FRANCO FAGIOLI

HANDEL ARIAS IL POMO D'ORO I ZEFIRA VALOVA

Street date: 12 gennaio 2018 CD - DIGITALE CAT 4797541

Reduce dallo strordinario successo ottenuto nel suo debutto scaligero in Tamerlano

nel ruolo di Andronico lo scorso settembre, Franco Fagioli ha scelto per il suo nuovo

CD alcune tra le pi significative arie di Handel scritte per i castrati dellepoca,

quelle che meglio esprimono gli affetti musicali tipici del Barocco tra cui spicca la

celebre Ombra mai fu.

Brani tratti da opere quali proprio Tamerlano oltre a Giulio Cesare, Rodelinda,

Agrippina, Rinaldo, Oreste, Il Pastor Fido che mettono in evidenza le straordinarie

doti vocali del controtenore argentino.

GEORGE FRIDERIC HANDEL (16851759)

Oreste Libretto after Giangualberto Barlocci

First performance: London, Covent Garden Theatre, 18 December 1734

1 Agitato da fiere tempeste (Oreste) 4:24

Serse Libretto after Silvio Stampiglia and Nicol Minato

First performance: London, Kings Theatre, 15 April 1738

2 Frondi tenere e belle (Serse) 0:47

3 Ombra mai fu (Serse) 3:24

4 Crude furie deglorridi abissi (Serse) 3:55

Rinaldo Libretto: Giacomo Rossi

First performance: London, Queens Theatre, 24 February 1711;

rev. version: London, Kings Theatre, 6 April 1731

5 Cara sposa, amante cara (Rinaldo) 8:48

6 Venti, turbini, prestate (Rinaldo) 4:06

Imeneo Libretto after Silvio Stampiglia

First performance: London, Lincolns Inn Fields, 22 November 1740

7 Se potessero i sospir miei (Tirinto) 6:47

Il pastor fido

The Faithful Shepherd Der treue Hirte Le Berger fidle

Libretto: Giacomo Rossi

First performance: London, Queens Theatre, 22 November 1712

8 Sento brillar nel sen (Mirtillo) 6:45

Rodelinda, regina de Longobardi Libretto: Nicola Francesco Haym

First performance: London, Kings Theatre, 13 February 1725

9 Pompe vane di morte (Bertarido) 2:53

10 Dove sei, amato bene? (Bertarido) 6:19

Giulio Cesare in Egitto Libretto: Nicola Francesco Haym

First performance: London, Kings Theatre, 20 February 1724

11 Se in fiorito, ameno prato (Cesare) 8:40

Ariodante Libretto after Antonio Salvi

First performance: London, Covent Garden Theatre, 8 January 1735

12 Scherza, infida, in grembo al drudo (Ariodante) 11:13

13 Dopo notte atra e funesta (Ariodante) 7:28

Partenope Libretto after Silvio Stampiglia

First performance: London, Kings Theatre, 24 February 1730

14 Chio parta? (Arsace) 4:14

BAROQUE SNAPSHOTS

The Age of Baroque was an age of sensuousness. Beauty was cultivated and enthusiastically consumed,

offering contemporaries an antidote to sombre themes such as death and transience. For all who could afford

it, an interest in music and art was intended to make their lives as agreeable as possible. In the musical world

of the Italian Baroque it was not prima donnas and heroic tenors who were the fted stars in the field of opera

but above all castratos, who as primi uomini were held in the highest regard. A small and illustrious group of

fascinating singers intoxicated audiences with the exceptional sound of their bright virtuoso voices, which

were regarded as the epitome of youth everlasting. During his years in Italy, George Frideric Handel spent

time in Rome, Naples, Florence and Venice, where he first found his voice as an operatic composer with

Agrippina in 1709. In Rome a papal decree meant that from the time of the earthquake that struck central Italy

in 1703 all operatic performances were banned, but once he had moved to London in 1710 Handel had ample

opportunity to introduce the popular genre of Italian opera to English audiences. The medium soon found a

new home there. Rinaldo was successfully premiered at the Haymarket Theatre on 24 February 1711 with the

Neapolitan castrato Nicolini in the title role. With it, Handels career as an opera composer began to flourish

as never before. When the Royal Academy of Music was founded, in 1719, he also became a successful

impresario under the patronage of King George I.

In the course of his career Handel wrote forty-two operas featuring a whole series of arias tailored specially to

the voices of four of the periods leading Italian castratos: Nicolini, Senesino, Caffarelli and Carestini. In

particular the name of Senesino the stage name of Francesco Bernardi is inextricably linked to Handels

operatic output. Handel wrote no fewer than seventeen roles for Senesino, including Giulio Cesare, Andronico

in Tamerlano, Bertarido in Rodelinda, Floridante and Ottone. Senesino left Handels company in London in

1733 and was replaced by Giovanni Carestini, whose Handelian roles included Ruggiero in Alcina and the title

role in Ariodante. Franco Fagioli performs twelve arias that explore the wide range of affetti musicali that are

typical of Baroque operas in general and of Handels vocal music in particular. Handel is quite simply a must

for every countertenor, says Franco Fagioli. Although Id already sung many of his operas onstage, I hadnt

previously recorded the arias for an entire album. Recording them has been a bit like taking photographs of

particular moments that I want to capture for all time. Among the singers musical souvenirs are not only

virtuoso bravura arias such as Venti, turbini from Rinaldo and the radiantly golden Dopo notte from

Ariodante but also more understated pieces such as Chio parta? from Partenope, which breathes a spirit of

otherworldly transcendence. In choosing which arias to include, I allowed myself to be guided by those that

give me goosebumps, the singer admits. I wanted to record only those arias that affect me personally on the

very deepest level and where I feel that I really have something to say. I was not primarily interested in

choosing the best-known arias. To record a famous aria like Ombra mai fu, which so many great singers have

already taken into the studio, is a great challenge and very emotional. I am presenting listeners with my own

interpretation of this wonderful aria and offering a personal approach to Handels music.

A natural stage animal, Franco Fagioli is passionate about the theatre, and so it was particularly important to

him that he should be able to bring the appropriate emotions to these arias even when they are divorced from

their usual context and performed on their own in the studio. If an aria is not heard until the third act of an

opera, then the singer who is performing it onstage has already covered a lot of emotional ground. This really

has to be felt in the recording. The famous lament from Rinaldo, Cara sposa, conveys a sense of the lovelorn

heros longing and anguish. Se in fiorito, ameno prato from Giulio Cesare exudes a pastoral atmosphere

with its melodic sweetness, while Sento brillar from Il pastor fido positively bubbles with wit. For its part,

the cantabile Se potessero i sospir miei from Handels penultimate opera Imeneo the work was first

performed in 1740, shortly before the composer turned to writing English-language oratorios is tenderly

expressive in character. Agitato da fiere tempeste, finally, is a reflection of Handels pragmatism as a

successful impresario. He had originally written this virtuoso aria for Riccardo Primo, re dInghilterra in 1727.

Seven years later he compiled various numbers from his own existing operas to create a delightful pasticcio

with the title Oreste. The arias that have been chosen for this release cover the whole range of Handels operatic

output. Singing Handels arias is a bit like climbing into a time machine, says Franco Fagioli. As a singer

I have to communicate my own interpretation as authentically as possible, but this is an interpretation that

takes place, of course, in the here and now. Even so, it is important to know at what period and in what context

the music was originally composed. This album is my tribute to Handel. Katherina Knee