KAPSPERGER, Giovanni Girolamo (c.1580-1651) - Alla Luce

Obra d'Ambrosius Bosschaert (1573-1621), pintor flamenc (1)

- Recordatori de Giovanni Girolamo Kapsperger -

En el dia de la commemoració del seu 365è aniversari de decés

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Parlem de Pintura...

Ambrosius Bosschaert de Oude (Antwerpen, 18 de gener de 1573 - Den Haag, 1621) va ser un pintor flamenc. Pocs detalls es coneixen de la seva vida més enllà que el 1585 figurava com a membre del gremi de pintors de la seva ciutat natal, la qual va haver d'abandonar quan va ser ocupada per les tropes espanyoles. Entre els anys 1597 i 1613 va treballar com a degà o superior de la guilda holandesa de Middelbourg, on es creu que hi va romandre fins el 1614. Entre els anys 1616 i 1618 va treballar a Utrecht i posteriorment, a l'entorn de 1620, a Breda. Com a pintor va destacar pels seus quadres de flors de gran detall i harmonia formal. Va morir a La Haia el 1621.

Font: En català: No disponible - En castellano: Ambrosius Bosschaert (1573-1621) - In english: Ambrosius Bosschaert (1573-1621) - Altres: Ambrosius Bosschaert (1573-1621)

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Parlem de Música...

Giovanni Girolamo Kapsperger (?Venezia, c.1580 - Roma, 17 de gener de 1651) va ser un compositor italià. El seu pare, el coronel Guglielmo Kapsperger va ser un oficial militar de la Casa Imperial d'Àustria i es creu que va viure a Venècia, la ciutat on probablement va néixer Kapsperger. A partir del 1604 va treballar a Venècia i el 1610 a Roma on va estar al servei de la Cort Papal. Allà va començar a publicar música per a llaüt i guitarra així com motets en estil modern. També va compondre música dramàtica i un oratori. Va fer amistat amb diverses personalitats de l'època i ràpidament va assolir bona fama com a intèrpret del llaüt. Va ser un temps molt productiu amb col·leccions notables com el cèlebre Libro d'intavolatura di lauto (1611). El 1624 Kapsperger va entrar al servei del cardenal Francesco Barberini, on va treballar amb nombrosos compositors importants, com Girolamo Frescobaldi i Stefano Landi, i poetes com Giulio Rospigliosi, més tard el papa Climent IX. Compositor prolífic i molt original, Kapsperger va ser principalment recordat per la seva música de llaüt, tiorba i guitarró, que va ser fonamental en el desenvolupament d'aquests com a instruments solistes. Va morir a Roma el gener de 1651.

OBRA:

Published in Rome unless otherwise stated.

Vocal secular:

Libro I de madrigali, 5vv, bc (1609)
Libro I di [20] villanelle, 1–3vv, bc, theorbo [tablature], gui [alfabeto system] (1610/R1979)
Libro I di [22] arie passeggiate, 1v, bc, theorbo (1612/R1980); 1 ed. C. MacClintock, The Solo Song 1580–1730: a Norton Music Anthology (New York, 1973), 32ff
Maggio Cantata nel Real Palazzo de Pitti (Florence, 1612), lost, lib in I-Fn
Libro II di [21] villanelle, 1–3vv, bc, gui (1619/R1979); 2 in 161815
Libro III di [20] villanelle, 1–3vv, bc, gui (1619/R1979)
Libro IV di [23] villanelle, 1–3vv, bc, gui (1623/R1979)
Libro II d'[30] arie [passeggiate], 1–2vv, bc (1623/R1980)
[10] Poematia et carmina … liber I, 1v, bc (1624)
Coro musicale, wedding cant, 1–5vv, insts, bc (1627)
Epitalamio … recitativo a più voci (1628), lost
Libro V di villanelle, 1–4vv, bc, gui (1630)
Libro III d'arie passeggiate a una e più voci (1630), lost
Li fiori, Libro VI di villanelle, 1–4vv, bc, gui (1632)
Poematia et carmina … liber II (1633), lost
Libro VII di villanelle, 1–3vv, bc, gui (1640)
Arie, bks IV–VI; Carmina Cardinalis Barberini, bk III; Dialoghi latini diversi; Dialoghi volgari diversi: listed by Allacci, pubn doubtful

Stage:
Apotheosis sive Consecratio SS Ignatii et Francisci Xaverii (prol, 5, O. Grassi), Collegio Romano, Rome, 1622, A-Wn, F-Pn*
La vittoria del principe Vladislao in Valacchia (op, 3, G. Ciampoli), Rome, 1625, lost; lib in Rime scelte di Monsignor Ciampoli (1666)
Fetonte (dramma recitato a più voci, 5, O. Tronsarelli), Rome, 1630, lost; lib in Drammi musicali di Ottavio Tronsarelli (1632)
Drammi diversi, listed by Allacci, pubn doubtful

Doubtful:
Il contrasto di Apollo con Marsia (Tronsarelli), palace in via Quattro Fontane, Rome, Aug 1628, lost; lib in Drammi musicali di Ottavio Tronsarelli (1632)

Vocal religiosa:

Libro I di [20] mottetti passeggiati, 1v, bc (1612/R1980)
[21] Cantiones sacrae, 3–6vv, bc (1628)
Modulatus sacri diminutis voculis concinnati, 1v, bc (1630)
I pastori di Bettelemme … dialogo recitativo (G. Rospigliosi), 6vv, bc (1630)
[3] Missae urbanae, 4, 5, 8vv, bc (1631)
[4] Litaniae deiparae virginis, 4, 6, 8vv, bc (1631)
Mottetti passeggiati, bks III–IV;
Salmi per vesperi, bks I–III;
Concetti spirituali: listed by Allacci, pubn doubtful
Motets, 2–4vv, listed in Franzini catalogue, 1672, see Wessely

Instrumental:

Libro I d'intavolatura di chitar[r]one (Venice, 1604/R1982); ed. D. Benkö (Budapest, 1983)
Libro I d'intavolatura di lauto (1611/R1970, 1982); ed. K. Gilbert (Bologna, 1997)
Libro I de [8] balli, [6] gagliarde et [6] correnti, a 4 (1615); ed. in IIM, xxv (1993)
Libro I di [18] sinfonie a 4, bc (1615); ed. in IIM, xxv (1993)
Libro II d'intavolatura di chitarrone (1616), lost
Libro II d'intavolatura di lauto (1619), lost
Libro III d'intavolatura di chitarrone (1626), lost
Libro IV d'intavolatura di chitarrone (1640/R1982); 12 toccatas, ed. M. Lubenow (Germersheim, 1994)
3 gagliarde, I-Bc
Other pieces, F-Pn, I-MOs
Intavolatura di chitarrone, bks V–VI; Intavolatura di lauto, bks III–IV;
Balli, bks II–III;
Sinfonie, bks II–III: listed by Allacci, pubn doubtful
Intavolatura di chitarra;
Intavolatura di chitarra spagnola spizzicata: listed in Franzini catalogue, 1672, see Wessely

Literatura:

Il Kapsperger della musica, treatise, mentioned in Libro IV d'intavolatura di chitarrone (1640) as forthcoming, lost

Font: En català: Giovanni Girolamo Kapsperger (c.1580-1651) - En castellano: Giovanni Girolamo Kapsperger (c.1580-1651) - In english: Giovanni Girolamo Kapsperger (c.1580-1651) - Altres: Giovanni Girolamo Kapsperger (c.1580-1651)

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Parlem en veu pròpia o en veu d'altri...

Unless you’re a lutenist or a rabid devotée of the early Italian Baroque, you’re probably not familiar with either the name or the music of Giovanni Girolamo Kapsperger (aka Kapsberger), who was born in Venice around 1580 and died in Rome in 1651. The Pittsburghbased trio, Chatham Baroque, has now added an attractive anthology of Kapsperger’s works to a list of earlier recordings by lutenists Paul O’Dette, Rolf Lislevand, Hopkinson Smith and the vocal and instrumental ensembles Il Furioso and L’Arpeggiata. Alla luce (named for one of Kapsperger’s vocal duets) is a collection of 26 short pieces for lutes, strings and two male voices performed by violinist Andrew Fouts, viola da gambist Patricia Halverson and theorbist and guitarist Scott Pauley with the assistance of guest artists Philip Anderson, tenor, Gregory Purnhagen, baritone, Allison Edberg, violin, Daniela Giulia Pierson, viola and percussion, and William Carter, archlute and guitar. As his family name suggests, Kapsperger was German by ancestry - Italians referred to him as “Il Tedesco della Tiorba” - and he enjoyed a reputation as a virtuoso performer on plucked instruments that admitted him to the circles of noble families and earned him the respect of distinguished composers like Frescobaldi and Luigi Rossi. He moved to Rome in 1605. 

In an odd turn of events, Rolf Lislevand took the occasion of his 1993 recording of Kapsberger’s Fourth Book of Tabulatures for the Chitarone to fire a potshot at the composer whose music he had just recorded: “Kapsberger was as bad a composer as he was a fine instrumentalist”, he wrote, and went on to trash both his ideas and their development as well as his rhythm, which “wavers between inspired cleverness and total confusion”. In case you missed out on that controversy, which seems to have gone viral in lute circles, Scott Pauley is at pains in the liner notes of Alla luce to redeem Kapsberger’s reputation, but there is nothing not to like in the music you’ll find on this disc. Dance pieces (Gagliardas, Correntes, a Ballo, a Sarabande, a Colascione, a Piva and a Canario), Sinfonias and vocal duets accompanied by strings and lutes all make for charming listening. The single piece for solo lute that you can imagine Kapsperger himself playing is only mildly improvisatory, and seasoned with a few gentle cross relations. The prevailing style resembles that of Monteverdi and his circle, and it’s all enjoyable. Just about a third of the tracks are devoted to vocal duets expertly sung by Messrs Anderson and Purnhagen and expressively accompanied by gamba and lutes, usually with interludes by the violins. The subjects are stock Italian Renaissance/Baroque subjects: shepherds, shepherdesses, nymphs and fishermen pursue their idyllic rustic activities, love is cruel and laughing eyes turn into fiery darts. 

Lascivette pastorelle is lively and suggestive, Torna di nova and S’io sospiro abound with expressive dissonance in the tradition of Monteverdi’s Ninth Book, and Alla caccia is a startlingly crude evocation of a hunting scene in spring. Three of the dances stand out for their special character: the Colascione (named after a folk lute), the Piva (played over a drone bass) and the Canario (variations over a repeated bass figure) all venture outside familiar patterns to find fresh material from outside cultivated musical circles. (Those three tracks are continuous on the recording). Throughout, Chatham Baroque and their guests play with precision and transparency, finding all the nuance and expressiveness in Kapsperger’s music and putting it across to the listener in a recording which makes you feel that you’re in the same small room with the musicians. For a niche recording by a well-known Early Music ensemble, the documentation is refreshingly free of musicological details (though short pedigrees of all the instruments are provided). Still, it would be good to know the sources of the pieces in case people want to look them up, and in some cases, it would be useful to know who played on which track. Full texts of the vocal pieces are given side by side with good translations. The inclusion of some of the composer’s drawings (a dog, a rabbit, a fish and some calligraphic squiggles) is a nice touch. Alla luce provides a fine introduction to the music of G. G. Kapsperger, attractively packaged for the general public. Scott Pauley notes that “there are many other types of music he wrote that will need to be explored another time”. Soon, we hope!

Daniel Hathaway (source/font: aquí)

Gaudiu i compartiu! 

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Informació addicional... 

INTERPRETS: Chatham Baroque
AMAZON: KAPSPERGER. J.H. - Alla Luce

IMSLP: Giovanni Girolamo Kapsperger (c.1580-1651)

CPDL: Giovanni Girolamo Kapsperger (c.1580-1651)

SPOTIFY: KAPSPERGER. J.H. - Alla Luce



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