In an earlier blog, I said that Fabio Biondi was the founder and director of the musical ensemble called Europa Galante. What exactly does the Italian word "galante" mean? It looks like the English word "gallant" which means "courteous", "gentlemanly" and can also mean "amorous, racy or flirtatious". But although it can have some of all those senses, in the context of music, it actually refers more specifically to a musical style of composition and performance fashionable in Italy and perhaps Germany from the 1720s to the 1770s which emphasized simple short phrases and melodic lines over complexity; spontaneity, immediacy and elegance over the strictness and stately formal regularity of the music prevalent in late Baroque music. It downplayed the role of polyphony and harmony based on the tonic and dominant and highlighted more the role of the soloists over that of the rest of the chamber orchestra, thus giving the music much more contrast and a more lively and energetic feeling. it's a style of composition favored by such composers as the Italian Scarlatti, Vivaldi, Tartini, the German Handel, Stamitz and Telemann and the Spanish Boccherini.
Last night, I had the chance to hear this famous ensemble in action at the City Hall. But it was a most unusual concert. Before the formal concert began, we were shown a short but beautifully made documentary on the life of a legendary violin virtuoso which began life on the steps of the Ospedale Pietà ( an Italian orphanage run by nuns specializing in training those endowed with talent at singing or playing musical instrument) in 1718, at the age of 2 months. She died at the age of 81 and spent her whole life at the Pietà until it was closed down. Before then, the Pietà was so successful in turning out performer after performers who attained such standards of excellence that all music-living members of European royalty made special trips there just to hear its performances, which were invariably done behind cloisters to prevent the girls there from being "contaminated" or "corrupted" by secular influences. The lady played with such skill and passion that that many famous Italian composers of the day had written concerti specially for her or otherwise dedicated many of their works to her like Antonio Martinelli's Violin Concerto in E, Concerto for viola d'amore and strings in D and Antonio Vivaldi's Concerto for Violin in D, RV222, two of the pieces we heard last night. She is Chiara (Chiaretta), The documentary, the "Diary of Chiara", was directed and produced by Lucrezia Le Moli and Biondi and the music accompanying Chiara's life was performed by the Europa Galante.
Last night, I had the chance to hear this famous ensemble in action at the City Hall. But it was a most unusual concert. Before the formal concert began, we were shown a short but beautifully made documentary on the life of a legendary violin virtuoso which began life on the steps of the Ospedale Pietà ( an Italian orphanage run by nuns specializing in training those endowed with talent at singing or playing musical instrument) in 1718, at the age of 2 months. She died at the age of 81 and spent her whole life at the Pietà until it was closed down. Before then, the Pietà was so successful in turning out performer after performers who attained such standards of excellence that all music-living members of European royalty made special trips there just to hear its performances, which were invariably done behind cloisters to prevent the girls there from being "contaminated" or "corrupted" by secular influences. The lady played with such skill and passion that that many famous Italian composers of the day had written concerti specially for her or otherwise dedicated many of their works to her like Antonio Martinelli's Violin Concerto in E, Concerto for viola d'amore and strings in D and Antonio Vivaldi's Concerto for Violin in D, RV222, two of the pieces we heard last night. She is Chiara (Chiaretta), The documentary, the "Diary of Chiara", was directed and produced by Lucrezia Le Moli and Biondi and the music accompanying Chiara's life was performed by the Europa Galante.
The formal concert began with Giovanni Porta (1675-1755)'s Sinfonia for Strings in D. which started off rapidly in Allegro, then meandered in the Largo before picking up the joyful rhythms again in the final Allegro.
Porta was followed by Vivaldi's (1678-1741) Sinfonia for string in G RV 149 otherwise known as il Coro della muse (the body of the Muse) (1740,which he wrote before he lost his post at the Pietà and died in poverty the following year), in Allegro molto, Andante and Allegro.
The third was Nicolò Porpora (1686-1768)'s short work, Sinfonia in tre in G in Adagio and Allegro, a piece which started off rather solemnly with the help of the organ but quickly switched to a joyful mood.
Next we had Martinelli's Violin Concerto in E dedicated to Miss Chiara, a piece beloved by her. Its 3 movements are Maestoso (majestic), Grave (solemn/serious) and Allegro spirituo (in cheerful spirit) the moods of each changing dramatically with each movement especially energetic in the last.
Then it's the turn of Vivaldi again in another piece also dedicated to Chiara: his Concerto for Violin in D RV 222 in the by then conventional Allegro, Andante and Allegro. it's another very cheerful piece, full of life and hopping with energy, as it ranges over the ascending and descending phrases on the scale
After the intermission, we had another piece from Chiara's teacher Martinelli, his Concerto for viola d'amore and strings in D, a piece which brings out the unique sonority of the solo string instrument, which is one of chief components of the galante style.
Next we had the allegro from the Sinfonia for Strings in D by Andrea Bernasconi (1706-1784), another very cheerful piece, dancing with joy.
Bernasconi was followed by another composer I never heard before: Gaetano Latilla (1711-1788) It's another Sinfonia for Strings but in G, another very fast and energetic piece in Allegro, mezza voce andantino and Presto emphasizing the melody rather than tonal complexity.
The we had another piece featuring the organ: the adagio of Fulgenso Perotti's Grave for violin and organ in G minor with its original cadenzas composed by Chiara herself. It's a rather quiet, serene and a bit solemn piece.
Then the concert continued with the 2nd and 3rd movements of Bernasconi's Sinfonia for Strings in D in Andantino and Presto Assai. But Biondi and his ensemble were obvious pleased with their reception and ended the evening of 18th century music with what I suspected might be the encore piece, an excerpt from their famous Quattro Stagiones. But I was not entirely right. They gave us not one but two extracts from that lively ever green piece which Biondi said were dedicated to all suffering women, probably because 8th March is Women's Day.
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