Little known 17th-century comic opera brought to life
Product of unique collaboration of three baroque groups
KITCHENER — Singer and recording artist Bud Roach is always looking for the new, the unexplored, the where the heck did that come from sort of musical score.
It seems he found it with 17thcentury composer Alessandro Scarlatti’s comic opera “Folly in Love” and in all the excitement, the Hamilton-based Roach invited along a few friends to perform and record the music in three concerts, starting Friday in Kitchener.
“People are hungry to hear something for the first time and it’s so artistically satisfying,” said Roach, an artist who has made a name for himself recording rare works under the Musica Omnia label.
After Nota Bene Baroque Players in Kitchener asked Roach to find little known music from an old composer for a collaborative work, he decided to rifle through the archives at McMaster University’s music collection, a treasure trove for musicians.
“I just saw it in McMaster archives, there were lots of composers around (during that period) and we should know more about them,” he said. “People don’t seem to do that, they don’t put the work and energy into bringing this music to life.”
The Italian-born Scarlatti was only 18 in 1679 when he wrote this story of love and mistaken identity. The opera came to the attention of the Pope who had banned having women on stage as well as any church’s employment of theatre musicians. He went so far as to have the musicians and Scarlatti arrested but an arts patron, the Swedish Queen Christina, came to his defence, informing the Pope he needed to back off.
The titillating backstory, the
good music, kept the opera in the public eye and it toured Italy for decades.
Roach’s group, Capella Intima as well as his pal Margaret Gay and her Gallery Players of Niagara along with Nota Bene are coproducers for the show so it will be one big happy family of musicians who happen to specialize in early music played on period instruments.
The soloists include soprano Sheila Dietrich, mezzo Vicki St. Pierre, baritone David Roth and Roach singing tenor as well as directing.
“It’s Scarlatti’s first opera and it’s never been recorded,” said Julie Baumgartel, violinist and a creative director with Nota Bene. “Bud wanted to pick something that has never been recorded before.”
With three musical groups collaborating on the project, they decided to perform the work on the home turf of all three, starting with Kitchener on Friday, followed by Hamilton on Saturday and St. Catharines Sunday. On Monday, the musicians converge on a Hamilton church where they will do the recording.
It will be a whirlwind of nonstop musical activity and Baumgartel said audiences will be exposed to a style of music they might not be familiar with when thinking of opera. There is certainly less vibrato (pulsating pitch) in the vocals, and the period instruments, either authentic or replicas, also give a sound that is different than modern orchestras.
Given the opera has never been recorded, Baumgartel said that her usual method of listening to recordings of music she is learning was not possible. All that the musicians had to go on was sheet music and Roach’s interpretation, which gave them a bit of artistic freedom, except for the lyrics, which had to be accurate.
Luckily there was a translation from the original Italian into English for the surtitles, which will be projected on a screen, but Roach wanted to ensure the text was correct which he did with the help of an Italian scholar friend.
“The translation met with his approval,” said Roach.
The entire project has taken months of planning and practising, applying for numerous grants while trying to bring this 340-year-old opera to life.
“It’s fast-paced,” said Roach. “Classic and classy.”