Search - George Frideric Handel, Freiburger Barockorchester :: Purcell: Theatre Music/Musique de scene ("Dioclesian" Suite - The Prophetess Z627; Handel: Concerto Grosso Op. 6 No. 6, HWV324; "Il duello amoroso", HWV 82)

A voice teacher and early music fan

George Peabody | Planet Earth | 02/21/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"HANDEL AND PURCELL ON AN ALBUM TOGETHER? BUT, OF COURSE, MY DEAH!



The great flowering of English music during the Renaissance faded in the early 17th century, and, apart from Henry Purcell ((1659-1695), there were no native composers of international stature for almost three hundred years. During the first part of Purcell's career, he composed mainly for the church, but his last ten years were largely devoted to theater music. However, only 'Dido and Aeneas' can be counted an opera, although he wrote five 'semioperas'. These embody many features of the court masque, and the problems of staging for modern audiences mean that England's finest dramatic composer is known,'Dido' apart, largely by his songs, anthems and instrumental music.



'Semi opera' was the term first coined by the English music theorist Roger North to describe the hybrid form, "half-music and half-drama" that flourished in England in the late 17th century. The first of these :'The Prophetess or the History of the Dioclesian' was first performed at London's Dorset Garden Theater in 1690. It tells the story of the rise of the Roman legionary Diocles to become Emperor. It is based on an earlier play by John Fletcher and Phillip Messinger. The adaptaton of the original play inself into a 'semi-opera' consisted of inserting songs and instrumental pieces into the drama at appropriate points.



IT IS NOT SO UNUSUAL to include the music of Handel (1685-1759) on a recording with Purcell, for the English, for the most part, have always considered him, at the least a successor to Purcell, and at the most, actually an Englishman. However, before he ever tread on English soil, Handel had already become a composer of note, and was acquainted with many diverse musical styles.



While in Rome around 1707, he composed several cantatas for his patron, the Marchese Francesco Maria Ruspoli. 'Il duello amaroso', dating from August 1708, was probably one of these works. It depicts the 'battle' between the nymph Amarilli and the shepherd Daliso, who attempts in vain to win back the heart of his unfaithful beloved. The cantata, with its sequence of introductory sonata, recitatives, brief 'da capo' arias and duet finale, shows impressively how Handel managed to make the Italian vocal style entirely his own,



This recording made in 1993, is just wonderfully performed! The cantata sung by Michael Chance and Nancy Argenta was extraordinary; each of them showed their usual excellent singing skills; that is beautiful sonorous tone quality, correct emotional investment in their respective roles, flawless diction and it left the listener wishing that the composition was longer. The Dioclesian, mostly instrumental, was performed very well with a nice 'Purcellian lilt' when required, and the tempi just so correct; but one would expect that from Gottfried Von Der Goltz. I am so glad that this disc became available thru the Amazon marketplace, for I would have hated to have missed it."