HANDEL – PORPORA / SACRED MUSIC

Baroque sacred music testifies to an entire wealth of styles and techniques developed over the epoch. Particularly notable in the synthesis of various compositional means are the achievements of Georg Friedrich Haendel, whose two works frame the concert.

The program opens with one of Handel’s twelve famous concerti grossi, grouped as Op. 6. Written in the autumn of 1739, the concertos were printed the following year as 12 Grand Concertos. However, the greatness in the title does not refer to the volume or cast, but manifests itself in the richness of the sound, the plasticity of the melody and the uniqueness of the structure. In the fourth concerto, the instruments from the concertino and ripieni groups lead a lively dialogue, both playing together – as in the poignant Larghetto affettuoso – and competing, e.g. in an the impressive fugue in Allegro.

The motet Silete venti HWV 242 is equally impressive in terms of the variety of musical solutions. The piece opens with a solemn orchestral Largo, which clearly refers to the style of the French overture with its homophonic texture and dotted rhythms. On the other hand, the sophisticated dialogues between the soloist and the instruments in beautiful arias bring to mind the ideas of Italian masters of the concertante technique. Their proper execution requires particular sensitivity to color on the part of the performers. The interpretation of another Latin motet, Saeviat tellus inter rigores HWV 240, is no less demanding.

Between the two compositions discussed above, we will hear Dixit Dominus by Nicola Porpora, one of the leading representatives of the Neapolitan school of opera, whose activity in the 1730s was a serious competition for the London activity of Handel. There is no doubt that the outstanding Italian composer had the opportunity to listen to the famous oratorios and could draw inspiration from them, e.g. in the shaping of the choral texture.

PROGRAM

Georg Friedrich Haendel – Concerto grosso A-minor op. 6 No 4, HWV 322
Larghetto affettuoso
Allegro
Largo e piano
Allegro

Nicola Porpora – Dixit Dominus a 4
I. Dixit Dominus
II. De torrente in via bibet
III. Gloria Patri et Filio
IV. Sicut erat in principio

Georg Friedrich Haendel – Silete venti, HWV 242
I. Symphonia
II. Silete venti
III. Dulcis amor Jesu care
IV. O fortunata anima
V. Date serta
VI. Alleluja

PERFORMERS

JUSTYNA STĘPIEŃ SOPRANO

THE CHORUS OF THE POLISH ROYAL OPERA

THE PERIOD INSTRUMENTS ENSEMBLE OF THE POLISH ROYAL OPERA CAPELLA REGIA POLONA

JAKUB SZAFRAŃSKI, JUSTYNA PAKULAK CHORUS MASTER

KRZYSZTOF GARSTKA HARPSICHORD, CONDUCTOR

Duration: approx. 1 h

The seats in the auditorium are not numbered.