Camille Paul soprano, Ensemble Hemiolia, directed by Emmanuel Resche-Caserta violin
75:54
Versailles Spectacles CVS147
Born near Lucca in 1661, Francesco Gasparini was an important opera composer during the transitional period that straddles the 17th and 18th centuries. In the early 1680s, he settled in Rome, where he was a pupil of Alessandro Scarlatti and Corelli. Records show that at this time he was considered an accomplished violinist, singer and keyboard player. In 1701, he moved to Venice, where he became choirmaster of the Pietà a couple of years before Vivaldi was employed there. During the period he spent in Venice, Gasparini composed some twenty operas, all except one for the San Cassiano theatre, in addition to being the teacher of such composers as Domenico Scarlatti, Marcello and Quantz. In 1716, he left Venice, returning to Rome where he entered the service of Handel’s patron Prince Francesco Maria Ruspoli. Gasparini’s final post in a long and distinguished career was as maestro di cappella at St John Lateran in Rome, a position he took up in 1725 and held at the time of his death in 1727.
The oratorio Atalia dates from Gasparini’s early years in Rome, having probably first been given during Lent in 1692 at the Collegio Clementino, an institution renowned for its promotion of music drama. Roman oratorio had a particular renown during this period, one in which opera was subject to intermittent Papal interference and disruption. Opera was of course at no time given during Lent. Atalia is the first of several oratorio librettos based on Racine’s play Athalie (1691) – another is, of course, Handel’s English oratorio Athalia (1733). Racine drew his plot from the Second Book of Kings. It relates the story of Athalia, daughter of Jezebel and tyrannical queen of Jerusalem, who – in order to usurp the throne – had all the members of the royal family executed. Only the baby Joash escaped to be hidden by the high priest Joad. After several years, Joad found the opportunity to present the boy to his people, who kill Athalia. Racine’s play is a powerful psychological study of a corrupt and evil woman; some of this comes across in Gasparini’s oratorio, which perhaps presents her with slightly greater sympathy.
Stylistically, the oratorio follows closely the scheme familiar from the earlier operas of Alessandro Scarlatti and other contemporaries. That’s to say a flexible combination of recitativo cantando, arioso and arias, the latter not infrequently following an ABA structure while not as yet a fully developed da capo form. All this can be clearly heard in the remarkable scena for Atalia that opens Part Two. The longest closed sequence in the oratorio, it is something of a tour de force in which the tormented queen, haunted by images of hell, passes through accompagnato to aria to a powerful virtuoso concluding section. It is sung with superb dramatic intensity by the soprano Camille Poul, whose performance throughout communicates vividly. Particularly impressive is her excellent diction and clean articulation. In the passage discussed above, she rises to the challenge of the exceptional music. Poul’s opening at the start of the sequence, ‘Ombre, cure, sospetti ‘ (shadows, cares, suspicions) almost produces a messa di voce – the diminuendo on the return is not quite there – while chest notes are secure and powerfully projected.
If the principal weight of the oratorio falls firmly on the shoulders of the Atalia, the sympathetic role of Ormano, the queen’s general and advisor, is also significant. It is well sung by tenor Bastien Rimondi, who like Poul also displays a keen awareness of the dramatic possibilities, particularly in the one duet, another of the highlights of the score, an argument in which Ormano upbraids the scornful Atalia. Mélodie Ruvio (the nurse of Joas) sings the role with sensitivity, but baritone Furio Zanasi’s High Priest lacks a commanding presence, the voice here sounding rather worn. The chorus plays only a relatively small role, restricted to the closing stages, but reveal Gasparini to be a fine contrapuntist. With the exception of some raucous trumpet playing, the often Corellian orchestral writing is well executed by Ensemble Hemiolia, the generously-proportioned continuo group in general supportive without being over intrusive.
There is no question that Atalia is an important revival that should point the way toward exploration of the operas, which remain largely unknown.
Brian Robins