|
Back
A bravura introduction to Agostino Steffani Toronto
Jeanne Lamon Hall, Trinity-St. Paul’s Centre
11/08/2018 - & November 9, 10, 11, 2018
Agostino Steffani: Beatus vir a 8 – Stabat Mater – La superbia d’Allessandro: “Non prendo consiglio”; “Tra la guerre e le vittorie”; Air tendre – La lotta d’Hercole con Acheloo: Overture – Henrico Leone: “Moriró fra strazzi e scempi”; Chaconne – Niobe: Sinfonia; “T’abbraccio”; “Sfere amiche” – La liberta contenta: Entrée des Ombres – Il trionfi del fato: Sarabande – Tassilone: “Deh non far colle tue lagrime” – Marco Aurelio: “Non si parli” – Servio Tullio: “Ogni core può sperar” – Le rivale concordi: “Timore, ruine”
Krisztina Szabó (mezzo-soprano)
Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra and Chamber Choir, Ivars Taurins (conductor)
K. Szabó (© Bo Huang)
Steffani: Drama and Devotion was the title of this concert, and the first half consisted of two religious works that provided bookends to the rest. The first was Beatus vir a 8, composed when Steffani was 22. The five-minute work begins resolutely and sweeps briskly to its conclusion, with pictorial effects when the gnashing of teeth is referred to.
The Stabat Mater was first performed in the 1728, last year of Seffani’s life (he was 84). The 30-minute work begins with the soprano proclaiming the dramatic opening lines; subsequently ten choir members are given solos while the choir vividly expresses the grief that permeates the work.
The second part of the program gave us a rich sampling of 15 numbers from 10 of Steffani’s operatic output. An outline of his eventful life makes one suspect that facts about two men with the same name have somehow been conflated. In addition to composing, with operas premiered in Munich, Hanover, and Dusseldorf, he was concurrently a papal diplomat with the rank of a bishop. (Mind you, his musical output wasn’t as stupendous as some of his contemporaries who composed dozens.) His one opera with a degree of currency today is Niobe, first performed in Munich in 1688 where the 34-year-old had been a protegé of the electors of Bavaria since has was 13. The accompagnato and aria “Sfere amiche” was the highlight of the evening; the restless orchestration gives exciting support to an aria expressing a struggle to gain peace. Krisztina Szabó was “off book” for this, which gave an extra edge to the drama in what amounts to a dramatic cantata.
Steffani’s long life encompassed major stylistic shifts in music. His younger years witnessed the later works of Francesco Cavalli and his last years saw the rise of Handel. Two pieces illustrate the transition he helped bring about. The duet and chorus from Le rivale concordi, composed for Hanover in 1692, and which gave a joyous conclusion to the evening, has a sound that hearkens back to Monteverdi. Also composed for Hanover just three years later was Il trionfi del fato; its sarabande foreshadows Handel’s great aria “Lascia ch’io pianga”. The selections in the program were nicely varied, opening with a vengeance aria from La superbia d’Allessandro followed by the melancholic “Morirò” from Henrico Leone. The 18-member orchestra (no sign of music director Elissa Citterio for this concert) under Ivars Taurins.
This was a big evening for Krisztina Szabó; aside from her part in the Stabat Mater, she sang six arias and two duets, the latter with choir member Victoria Marshall. She was in terrific voice, and the acoustic refurbishment of Jeanne Lamon Hall certainly helped. The richness of the program gives rise to hopes of a recording.
Michael Johnson
|
