Francesco Cavalli Explained

Francesco Cavalli (born Pietro Francesco Caletti-Bruni; 14 February 1602 – 14 January 1676) was a Venetian composer, organist and singer of the early Baroque period. He succeeded his teacher Claudio Monteverdi as the dominant and leading opera composer of the mid 17th-century. A central figure of Venetian musical life, Cavalli wrote more than forty operas, almost all of which premiered in the city's theaters. His best known works include Ormindo (1644), Giasone (1649) and La Calisto (1651).[1]

Life

Cavalli was born at Crema, then an inland province of the Venetian Republic. He became a singer (boy 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 took the name "Cavalli" from his patron, Venetian nobleman Federico Cavalli. Though he wrote prolifically for the church, 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 (when he revived his opera Xerse) until 1662, producing his Ercole amante. He died in Venice at the age of 73.

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 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.

More than forty-two operas have been attributed to Cavalli. Manuscript scores of twenty-six are extant, preserved in the Biblioteca Nazionale Marciana (Library of St Mark) in Venice. Scores of some of the operas also exist in other locations. In addition, the music of his two last operas (Coriolano and Masenzio), which are clearly attributed to him, is lost. Another twelve or so for which the music is lost have also been attributed to him, but these attributions have either been disproved or remain uncertain. Cristoforo Ivanovich, who published the first chronicle of Venetian opera, Minerva al tavolino (Venice, 1681), attributed most of the anonymous works from the first 15 years of public performances in Venice to Cavalli, and many of these attributions were repeated by subsequent authors. The American musicologist Thomas Walker, writing in The New Grove Dictionary of Opera, considered seven of Ivanovich's attributions and another two by other authors as doubtful.[2]

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.

Sacred works

Operas

Attributions to Cavalli considered doubtful by American musicologist Thomas Walker are indicated in the notes.[3]

TitleLibretto!Première datePlace, theatre!Notes
Le nozze di Teti e di PeleoOrazio Persiani24 January 1639Venice, Teatro San Cassiano 
Gli amori d'Apollo e di DafneGiovanni Francesco Busenello1640Venice, Teatro San Cassiano 
La DidoneGiovanni Francesco Busenello1641Venice, Teatro San Cassiano 
L'amore innamoratoGiovanni Battista Fusconi1 January 1642Venice, Teatro San Moisè
Narciso et Ecco immortalatiOrazio Persiani30 January 1642Venice, Teatro Santi Giovanni e Paolomusic lost, doubtful
La virtù de' strali d'AmoreGiovanni Faustini1642Venice, Teatro San Cassiano 
L'EgistoGiovanni Faustiniautumn 1643Venice, Teatro San Cassiano 
La DeidamiaScipione Herrico5 January 1644Venice, Teatro Novissimomusic lost, doubtful
L'OrmindoGiovanni Faustini1644Venice, Teatro San Cassiano 
Il Romolo e 'l RemoGiulio Strozzi1645Venice, Teatro Santi Giovanni e Paolomusic lost, doubtful
La DoricleaGiovanni Faustini1645Venice, Teatro San Cassiano 
Il TitoneGiovanni Faustini1645Venice, Teatro San Cassianomusic lost
La prosperità infelice di Giulio Cesare dittatoreGiovanni Francesco Busenello1646Venice, Teatro Santi Giovanni e Paolomusic lost, doubtful
La TorildaPietro Paolo Bissari1648Venice, Teatro Santi Giovanni e Paolomusic lost, doubtful
Il GiasoneGiacinto Andrea Cicognini5 January 1649Venice, Teatro San Cassiano 
L'EuripoGiovanni Faustini1649Venice, Teatro San Moisemusic lost
L'OrimonteNicolò Minato20 February 1650Venice, Teatro San Cassiano[4]
La BradamantePietro Paolo Bissari1650Venice, Teatro Santi Giovanni e Paolomusic lost, doubtful
L'ArmidoroBortolo Castoreo20 January 1651Venice, Teatro San Cassianomusic lost, doubtful
L'OristeoGiovanni Faustini9 February 1651Venice, Teatro Sant'Apollinare 
La RosindaGiovanni Faustini1651Venice, Teatro Sant'Apollinarealso known as Le magie amorose
La CalistoGiovanni Faustini28 November 1651Venice, Teatro Sant'Apollinare 
L'EritreaGiovanni Faustini17 January 1652Venice, Teatro Sant'Apollinare 
La Veremonda, l'amazzone di AragonaGiacinto Andrea Cicognini and Giulio Strozzi21 December 1652Naples, Nuovo Teatro del Palazzo Realealso known as Il Delio[5]
L'Helena rapita da Theseo[6] Giacomo Badoaro?1653Venice, Teatro Santi Giovanni e Paolomusic lost, doubtful
L'OrioneFrancesco MelosioJune 1653Milan, Teatro Real 
Il CiroGiulio Cesare Sorrentino30 January 1654Venice, Teatro Santi Giovanni e Paoloin collaboration with Francesco Provenzale
Il XerseNicolò Minato12 January 1655Venice, Teatro Santi Giovanni e Paolo 
L'ErismenaAurelio Aureli30 December 1655Venice, Teatro Sant'Apollinare 
Statira principessa di PersiaGiovanni Francesco Busenello18 January 1656Venice, Teatro Santi Giovanni e Paolo 
L'ArtemisiaNicolò Minato10 January 1657Venice, Teatro Santi Giovanni e Paolo 
L'HipermestraGiovanni Andrea Moniglia12 June 1658Florence, Teatro degli Immobili 
L'AntiocoNicolò Minato12 January 1659Venice, Teatro San Cassianomusic lost
ElenaGiovanni Faustini and Nicolò Minato26 December 1659Venice, Teatro San Cassianoalso known as Il rapimento d'Helena
La pazzia in trono, ossia il Caligola deliranteDomenico Gisberti1660Venice, Teatro Sant'Apollinaremusic lost, doubtful
Ercole amanteFrancesco Buti7 February 1662Paris, at the Salle des Machines in the Tuileries PalaceBallet music by Jean-Baptiste Lully
Scipione affricanoNicolò Minato9 February 1664Venice, Teatro Santi Giovanni e Paolo 
Muzio ScevolaGiovanni Faustini and Nicolò Minato26 January 1665Venice, Teatro San Samuele 
Pompeo MagnoNicolò Minato20 February 1666Venice, Teatro San Salvatore 
EliogabaloAurelio Aurelicomposed 1667, premiered 1999[7] Venice, Teatro San Salvatore
CoriolanoCristoforo Ivanovich27 May 1669Piacenza, Teatro Ducalemusic lost
MasenzioGiacomo Francesco Bussanicomposed 1673unperformed and music lost

Modern performances

Cavalli's music was revived in the twentieth century. The Glyndebourne Opera production of La Calisto, in 1970, is an example.[8] [9] More recently, Hipermestra was performed at Glyndebourne in 2017.[10] The discography is extensive and Cavalli has featured in BBC Radio 3's Composer of the Week series.[11]

See also

Further reading

External links

Notes and References

  1. Encyclopedia: Walker . Thomas . Revised by Irene Alm . 2001 . . Cavalli [Caletti, Caletto, Bruni, Caletti-Bruni, Caletto Bruni], (Pietro) [Pier] Francesco ]. . Oxford . 10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.article.05207 . 978-1-56159-263-0 . subscription .
  2. [Thomas Walker (musicologist)|Walker, Thomas]
  3. https://www.encyclopedia.com/arts/dictionaries-thesauruses-pictures-and-press-releases/cavalli-real-name-caletti-pier-francesco "Cavalli (real name, Caletti), Pier Francesco"
  4. Brenac, Jean-Claude, Le magazine de l'opéra baroque
  5. https://operabaroque.fr/CAVALLI_VEREMONDA.htm "Veremonda, l’Amazzone di Aragona (ou Il Delio)"
  6. https://www.loc.gov/resource/music.musschatz-19829/?sp=3&st=image&r=-0.276,-0.005,1.483,1.005,0 L'Helena rapita da Theseo, 1653 libretto
  7. News: Fonseca-Wollheim . Corinna da . 2013-03-08 . A Senate of Prostitutes? Now That's Opera! . en-US . The New York Times . 2023-02-06 . 0362-4331.
  8. [Alex Ross (music critic)|Ross, Alex]
  9. Web site: La Calisto / Glyndebourne Festival 1970 Archives . 2024-06-25 . Glyndebourne . en-US.
  10. News: Hipermestra review – Cavalli comes in from the cold. The Observer . 26 May 2017 . Guardian. 4 July 2017 . Maddocks . Fiona .
  11. Web site: Composer of the Week . 5 August 2012.

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