--- In baroquemusiclovers@yahoogroups.com, realsongeur
<no_reply@y...> wrote:
> --- In baroquemusiclovers@yahoogroups.com, realsongeur
> <no_reply@y...> wrote:
>
> Good morning to all of you.
> This article & interview published by the internet site
of "Goldberg"
> tells us more about the work that has been recorded by Deutsche
> Grammophon with the Sonatori de la Gioiosa Marca conducted by
Andrea
> Marcon. Is this 'Andromeda liberata' by Vivaldi or not? It is and
> will probably stay an open question...
> I can't send both the article and the interview in the same mail;
it
> is divided in two mails.
> Good reading.
> C. Songeur.
>
> 1. The article

2. The interview

Copy & paste of:
http://www.goldbergweb.com/en/magazine/interviews/2005/02/30767.php.

ARTICLE AND INTERVIEW WITH ANDREA MARCON: THE ANDROMEDA CONTROVERSY
Specialists have long been aware of an anonymous serenata entitled
Andromeda liberata housed in the musical archives of Venice's
Benedetto Marcello Conservatory. The forgotten score aroused minimal
interest, however, until French musicologist Olivier Fourès
identified one of its arias as having been composed by
Vivaldi. "Sovvente il sole" is a staggering largo in A minor with an
obligato violin part; the work is also included in a precious
autograph collection of arias which is preserved, like Andromeda, in
the Marcello Conservatory.

The attested presence of a Vivaldi aria in the anonymous and
generously proportioned serenata has catapulted Andromeda into the
limelight of musical topicality, and the question on everyone's lips
is whether the Red Priest could have written the entire work. An
impassioned and sometimes even tumultuous debate has animated
Vivaldian musicology for over two years, with the opposing sides
defending radically different positions. The official opinion of the
Venetian Instituto Italiano Antonio Vivaldi, the heart and soul of
Vivaldi research is, according to Professor Michael Talbot, its
principal researcher, that only "Sovvente il sole" was composed by
Vivaldi. Talbot, who is also known for his work on Albinoni, clearly
perceives the hand of that composer - Vivaldi's Venetian `ancestor' -
in Andromeda, as well as that of Giovanni Porta, a reputed choir
master and prolific composer. The Instituto Vivaldi holds that
Andromeda is a simple pasticcio, a compilation of works by a variety
of composers, of which Vivaldi's contribution is but one element.
Olivier Fourès, on the other hand, who carried out a painstaking and
fascinating study on the subject, believes that Vivaldi's
participation in the work was much more extensive. In his view the
piece was composed for the triumphal return of Cardinal Ottoboni to
Venice in 1726, and could be the Vivaldi vocal complement to the so-
called "Manchester Sonatas", which were dedicated to Ottoboni the
same year. Fourès, to support his position, cites numerous typically
Vivaldian marks in the score; paper dating has shown that the same
paper was used for both the Manchester Sonatas and Andromeda.
Andrea Marcon and the Venice Baroque Orchestra decided, in the midst
of this intensive debate, to record their flamboyant interpretation
of the work. The album's release on Archiv will allow listeners to
make up their own minds about the controversy, records in hand. They
will doubtless conclude when listening to the work that the musical
truth probably lies somewhere between the two opposing positions.
Andrea Marcon expressed himself on this debate and other questions in
conversation with Frédéric Delaméa.

Your Andromeda liberata recording has raised a great deal of
controversy about the work's authorship. Is it by Vivaldi? Porta?
Albinoni? Or is it a pasticcio? Contradictory theses have sprung up,
and the scientific debate has sometimes been overshadowed by
passionate feelings on both sides. The controversy should not,
however, mask the fact that the score is a major and splendid
discovery that illustrates the art of the Venetian serenata in the
1720s, quite apart from the issue of its authorship. Before going
into that question, however, could you explain your reasons for
deciding to record Andromeda?

When Olivier Fourès first mentioned Andromeda to me in Japan in
January 2003, I was surprised that no one seemed to have noticed that
it included a Vivaldi aria. Andromeda was indeed known to Vivaldi
specialists, but Olivier Fourès was the first person to realise that
this wonderful aria, which is also part of a separate autograph kept
in the same library, was part of the Andromeda score. It's actually
quite interesting that "Sovvente il sole" is the only authentic
Vivaldi score in all of Venice! As soon as I saw a copy of Andromeda,
I realised it was a large-scale serenata with a whole string of
magnificent, inspired arias.

How does Andromeda differ from other Venetian serenatas in terms of
vocal registration, orchestration, and the role of the chorus? How
does it compare to Vivaldi's La Senna festegiante and Albinoni's Il
concilio de'pianeti, both of which date from the same period?

The structure of the Venetian serenata was extremely varied,
depending upon the person for whom it was written or the event it
celebrated. There is a clear structural difference, for example,
between the lavish Senna festegiante and the sober serenata which
Vivaldi wrote for the wedding of the French king Louis XV. Andromeda
has many elements in common with the large-scale La Senna, for
instance, including its bipartite form, the use and composition of
the chorus and the distribution of its arias. The work calls for five
singers, on the other hand, as compared to the three required for
both La Senna and Albinoni's Climene. Andromeda was certainly
composed to commemorate an exceptional event: Cardinal Ottoboni's
ceremonious visit to Venice after a long period of exile. His stay
began on 25 July 1726 and ended on 4 December of the same year. The
Andromeda score is dated 18 September 1726.

That leads us to the question of the work's authorship. At the
moment, only the aria with obligato violin is indisputably Vivaldi's.
What is your opinion on the rest of the score?

The authorship remains an open question. As you've noticed, our CD
was identified as being by "Vivaldi and others". This was done to
accommodate the Instituto Vivaldi, which does not recognise that
Vivaldi may have written other parts of the work. But no one to this
day has been able to establish the identity of the other composer or
composers with any certainty. Even though some of the arias are
indisputably written in Albinoni's style, and others are not
typically Vivaldian, I cannot imagine that Andromeda includes only
one composition by Vivaldi. If the work is a pasticcio, Vivaldi may
have written a third or a quarter of it (which comes from a
collection that belonged to Cardinal Ottoboni). Apart from that, the
copyists, who have been numbered 8 and 9 by Paul Everett and Michael
Talbot, can easily be identified as having copied other Vivaldi
compositions.
The debate about the work's authorship makes me wonder about the role
of intuitive reasoning in musical analysis. It's hard not to notice
certain things when listening to the work: arias like "Ruscelletti
limpidetti" and "Ma piace et mi diletta" are extremely similar to the
arias Vivaldi was writing in the early- and mid- 1720s. "Si, rinforzi
in te la spene", on the other hand, immediately calls up Albinoni's
style during the same period. How do you feel about this type of
reasoning when it comes to the thorny question of authorship?
I usually trust my intuition, even though doing so is not generally
approved of by musicologists. Because of this, I'm unable to exclude
the possibility that the arias "Ruscelletti limpidetti", "Madre,
lascia ch'io pianga", "Mi piace e mi deletta", "Lo so, barbari fati",
and "Peni che vuol penar", and the duet "Sposo amato/Cara sposa"
(whose theme is identical in part to that of Elpina's aria "Cento
donzelle festose e belle" in La fida Ninfa) are by Vivaldi. I have
not succeeded in identifying elements in these pieces that are
completely at odds with the Vivaldi style. All the other arias
also "speak" Venetian so well that if the work is in fact a
pasticcio, it is easy to image that it is made up of works from the
most important Venetian composers of the time. Andromeda is a very
original serenata – not to say an exceptional one – from whichever
way one looks at it.

Intuitive reasoning is still a rather dangerous tool. We know from
studying other scores from the period that Vivaldi's style, and to a
lesser extent that of Albinoni, influenced the works of a number of
their contemporaries. I'm thinking in particular of Vinci's Farnace,
which is full of Vivaldi-like passages. In cases like this, shouldn't
we admit that scientific analysis should take precedence over
intuition?

Musicology will naturally proceed in the usual way. But it's also
natural, and even vitally important, that musicologists exchange
ideas with performers, and that performers have the final word in
whether or not a work should be recorded. With Andromeda, I felt the
work deserved to be recorded, and the record company trusted me. I
think I can say without the shadow of a doubt that we have recorded
one of the most beautiful Venetian serenatas known today, and that
all the controversy we caused has only helped to further knowledge
about Vivaldi's music and Venetian eighteenth-century music.

Let's talk about the performance. Your reading of Andromeda is full
of original choices. These are especially interesting as far as the
instrumentation and the continuo are concerned. Can you tell us how
you made your decisions about these exciting things?

A.M.: In Vivaldi's time the recitatives were considered to be the
most important musical element in a vocal composition – an opera, a
serenata or a cantata – because they helped the action along. The
comprehension, the declamation and the expression of each word and
each phrase were of capital importance in doing justice to the
recitative. It is important to respect scrupulously the accents at
the end of the verses and to carefully think out the accompaniment,
which in Andromeda is played by two archlutes and two harpsichords.

How do you feel about the oboe playing colla parte with the violin in
a Venetian work like this?

If there is one aria with oboe obligato in a serenata or an opera
(which is the case in the Andromeda aria "Lo so, barbari fati"), it's
unthinkable to me that it was not also heard in other parts of the
work. On the contrary, it was common in Vivaldi's time for the oboe
to double the violin parts, but of course only when the doubling was
compatible with the string writing. This way of thinking led me to
use horns and trumpets in the three choruses.

What criteria guided you in choosing your vocalists?

I looked for singers who had qualities I considered fundamental for
this type of music: expression, pronunciation, virtuosity, technique
and coloratura. I especially sought singers capable of feeling the
sentiments expressed in the music in the first person, as it were, in
order to convey them to the listener. I believe that the affetto is
the true soul of music.

Your recording's release will be followed with an extensive tour,
starting in Venice and continuing in the United States and Holland.
What do you feel are the conditions that allow a work like this to be
performed in public, but without any staging?

I believe, generally speaking, that serenate can be performed in
concert version with no difficulty. Andromeda would lend itself well
to sober staging, though.

Do you think it's possible to reduce recitatives in concert? If so
under what conditions?

Recitatives were often brief in serenate, and served to move the
dramatic action forward. In Andromeda's case the recitatives are very
concise but also very intense. Therefore I didn't think if was
necessary to cut them.

Everything circles back to Vivaldi: you are from Venice, you're the
founder of the first Venetian baroque orchestra of international
importance, your reputation and that of the Venice Baroque Orchestra
are built on your interpretations of the Vivaldi repertoire, in
particular your wonderful anthology of unpublished violin concertos.
However, despite your notable concert series of Vivaldi opera arias
(I especially recall a memorable performance of arias from Tito
Manlio in Venice in 1999, with Lorenzo Regazzo and Sara Mingardo),
you have never conducted a complete Vivaldi opera, and have never
recorded the Red Priest's lyric works. Why is that? Can we look
forward to your becoming more involved in a repertoire in which you
have so much to say, as your Andromeda clearly shows?

Yes, I've always dreamed of conducting a Vivaldi opera. The Venice
Baroque Opera also dreams of playing one. For the time being, I'm
very happy to have "freed" Andromeda…and I'm definitely planning to
continue exploring the Venetian vocal repertoire in general and
Vivaldi in particular in years to come.

Translated by Marcia Hadjimarkos.