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Handel: Parnasso in Festa, HWV73
Carolyn Sampson (soprano), Lucy Crowe (soprano), Rebecca Outram (soprano), Diana Moore (mezzo), Ruth Clegg (alto) & Peter Harvey (bass)
The King's Consort, Matthew Halls
The musical quality is high… High standards, too, in this performance, directed with a light but firm hand by Matthew Halls…
Handel: Parnasso in Festa, HWV73
Carolyn Sampson (soprano), Lucy Crowe (soprano), Rebecca Outram (soprano), Diana Moore (mezzo), Ruth Clegg (alto) & Peter Harvey (bass)
The King's Consort, Matthew Halls
Purchase product
The musical quality is high… High standards, too, in this performance, directed with a light but firm hand by Matthew Halls…
About
Hyperion’s Record of the Month sees the long overdue return to the studio of The King’s Consort, under the baton of the group’s newly appointed Artistic Director Matthew Halls. Here the ensemble presents the premiere recording of Handel’s Parnasso in Festa: a unique example in Handel’s enormous creative career of a fully-fledged celebratory serenata (or Festa teatrale). This form was rare in England but had developed in parallel with opera in Italy, where it was popular for commemorating special occasions of international significance. Parnasso in Festa was written for Princess Anne’s marriage to Prince William of Orange.
In Handel’s serenata three of the Muses, their leader Apollo, his son Orpheus, and Mars (god of War) gather at the feast celebrating the nuptials of Peleus and Thetis. The mythological musicians Apollo and Orfeo must have been particularly appealing for Handel here. Unlike many composers, he never composed an opera about Orpheus and Euridice. His only depiction of the mythical musician in his entire output forms the core of the serenata’s middle part. For a composer who later excelled at representing the musical ikons Timotheus and St Cecilia, and who was described by contemporaries as ‘the Orpheus of our age’, the depiction of Orfeo is fascinating. Created two years before Alexander’s Feast, and five years before A Song for St Cecilia’s Day, the emotional centre of Parnasso in Festa is devoted to a study of the power of music.
Contents and tracklist
- Peter Harvey (bass), Carolyn Sampson (soprano), Rebecca Outram (soprano), Diana Moore (mezzo-soprano), Ruth Massey (alto), Lucy Crowe (soprano)
- King's Consort, King's Consort Choir
- Matthew Halls
Awards and reviews
October 2008
The musical quality is high… High standards, too, in this performance, directed with a light but firm hand by Matthew Halls…
2010
Parnasso in Festa was composed to mark the wedding in 1734 of Handel's favourite pupil, Princess Anne, to Prince William of Orange. A preview in the Daily Journal announced that the music was a mixture of 'single Songs, Duetto's, &c. intermix'd with Chorus's, some what in the Style of Oratorio's'. This was spot-on, as most of the numbers were recycled from Athalia, performed in Oxford the previous year but not yet heard in London. The setting is Mount Parnassus, where gods, Muses and assorted hangers-on are gathered to celebrate the marriage of Peleus and Thetis, the future parents of Achilles.
Much of the music is perfectly well suited to its new context. The Muse Clio's 'Verginelle dotte', for instance, is a perfect analogue to Josabeth's deathless 'Blooming virgins' in Athalia.
And even when the sentiments are different – Clio's aria commending the happy pair to the care of the Graces is far removed from Athalia's 'My vengeance awakes me' – the result is not incongruous.
The cast is led by the superb Apollo of Diana Moore, a name new to me, who combines the range of a mezzo with the tone quality of a contralto.
Her semiquaver runs in 'Torni pure', one of the few original numbers, are thrilling. With admirable support from Carolyn Sampson and the rest of the cast, and crisp choral and orchestral contributions under Matthew Halls, this recording should ensure that Parnasso in Festa will at last come into its own.
December 2008
The cast is led by the superb Apollo of Diana Moore… who combines the range of a mezzo with the tone quality of a contralto. With admirable support from Carolyn Sampson and the rest of the cast, and crisp choral and orchestral contributions under Matthew Halls, this recording should ensure that Parnasso in Festa will at last come into its own.
28th September 2008
Ever the recycler, Handel adapted music from his oratorio, Athalia, for this courtly entertainment, ravishingly sung and played here by the Kings Consort, with soprano Carolyn Sampson in particularly fine form.
