Antonio Maria Gasparo Gioacchino Sacchini (1730 –
1786) was an Italian composer, best known for his
operas. He was born in Florence, but raised in Naples,
where he received his musical education. He made a name
for himself as a composer of serious and comic opera in
Italy before moving to London, where he produced works
for the King's Theatre. He spent his final years in
Paris, becoming embroiled in the musical dispute
between the followers of the composers Gluck and
Niccolò Piccinni. His ear...(+)
Antonio Maria Gasparo Gioacchino Sacchini (1730 –
1786) was an Italian composer, best known for his
operas. He was born in Florence, but raised in Naples,
where he received his musical education. He made a name
for himself as a composer of serious and comic opera in
Italy before moving to London, where he produced works
for the King's Theatre. He spent his final years in
Paris, becoming embroiled in the musical dispute
between the followers of the composers Gluck and
Niccolò Piccinni. His early death in 1786 was blamed
on his disappointment over the apparent failure of his
opera Œdipe à Colone. However, when the work was
revived the following year, it quickly became one of
the most popular in the 18th-century French repertoire.
"The real significance of Sacchini's work is difficult
to determine aesthetically, although the obvious
historical importance of the composer and his activity
undoubtedly demands more careful study and more
thorough investigation", with these words the editor of
Sacchini's article in the Grande Enciclopedia della
Musica Lirica begins the section evaluating his music.
Any such assessment is made more difficult by the
comparative lack of interest the modern operatic world
has shown in Sacchini's works, although this has begun
to change in the early 21st century: there are now two
complete recordings of Œdipe à Colone and one of
Renaud.
In his own time, Sacchini was described as the champion
of melody. Indeed, the composer Giuseppe Carpani, about
twenty years his junior, said that Sacchini might even
be considered the finest melodist in the world. This
melodic gift, along with the general facility Sacchini
found in composing music, was undoubtedly the result of
his upbringing amid the flourishing Neapolitan school
of opera. From the beginning, however, Sacchini
revealed a tendency to distance himself from the more
hackneyed features of the Italian operatic tradition.
"Only rarely did he adhere to the complete da capo
form, but he often made use of altered versions of this
basic plan. He also made frequent use of a
cavatina-like two-part aria that approximates to the A
portion of the da capo form, and of the vocal rondò,
in both comic and serious works." However, it was only
when he became part of "an international musical milieu
and with the acquisition of a much broader and more
diverse experience that Sacchini's finest qualities
achieved complete maturity." This is true above all of
the period in Paris, when he "strengthened his own
style with an obviously Gluckian influence, which was
not, however, strong enough to cancel out his melodic
and sensuous gifts", which derived from the Italian
tradition, "while his orchestral palette was also
enriched by new and vivid colours, which frequently
anticipated many aspects of the future Romantic
movement." The most characteristic work in this respect
is undoubtedly Œdipe à Colone, but the description
also applies to Dardanus: "these are operas in which
every element lacking a dramatic function has been
removed. Accompanied recitatives, ariosos and arias
blend naturally into one another... giving life to
scenes whose unity is guaranteed by the use of the same
thematic material...the combination of cavatina and
cabaletta is particularly successful, and it was
destined to become a common feature of opera in the
following century... finally the choral scenes,
alternating chorus and soloists, are highly effective,
on the one hand revealing the influence of Gluck, and
on the other showing the way forward to the grand opera
of Spontini." Writing in Grove, David DiChiera
concludes, "With his masterpiece, Œdipe, Sacchini
admirably achieved a synthesis of Italian melodic style
and Gluckian principles within a French dramatic
framework".
Source: WikiPedia
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antonio_Sacchini).
Although originally composed for Solo Voice (Alto) and
Continuo, I created this interpretation of the "Ave
Regina Coelorum" (Hail, Queen of Heaven) for Flute,
Oboe & Strings (2 Violins, Viola & Cello).
