Rossi, Mazzocchi, Carissimi: Il tormento e l'estasi

Featuring

Luis Antonio González
Olalla Alemán
Marta Infante
Jesús García Aréjula
José Pizzaro
Los Músicos de Su Alteza

Luigi Rossi
Domenico Mazzocchi
Biagio Marini
Giacomo Carissimi

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Instruments

The keyboard instruments on this recording were tuned to a quarter-comma meantone temperament, with a chorister's pitch of A=415Hz.

Compositional Technique

Composers like Rossi used 'word painting' to make terrifying images tangible in their music, such as dramatic downward drops for 'abysses' or falls for 'torrents of blood'.

Composer's Artistic Vision

Librettists and composers of this era used subtle, sometimes ambiguous, but often graphic and passionate images to communicate doctrine in their oratorios.

Recording & Production

This album was recorded in September 2010 at the San Miguel de Daroca church in Zaragoza, Spain.

Album & Artwork

The album title, "The Agony and the Ecstasy," is borrowed from Irving Stone's novel and Carol Reed's film about Michelangelo, chosen to describe the creative process and the works on this recording.

Historical Context

The music on this album was composed in Rome during the 1640s, a period of intense artistic activity under Popes Urban VIII and Innocent X, making Rome a Baroque capital of excess.

Composition History

The oratorio, a musical genre characteristic of the post-Tridentine Catholic spirit, developed with 'unforeseen frenzy' in Rome during the period these works were created.