‘Tu fedel? Tu costante?’ HWV 171a and other Italian cantatas by Ton Koopman

Georg Friedrich Händel

Ton Koopman

‘Tu fedel? Tu costante?’ HWV 171a and other Italian cantatas

Price: € ~~19.95~~ 13.97
Format: CD
Label: Challenge Classics
UPC: 0608917226522
Catnr: CC 72265
Release date: 09 September 2016

old €~~19.95~~ new € 13.97

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Label
Challenge Classics

UPC
0608917226522

Catalogue number
CC 72265

Release date
09 September 2016

"In Italy Händel became acquainted with the chamber cantata, one of the most important genres of that time .... Ton Koopman has recorded a CD with such cantatas with his Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra and two soloists. The occasion was an important discovery: the first version of the cantata TU FEDEL? TU CONSTANTE ?, which was in its private collection...."

Toccata, 05-5-2017

Album

Artist(s)

Composer(s)

Press

About the album

Sometime in late 1705 or 1706 Georg Friedrich Händel, like many German composers before him, travelled to Italy, then the fountainhead of European music. During the next three years he paid extended visits to Rome and also spent time in Florence, Venice and Naples. In 1709-10, perhaps after a year back in Hamburg, he returned once again to Florence and Venice. Rather than studying with some Italian master, as others had done, he quickly established himself as a virtuoso performer and composer, enjoying the support of leading patrons and composing numerous cantatas.
Lost music from Handel’s years in Italy rarely comes to light. So it was with considerable excitement that in 2015 I found myself looking at a previously unknown and largely different version of the cantata “Tu fedel? tu costante?”, HWV 171 uniquely preserved in a manuscript belonging to Ton Koopman. As so often it was a chance discovery.
“Tu fedel? tu costante?” is the complaint of an injured love. Both Handel settings of this text are for soprano, but in HWV 171a, as presented in the Koopman manuscript, the accompanying ensemble includes an oboe in addition to the two violins and continuo found in HWV 171. Otherwise, except for the absence of the introductory sonata in HWV 171, the new cantata is practically identical with the familiar version up to the end of the first aria. Thereafter it sharply diverges. HWV 171a was probably composed in Venice or Florence sometime prior to Handel’s first
arrival in Rome in late 1706. HWV 171 was completed by May 1707.

Ton Koopman dirigeert onbekend werk Händel
In deze opname dirigeert Ton Koopman een onbekende versie van de cantate 'Tu fedel? Tu costate?' van Georg Friedrich Händel. Koopman, dirigent, klavecinist en organist, is eigenaar van een werkelijk adembenemende collectie historische manuscripten. In een daarvan ontdekte de Amerikaanse musicoloog John H. Roberts in 2015 tot zijn grote verrassing een afwijkende versie van de cantate 'Tu fedel? Tu costate?', HWV 171. Het onbekende stuk, zeker gecomponeerd door Händel en geregistreerd als HWV 171a, kent 4 aria's, waarvan 3 compleet nieuw zijn. Naast sopraan, 2 violen en basso continuo, speelt in dit nieuwe stuk ook de hobo een rol.

De bekende cantate 'Tu fedel? Tu costate?' HWV 171 voltooide Händel in mei 1707. In de jaren 1705, 1706 reisde hij, zoals zoveel Duitse componisten in die tijd, naar Italië. Bolwerk van de Europese muziek. Daar componeerde Händel, waarschijnlijk in Venetië of Florence, eind 1706 de tot nu toe onbekende versie HWV 171a. Deze cantate is een weeklacht van een pijnlijke liefde. In de 3e aria wisselen leed en droevenis elkaar af. De 4e aria drukt eerder teleurstelling uit, dan hoop op een betere toekomst. Terwijl in HWV 171 juist de trots overheerst en de cantate daar eindigt met een optimistische, snelle menuet.

Welt-Ersteinspielung der Händel-Kantate ‚Tu fedel? Tu costante?’ HWV 171a

Die Sammlung historischer Quellen Ton Koopmans ist wirklich atemberaubend. Den neuesten Beweis liefert der Fund einer zweiten Version der Händel’schen Kantate ‚Tu fedel? Tu costante?’, die John H. Roberts in einem der Manuskripte entdeckte, welche in großen Teilen von der bekannten Fassung HWV 171 abweicht. Die authentische Edition der Kantate enthält drei neue Arien, die in ihrem Stil unmissverständlich Händel zuzuschreiben sind und darüber hinaus musikalische Ideen anderer Werke des Komponisten enthalten, darunter auch ‚Almira’.

HWV 171a wurde wahrscheinlich in Venedig oder Florenz in der Zeit vor seiner ersten Ankunft in Rom am Ende des Jahres 1706 komponiert. HWV 171 wurde im Mai 1707 vollendet. Es hat den Anschein, als ob Händel den Text das zweite Mal so unterschiedlich vertont hat, weil ihm die erste Fassung nicht vorlag. Das Manuskript von HWV 171 legt nahe, dass er begann, die Kantate in Norditalien zu kopieren, aber aus welchen Gründen auch immer zu Anfang des zweiten Rezitativs die Arbeit abgebrochen hat. Als er dann die Kantate in Rom zur Aufführung bringen wollte, besaß er offenbar das Original nicht mehr und musste die Kantate deshalb zu großen Teilen noch einmal komponieren.

Auf diese Weise hat Händel den Text gewissermaßen neu interpretiert. In HWV 171a herrscht eine Stimmung von Schmerz und Trauer vor. Der Schwerpunkt der Kantate findet sich hier in der dritten Arie, ‚Se non ti piace amarmi’, ein trauriges Siciliano. Selbst die Schlussarie, in der die Frau sich von dem treulosen Fileno abwendet, drückt eher Enttäuschung als Hoffnung auf eine bessere Zukunft aus. Im Gegensatz dazu ist HWV 171 voller Trotz und endet auf einer optimistischen Note mit einem schnellen Menuett voller Hemiolen. Händels unterschiedliche Interpretation des Texts hatte vielleicht mit den unterschiedlichen Persönlichkeiten der Sängerinnen zu tun, für die er komponierte. In Rom war das wahrscheinlich Margarita Durastante, die später die Titelrolle in seiner venezianischen Oper Agrippina (1709) sang. Leider wissen wir nicht, wer HWV 171a in Florenz oder Venedig gesungen hat.

Parallel zur Aufnahme erscheint eine Edition von HWV 171a bei der Hallischen Händel-Ausgabe.

Artist(s)

Ton Koopman (conductor)

Ton Koopman is a leading figure in Early Music and historically informed performance practice. As organist and harpsichordist Ton Koopman has performed all over the world and played the most beautiful historical instruments of Europe. His Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra & Choir has gained worldwide fame as one of the best ensembles on period instruments. Between 1994 and 2004 Ton Koopman and ABO&C have recorded all sacred and secular cantatas by Johann Sebastian Bach, an extraordinary project that earned international acclaim. After that Koopman recorded the complete works by Bach’s predecessor, Dieterich Buxtehude. Besides performing as a soloist and with his ABO&C, Ton Koopman is very active as a guest conductor for modern orchestras and also devotes part of his time...

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Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra & Choir

Ton Koopman founded the Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra in 1979. The group consists of internationally renowned baroque specialists who meet up several times a year and work together to prepare and perform new exciting programmes. For the musicians each concert is a new experience and Koopman's boundless energy and enthusiasm are a sure guarantee of the highest quality.
The Amsterdam Baroque Choir was founded in 1992 and it made its debut during the Holland Festival of Early Music in Utrecht performing the world première of the Requiem (for 15 voices) and Vespers (for 32 voices) by H.I.F. Biber. The recording of both of these works won the Cannes Classical Award for the best performance of 17th/18th century choral music. For its rare combination of textural clarity and interpretative flexibility, the Amsterdam Baroque Choir is considered among today’s most outstanding choirs. In 1994 Ton Koopman and the Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra & Choir embarked upon the most ambitious recording project of the last decades: the integral recording of Bach’s secular and sacred cantatas. For this extraordinary project Koopman and his ensemble received the Deutsche Schallplatten-Preis Echo Klassik. Next to the CD recordings three books have been edited and published by Ton Koopman and the musicologist Christoph Wolff and a series of six documentaries was produced and broadcasted by various TV stations.
Alongside Bach’s music the Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra & Choir has recorded all major baroque and classical works. Major recognitions include the Gramophone Award, Diapason d'Or, 10-Repertoire, Stern des Monats-Fono Forum, the Prix Hector Berlioz and two Edison Awards. In 2008 the ensemble and Ton Koopman have been honoured with the prestigious BBC Award. Since March 2003 “Antoine Marchand”, a new sub-label of Challenge Classics, took over the release of Koopman’s new recordings and among many others has published 22 CD boxes of the Bach Cantatas, a new recording of the St. Matthew Passion (on CD and DVD) and St. Markus Passion of J.S. Bach (DVD), live recorded in Milan, as well as the first seven volumes of the Buxtehude Opera-Omnia Edition. Ton Koopman and the ABO & ABC are regular guests at the major concert halls of Europe, the USA and Japan. In the 2008/09 season they will tour extensively in Europe (Amsterdam, Paris, Madrid, Vienna, Milan, Cologne, Dresden, Düsseldorf etc) and in Far East with concerts in Hong Kong, Seoul and Tokyo.

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Klaus Mertens (bass-baritone)

Bass-baritone Klaus Mertens is celebrated by critics as an “excellent master of his craft” for his “unique power of expression, his congenial timbre, his keen intuition for text, as well as his convincing manner of making music”. He has recorded more than 200 CDs, including the entire works of Johann Sebastian Bach and Dietrich Buxtehude. These testify eloquently to his art of singing, which spans a great arch from Monteverdi to his contemporaries. Characterized as “the most significant Telemann interpreter of our time”, Mertens received the Telemann prize of the city of Magdeburg in 2016. In 2019, he was honored with the renowned Bach medal of the city of Leipzig as the “ideal interpreter of Bach’s cantatas and passion texts”.

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Yetzabel Arias Fernandez (soprano)

Composer(s)

Georg Friedrich Händel

Georg Frideric Handel was a composer from the Baroque period. Handel wrote primarily music-dramatic works: 42 operas, 29 oratorios, more than 120 cantatas, trios and duets, which comes to a total amount of almost 2000 arias! Furthermore, he composed English, Italian and Latin sacred music, serenades and odes. Among his instrumental music are several organ concertos, concerti grossi, overtures, oboe sonatas and violinsonates, along with many solo works for harpsichord and organ. Together with Johann Sebastian Bach, who was born in the same year (1685), Handel is viewed as one of the greatest composers of his time. He was extremely prolific and wrote in total more than 610 works, many of which are still performed today. Compared to his contemporaries Bach, Telemann...

Together with Johann Sebastian Bach, who was born in the same year (1685), Handel is viewed as one of the greatest composers of his time. He was extremely prolific and wrote in total more than 610 works, many of which are still performed today.

Compared to his contemporaries Bach, Telemann and Scarlatti, Handel was by far the most cosmopolitan. When Handel was a child, his father, who was a surgeon at the court of Saxe-Weissenfels, imagined a juridical career for him. But his musical talents did not go unnoticed at the court, which forced the father to let him study music. In Hamburg, Handel befriended Mattheson. Together they visited Buxtehude, the greatest organ player of his time, in 1703 (two years before Bach did). At that time, Handel was already an excellent musician, but it wasn't until his stay in Italy - the land of opera - that his talents and skills truly started to flourish. Back in Germany, he received a position at the court of Hannover, where the noblemen had a connection to the British throne. Thanks to these connections, Handel decided to move to London, after which a puzzling history of intrigues and political games started. For example, it is unclear what the exact political message of his famous Water Music is, which was composed for a boat ride on the river Thames by King George. Initially, Handel focused on Italian opera during his stay in London, but from the 1730s onwards he started composing English spoken oratorios, with the celebrated Messiah at its peak.

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Press

In Italy Händel became acquainted with the chamber cantata, one of the most important genres of that time .... Ton Koopman has recorded a CD with such cantatas with his Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra and two soloists. The occasion was an important discovery: the first version of the cantata TU FEDEL? TU CONSTANTE ?, which was in its private collection....
Toccata, 05-5-2017

A prime selling point here is the premiere recording of an early version of the soprano cantata Tu fedel? Tu costante?, HWV171a, unearthed in Ton Koopman’s private manuscript collection.
Gramophone, 01-3-2017

Koopman's recording is very important because of the repertoire: one first recording and some other pieces which are not that well-known, in overall very fine performances.
Musica dei Bonum, 13-2-2017

As always the playing is at the highest level
Fono Forum, 06-2-2017

Diapason - 01/01/2017
Diapason, 01-1-2017

Despite the presence of good soloists and a fine recording technique, this is a most disappointing production, since Ton Koopman’s conducting badly lacks inspiration.
Pizzicato, 20-12-2016

4 **** star rating ''For any one who wants to have a musical present under the christmas tree, needs to have the Händel album.''
De Gelderlander, 14-12-2016

''The performance is only a bit formal.''
Luister, 01-12-2016

SWR 2 - 15/11/2016
SWR 2, 15-11-2016

"You own a unique work by Händel, Ton!"
Klassieke zaken, 01-11-2016

Ton Koopman will give the prestigious Huizinga lecture at Leiden University this year.
NRC Next, 09-10-2016

"It seems like Händel had to compose his cantate again for a new version, maybe because did not have the original music with him."
Tijdschrift Oude Muziek, 01-10-2016

Interview with Ton Koopman about the discovery in his own library of the new Händel cantata ‘Tu fedel? Tu costante?’ HWV 171a
Trouw, 03-9-2016

All the while the Amsterdam players are a buoyant presence, whether in the energising continuo or the beautifully turned obbligatos from oboe, recorder and solo violins.
Gramophone, 04-7-2016

Koopman conducted his choir and orchestra with an enthousiasm that was sometimes rushed but also very contagious.
NRC , 11-4-2016

"And then the world received the gift of a new piece by Händel."
De Volkskrant, 09-4-2016