#roberta invernizzi

[majestativa]

Roberta Invernizzi's voice luring me away, away, to savor that ancient pain.

La morte del cor penitente: Pt. I: Or va, Figlio constante (Penitence, Sinner)

[lesser-known-composers]

Mio ben, teco il tormento più Luigi Rossi (1598 - 1653)

Sopran: Roberta Invernizzi, Baroque Harp: Margret Köll

Camera: Armin Linke, Location: Spanish Hall, Schloss Ambras Innsbruck

[musicainextenso]

Sticking with early Baroque for another day, let’s all enjoy this delicious cantata by the incomparable Barbara Strozzi, who said eff you to the 17th century boys’ club by publishing more secular music in print than any other composer of the day—without the support of the church or the wealthy establishment. One example is Sino alla morte from Strozzi’s Diporti di Euterpe, sung here by soprano Roberta Invernizzi with Elena Russo on cello continuo. 

I don’t have the time to rave about this composer as much as I’d like today, but just know that Barbara Strozzi is EVERYTHING and you should seek out all recordings of her work immediately. More to come this week! - Melinda Beasi

[verdiprati]

Mostly Mezzo Mondays: Röschmann; Prina, Genaux, Im, & Invernizzi; Persson & Davidsen; von Otter; Baráth, Cangemi, & Galou; D’Angelo

Mostly Mezzo Mondays: a recurring (though not weekly) feature where, on Monday nights, I blog a list of the upcoming broadcasts that have caught my eye on World Concert Hall. My interests: baroque vocal music, art song recitals, and a list of favorite singers.

Dorothea Röschmann sings Wagner’s Wesendonck Lieder as part of a concert with the Orchestre de Paris; Karina Cannelakis conducts. Wednesday, September 4; video livestream on Arte and simultaneous audio broadcast on Radio Clasique. 

I can’t say I’m very familiar with Handel’s Lucio Cornelio Silla, but I have heard good work from Sonia Prina, Vivica Genaux, Sunhae Im, and Roberta Invernizzi, all of whom are among the cast for a performance by Europa Galante at the Enescu Festival. Live broadcast Thursday, September 5 on Radio România Muzical.

Lise Davidsen has made a splash in dramatic soprano roles, but she also has mezzo repertoire, and is scheduled to sing the alto solo in Mahler’s Symphony No. 2 with the Bergen Philharmonic and massed choirs; Miah Persson takes the soprano solo. Live broadcast Thursday, September 5 on NRK Klassik.

Mahler’s Symphony No. 3 is also on the broadcast schedule this week, with Anne Sofie von Otter singing the alto solo for the NDR Radiophilharmonie. Live broadcast Saturday, September 7th on NDR Kultur. 

Handel’s Silla isn’t the only baroque opera based on Roman history we get from the Enescu Festival this year: Vivaldi’s Giustino is up for broadcast, too. Names catching my eye among the cast include Emőke Baráth, Veronica Cangemi, and Delphine Galou. Live broadcast Sunday, September 8 on Radio România Muzical.

Dedicated mezzophiles may have their eye on the rising star of Emily D’Angelo. Along with Morgan Pearse and Marie Lys, she recently sang a program of “arias and duets from operas from the 17th and the 18th centuries” at the Innsbruck Festival, with its resident orchestra. Deferred broadcast Monday, September 9 on Ö1.

[grafinyademonsoro]

One of Monteverdi`s finest pieces - and one of my favorite renditions...

[parmandil]

Vivaldi's Ascende laeta (RV 635), sung by Roberta Invernizzi.

[fuckyeahfarinelli]

Farinelli’s composers: L E O N A R D O   V I N C I  (1690 or 1696 -1730)

Leonardo Vinci was an Italian composer, best known for his operas. His music exerted a direct influence on many composers of the next generation, notably Pergolesi and Hasse, and also made an impact on older composers such as Vivaldi and Handel, whose later works incorporate elements of the style of Vinci and his colleagues. He was the first composer of international repute to cultivate the periodic treatment of melody.

Vinci entered the Conservatorio dei Poveri di Gesu Cristo in Naples in 1708 as a convittore, paying 36 ducats a year, but after three years this fee was waived; apparently he was by then earning his keep as a mastricello or student teacher. After ten years of study he left and for a short time served as maestro di cappella to Prince Sansevero. Vinci made his operatic début in 1719 at the Teatro dei Fiorentini in Naples with the commedia per musica Lo cecato fauzo, enthusiastically reviewed in the Avvisi di Napoli. Vinci’s first operas were of the commedia per musica type, full-length comic operas with texts primarily in Neapolitan dialect. His Li zite’ngalera, from carnival 1722, is the earliest surviving score of a Neapolitan commedia. Vinci produced his first serious opera, Publio Cornelio Scipione, at the Teatro San Bartolomeo in Naples in November 1722; it was so successful that he turned primarily to the dramma per musica. In 1724 Vinci secured his first commission outside Naples, setting Lucchini’s Farnace for the Teatro delle Dame in Rome. Roman theatres were closed for the Holy Year in 1725, but Vinci wrote two new operas for the Teatro San Giovanni Grisostomo in Venice that year; their success probably led to a commission for a new opera at Parma in the spring involving the same composer and principals. Vinci’s activity reached a peak during winter 1725-26 when three new operas were produced: Astianatte in Naples in December, Didone abbandonata in Rome in January and Siroe re di Persia in Venice in February. The last two were the first of a series of successful collaborations between Vinci and Metastasio. Vinci’s success seems to have been challenged by his older colleague Porpora. Productions of operas by the two men in Venice and Rome fuelled a rivalry which, according to Burney, dated back to their youth. During the 1729-30 season Vinci was one of the impresarios at the Teatro delle Dame, as well as its principal composer. In the latter capacity he collaborated with Metastasio on three major works: the serenata La contesa de numi, and the operas Alessandro nell’Indie and Artaserse at the Teatro delle Dame. During the same season Porpora presented two operas at the Teatro Capranica in Rome; according to Marpurg, Vinci, fearful of Porpora’s challenge, resorted to sabotage in an attempt to crush his rival. Vinci’s machinations were hardly necessary, as both his operas became celebrated examples of the dramma per musica.

According to De Brosses, the Italians “did not want to see again any piece that they have already seen another year, unless it is some excellent opera by Vinci”. Vinci did not live to enjoy his success. He died in Naples amid rumours that he had been poisoned because of an illicit love affair.

Vo solcando un mar crudele  (Artaserse)

Cervo in bosco  (Medo)

Taci, o di morte  (Medo)

La rondinella che a noi sen riede  (Partenope)

Confusa, smarrita  (Catone in Utica) 

[verdiprati]

Mostly Mezzo Mondays is on a bit of a holiday break but if you like the idea of Brenda Rae and Roberta Invernizzi singing Mozart together—specifically, Exsultate, jubilate and the Mass in C minor—then this live radio broadcast of La Scala’s Christmas concert on Thursday the 21st is for you.