Domenico Cimarosa
34 products
Cimarosa: L’Italiana in Londra
Cimarosa: Gli Orazi ed i Curiazi
SINFONIA/CONCERTO FOR 2 FLUTES
THE CEMBALO SONATAS
IL MATRIMONIO SEGRETO
Cimarosa: Complete Piano Sonatas, Vol. 2
Cimarosa: Overtures, Vol. 7
Cimarosa: L'impresario in angustie (Recorded 1963)
Cimarosa: Overtures, Vol. 6
Cimarosa: Coeli Voices
Cimarosa: Atene edificata & Coro dei guerrieri
Cimarosa: I tre amanti (Live)
Cimarosa: I due baroni di Rocca Azzura (Live)
Cimarosa: La baronessa stramba
IL CREDULO: VALLETTI-BRUSCANTI
Baroque Music - BACH, J.S. / CIMAROSA, D. / HANDEL, G.F. / L
Cimarosa & Palomba: Le Astuzie Femminili
Cimarosa: L'Olimpiade
Born in 1749, Cimarosa was one of Europe's leading composers at the end of the 18th century. It was during his most productive period that he produced his Olimpiade, a grand opera seria transformed into a sumptuous bel canto drama. In it, Cimarosa brings heroism to the athletes competing in the Games in Olympia, the winner of which will marry Princess Aristea: the seemingly inextricable plot allows the composer to write some of the most extraordinary arias based on Metastasio's libretto. Christophe Rousset, champion of the Italian repertoire of the end of the 18th century, leads a dazzling cast in this hurricane of bel canto!
Cimarosa: Overtures (arr. for Mandolin Ensemble) / Anedda Quintet
New, fun-filled arrangements—with historical authenticity on their side—bring bright and breezy curtain-raisers by a once-celebrated contemporary of Mozart to life.
In a career not much longer than Mozart’s, Domenico Cimarosa (1749-1801) wrote an astonishing total of 64 works for the stage—as well as substantial collections of symphonies, concertos, and sonatas—that were performed across the length and breadth of Europe.
Cimarosa specialized in lighthearted comedies, for which he supplied stylishly upbeat scores, shot through with Italianate lyricism, and a kind of impetuous vigor which was all his own. This quality makes his overtures particularly suitable for transcription to the kind of plucked-ensemble chamber versions heard on this enterprising new album. During the period after unification, the mandolin became a popular instrument much as the ukulele and the balalaika did elsewhere: relatively easy to learn, highly portable, and well suited to being played in ensemble as a kind of instrumental choir.
The Anedda Quintet have devised a unique synthesis of the two approaches, adding a strong bass component to the classic quartet line-up. This collection of Cimarosa is mainly comprised of modern arrangements by the composer Michele Di Filippo, who had already collaborated with the Anedda Quintet for a previous Brilliant Classics album of Rossini arrangements (95904). In adapting these orchestral scores, Di Filippo aimed to make the melodies sing out while preserving a sense of dialogue, tension, and drama between instruments.
Bertati, Cimarosa: Il Matrimonio Segreto / De Marchi, Academia Montis Regalis Orchestra
Da capo!” This is what Emperor Leopold II shouted in the Vienna court theater in 1792 – and all the musicians once again began the musical fun from the beginning. Il matrimonio segreto is the only opera that has ever had the honor of being repeated in full at its premiere, so very much did the comical musical goings-on please its distinguished audience. On the occasion of the fortieth anniversary of the Innsbruck Early Music Festival Weeks, the conductor Alessandro De Marchi again at long last led a performance of Cimarosa’s most popular opera in historical performance practice and in original sound. The music forms a direct transition from the Baroque opera to the Bel Canto era of Rossini and in every way merits a production in which the musical and vocal practice of Cimarosa and Mozart’s times is brought back to life. Nowadays Cimarosa’s opera is always heard in greatly abbreviated versions; repetitions and parts of arias often end up being eliminated. Alessandro De Marchi: “Though precisely these repetitions are interesting because in them the female and male singers, just as then was still the practice, are able to vary and improvise.” The orchestral sound is also more colorfully and sharply contoured when original instruments are used. For the anniversary occasion everybody was supposed to have good reason to laugh, and this opera is optimally suited toward this end. The tradition of the opera buffa, with its origins going back to the commedia dell’arte, in this work experiences a “high point full of irresistible moments of fun, on the stage and in the music” as De Marchi puts it.
Cimarosa: Dixit Dominus / Orchestra Haydn di Bolzano & Trento
Written towards the end of his life, Cimarosa’s Dixit Dominus of 1797 numbers among his greatest compositions. A sacred composition on a large scale, it features three soloists, a four-part choir, and an orchestra including four pairs of wind instruments. The sequencing of the solo and choir parts employs a compositional-technical method that had proved itself for more than 150 years for the setting of sacred works based on verses.
Domenico Cimarosa contributed significantly to the development of the opera during the second half of the eighteenth century. He was held in great esteem by his contemporaries, above all by Haydn and Mozart, not only because of his eighty operas but also his sacred works endowing the traditional church style with his trademark grace and sweetness of tone.
Cimarosa: L’Italiana in Londra / Hussain, Frankfurt Opera
L’Italiana in Londra' was Domenico Cimarosa’s first international triumph, thrilling audiences all over Europe after its premiere in 1778. It later became eclipsed by the even bigger success of 'Il matrimonio segreto' however, and has become a rarity on stage today. Set in a London hotel, this cheerful ‘Intermezzo in musica’ has cleverly crafted arias, duets and ensembles that drive the plot along, the story being one of thwarted love, quarrels and misunderstandings. 'L’Italiana in Londra' has been summed up by director R.B. Schlather as ‘incredibly charming and sophisticated … demanding, dark, dirty and very funny … an impeccable rom-com.’
Cimarosa & Palomba: Le astuzie femminili / De Marchi, Theresia Orchestra
Domenico Cimarosa was riding high on the triumphant success of Il matrimonio segreto when he embarked on the ‘commedia per musica’ Le astuzie femminili in 1794. The narrative for this opera revolves around the clever and resourceful Bellina, who devises a plan to avoid an unwanted marriage while gaining a large inheritance and marrying her love Filandro. Styled somewhere between Mozart and Rossini, Cimarosa’s witty and tender score includes deliciously comical moments such as Filandro’s outlandish Italian-German imitation of a Magyar officer. The spirited performance and lively pace of this opera buffa accounted for its acclaimed reception at the 2022 Reate Festival.
Cimarosa: Requiem In G Minor / Trevor, Kucerova, Kruzliakova, Ludha, Belacek
Domenico Cimarosa’s abilities as an operatic composer are evident in his large-scale Requiem in which the soloists and chorus range from the mournful supplication of the opening movements, through vivid evocations of the ‘day of wrath’ and the praises uttered by the heavenly hosts in the Sanctus, to the prayers for mercy, peace and eternal light which conclude the work. Composed to commemorate the death in 1787 of the wife of the French ambassador in St Petersburg, its overall character is one of classical restraint.
Cimarosa: Overtures, Vol. 4 / Halasz, Czech Chamber Philharmonic
The most famous Italian opera composer of his day, Domenico Cimarosa saw his fame spread all over Europe. Written towards the end of the ‘Neapolitan School’ era, his operas endured in popularity long after his death thanks to their melodic invention, colourful orchestration and sheer vitality. The overtures in this programme include I tre amanti (The Three Lovers), the hit opera that made Cimarosa’s name outside Naples, and Il pittor parigino (The Parisian Painter) and the tragedy Giunio Bruto that were admired by Haydn and conducted by him at the Esterházy court. The first three volumes are available on Naxos 8.570508, 8.570279 and 8.572734.
