A Sunday programme in the ‘baroque spirit’. Kapsberger – Un spirito libero. Instrumental music but also arias by Giovanni Girolamo Kapsberger, one of the most important baroque composers of his time, in the early 17th century.
Giovanni Girolamo Kapsberger was one of the most innovative and original composers in early 17th-century Rome. He was a virtuoso on lute and chitarrone, or theorbe. Because of this he was called ‘Tedesco della Tiorba’, or ‘the German on theorbe’.
Many Kapsberger music collections have been released: 4 books for chitarrone and continuo ‘Libro Primo di Sinfonie a quattro’, 2 ‘Libre di Arie Passegiate’, and 7 ‘Libre di Villanelle’. He also wrote a Christmas cantata.
His works (especially the aria’s for 1 and 2 singers) show his lively imagination to transform poetry into music, as well as his flair for dramatic gestures.
This made Kapsberger one of the most important baroque composers of his time, the early 17th century.
Performers are: Echo du Danube, Los Otros, Il Furioso and L’Arpeggiata.
Giovanni Girolamo Kapsberger (Venice, 1580 – Rome, 1651)
From Dialogo posto in musica (Rome, 1630):
from ‘I Pastori di Bettelemme’:
1. Sinfonia
2. Primo Pastore solo
3. Coro dei Pastori
4. Toccata seconda
5. Coro
Constanze Backes, Chiyuki Okamura and Clementine Jesdinsky, soprano. Franz Vitzthum, countertenor. Christian Dietz, tenor. Markus Flaig, bass.
Echo du Danube
(ACCENT ACC 24231, 2010)
(Click here to listen to the complete ‘I Pastori di Bettelemme’ in Nuove Musiche of 31 July 2011)
From Libro Terzo d’intavolatura di Chitarrone (1626):
6. Toccata seconda
7. Corrente seconda
8. Toccata terza
9. Toccata quarta
10. Gagliarda
Los Otros: Lee Santana, chitarrone. Hille Perl, viola da gamba. Steve Player, chitarrone and guitar.
(DHM 88697527152, 2009)
From Libro Secondo d’Arie (1623):
11. Pargoletto son io
12. I’vo piangendo i miei passati tempi
13. T’inaspri a miei lamenti
14. Pieta di chi si more
15. Ancora il Re nasce piangendo in terra
Il Furioso led by Victor Coelho, archlute
(TOCC 0027, 2006)
From Libro Terzo d’intavolatura di Chitarrone (1626):
16. Toccata quinta
17. Toccata sesta
18. Ballo (uit Libro Quarto)
19. Ancidetemi pur
Los Otros: Lee Santana, chitarrone. Hille Perl, viola da gamba. Steve Player, chitarrone and guitar (see picture below)
(DHM 88697527152, 2009)
From Libro Primo di Arie Passegiate (1612), Libro di Villanelle (1619?) and Libro Primo di Sinfonie a quattro (1615):
20. Avrilla mia
21. Sinfonia 9
22. O fronte serena
23. Tarantella di Sannicandro
24. Sinfonia 8
Johannette Zomer, soprano. Piño de Vittorio, tenor. L’Arpeggiata led by Christina Pluhar
(Alpha 012, 2001)
From Libro Terzo d’intavolatura di Chitarrone (1626):
25. Toccata settima
26. Corrente prima
27. Toccata ottava
28. Come esser puo
Los Otros: Lee Santana, chitarrone. Hille Perl, viola da gamba. Steve Player, chitarrone and guitar.
(DHM 88697527152, 2009)
From Libro di Villanelle (1619?) and Libro Primo di Sinfonie a quattro (1615):
29. Figlio dormi
30. Sinfonia 18
Johannette Zomer, soprano. Piño de Vittorio, tenor. L’Arpeggiata led by Christina Pluhar
(Alpha 012, 2001)
Il Furioso led by Victor Coelho (on the right)
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