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Come aboard! There's still plenty of room, even with the throng of converts who heard the thrilling production of "Niobe, Queen of Thebes" at the 2011 Boston Early Music Festival. Stephen Midgley is our driver/conductor; it's his review of this CD that you must read and that turned my attention on the unique repertoire of Steffani's "chamber duets."
Agostini Steffani (1654-1728) has been described as the "missing link" in the evolution of opera between Cavalli and Handel, i.e. between the 17th and 18th Century versions of "baroque." It's certainly true that Steffani has been "missing" until quite recently. The redoubtable Cecilia Bartoli has made it her "Mission" to recover the missing master; her CD and DVD of arias and a few duets (with Philippe Jaroussky) has been a commercial and critical success. This performance of seven of Steffani's duets by Rossana Bertini and Claudio Cavina with the continuo instruments of ensemble Arcadia, is not new; the recording was done in 1994. In the meantime, Cavina's ensemble La Venexiana has achieved such credibility that any CD with his name and similar cover art is worth reissuing. Luckily for me! I didn't notice this performance in its first release but the re-release is a delayed epiphany. Bartoli's singing the Steffani arias is exuberant and entrancing, but in terms of sheer vocal artistry, this CD is superior.
The Italian Steffani spent most of his fabulous career as a composer, spy, and diplomat in Germany, in München and Hanover, with a prolonged visit to Paris to the court of Louis XIV. In terms of the prevalent national styles of music in the late 17th C, Steffani was "all over the place" -- his overtures are thoroughly French, his arias sparklingly Italian, and his mastery of counterpoint profoundly German. Does that stylistic Duke's Mixture ring any bells? A certain pair of Germans born in 1685, one revered for his cantatas and the other for his operas, were both indebted to Steffani for his synthesis of Italian, French, and German fashions.
The seven duets on this CD are not miniatures; they're robustly developed showpieces seamlessly blending recitativo, arietta, and aria. The texts are familiar Italian poetry of Love and Despair, idealized Passions that Steffani translates into exquisitely affective music. Each has its distinctive mood: delicate, playful, languid, or indignant. Anglophones will be annoyed, I suspect, that the poems are not translated in the CD notes. Perhaps Mr. Midgley will supply translations upon request.
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