www.allegorica...
/ allegorica
/ @allegorica.opera.mana...
Luigi De Donato, Bass
Václav Luks, Conductor
Collegium 1704
You are listenining to excerpts from:
- Georg Friedrich Handel: “Fra l’ombre e gl’orrori” (Aci, Galatea e Polifemo, HWV 72) - track no. 18
- Johann Georg Schürer: “Dalla spelonca uscite” (La Galatea) - track no. 12
- Antonio Cesti: “Amante gigante” - track no. 8
- Georg Friedrich Handel: “Sibillar gli angui d’Aletto” (Aci, Galatea e Polifemo, HWV 72) - track no. 1
“My first encounter with Polifemo was back in 2003 when I performed Handel’s “Aci, Galatea e Polifemo”, a rarity at the time, for the Salzburger Pfingstfestspiele, the Vienna Musikverein and the Salamanca Baroque Festival. We felt like pioneers!
Fortunately, much has changed over the past 20 years and Handel’s serenata has since then entered the Baroque repertoire, being regularly performed in the most significant concert halls in the world.
Curiosity prompted me to do some research in various music libraries (Bologna, Venice, online libraries) on other compositions with the Polyphemus theme and the discoveries I made were remarkable!
The programme as proposed here presents famous works by Handel, Porpora and Bononcini as well as wonderful rediscoveries by Cesti, Alberti and Schürer taking us on a musical journey across Europe through more than 100 years… Its “fil rouge” is of course Italy, whether for the nationality of the composers or the language of the libretto.
In the end, Polifemo became a symbol of what was considered the “Baroque Monster” between the second half of the 17th and much of the 18th Century.”
LUIGI DE DONATO
© 2024 ACCENT
9 сен 2024
