Ferdinando: La Passione di Gesú Cristo

Balestracci, Sergio, Coro La Stagione Armonica, Orchestra di Padova e del Veneto, soliści

CPO 777 698-2

During the eighteenth century and the early nineteenth century Pietro Metastasio’s oratorio texts were the ones most frequently employed for musical settings of the Passion. Renowned composers such as Jommelli, Holzbauer, Naumann, Salieri, and Paisiello set Metastasio’s texts, but on three occasions they turned to texts by Pietro Bagnoli (1764-1847). This month we are releasing the CD world premiere of Bagnoli’s La Passione di Gesù Cristo (1810) by Ferdinando Paër. Born in Parma, Paër numbered among the most important opera composers of his generation and was one of Europe’s most prominent and influential musical personalities. He demonstrated his extraordinary wealth of imagination already in his early vocal and instrumental works. Consequently, his oratorio concerning The Passion of Jesus Christ is filled with highly expressive moments. In 1791 Paër became the theater conductor in Venice. From 1802 to 1806 he was the conductor at the Moretti Opera House in Dresden, and from 1812 to 1827 he conducted the Italian Opera in Paris, where his pupils included Franz Liszt. He was admitted to the Académie des Beaux-Arts in 1831 and served as the director of the Royal Chapel in Paris beginning in 1832.

CD x 1

CPO

4/2/15

761203769827