Pier Giuseppe Sandoni: Cantatas & Instrumental Works

Featuring

Francesca Aspromonte
Nicoleta Paraschivescu
Katharina Heutjer
Johannes Frisch
Daniel Rosin
Juan Sebastian Lima

Christoph Riedo
La Floridiana
Pier Giuseppe Sandoni

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Compositional Technique

Sandoni's chamber cantatas, such as those in the Cantate da Camera e Sonate per il Cembalo collection, often feature a siciliana rhythm in slow arias, a style Handel also used to express anguish in his operas.

Critical Reception

Pietro Giuseppe Sandoni and his wife, Francesca Cuzzoni, faced severe criticism and mockery from figures like alto castrato Giacomo Berenstadt and Handel's admirer Mary Pendarves for their extravagant conduct.

Composer Biography

Pietro Giuseppe Sandoni was sent by Handel to escort the new prima donna, Francesca Cuzzoni, to London in 1722, a journey that led to their marriage and a scandalous reputation.

Composition History

A suite in G minor by Sandoni, featured on this album, contains a Prelude and Allemande that correspond to two Allemandes (BWV 836 and BWV 837) from Johann Sebastian Bach's Clavier-Büchlein für Wilhelm Friedemann Bach.

Composer Biography

Pietro Giuseppe Sandoni, the composer on this album, was an established musician in Bologna, becoming organist at S Giacomo Maggiore by age fifteen and a member of the Accademia filarmonica by 1700.

Historical Context

London became an attractive place for Italian musicians in the early 18th century due to the War of the Spanish Succession (1701-1714) and the ascension of George I, who grew up with Italian music.

Compositional Technique

Sandoni's Follia, his most extensive harpsichord work, is a set of 23 variations with a dramatic structure resembling a miniature opera, featuring virtuosic and intimate scenes.