Czech Chamber Music Society • Franco Vassallo

Giulio Caccini (1551–1618), composer of the late Renaissance and early Baroque eras, paved the way
in vocal music to the genre of concert song. The early Baroque introduced the notions of monody
(single voice), stile recitativo (recitative style) and basso continuo (general bass – a simple
harmonized instrumental accompaniment for a solo voice that conceptualized the relationship
between the sung word and the music in a new way). Caccini was born in Rome. In the late 1560s he
settled in Florence as a singer and instrumentalist at the court of the Grand Duke of Medici. Caccini
also participated in the Camerata Fiorentina group which used to gather at the palace of Count
Giovanni de’ Bardi, where the new style was cultivated. Caccini formulated his conception in the
preface to his collection of madrigals and arias, Le nuove musiche, published in 1602: “Having thus
seen that such music and musicians offered no pleasure beyond that which pleasant sounds could
give – solely to the sense of hearing, since they could not move the mind without the words being
understood – it occurred to me to introduce a kind of music in which one could almost speak in tones
[…], sometimes passing through several dissonances while still maintaining the bass note, save when
I wished to do it the ordinary way and play the inner parts on the instrument to express some effect
– these being of little other value.” Le nuove musiche includes the madrigal “Amarilli, mia bella” (My
lovely Amaryllis) on the text of the poet Giovanni Battista Guarini (1538–1612).

Alessandro Scarlatti (1660–1725), who came a century later, was maestro di cappella to the Viceroy
of Naples from the age of 25. Scarlatti, too, was for a time associated with Florence and the Medici
family. He served in Rome as maestro di cappella to Cardinal Ottoboni and at the Basilica di Santa
Maria Maggiore, followed by ten years spent in Naples. He composed more than 60 operas and is
considered the founder of the Neapolitan school. The opera L’honestà negli amori (Honesty in Love
Affairs) after the libretto by Giovanni Filippo Bernini belongs to his early stage works and was
performed on 3 February 1680 at the Teatro dell Pace in Rome, although it is possible that it
appeared earlier under a different title. It explores one of countless variations of a love affair
hampered by social status differences of those involved, and it is also evidence of a predilection of
the time for setting operas in exotic locations. In the first scene, the lovelorn page Saldino uses a
figure of speech to describe the beauty of the sunrise in the aria “Già il sole dal Gange” (The sun
already shines on the Ganges).

The opera of operas, Don Giovanni, to a libretto by Lorenzo da Ponte, was written by Wolfgang
Amadeus Mozart (1756–1791) for Prague. It premiered on 29 October 1797 at the Nostitz Theatre.
Its history is connected with a number of sensational events, including the postponement of the
premiere because Mozart was not finished with the composition when he arrived in Prague, the
allegation that the orchestra played from parts on which the ink had not yet dried, and so on. A lot of
such stories belong to the realm of myths evoked by the encounter with a genius. The opera Don
Giovanni cemented Mozart’s deep connection with Bohemia and provided the history of music with
an immortal work. It was first performed in Czech on 9 April 1825, in a translation by Jan Nepomuk
Štěpánek, at the same theater, then called the Estates Theater. In Act II of the opera, Don Giovanni
and his servant Leporello briefly switch roles. Leporello, who impersonates Don Giovanni, has the
task of appeasing Donna Elvira’s jealousy, while the sophisticated Don Giovanni tries to seduce

Donna Elvira’s maid on behalf of Leporello, singing a canzonetta “Deh, vieni alla finestra” (Oh, come
to the window).

Il barbiere di Siviglia (The Barber of Seville) by Gioacchino Rossini (1792–1868) also ranks among the
most popular works of world opera literature. The opera’s popularity can also be attributed to a
“genetic link”. The starting point is two comedies of Pierre-Augustin Caron de Beaumarchaise
(1732–1799), La folle journée ou Le mariage de Figaro (The Follies of a Day or The Marriage of Figaro)
and Le barbier de Séville ou La précaution inutile (The Barber of Seville or the Useless Precaution).
The opera Il barbiere di Siviglia was first created in 1782 by Giovanni Paisiello; Wolfgang Amadeus
Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro, composed to a libretto by Lorenzo da Ponte, was first performed in
Vienna on 1 May 1786. The two plays by Beaumarchais are linked by the characters of Count
Almaviva and Figaro, at first a barber and then the Count’s valet, who is also a kind of double of
Leporello from Mozart’s Don Giovanni. Rossini’s Il barbiere di Siviglia is based on the libretto by
Cesare Sterbini (1783–1831) and it premiered on 20 February 1816 at the Teatro Argentina in Rome
(still under the title Almaviva, o sia Lʼinutile precauzione), overshadowing Paisiello’s opera of an
earlier date. Over the next three years, Rossini’s Il barbiere di Siviglia was presented in London,
Barcelona, Munich, Graz, Vienna, Paris and, in 1820, in Prague in German and, five years later, in
Czech. The cavatina “Largo al factotum della città” (Make way for the factotum of the town)
introduces Figaro as a jack of all trades (factotum) with all the breadth of his skills.

Ruggero Leoncavallo (1857–1919) gained fame with his first opera Pagliacci (Clowns), which
premiered on 21 May 1892 at the Teatro dal Verme in Milan. Although it was followed by 20 other
operas and operettas, nothing in his oeuvre has surpassed the popularity of Pagliacci, which belongs
to the first unembellished real-life stories of the verismo operatic style (verità – truth). Leoncavallo,
incidentally, was also attracted to the character of Figaro, but his operetta The Youth of Figaro has
been lost and apparently it was never completed. In 1904, Leoncavallo composed the song
“Mattinata” (Morning) to his own text expressly for the Gramophone Company. It was recorded by
Enrico Caruso the same year, and ever since the song has been a staple of the repertoire of many
singers also beyond traditional tenors. In the program tonight, Mattinata with its content forms a
parallel to Mozart’s canzonetta from Don Giovanni dating from more than a century ago.

English composer Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872–1958) wrote symphonies, operas, ballets, chamber
pieces and church music, choirs, as well as numerous songs and song cycles on texts by various
poets. To Vaughan Williams, the human voice was “the oldest and greatest of musical instruments”
and he admired its ability to express emotions. Vaughan Williams composed the cycle Songs of Travel
to words by Robert Louis Stevenson (1850–1894) between 1901 and 1904. It was his first major
attempt at song. Stevenson was not only the author of the children’s book Treasure Island or the
horror story of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, but also wrote plays, short stories, and poetry. He was also a
keen traveler, and he put his travel experiences into travelogues and verse, such as Songs of Travel.
Vaughan Williams chose nine poems from Stevenson’s collection to set to music, the first three of
which will be performed today. All express the profound relationship between man and the world of
nature.

The opera Rigoletto by Giuseppe Verdi (1813–1901), based on Victor Hugo’s play Le roi s'amuse (The
King Has Fun), was first performed on 11 March 1851 in Venice at Teatro La Fenice. Its librettist was
Francesco Maria Piave (1810–1876) who wrote the libretto for Verdi’s ten operas, of which Macbeth,
Rigoletto and La traviata are among the most successful not only of Verdi’s works, but of opera
literature in general. Rigoletto tells the story of a hunchbacked jester at the court of the Duke of
Mantua who hides his daughter Gilda from the world. However, his secret is revealed and the girl is
kidnapped by the Duke’s courtiers to fall victim to the Duke’s lust. Gilda sacrifices her life to save her
lover, and Rigoletto realizes that the curse placed on him by Count Monterone for mocking his grief
has come true. In Act II, Rigoletto learns of his daughter’s abduction and his lament foreshadows the
coming disaster.

Falstaff, based on William Shakespeare’s comedy The Merry Wives of Windsor, is Verdi’s last opera.
In his own words, he created it to show the audience that, although he was an old man, he could still
come up with something new. However, credit must also be given to the librettist Arrigo Boito
(1842–1918), a composer and poet with whom Verdi had already worked on Otello (also after
Shakespeare) and on a revised version of Simone Boccanegra. The lusty old knight John Falstaff is
punished for his cravings by a woman’s trickery – whether he is cured for good is left open to
question, for it was all “just a comedy”, as it is sung at the end. Sir Falstaff is considerably conceited,
as evidenced by his Act II aria in which he shows off to Alice Ford, one of the wives he pretends to
admire in order to deceive them. Verdi’s Falstaff was first performed on 9 February 1893 at La Scala
in Milan with the French baritone Victor Maurel (1848–1923) in the title role. Maurel who was also
Verdi’s first Otello.

Tonight’s song recital is complemented by two piano pieces by Frédéric Chopin (1810–1849), hailed
as “The Poet of the Piano”. A brilliant pianist, he made his instrument resound with both tender
melancholy and rebellious power. When the Irish composer and pianist John Field (1782–1837)
published his piano works at the beginning of the 19th century, he applied the term “nocturnes” to
them, giving rise to a new genre of mood pieces. Their nocturnal, dreamlike atmosphere, as well as
the emotions stirred by them, were entirely in keeping with Chopin’s nature. Chopin’s 20 nocturnes
are reminiscent of a song in their vocal-like melodic lines, and are characterized by intricate
ornamentation and rich chromatic harmonies. The two Nocturnes, Op. 48 (in C minor and F sharp
minor) date from 1841 and are dedicated to Chopin’s pupil, Laure Duperré. The Nocturne No. 1 in
C minor has a ternary form. The initial reflective, melancholic mood changes in the middle section
into demanding fortissimo octave passages and arpeggios. It is followed by a reprise of the opening
section which has a calming effect, and the piece ends with a reconciliatory chord. Chopin was also
one of the first to translate the poetic genre of the ballad into music. Ballade No. 1 in G minor,
Op. 23 was written in 1835. It opens with an introduction in unison by both hands, the material of
which serves a structural function in the rest of the work. The cantabile theme is succeeded by a
violent outburst; when its passion has waned, there comes another lyrical section and another
upsurge. The joyous dance episode and pathos are succeeded by tenderness, the tumultuous
excitement by affectionate caresses. Chopin dedicated his Ballade in G minor to Clotilde von
Stockhausen, wife of the Hanoverian ambassador in Paris.

Gianni Schicchi, a one-act opera by Giacomo Puccini (1858–1924) to a libretto by Giovacchino
Forzano (1883–1970), based on an episode from Dante’s Divine Comedy, is the third and final part of
Puccini’s Il trittico (The Triptych) – three one-act operas that premiered together on 14 December
1918 at the Metropolitan Opera in New York. With Gianni Schicchi Puccini fulfilled his dream of
writing a comic opera. In this satire on greed, spiced with black humor, there is room for Puccini’s
impressive melodies. “Vittoria” (Victory) refers to the opera’s title character’s ingenious idea to save
the inheritance of a wealthy relative by impersonating the dying man and drawing up a will with a
summoned notary; in reality, the cunning scam is to pass the inheritance to Schicchi himself.