Western religious music from different centuries.
In this episode two Requiems: from Alessandro Melani and from André Campra.
November is the month of remembrance. In the catholic tradition we have 1 November All Saints’ Day and 2 November All Souls’ Day and in the Protestant Church Eternity Sunday is celebrated, the last Sunday of November. This is the last Sunday of the church year, before the start of the Advent: an excellent opportunity to listen to a Requiem, or two, in this episode.
The first is a short setting, as Alessandro Melani has only put three parts to music: the gradual Requiem aeternam, the tract Absolve Domine and the sequence Dies irae. Melani was born in Pistoia as one of seven brothers, all of whom had musical careers. Some of them, and probably Alessandro too, were castratos. Though he initially made a career as singer, he worked as a bandmaster for most of his life, serving in cities like Pistoia, Ferrara, and at the end in Rome.
Alessandro Melani (1639-1703)
1. Requiem
Veronika Winter, Cornelia Samuelis, soprano. Kai Wessel, countertenor. Benoît Haller, tenor. Ekkehard Abele, bass. Das Kleine Konzert conducted by Hermann Max
(Cd: “L’Europa – Sacred Works” – CPO 777 408-2, 2008)
André Campra is best known for his opera works, but he also left a substantial oeuvre of sacred music. His Messe de Requiem is the only well-known composition, but it is unknown when and for what occasion he composed it. A recent theory claims the work is the result of the collaboration between Campra and the Jesuits (which started in 1698) and that he conducted the first performance himself. If this is true, it means the work dates back further than had always been assumed (it was thought to date back to 1722). 1700 was the year that Campra was fired as maître de musique of the Notre Dame in Paris. The canons felt he was too deeply engrossed in opera, ever since the success of his L’Europe galante in 1697.
We will listen to Messe de Requiem, a recently released recording by the Ensemble Correspondances.
André Campra (1660-1744)
2. Messe de Requiem
Ensemble Correspondances conducted by Sébastien Daucé
(CD: “Messe de Requiem & Les Maîtres de Notre-Dame de Paris” – Harmonia mundi HMM 902679, 2024)
In addition:
Robert de Visée (ca. 1656/60-1732)
3. La plainte ou tombeau des mesdemoiselles de Visée
Johannes Ötzbrugger, theorbe
(CD: “De Visée” – fra bernardo fb 2092112, 2020)
Image: André Campra
