Francesco Cavalli (1602 – 1676) was an Italian
composer of the early Baroque period. He took the name
"Cavalli" from his patron, Venetian nobleman Federico
Cavalli. Cavalli was born at Crema, Lombardy. He became
a singer (soprano) at St Mark's Basilica in Venice in
1616, where he had the opportunity to work under the
tutorship of Claudio Monteverdi. He became second
organist in 1639, first organist in 1665, and in 1668
maestro di cappella. He is chiefly remembered for his
operas. He began to w...(+)
Francesco Cavalli (1602 – 1676) was an Italian
composer of the early Baroque period. He took the name
"Cavalli" from his patron, Venetian nobleman Federico
Cavalli. Cavalli was born at Crema, Lombardy. He became
a singer (soprano) at St Mark's Basilica in Venice in
1616, where he had the opportunity to work under the
tutorship of Claudio Monteverdi. He became second
organist in 1639, first organist in 1665, and in 1668
maestro di cappella. He is chiefly remembered for his
operas. He began to write for the stage in 1639 (Le
nozze di Teti e di Peleo) soon after the first public
opera house opened in Venice, the Teatro San Cassiano.
He established so great a reputation that he was
summoned to Paris from 1660 (he revived his opera
Xerse) until 1662, producing his Ercole amante. He died
in Venice at the age of 73.
Cavalli was the most influential composer in the rising
genre of public opera in mid-17th-century Venice.
Unlike Monteverdi's early operas, scored for the
extravagant court orchestra of Mantua, Cavalli's operas
make use of a small orchestra of strings and basso
continuo to meet the limitations of public opera
houses. He introduced melodious arias into his music
and popular types into his libretti. His operas have a
remarkably strong sense of dramatic effect as well as a
great musical facility, and a grotesque humour which
was characteristic of Italian grand opera down to the
death of Alessandro Scarlatti. Cavalli's operas provide
the only example of a continuous musical development of
a single composer in a single genre from the early to
the late 17th century in Venice — only a few operas
by others (e.g., Monteverdi and Antonio Cesti) survive.
The development is particularly interesting to scholars
because opera was still quite a new medium when Cavalli
began working, and had matured into a popular public
spectacle by the end of his career.
Cavalli wrote forty-one operas, twenty-seven of which
are extant, being preserved in the Biblioteca Nazionale
Marciana (Library of St Mark) in Venice. Copies of some
of the operas also exist in other locations. In
addition, two last operas (Coriolano and Masenzio),
which are clearly attributed to him, are lost, as well
as twelve other operas that have been attributed to
him, though the music is lost and attribution
impossible to prove. In addition to operas, Cavalli
wrote settings of the Magnificat in the grand Venetian
polychoral style, settings of the Marian antiphons,
other sacred music in a more conservative manner –
notably a Requiem Mass in eight parts (SSAATTBB),
probably intended for his own funeral – and some
instrumental music.
His opera "Xerse" (specifically, a dramma per musica)
about Xerxes I. The libretto was written by Nicolò
Minato, and was later set by both Giovanni Bononcini
and George Frideric Handel. Minato's plot outline is
loosely based on Book 7 of Herodotus's Histories. The
opera, consisting of a prologue and three acts, was
first performed at Venice on 12 January 1654, at the
Teatro SS. Giovanni e Paolo.
The opera was highly popular in Italy, not least due to
Cavalli's setting of "Ombra mai fu" (later more
famously set by Handel): nine different revivals were
given across Italy while Cavalli lived. In 1660 Cavalli
was persuaded to travel to France to produce a new
opera for the wedding of Louis XIV in Paris. He soon
became entangled in court intrigue which ensured that
the projected opera, Ercole amante, was not ready in
time and had to be replaced by a revival of Xerse at
the last minute. Xerse was given with ballets by
Cavalli's rival Jean-Baptiste Lully, a Florentine who
had become the official court composer in France. The
whole spectacle lasted eight or nine hours and the
French audience had little appreciation for an opera in
a foreign language, preferring Lully's dance music.
Source: Wikipedia
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francesco_Cavalli)
Although originally written for Accompanied Soloist, I
created this Interpretation of the Aria: "Ombra Mai Fu"
from the Opera "Il Xerse" for Oboe & Piano.
