Orazio Vecchi – L’Amfiparnaso (1594)

‘I Fagiolini turn a silk purse into one beaded in gold… A highly enjoyable production which celebrates the immediacy, relevance and enjoyment to be found in a 400-year old musical .’ Gramophone

1594 was a good year for music theatre: it saw the first opera (now lost) and also Vecchi’s classic commedia dell’arte work – L’Amfiparnaso. Through a virtuosic ensemble score, he brought alive these wonderful characters of late 16 th century Venice ; mean-hearted old Pantalone, the verbose bogus Doctor, the braggart and over-amorous Spanish Captain and the ever-hungry servants - the zanni. But alongside this slapstick, Vecchi writes bittersweet music for the lovers on a par with Gesualdo and Monteverdi’s finest polyphony.

The title – The twin peaks of Mount Parnassus – emphasizes this balance of comedy and beauty, a technique to become popular from Cavalli to Mozart and beyond. It made L’Amfiparnaso the classic of its time.

‘Both singing and acting rose to the occasion magnificently.
...sheer bad taste and panache ...’ Daily Telegraph

As always with commedia, the plot is a simple one of unhappy lovers, scheming old rogues and their cheeky servants. The action is mimed by half-masked actors, the music is sung in a mix of Tuscan Italian and Venetian and other dialects.

Each scene is introduced by a short comic spoken introduction – in your local language (so far we have versions in English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, German, Hungarian, Czech and Flemish).

‘one of the high points of Renaissance music theatre… absolutely nothing else like this on the market. …A triumph for I Fagiolini and Chandos and a benchmark for the DVD industry as a whole.’

International Record Review

5 singers 3 masks/mimes Lute & Harpsichord

Stage Directors - Peter Wilson. Toby Wilsher - mask coach

Music Director - Robert Hollingworth

For further information go ‘Recordings’ and click on ‘Further notes’