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
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