Francesco Cavalli
1602 - 1676
Francesco Cavalli (14 February 1602 – 14 January 1676) was an Italian composer of the early Baroque period. His real name was Pietro Francesco Caletti-Bruni, but he is better known by that of Cavalli, the name of his patron Federico Cavalli, a Venetian nobleman.
Life
Cavalli was born at Crema, Lombardy. He became a singer (soprano) at St Mark's Basilica in Venice in 1616, where he had the opportunity to work under the tutorship of Claudio Monteverdi. He became second organist in 1639, first organist in 1665, and in 1668 maestro di cappella. He is chiefly remembered for his operas. He began to write for the stage in 1639 (Le nozze di Teti e di Peleo) soon after the first public opera house opened in Venice, the Teatro San Cassiano. He established so great a reputation that he was summoned to Paris from 1660 (he revived his opera Xerse) until 1662, producing his Ercole amante. He died in Venice at the age of 73.
Key Works
Music and influence
Cavalli was the most influential composer in the rising genre of public opera in mid-17th-century Venice. Unlike Monteverdi's early operas, scored for the extravagant court orchestra of Mantua, Cavalli's operas make use of a small orchestra of strings and basso continuo to meet the limitations of public opera houses.Cavalli introduced melodious arias into his music and popular types into his libretti. His operas have a remarkably strong sense of dramatic effect as well as a great musical facility, and a grotesque humour which was characteristic of Italian grand opera down to the death of Alessandro Scarlatti. Cavalli's operas provide the only example of a continuous musical development of a single composer in a single genre from the early to the late 17th century in Venice — only a few operas by others (e.g., Monteverdi and Antonio Cesti) survive. The development is particularly interesting to scholars because opera was still quite a new medium when Cavalli began working, and had matured into a popular public spectacle by the end of his career. Cavalli wrote forty-one operas, twenty-seven of which are still extant, being preserved in the Biblioteca Nazionale Marciana (Library of St Mark) in Venice. Copies of some of the operas also exist in other locations. In addition, two last operas (Coriolano and Masenzio), which are clearly attributed to him, are lost, as well as twelve other operas that have been attributed to him, though the music is lost and attribution impossible to prove.In addition to operas, Cavalli wrote settings of the Magnificat in the grand Venetian polychoral style, settings of the Marian antiphons, other sacred music in a more conservative manner – notably a Requiem Mass in eight parts (SSAATTBB), probably intended for his own funeral – and some instrumental music.
Elena - (scena)
Gli amori d'Apollo e di Dafne - Atto I, Scena 3 (Giove, Venere e Amore)
Gli amori d'Apollo e di Dafne - Lamento d'Apollo - Atto III, scena terza
"L'Amore Innamorato"
[0:00] Francesco Cavalli: L'Ormindo - Prologo (Hana Blažíková)
[7:47] Francesco Cavalli: Il Giasone - Sinfonia
[10:16] Francesco Cavalli: La Calisto - Piante ombrose (Nuria Rial)
[13:23] Francesco Cavalli: La Calisto - Restino imbalsamate (Nuria Rial)
[17:42] Francesco Cavalli: La Rosinda - Vieni, vieni in questo seno (Hana Blažíková)
[21:23] Francesco Cavalli: La Calisto - Verginella io morir vo' (Nuria Rial)
[25:17] Francesco Cavalli: La Calisto - Ninfa bella (Hana Blažíková)
[28:53] Francesco Cavalli: La Calisto - Non è maggior piacere (Nuria Rial)
[33:32] Francesco Cavalli: L'Artemisia - Dammi morte (Hana Blažíková)
[38:05] Francesco Cavalli: L'Eliogabalo - Sinfonia
[40:24] Francesco Cavalli: L'Artemisia - Affliggetemi, guai dolenti (Hana Blažíková)
[42:46] Francesco Cavalli: L'Ormindo - Che città (Nuria Rial)
[46:20] Giovanni Girolamo Kapsberger: Toccata prima
[51:50] Francesco Cavalli: La Didone - Alle ruine del mio tempio (Nuria Rial)
[58:58] Francesco Cavalli: La Didone - L'alma fiacca svanì (Nuria Rial)
[1:03:20] Andrea Falconieri: La suave melodia
La Didone - Act 2 scene 10
La Didone - Finale
see also - 1602; 1617; 1630; 1639; 1640; 1641; 1643; 1644; 1646; 1649; 1650; 1651; 1652; 1654; 1655; 1656; 1658; 1660; 1662; 1664; 1665; 1668; 1671; 1676
L'Egisto (1 of 15), (5 of 15), (14 of 15), (15 of 15)
Ormindo. Ormindo and Erisbe, in their "death" scene.
Giasone
Orimonte: Numi cieche più di me
La Calisto
Francesco Cavalli - La Calisto, dramma per musica in 1 prologo e 3 atti, per soli, coro e orchestra (1651)
Libretto: Giovanni Faustini e sulla "Metamorfosi" di Ovidio
Prologo
0:00 - I. Sinfonia
1:27 - II. Alme pure e volanti
5:04 - III. Gran madre, ottima duce
Atto I
8:41 - I. Sinfonia. Del foco fulminato
14:02 - II. Piante ombrose
16:29 - III. De l'offese del foco
21:27 - IV. Dunque, Giove immortale - Verginella io morir vo
23:54 - V. Come scherne acerbetta
26:42 - VI. Sinfonia
27:29 - VII. Sien mortali o divini
29:05 - VIII. Non è maggior piacere
31:55 - IX. Chi non ti crederebbe - In ricovro più ombroso - A baciarsi andiam, sì sì
35:00 - X. Va' pur, va'pur, va' seco - Se non giovano
37:06 - XI. Improvisi stupori
39:36 - XII. Serenati, o core - Pavide, sbigottite
45:14 - XIII. Parto, e porto partendo - Non è crudel, ben mio
48:00 - XIV. Come chiude nel petto
52:02 - XV. Piangete
53:44 - XVI. Interprete mal buona
56:41 - XVII. Ninfa bella
1:00:36 - XVIII. Numi selvatici
1:05:30 - XIX. Ballo degli Orsi. Ciaccona
Atto II
1:08:41 - I. Sinfonia. Erme e solinghi cime
1:15:01 - II. Candidi corridori
1:18:04 - III. Bella quanto crudele - Sinfonia
1:23:48 - IV. Alfin la tanto rigida
1:25:32 - V. Da le gelose mie cure incessanti
1:28:03 - VI. Sporgate anco
1:32:32 - VII. Esprimerti non posso
1:34:29 - VIII. Calisto, anima mia?
1:42:50 - IX. Chi condusse costei
1:44:58 - X. Cor mio
1:47:47 - XI. Mercurio, chi disfoga
1:49:42 - XII. Se tu nol credi - Fermati o mobile
1:53:03 - XIII. Oh Dio, così abbandoni
1:57:09 - XIV. D'aver un consorte
2:00:56 - XV. Combattimento di ninfe e satiri
Atto III
2:01:51 - I. Restino imbalsamate
2:06:39 - II. Da le sponde
2:08:56 - III. Ma si fa gelo il sangue
2:11:21 - IV. Racconsolata e paga
2:14:36 - V. Perfide, ancora osate
2:16:12 - VI. O re de l'universo
2:21:26 - VII. Mio foco fatale - Beata mi sento
2:23:40 - VIII. Che non l'ami volete - Ti segua questo dardo
2:29:24 - IX. Vivo per te pietosa
2:30:52 - X. Tanto, dunque, tu m'ami?
2:33:22 - XI. Dolcissimi baci
2:36:04 - XII. Sinfonia
2:37:02 - XIII. Le stelle più belle
2:41:13 - XIV. Mio tonante - Vaga amante
2:42:20 - XV. Ciaccona
Eritrea - Prologo
Ombra mai fu Xerse
- Ombra mai fu
- Ahi principessa, ed in qual grave errore
- A fé mi fate ridere
Erismena
Messa Concertata - 1656
1. Kyrie
2. Gloria
3. Credo
4. Sanctus et Benedictus
5. Agnus Dei
Hipermestra - 1, 2, 3
Ercole Amante - Prologue & Act I
Scipione Africano - Aria: Hora si ch'issai più fiero
Missa pro Defunctis
(1) Sonata a otto
(2) Requiem Aeternam
(3) Kyrie Eleison, Christe Eleison
(4) Graduale: Requiem Aeternam (gregoriano)
(5) Tractus: Absolve Domine (gregoriano)
(6) Dies Irae
(7) Offertorium: Domine Jesu Christe
(8) Sonata a quattro
(9) Sanctus, Benedictus
(10) Agnus Dei
(11) Communio: Lux Aeterna (gregoriano)
(12) Sonata a sei
(13) Responsorium: Libera Me Domine
(14) Mottetto a voce sola e b.c.: Cantate Domino et Exultate*
(15) Mottetto a due voci e b.c.: O bone Jesu, O Jesu amabilis
(16) Mottetto a voce sola e b.c.: O Quam Suavis et decora
Lauda Jerusalem