Composer: Giovanni Filippo Maria Dreyer
Performer: Rossana Bertini, Eelena Cecchi Fedi, Le Tems Revient, Baroque Lumina
Conductor: Giacomo Bededetti, Giacomo Granchi
Format: FLAC (tracks)
Label: Brilliant Classics
Catalogue: 96405
Release: 2022
Size: 597 MB
Recovery: +3%
Scan: yes
Verbum caro a due soprani
01. I. Adagio
02. II. Allegro moderato
Domine ad adjuvandum a 4 con gloria a canto solo
03. I. Largo
04. II. Affettuoso
05. III. Sicut erat
06. IV. Allegro
Inno a 4 voci per San Filippo
07. I. O Dive
08. II. Andante
09. III. Allegro
10. IV. Beata trinitas
Salmi brevi à 4 voci con strumenti
11. I. Domine
12. II. Dixit
13. III. Confitebor
14. IV. Beatus
15. V. Laudate pueri
16. VI. Laetaus sum
17. VII. Nisi dominus
18. VIII. Lauda Jerusalem
19. IX. Laudate dominum
20. X. Credidi
21. XI. Magnificat
Known in his day as “il Tedeschino” (‘the little German fellow’) Giovanni Filippo Maria Dreyer was born in Florence in 1703, and made a name for himself as a castrato soprano in opera houses across Italy and farther north: he enjoyed senior posts at theatres in Wroclaw and Prague before joining the imperial theatre in Moscow. By 1737 he had returned to his home city, where he joined a religious order at the Church of SS Annunziata and became its maestro di capella.
The library of SS Annunziata preserves the collection of Salmi Brevi à 4 voci con Strumenti (Short Psalms for four voices with Instruments) composed in 1740 and in part presented here for the first time. The style emulates the popular Neapolitan school of the time, pre-eminently represented by Pergolesi and Alessandro Scarlatti. The harmonic writing is broad, clear and expressive, such as to be appreciated by the general public and not only by a small circle of specialists.
Also featured here the motet Verbum caro for two sopranos and continuo, and the more elaborate settings of Domine ad adjuvandum and Inno a 4 per San Filippo, both featuring arias interspersed with choral movements like a cantata. Like the Salmi Brevi, these pieces have never seen the light of day beyond the shelves of the library at SS Annunziata. Invited to research and perform them, the conductor Giacomo Benedetti has produced these stylish recordings with fellow Italian singers and instrumentalists schooled in historically informed performance practice, and the result is an attractive window onto music-making in the churches of Baroque Florence.