metalluk's Full Review: Scarlatti - Il Pastor di Corinto
Plot Details: This opinion reveals major details about the movie's plot.
Alessandro Scarlatti (1660-1725) was both a great composer and the father of a great composer, Domenico Scarlatti (1685-1757). The younger Scarlatti was a harpsichord virtuoso and one of the first great composers of music for keyboard instruments. The elder Scarlatti, by contrast, was most adept at vocal music, though he also wrote symphonies, concerti, quartets, and sonatas. He is most remember, when he is remembered at all, for his operas (he wrote 115 of them of which 66 have survived, whole or in part) and his chamber cantatas. Alessandro wrote some six-hundred cantatas for solo voice and basso continuo, thirty or so for two voices, about sixty solo cantatas with orchestra, and almost twenty on a larger scale for festive occasions. I'm familiar with recordings of two of his chamber cantatas as well as his Stabat Mater, but I had never previously encountered any of his operas, before the release this month of this recording of Il Pastor di Corinto (1701).
For lovers of early opera, it is not easy to fill in the gap between Monteverdi's last opera, written in 1642, and the ascendance of Handel beginning around 1710. The only DVD recordings I've come across originating in that seven decade mid-Baroque time span are Cavalli's La Calisto (1652), Purcell's Dido and Aeneas (1689), and this Scarlatti opera from 1701. This is a delightful addition to the discography of early operas, though I recommend it only to those music lovers already enamored with Baroque opera.
Place in the Repertoire: Alessandro Scarlotti was the founder of the Neapolitan School of Italian opera, which supplanted in preeminence the Florentine/Venetian School, after the deaths of Monteverdi and his two leading pupils, Cesti and Cavalli. Though born in Palermo, Scarlatti was educated in Rome and rose to the position of Court Conductor for Queen Christina of Sweden, who was then residing in Rome. He held that position from 1680-84, and then relocated in Naples where he had his second long period of productivity as a composer, dating from 1684 to 1702. Il Pastor di Corinto was composed near the very end of the composer's Neapolitan phase.
Il Pastor di Corinto is not at all a typical kind of opera. Among Scarlatti's prolific output of operas, only three, Dafni (1697), Il Pastor di Corinto (1701), and La Fede riconosciuta (1710), belong to a subtype of opera known as "pastoral fables." For Scarlatti, this was an exercise in what might be called retro-opera, because pastorales had all but disappeared from the art scene in Italy after about 1610. Pastorales were enormously popular during the Renaissance, before the advent of opera. Originating in Italy in the 15th-century, Pastorales consisted of music composed to dramatic subject matter usually of a legendary or pastoral character. Poliiao, Tasso, and Guarini were among the most famous Italian practitioners of this art form. Pastorales soon became very popular in France and much of the later development of this musical form occurred there. Pastorales differed from opera in having no sets, costumes, or stage action. Each role in the drama was sung by a different soloist, but in the manner of a concert performance, at stands with the vocal score in hand. Pastorales were presented to the public during the Renaissance in a manner essentially analogous to the concert form of Berlioz' Damnation of Faust. The Florentine artists who dreamt up the idea of opera near the end of the 1590's were well aware of the tradition of Pastorales and it was clearly one of the primary antecedents for opera as we know it today.
The Pastorale was pretty much defunct, however, by the time A. Scarlatti was born. How then did it come to pass that he would pull this archaic kind of musical drama out of the moth balls, on three different occasions no less? Well, just as today we have organizations that form for the purpose of glorifying some cherished piece of the past, so it was also the case in 17th-century Italy. In 1690, an Academy of Arcadia was formed in Rome to preserve the Pastorale tradition. For his efforts on behalf of the art form, Scarlatti would be awarded membership in that exclusive club in 1706, along with composers Corelli and Pasquini.
Pastorales were usually set in the idealized world of Grecian Arcadia, in the woodlands and countryside. Most times, Pastorales alternated comic scenes with serious or tragic segments. Scarlatti adhered to that practice for Il Pastor di Corinto, which could thus be characterized as a tragicomedy. The characters Serpilla and Serpollo provide the comic relief while the torments and pining of the other five characters are intensely heartfelt. The sighs, in art, typically belong to the nobility while jocularity is the province of the plebian class.
Subject Matter in Brief: The storyline for this opera is among the most difficult to follow for any opera I've encountered, not because the plot is especially tortuous but because this piece is presented concert-style, rather than being fully staged. There are no costumes to help viewers keep the characters straight. Moreover, two of the seven characters are males played by female vocalists – what today we call "trouser roles" but which, historically, were designated "en travesty" parts. These were commonplace in the 17th-century. Indeed, one of Scarlatti's staged operas had four sopranos in male clothing. Further complicating matters for the viewer, this being a concert-style performance, the two women playing male parts are dressed in lovely, low cut, evening gowns, just like the female vocalists singing female roles. There's just no mistaking these ladies for men. There's none of the usual visual cues provided by transvestite costuming to help viewers make the mental leap across the gender gap.
At one level, the subject matter of this opera is very straight-forward. It is about unrequited love and the various ways that emotionally taxing situation can be handled. There are seven characters altogether, four male and three female (played by two males and five females!), so, right away, we know that one guy, at the very least, is going to come up empty. Two youthful shepherds from Corinto, Silvio and Melisso, chance to meet up with three young country folk from the neighboring province of Tessaglia. The visitors are enjoying a hunting excursion in Corinto. The party from Tessaglia consists of a shepherd, Niso, and two nymphs (as they're called), Clori and Fille. Even before the lads from Corinto are added to the equation, the group from Tessaglia is struggling with a tangled romantic knot. Fille is madly in love with Niso, but Niso has eyes only for Clori, who is indifferent to Niso, though she feels some genuine compassion for his yearning.
The boys from Corinto are immediately smitten with the nymphs from Tessaglia. Silvio falls hard for Clori while Melisso yearns for Fille. Silvio's love for Clori is reciprocated, but Clori is reluctant to declare it because she doesn't want to pain her amorous friend, Niso. Silvio's prospects with Fille, on the other hand, are hopeless. Her devotion to Niso is absolute, despite his disinterest in her.
The remaining two characters, Serfilla and Serpollo, belong to a lower social class and are therefore acting out their own set of conflicts without the complication of any kind of romantic triangle. Serpollo presses Serfilla unrelentingly with his raging desire for her, to an extent that, today, we would call sexual harassment. Though Serfilla has no other options among the males, she'd far rather be left alone than satisfy Serpollo's lust.
So, among these seven characters, we have almost all of the possible kinds of troublesome romantic entanglements. Silvio is madly in love with Clori, but she won't make a commitment. Clori is loved by two men, prefers one, but doesn't want to hurt the other one's feelings. Niso is adored by one girl but is madly in love with another. Fille is madly in love with one lad but is hotly pursued by another. Melisso is crazy about one girl but is favored by none. Serpollo lusts after the only available girl in his social class, but Serfilla prefers independence to an unfavorable attachment.
Since it is Clori who is adored by two men, her decision must ultimately set the dominos in motion. Once she makes her choice, the rest of the matches and non-matches inevitably fall into place. Just before the decisive moment, Clori gives a gift to one of her admirers while accepting the same gift from the other. The two lads are soon debating the obvious question: Which means more, giving an intimate kind of gift or accepting one? See this review's title for the answer! This is altogether a well-crafted script, written by Francesco Maria Paglia. It digs into the subtleties of unrequited love relationships, rather than settling for mere glib humor and clichés.
Oddly enough, the only male vocalists in the cast play the two roles that end up least satisfied in their romantic aspirations, in the end. All four of the roles that comprise the two couples that emerge at the end, from the sorting out of the romantic imbroglios, are sung by women. One is therefore left wondering whether the setting for this opera shouldn't have been the Grecian Island of Lesbos rather than Grecian Arcadia!
Quality as a Work of Art:The form of this opera is basically numbered pieces interspersed with recitative. The fifty-two numbered pieces include thirty-three solo arias, fourteen duets (mostly involving the pair of comic characters), one trio, and four ensemble numbers. Each of the seven characters is given a fair share of the work to do. The opening Sinfonia, in the so-called "pastoral key" of F major, very nicely establishes the overall tone for the piece.
Most of the arias are of the da capo type. Most of the text is set on the basis of one note per syllable, but there are occasional flights of bel canto ornamentation, which the soloists for this recording handle effortlessly. The rhythmic scheme is varied, with some preference being allotted to the triple-time rhythm that is characteristic of pastoral music.
Scarlatti's contributions to opera were great and far-reaching, even if his works are seldom heard today. Scarlatti was responsible for four major innovations to operatic form. First, he invented the da cao aria, which became not only a hallmark of Italian opera throughout the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, but also one of the principle bones of contention during the schism between Italian and German opera, spearheaded by Verdi and Wagner. Da capo means repetition and it refers to the practice of repeating the opening part of an aria at the end, basically forming an A-B-A pattern. Since the defining characteristic of the da capo aria is repetition, it has the twin effects of lending added emphasis to the song (which is why the Italians favored it) but slowing the dramatic progression (which is why Wagner denounced it). The da capo aria would, in turn, become the origin of the so-called sonata form, which dominated instrumental music during the classical and early romantic periods. So, it would be difficult to overstate the importance of this Scarlatti contribution to the history of music.
Secondly, Scarlatti invented the ritornello– literally, "a little return," which consisted of an instrumental interlude between scenes that reprised bits and pieces of the music from the preceding action. Thirdly, it was Scarlatti who invented the Italian style opera overture, which first appeared in a 1696 revival of his opera Dal male il bene. Fourthly, Scarlatti was the first to add musical accompaniment to recitative – in his opera L'Oimpia Vendicata (1686). All of these innovations can be readily observed in Il Pastor di Corinto.
Why then have Scarlatti operas not held the stage to the present time? Well, first off, very few Baroque operas get regular presentation these days. Admittedly, however, the quality of Scarlatti's lyricism is not at the level of Mozart nor is his counterpoint as ingenious as that of Bach. I personally find Scarlatti's music pleasing, taken on its own terms, without referencing it against the all-time greats of classical music.
Musical Performances: The composition of the orchestra was formulated by Scarlatti to suit the pastoral quality of the opera. There's a lute and a recorder, of course, and a reed quartet, consisting of two oboes, a hunting oboe, and a bassoon, as well as the strings and a harpsichord. The performance by the orchestra for this DVD is fabulous, featuring a high degree of clarity, combined with sparkle and intensity.
The cast listing is as follows:
Clori, a nymph: Bruna Tredicine, soprano Fille, a nymph: Anna Carbonera, soprano Niso, shepherd from Tessaglis: Cristina Cappellini, soprano Silvio, shepherd from Corinto: Caterina Novak, mezzo-soprano Melisso, his companion: Carlo Putelli, tenor Serpilla, young shepherdess: Roberta De Nicola, soprano buffo Serpollo, goat-herder: Massimo Di Stefano, basso buffo
As one might anticipate for a performance of an obscure Baroque opera, none of these performers are world-renowned soloists. Baroque opera does not require the kind of powerful voices needed for dramatic opera. Even the coloratura passages are relatively subdued in this opera compared to what would be required in operas of the late-Baroque, Rococo era, and early Romantic period. That said, none of the vocalists used for this performance are weak or deficient in any way. The vocal performances are consistently pleasing and expressive. De Nicola and Di Stefano were outstanding in their comic roles, but the other five performers were just as effective in the level of passion brought to their performances.
Staging: From one vantage point, the lack of staging for the musical drama on this DVD recording is its foremost limitation. It is a limitation that would likely be critical for many viewers – perhaps even most. Without sets and costumes and with the added complexity of female singers in male roles (but without male costumes or makeup), most viewers will find it exceptionally difficult to make sense of the story without carefully following the plot synopsis with each scene.
On the other hand, the people responsible for this production, scenic designer Tito Schipa Jr., costume designer Adriana Ruvolo, and designer Luigi Stefano Cannelli, went out of their way to make the most of a difficult situation. There is lot's of drawings presented in audiovisual format, often superimposed semi-transparently on the video of the singers on stage, to provide visual impressions as the story progresses. My principle complaint about this recording is their decision not to have the two female vocalists who played male roles outfitted with male clothing – in slacks, at the very least, rather than evening gowns.
Technical Aspects: This 2009 Bongiovanni DVD release is a recording of a live performance at the Auditorio di San Francesco in Bolsena, Italy dating from August of 2007. This DVD is coded zero for all-region playback. The picture format is widescreen (16:9). The excellent notes in the companion booklet, from which I've paraphrased liberally, are provided in Italian, English, and Japanese. Subtitle options are Italian and English. The performance language is Italian. The sound format is Stereo 2.0. The running time for the opera is 141 minutes. There are no extras.
Bottom-Line: This is a difficult DVD to rate. I'm giving it four stars based on my own personal experience with it, as an opera buff with a special interest in early opera. I imagine, however, that this DVD would be a one-star experience for a general group of movie lovers not especially interested in classical music; a two-star experience for classical music lovers not especially into opera; and a three-star experience for those into opera, but mainly only the standard repertory opera of the romantic era. Judge accordingly!
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