliantly written recitatives, clearly, but with Fedi's clarity of diction and conviction of delivery, they are transformed into something truly exceptional. Yet to single out the recitatives, when the instrumental colouring of the arias and sinfonias is so magical, is to do a major disservice both to Porpora and to Auser Musici … here is music-making of such infectious happiness that this disc is destined to be a constant companion for the foreseeable future’ (International Record Review)

‘Soprano Elena Cecchi Fedi's singing is both beautiful and vocally deft, and the playing of the Italian group Auser Musici is emotionally responsive and dramatically alert to match. The opening cantata, Or sì m'avveggio, oh Amore, with its rocketing cello obligato, is particularly fine’ (The Irish Times)
Or sì m’avveggio, oh Amore, whose forces include a concertante cello for the only time in Porpora’s cantatas, has survived only because it is contained in a volume from the private collection of the London musician Benjamin Cooke (the younger), whose books were transferred in 1883 from the library of the Sacred Harmonic Society to constitute a substantial part of the collections of the newly founded Royal College of Music. How the piece came into Cooke’s hands has still to be established, even though the use he made of it is obvious enough: well known at the time as an excellent teacher, he adapted it as a tool for his pupils to study continuo. The voracious but selective curiosity of this late-eighteenth-century collector must have had no difficulty in finding compositions by Porpora on the market even years after he left England: works by the Neapolitan composer were still circulating and arousing the interest of British musicians (and would long continue to do so), and we know that precious manuscript copies passed through the hands of such personalities as William Savage, Richard Stevens and William Robinson. However, there is nothing to show that Or sì m’avveggio, oh Amore was actually written in England. Stylistic analysis does not yield any elements that can help us to date it very precisely: we can do no more than assert that this cantata broadly corresponds to traits shown by the composer during his years in Naples in the 1720s and his London period of the mid-1730s, although it certainly dates from a few years before the publication of the Nuovamente composte opre di musica vocale (1735).

from notes by Stefano Aresi © 2008
English: Charles Johnston

Or sì m’avveggio, oh Amore comporte un violoncelle concertant—cas unique dans les cantates de Porpora. Cette œuvre ne nous est parvenue que parce qu’elle figure dans un des volumes de Benjamin Cooke (fils), musicien londonien dont la collection privée fut transférée, en 1883, de la bibliothèque de la Sacred Harmonic Society au Royal College of Music. On ignore encore comment cette pièce est arrivée entre les mains de Cooke, mais on sait assez bien comment il l’utilisa: réputé pour ses qualités d’excellent pédagogue, il en fit un outil grâce auquel ses élèves purent étudier le continuo. Ce collectionneur de la fin du XVIIIe siècle, à la curiosité insatiable mais sélective, ne dut avoir aucun mal à dénicher des compositions de Porpora sur le marché: même des années après que le Napolitain eut quitté l’Angleterre, ses œuvres circulaient toujours, éveillant (et pour longtemps encore) l’intérêt des musiciens britanniques; de précieuses copies manuscrites passèrent ainsi entre les mains de personnalités comme William Savage, Richard Stevens et William Robinson. Toutefois, rien ne prouve qu’Or sì m’avveggio, oh Amore fut vraiment écrite en Angleterre. L’analyse stylistique ne nous fournit aucun élément de datation précise: on peut seulement affirmer que cette cantate correspond grosso modo aux périodes napolitaine (années 1720) et londonienne (milieu des années 1730) de Porpora, même si elle précède certainement de quelques années la publication des Nuovamente composte opre di musica vocale (1735).

extrait des notes rédigées par Stefano Aresi © 2008
Français: Hypérion

Or sì m’avveggio, oh Amore, dessen Kräfte zum einzigen Mal in Poporas Kantaten ein konzertantes Cello enthalten, wurde allein deshalb überliefert, weil es in einem Band aus der Privatsammlung des Londoner Musikers Benjamin Cooke (der Jüngere) enthalten ist, dessen Bücher 1883 aus der Bibliothek der Sacred Harmonic Society transferiert wurden, um einen substantiellen Teil der Sammlung des neu gegründeten Royal College of Musik zu bilden. Wie das Stück in Cookes Hände gelangte, ist nicht belegt, obwohl es offensichtlich ist, wie er es nutzte: er war ein wohl bekannter Lehrer und adaptierte es für seine Schüler zum Generalbass-Studium. Die unersättliche, wenn auch selektive Neugier dieses Sammlers vom Ende des 18. Jahrhunderts dürfte es ihm leicht gemacht haben, selbst Jahre nachdem Porpora England verlassen hatte, Kompositionen von ihm zum Verkauf zu finden: Werke des neapolitanischen Komponisten waren immer noch im Umlauf und erregten noch lange das Interesse britischer Musiker; wir wissen, dass kostbare handschriftliche Exemplare durch die Hände solcher Personen wie William Savage, Richard Stevens und William Robinson ging. Aber es gibt keine Belege dafür, dass Or sì m’avveggio, oh Amore tatsächlich in England geschrieben wurde. Stilistische Analyse enthüllt keine Elemente, die uns helfen könnten, die Kantate genau zu datieren—wir können nur feststellen, dass sie Züge aufweist, die sein Werk in den 1720er Jahren in Neapel und seiner Londoner Periode in den Mitt-1730er Jahren auszeichnen, obwohl sie sicherlich einige Jahren vor der Publikation der Nuovamente composte opre di musica vocale (1735) entstand.

aus dem Begleittext von Stefano Aresi © 2008
Deutsch: Renate Wendel

Or sì m’avveggio, oh Amore presenta in organico il violoncello concertante, fatto unico all’interno del corpus delle cantate di Porpora. La composizione si è salvata dalle ingiurie del tempo perché attestata unicamente in un volume proviene dalla collezione privata del musicista londinese Benjamin Cooke jr., il cui fondo librario passò alla biblioteca della Sacred Harmonic Society della capitale britannica andando di lì a costituire, nel 1883, parte sostanziale del nucleo patrimoniale storico del Royal College of Music. Come questa opera sia giunta nelle mani di Cooke è ancora da chiarirsi, anche se è evidente l’uso che di essa fece il concertista il quale, noto all’epoca come ottimo didatta, la adattò ai fini dello studio del basso continuo per i propri allievi. La vorace ma selettiva curiosità di questo collezionista della seconda metà del XVIII secolo non dovette avere difficoltà nel trovare sul mercato composizioni di Porpora ad anni di distanza dalla sua dipartita dal suolo inglese: lavori del napoletano circolavano e suscitavano ancora interesse tra i musicisti britannici (e lo fecero ancora per lungo tempo), fatto ben attestato dal passaggio di alcune preziose copie manoscritte per le mani di personaggi quali William Savage, Richard Stevens e William Robinson. Nulla però può dimostrare che Or sì m’avveggio, oh Amore sia stata scritta in Inghilterra. Per quanto concerne una sua eventuale datazione, infatti, l’analisi stilistica non offre elementi utili ad una collocazione cronologica particolarmente precisa: possiamo solo sostenere che questa cantata aderisce, in linea di massima, a tendenze espresse dall’autore tra la sua attività napoletana degli anni ’20 e quella londinese a metà degli anni ’30, anche se quasi certamente essa è precedente alcuni anni la pubblicazione delle Nuovamente composte opre di musica vocale.

Stefano Aresi © 2008

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