A. Scarlatti: Responsories for the Holy Week: Good Friday
3/20/2020, 17 Tracks, 1:11:33
Featuring
Carlo Steno Rossi
Sergio Balestracci
La Stagione Armonica
Alessandro Scarlatti
Did you know?
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Composer's Artistic Vision
Alessandro Scarlatti suggested that the responsories might be more effective with voices alone, without organ support, to better convey the suffering of the unsupported Redeemer.
Composition History
The only copy of Alessandro Scarlatti's Holy Week responsories is found in manuscript 443 of the Bologna Philharmonic Academy, bound with lamentations and motets.
Recording & Production
This album was recorded in the Church of Saint Gaetano in Padua, Italy, a church known for its interesting acoustics and historical and artistic decorations.
Composition History
Giovanni Maria Casini, choirmaster of Santa Maria del Fiore in Florence, testified in 1708 that Alessandro Scarlatti was commissioned to compose music for Lent and Holy Week.
Compositional Technique
Alessandro Scarlatti's keyboard works are significant in music history, bridging the old and modern toccata styles with formal and harmonic innovations.
Composition History
The authorship of these responsories by Alessandro Scarlatti, a great Sicilian composer, has been questioned by musicologists because his name is not on the manuscript.
Interpretation
La Stagione Armonica's interpretation is based on the belief that the work is attributable to Alessandro Scarlatti due to stylistic similarities with his other sacred, profane, instrumental, and didactic compositions.
