CONCERTS

78TH SEASON OF

national gallery of art | january 19, 2020
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PROGRAM

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Concerto Italiano

Rinaldo Alessandrini, conductor and harpsichord

Sonia Tedla, soprano

Gabriele Cassone, trumpet

Boris Begelman, violin

Andrea Rognoni, violin

Ludovico Minasi, cello

Venezia Roma Napoli

January 19, 2020 | 3:30

West Building, West Garden Court

Arcangelo Corelli (1653 – 1713)

Sonata a Quattro, WoO4, for trumpet, two violins, and basso continuo (c. 1699)

Adagio

Allegro

Grave

Spiritoso

Allegro

Antonio Vivaldi (1678 – 1741)

Sonata in C Major, RV 60, for two violins and basso continuo (1705)

Allegro

Adagio

Allegro

Adagio

Alessandro Marcello (1669 – 1747)

“Ecco l’aurora che,” (Aria for Farinello), S. D906, for soprano, two violins, 

and basso continuo (c. 1725 – 1747)

Arcangelo Corelli

Trio Sonata in A Major, op. 1, no. 3, for two violins and basso continuo (1681)

Grave 

Allegro

Adagio

Allegro

Concerto Italiano, photo by Javier Sierra
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George Frideric Handel (1685 – 1759)

“Tu fedel? Tu costante?” HWV 171, for soprano, two violins, and 

basso continuo (1706 – 1707)

Sonata

Recitativo

Aria; Un poco allegro

Recitativo

Aria

Recitativo

Aria

Recitativo

Aria

Intermission

Leonardo Leo (1694 – 1744)

“Splende più dell’usato,” for soprano, two violins, and basso continuo (c. 1711 – 1744)

Introduzione

Recitativo

Aria; Larghetto

Recitativo

Aria; Spiritoso

Nicola Porpora (1686 – 1768)

Sonata in E Minor, for two violins and basso continuo (c. 1760)

Affettuoso

Allegro

Adagio

Giga; Allegro

Alessandro Scarlatti (1660 – 1725)

“Su le sponde del Tebro,” H. 705, for soprano, trumpet, two violins, and 

basso continuo (c. 1690)

Sinfonia; Grave

Recitativo

Ritornello; Aria

Recitativo

Aria; Largo

Aria

Recitativo

Aria

THE MUSICIANS

Founder and conductor Rinaldo Alessandrini’s early music ensemble Concerto Italiano 

formed in 1984, coinciding with the revival of early music in Italy — a revival spurred by 

this group. Monteverdi, Bach, and Vivaldi are the main composers that have inspired 

the ensemble in honoring an appreciation of the language of baroque music, making a 

new aesthetic and musical rhetoric available to a fresh audience.

In 2016, Concerto Italiano made its debut in Australia and New Zealand, performing 

Monteverdi’s Vespers. The following year, the ensemble appeared at Carnegie Hall and 

toured China, Japan, Australia, and several European cities, performing Monteverdi’s 

1610 Vespers, L’Orfeo, and L’incoronazione di Poppea.

Over the course of its history, Concerto Italiano has appeared at major festivals 

and in venues throughout the European continent: Utrecht (Oude Muziek Festival), 

Rotterdam (De Doelen, De Singel), Antwerp and Leuven (Flanders Festival), London 

(Lufthansa Festival, Queen Elisabeth Hall), Edinburgh (Edinburgh Festival), Vienna 

(Konzerthaus), Spoleto (Festival dei Due Mondi), and Palermo (Festival Scarlatti).

Concerto Italiano has recently been involved in performing the complete Monteverdi opera cycle at La Scala and Opera Garnier, in collaboration with stage director 

Bob Wilson. Regularly recording for the Naïve label, the group’s recent releases include 

Bach’s Brandenburg Concertos, a collection of sacred music by Alessandro Scarlatti, 

and Monteverdi’s L’Orfeo, 1610 Vespers, and Selva Morale e Spirituale, as well as his 

complete Eighth Book of Madrigals. The impressive array of critical awards received 

for these recordings confirms the outstanding quality of Concerto Italiano’s performances, for which the group is now recognized as a unique force in the interpretation 

of seventeenth- and eighteenth-century music. After several decades, both critics and 

the public continue to consider the ensemble’s recordings as the definitive standard 

of baroque revival and style.
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PROGRAM NOTES

The name “Italy” took on a political and geographical significance only at the end of 

the nineteenth century. Therefore, at the beginning of the eighteenth century, the 

cultural and musical panorama reflected different political conditions, which also 

determined varying cultural choices. The Republic of Venice considered the public 

aspect of music of great social importance, and that form of support is represented 

in today’s program through works by Antonio Vivaldi and Alessandro Marcello. In 

Naples, music was part of the daily passions of the people, thanks not only to the 

opera — most famously by Alessandro Scarlatti — but also to the fine music performed in churches. In Rome, public music was mainly performed in churches or 

chapels, since theaters faced a troubled life because of the varying points of view 

of the reigning pope. In all of these cities, the voice was held in the highest regard.

The cantata genre represented the operatic genre in reduced dimensions. The 

technical virtuosity demanded by the Venetian style was replaced in Rome with the 

Arcadian and pastoral atmospheres of the era, and in Naples, with particular care for 

the expressive style. 

In Rome, Arcangelo Corelli stands as the foundation of the “violinist composer,” 

a particularly popular niche of composition that would last several generations. Corelli 

laid the groundwork for other violin composers, including Pietro Locatelli and Niccolò 

Paganini. It was also in Rome that our only non-Italian composer, George Frideric 

Handel — having been invited to Italy by Ferdinando I de’ Medici — likely composed 

today’s featured work “Tu fedel? Tu costante?”

In Venice, Antonio Vivaldi became a superstar of operatic, instrumental, and 

liturgical works, showcasing his trademarks of virtuosity, lyricism, and emotion. Finally, 

it is with baroque composers Leonardo Leo and Nicola Porpora, both largely overlooked today, that we hear our first music from Naples. Leo, considered the first 

Neapolitan composer to master modern harmonic counterpoint, is featured in this 

concert with his cantata “Splende più dell’usato,” and Porpora in a sonata for strings 

and continuo, which is fitting for a musician who would go on to teach the father 

of the string quartet, Joseph Haydn. The most famous of the Neopolitan composers 

is Alessandro Scarlatti, and it is with Scarlatti that modern opera is considered to 

have begun. In today’s piece by Scarlatti, we hear his operatic writing in its reduced 

dimensions with his cantata “Su le sponde del Tebro.” Paradoxically, it is Italy’s political 

fragmentation in the eighteenth century that contributed to the creation of this 

enormous artistic and cultural wealth, with distinct musical styles emerging from 

Venice, Rome, and Naples.

Program notes by Concerto Italiano

Upcoming Events of the SeventyEighth Season of The William Nelson 

Cromwell and F. Lammot Belin Concerts

Unless otherwise noted, concerts 

are held in the West Building, West 

Garden Court.

Singers from Washington National 

Opera’s Domingo-Cafritz Young 

Artist Program

A Sense of Place: Art and Music Inspired 

by Landscape

Featuring opera arias and program 

director Robert Ainsley’s discussion 

of landscape paintings in the Gallery’s 

collection.

January 24, 12:10 p.m.

Minguet Quartett

With Andreas Klein, pianist

Bach, Beethoven, and Beyond

Music of J. S. Bach, Beethoven, Prokofiev,

and Israeli composer Avner Dorman.

January 26, 3:30 p.m.

Diane Monroe, violin

With PUBLIQuartet

Violin Woman, African Dreams

Music inspired by the environment and 

objects from The Colored Girls Museum, 

Philadelphia.

This concert is part of a series of 

performances by female violinists, 

showcasing the brilliance and stylistic 

versatility of the instrument.

February 2, 3:30 p.m.

General Information

Admission to the National Gallery of Art 

and all of its programs is free of charge, 

except as noted.

The use of cameras or recording 

equipment during the performance 

is not allowed.

Please be sure that all portable electronic 

devices are turned off.

—

Concerts are made possible in part 

through the generosity of donors to the 

National Gallery of Art through The Circle. 

Reserved seating is available in recognition 

of their support. Please contact the 

development office at (202) 842-6450 or 

circle@nga.gov for more information.

—

The department of music produced 

these program notes. Copyright © 2020 

Board of Trustees, National Gallery of Art, 

Washington

cover Colleen Browning, Union Mixer

(detail), 1975, National Gallery of Art, 

Washington, George C. Miller & Son 

(printer), New York, Lorillard Company 

(publisher), Corcoran Collection (Gift of 

Lorillard Tobacco Company), 2015.19.2586
NGA.GOV/MUSIC