Led by UO professor Marc Vanscheeuwijck, the free concert features period instruments and includes a culturally informed performance of
Alessandro Stradella's 17th century oratorio, "San Giovanni Battista."
Nothing similar to Nigito's discussion of late-seventeenth-century music copyists has been published since Owen Jander's presentation of the Stradella copyists in 1969, in volume 4 of the Wellesley Edition Cantata Index Series (
Alessandro Stradella, 1644-1682 [Wellesley, MA: Wellesley College, 1969]).
Highlights include popular playwright John Godber 'in conversation', a visit from America's Ouachita Jazz Band, Hope Professor of musical performance Joanna MacGregor performing Beethoven piano sonatas, and a groundbreaking revival of the work of Italian composer
Alessandro Stradella.
"He has decided to sing the operatic aria Pieta, Signore or O Lord, Have Mercy by
Alessandro Stradella."
While his first two CDs were more focused, this new release offers an eclectic mix of popular French and Italian arias, with a few German (Der Rosenkavalier, Martha and
Alessandro Stradella) and a single Russian aria (Yevgeny Onegin) thrown in for good measure.
Alessandro Stradella (1639-1682) is one of the few Italian composers between the time of Palestrina and Rossini who was never forgotten, though for a reason that would hardly have pleased him: he was murdered.
Alessandro Stradella's oratorio, played on period instruments and conducted by Marc Vanscheeuwijck, associate professor of musicology, offers 17th century intrigue, seduction and death.
The double choir structure can be found in many of the concertos and sinfonias of
Alessandro Stradella (1642 [recte, 1639]-1682), who was probably a strong influence on the young Corelli.
McClary, a 2015 Trotter Visiting Professor, will talk about various musical works devoted to the story, including Richard Strauss' 1905 musical version of Oscar Wilde's play, "Salome," and even earlier,
Alessandro Stradella's 1675 oratorio, "San Giovanni Battista."
(One might, perhaps, examine works that seem "merely" conventional instead of the masterpieces McClary selects.) In any case, McClary tackles an impressive variety of music, from an aria by
Alessandro Stradella to a Bessie Smith blues song, and from a late Beethoven quartet to a rap by Public Enemy, and she has many interesting and insightful things to say.