Counter-Intelligence
Sunday, 29. November 2009, 17:33:14
One of the nice things that I did while over in Wisconsin was to watch the DVD of an obscure 17th century opera, "St. Alessio," by Italian composer Stefano Landi (1587-1639). Landi was a prominent musician at the papal court, and for "St. Alessio" his collaborator and librettist was none other than Cardinal Rospigliosi, the future Pope Clement IX. "St. Alessio" is reputed to be the first work in European musical theatre to deal with an historical (as opposed to a mythological) subject, and also includes the first comic characters scenes to be set in opera. As such, it's a harbinger of Mozart, Rossini, and the Richard Strauss of "Ariadne auf Naxos."http://www.amazon.com/Stefano-Landi-SantAlessio-Jaroussky-Florissants/dp/B0013D8M1W
One of the interesting features of musical theatre in seventeenth century Rome was the existence of an absolute prohibition upon allowing actresses (or female singers) appear on stage. Of course, men appearing as women were perfectly acceptable. So in "St. Alessio" the female roles are sung by counter-tenors, as are also a number of the male roles as well. Thanks for the 17th century practice of castrating boys with pleasant voices, there was no shortage of male sopranos at the time capable of singing the beautifully florid and melodious lines that Landi composed. "St. Alessio" the opera may merit a place in the Guinness Book of World Records: there are actually 8 significant roles for counter-tenors.
The title role in the piece was performed by the brilliant French counter-tenor Philippe Jaroussky. ("Sopranist" is another term occasionally used to describe his vocal type.) Born in 1978, Jaroussky is among the most accomplished representitives of our current "golden age" of very high-voiced male singers. He is a very appealing performing, gifted musically _and_ theatrically. I hope to be able to catch a live performance of his before too long. Here's a clip of him performing a placid Vivaldi aria on a French television special last year:















