Antonio Caldara (c.1670-1736) Stabat Mater Missa Dolorosa In May 1716 Antonio Caldara left Rome and his post as Maestro di cappella to the Prince Francesco...
Antonio Caldara
(c.1670-1736)
Stabat Mater Missa
Dolorosa
In May 1716 Antonio Caldara left Rome and his post as Maestro di
cappella to the Prince Francesco Maria Ruspoli to become Vizekapellmeister
at the imperial court of Charles VI in Vienna. It was the climax of a
career that had seen Caldara move from his native Venice initially to the
Gonzaga court at Mantua and then on to Ruspoli's palazzo in Rome.
Caldara's first appointment, as Maestro to Ferdinando Carlo, Duke
of Mantua, in the summer of 1699 had followed a decade of freelance activity as
a composer and cellist - itself a period that emerged from his years of
training, some, allegedly, with Giovanni Legrenzi. Unfortunately, his
employment at Mantua was blighted by the wars of the Spanish Succession which
saw the court more often absent than resident in its home state, and it ended
unceremoniously during the Duke's final exile in Venice in 1707.
There followed an eventful eighteen months. Rome, Barcelona and Venice
all welcomed Caldara and his music before he took up his position with Ruspoli
in mid-1709. This offered a secure haven, politically, financially and
artistically; Caldara was absent only once. In 1711 a quest for an imperial
appointment ended in disappointment in Vienna and he returned to his tolerant
patron midway through 1712. Paradoxically, four years later, correspondence
secured the long-sought position when the death of the Kapellmeister Marc'Antonio
Ziani in January 1715 brought a reshuffling of personnel at the Viennese court.
Caldara honed his musical skills with each position. Opera and oratorio
were his main concerns in Venice, although his efforts in smaller forms gave
rise to two sets of trio sonatas, published in 1693 (Op. 1) and 1699
(Op. 3), and a volume of cantatas (Op. 2), also printed in 1699. Operas
dominated Caldara's Mantuan years, reflecting the pleasure-loving Duke's great
passion. A few surviving pieces of church music in ceremonial vein hint at
widening horizons. Ruspoli's demands, however, centred on, the conversazioni
held in his palace each Sunday morning throughout much of the year. These
gatherings of the Roman literati and secular and clerical dignitaries showcased
the talents of his musical ensemble and his maestro. The cantata was the
favoured medium and within seven years Caldara had produced some 200 works.
Yet these experiences, individually or together, could scarcely have
prepared Caldara for Vienna. An array of instrumental and vocal resources,
lavish and talented as befitted the pre-eminent musical establishment of
late-baroque Europe, awaited him, as did the challenge of an extremely onerous
and complex annual round of duties.
The court operated a remarkably full calendar and observed a strict
protocol. The liturgical seasons and feasts as well as the saints' days were
commemorated with music befitting their status. There were lengthy and
brilliant Missae solemnes for the high feasts, more slender Missae
mediocre for the lesser feast days and chaste da cappella settings
for Advent and Lent. New music usually marked the secular Galatage, the
birth - and namedays of members of the imperial house. An annual carnival opera
was required; four new oratorios graced each Lenten season. Caldara's record
tells its own story - 23 oratorios, 32 operas, numerous feste da camera and
serenatas, more than 100 Masses, scores of psalms, antiphons and offertoriae,
all written within twenty years.
The compositions on this recording belong to the Viennese court's
observance of Lent and Holy Week, although they do not all come from the same
year. The oratorio Gioseffo che interpreta i sogni ('Joseph
interprets the Dreams') was performed in the Hofkapelle in 1726; Sant'Elena
al Calvario ('St Helen at Calvary') in 1731. An opera or oratorio overture
(Introduzione) might well be recycled as a stand alone 'Sinfonia'
or 'Sonata'; modification of the original was another matter, however. Both our
'Sinfonias' have sprouted additions - and their authorship is in question. In Gioseffo
the new Minuet conclusion avoids the original slow-tempo close which had
led into the first vocal number of the oratorio; the concluding slow-fast pair
of movements attached to Sant'Elena converts the two-movement original
into a balanced, and more practical, four-movement cycle.
The Stabat Mater had its place as the Sequence at Compline on the
four Saturdays in Lent. On these occasions court protocol required extended
settings of the medieval text - an opportunity Caldara appears to have
welcomed. Just under half of the twenty verses are set individually; verses 2-4
are combined, as are verses 5-10 and 16-17, into larger units. In the resulting
twelve-movement structure the choral movements (I, IV, VI, VIII and XI/XII) act
as pillars linked by arching episodes for the soloists. These episodes are gorgeously
coloured whether by differing combinations of the voices, by varied
accompanying instruments or by diverse textures. The choral movements are more
severe. Instruments strictly double the vocal lines; textures, both homophonic
and imitative, are suffused with chromaticisms; note especially the tormented Fac
me tecum (VI), arguably the emotional climax of the work. Only in the
concluding movement (XII) does Caldara allow himself space for contrapuntal
writing. The double fugue is really a coda - the confident rising figure at Paradisi
gloria quells the despairing morietur which closed the previous
movement; its technical mastery and great length is a vision of the safe and
everlasting haven of the soul.
In 1727 Pope Benedict XIII instituted the feast of the Seven Sorrows of
the Virgin Mary (Festum Septem Dolorum Beatae Mariae Virginis) to
be celebrated on the Friday between Passion Sunday and Palm Sunday. On 5th
February 1735 Caldara completed a Missa a 4 Voci concertata con V.V.
[violini] adding 'Dolorosa' alongside the title. To all intents this was a
Mass written especially for the new feast day, and with Easter falling late in
1735 there was good time for the vocal and instrumental parts to be copied and
rehearsals begun.
This extended setting has all the hallmarks of Caldara's late sty1e. The
concluding fugues of the Gloria and Credo as well as the Kyrie
II (returning as the Dona nobis pacem) display his rich and
seemingly effortless counterpoint. His expressive melodic style permeates the
vocal writing and instrumental obbligatos in the duets (Christe eleison;
Gloria: Domine Fili - note the solo bassoon - and Quoniam; and Benedictus)
and the one solo movement (Gloria: 'Domine Deus'). His sense of
structure, more obvious in 'the ritornello-based closed forms of the solo and
duet numbers, is just as secure in those ongoing sections where phrase after
phrase of text is held together by recurrent motives in the accompaniment or by
a moto perpetuo instrumental line (Credo: Et resurrexit). From
the opening Kyrie his intermingling of solo ensemble with chorus has
emotional impact. But most masterly of all, perhaps, are his inspired harmonic
touches that illumine the Qui tollis (Gloria) and the Et
incarnatus and 'Crucifixus' (Credo).
Brian W. Pritchard
Antonio Caldara
(c.1670-1736)
Stabat Mater Missa
Dolorosa