Carissimi: Oleum Effusum Est / Domine, Deus Meus / Sicut Stella Matutina / Adeste Mortales (Virtuoso Soprano Motets)
1/1/2007, 4 Tracks, 1:04:28
Featuring
Robert Crowe
Michael Eberth
Giacomo Carissimi
Did you know?
1/7
Composition History
Carissimi was a key figure in the development of both the secular cantata and the oratorio, composing hundreds of the former.
Performer Biography
Robert Crowe, the male soprano on this recording, was the first male soprano to win the Metropolitan Opera Competition as a national prizewinner in 1995.
Compositional Technique
The motets on this album are unusually long for their time; none are shorter than nine minutes, and one, Oleum effusum est, is twenty-five minutes long.
Compositional Technique
Carissimi's solo motets are characterized by a relatively simple, repetitive bass line supporting elaborate, melismatic vocal passages and declamatory orations.
Composer Biography
Carissimi served as maestro di cappella at the Collegio Germanico e Hungarico in Rome for 44 years, despite receiving offers from other prestigious institutions, including one to succeed Claudio Monteverdi in Venice.
Historical Context
During Carissimi's time, opera was banned in the Papal States for thirty years, making his oratorios the only dramatic vocal works tolerated in Rome.
Composer Biography
Giacomo Carissimi, the composer, was the youngest son of a cooper and began his career as a singer and organist in Tivoli's Cathedral.
You might also enjoy...
Porpora: Gedeone (Il)
Viadana: Canzonette, Book 1
Scarlatti: St. John Passion
Monteverdi, C.: Vespers for the Feast of the Ascension
Cavalli: Gli Amori D'Apollo E Di Dafne
Gesualdo: Tenebrae Responses for Good Friday (Responsoria, 1611)
