Steffani: Chamber Duets - Baroque Vocal Music for Concerts, Recitals & Home Enjoyment

Born in the Veneto in 1654, Agostino Steffani followed the time-honored career path of boy chorister to organist to composer to Kapellmeister in 1688 at the court of Hanover, where he composed at least seven operas for the new opera house -- Enrico il Leone, La Lolta d'Ercole con Achilleo, La Superbia d'Alessandro, Orlando generoso, Le Rivali concordi, La Liberia contenta, I Trionfi del Job, I Baccanali, and Briseide in roughly eight years, during which period he also entered the priesthood with the title of Abbate. He had also composed at least six operas prior to his arrival in Hanover, several of them smashing successes. Steffani's stature in Hanover and Germany at large was not obscure; he was on terms of friendship with the Elector's daughter Sophia Charlotte, the eventual Queen of Prussia, and with the philosopher Leibniz. When the Elector of Hanover ascended the Throne of Great Britain as King George I in 1714, he took many of Steffani's manuscripts with him to England, where they have been preserved. In 1692, however, Steffani's career took a surprising turn. Difficulties arose over the succession to the Electorate, concerning which it was necessary that an ambassador should visit the various German courts, armed with a considerable amount of diplomatic power. The composer/priest was sent on this delicate mission in 1696, with the title of envoy extraordinary. His crafty diplomacy attracted the notice of Pope Innocent XI and Steffani found himself scaling a new career ladder as ambassador and privy councilor both for the catholic hierarchy and for various German princes. Musicians, especially trumpeters (sic!), had traditionally served both princes and city-states as couriers, ambassadors, and even spies. Then as now, spying was part of every diplomat's job. Steffani seems to have been quite skillful in his role as diplomatic negotiator; it's been said that he was among the most powerful men in Europe at the height of his career. Diplomacy's gain was not completely music's loss, nevertheless. Steffani continued to compose, though not as voluminously. Two more Steffani operas - possibly three - were staged in Hanover and Düsseldorf around 1708/9, but "etiquette" required that the composer conceal his name.Steffani was well traveled, back and forth from Italy to Germany as well as to Paris. Whatever his priestly or diplomatic activities might have been, music was certainly never far from his mind. His role in musical history as the "unifier" of Italian, French, and German styles was far larger than his modern reputation suggests. Several of his operas have been recorded and/or staged in recent years, including the exquisite production of "Niobe" at the Boston early Music Festival in 2011, but Steffani's greatest fame comes from his eighty or more Duetti da Camera -- small cantatas for two voices and basso continuo -- a genre of which Steffani was and is regarded as the supreme master. The Chamber Duets are not frivolous bits of musical gallantry; They're replete with intricate counterpoint, antiphonal textures, bold homophonies, and sedulous attention to the dramatic affect of the texts. Steffani was a close contemporary of Alessandro Scarlatti (1669-1725), with whom he is often compared, and both a champion of and influence on Georg Friedrich Handel, whose "Ten Italian Duets" are patently extensions of Steffani's aesthetic. Handel: The 10 Italian Duets / Bertini, CavinaThere are two CDs availbel of duets by Steffani, this one with four singers conducted by Alan Curtis and another -- Duetti Da Camera -- sung by Claudio Cavina and Rosana Bertini of La Venexiana. This recording includes eight duets, two of them over nine minutes long, while the Cavina/Bertini performance offers seven duets. Only one duet is duplicated on the two recordings: Placidissime catene, her sung by Carolyn Watkinson and Paul Esswood. Both CDs strike my ears as very fine. The previous reviewer, Briton Stephen Midgeley, expresses a preference for the Bertini/Cavina performance. I'm not so convinced of any superiority of one over the other. I expect to listen to and take pleasure from both. This Alan Curtis interpretation was recorded in 1981 -- thirty years ago already! -- and has the elegant restraint that typifies much of Curtis's work. There's more variety to be heard here, with four voices alternating on the eight duets: soprano Daniela Mazzucato, mezzo-sprano Carolyn Watkinson, male alto Paul Esswood, and tenor John Elwes. On the other hand, the continuo on this CD is limited to cello and harpsichord, while La Venexiana also employs a theorbo. Take your pick! Either CD, you won't go wrong.