Cantatas

Cantatas

IL SOGNO & LA DORA FESTEGGIANTE
Vicent Martin i Soler (Valencia 1754-Saint Petersbourg 1806)
Il Sogno, Viena 1789. Libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte. La Dora Festeggiante, Turín 1783. Libretto by Cesare Olivieri

Juan Bautista Otero, Director Sunhae Im, Soprano Raffaella Milanesi, Soprano Magnus Staveland, Tenor
Orchestra -RCOC- Royal Chamber Opera Company Barcelona: 3 soloists and 28 musicians.
CONCERT TIMING: 1'30'' without pause.
CONCERT ENGAGEMENT CONTACT:
concerts@rcoc-orquesta.com
Tel.0034.609.84.98.82

The present programme combines the two only stage cantatas by Martín y Soler located up to now: La Dora festeggiante (Torino, 1783), with a libretto by Cesare Olivieri, and Il Sogno (Vienna, 1787) - the only example of collaboration of Martín y Soler with Da Ponte in this most extensive form of the genre; both, together with Il re Gerone (Naples, 1779) with text by Luigi Serio and La deità benefica (San Petersburgo,1790), with text by Ferdinando Moretti, constitute the main corpus of profane cantatas of the Valencian composer.

Prologue of celebration for his operas Il Vologeso and In amor ci vuol destrezza, and first performed at the Teatro Regio, La Dora festeggiante was written to celebrate the arrival in Turin, on the river Dora, of the archduke Fernando -brother of the Austrian emperor Joseph II- and his wife the archduchess Beatrice d’Este. Martín i Soler and Da Ponte’s Il Sogno was dedicated in Vienna to the anniversary of queen Maria Carolina of Naples, sister of Joseph II. Il Sogno and La Dora festeggiante are sublime examples in the transition of Martín y Soler towards the dramma giocoso, genre with which he acquired his prestige throughout Europe; they are a small fresco of this period of transformation in his style: Martín i Soler presents in a synthetic way a subtle fusion of elements of orchestration and melodic exquisiteness typical of his operas serias alternated with the fragility and musical freedom that will characterize his brilliant drammi giocosi

see concert share

Cantatas

Mariana Martínez, (1744-1812) Portrait of a woman composer
Stage cantatas, symphony and concerto for fortepiano and orchestra
Vienna, 1772 - 1786
Librettos by Pietro Metastasio

Juan Bautista Otero, Director
Sunhae Im, Soprano
Orchestra -RCOC- Royal Chamber Opera Company Barcelona: 19 musicians and 1 soloist.
CONCERT TIMING: 1'40'' without interval.
CONCERT ENGAGEMENT CONTACT:
concerts@rcoc-orquesta.com
Tel.0034.609.84.98.82

Composer, singer and virtuous harpsichordist, Mariana Martinez (1744-1812) came from one of the many Spanish families favored by the archduke Carlos in the war of succession at the beginning of the XVIII century. After residing in Naples, the Martínez family moved to Vienna for the coronation of the archduke of Austria as emperor of Germany. Thanks to the poet Pietro Metastasio, the most famous and prolific XVIIIth century librettist, and guest of the Martinez family in Vienna, Mariana received an exceptional musical education, having as teachers Haydn, Porpora and Hasse.
Besides composing and singing, she contributed to corroborate Vienna as a centre of musical life in Europe at the end of the XVIII century. Official heiress of the works of Metastasio, she also created a singing school, musical soirées in which musicians like Mozart, Martin y Soler or Beethoven participated, with whom she performed numerous works.

Among the unusual works she composed, her cantatas and oratorios excel in her period of maturity. From this output, the Royal Chamber Opera Company presents a beautiful selection to create a charming portrait of this women composer.

see concert share