Handel - Partenope (Riccardo Minasi) [2015]

1. Ouverture: I. 	1:45
2. Ouverture: II. Allegro 	2:59
3. Ouverture: III. Presto 	1:30
4. Act 1: "Tu dell'eccelse mura" (Partenope) 	0:41
5. Act 1: "Viva, viva, Partenope viva" (Chorus) 	0:57
6. Act 1: "Miei fidi, arride il cielo" (Partenope) 	0:21
7. Act 1: "Arsace. Armindo" (Armindo, Arsace, Partenope, Rosmira) 	1:21
8. Act 1: "Regina, in folte schiere" (Ormonte, Arsace, Armindo, Partenope, Rosmira) 	0:44
9. Act 1: "L'amor ed il destin" (Partenope) 	3:10
10. Act 1: "O Eurimene ha l'idea di Rosmira" (Arsace) 	2:46
11. Act 1: "Cavalier, se gli dei" (Rosmira, Armindo) 	1:23
12. Act 1: "Se non ti sai spiegar" (Rosmira) 	3:55
13. Act 1: "Armindo ardisci e prova" (Armindo) 	0:19
14. Act 1: "Voglio dire al mio tesoro" (Armindo) 	5:38
15. Act 1: "Ah! ch'un volto fatal mi dà gran pena!" (Arsace, Rosmira) 	2:11
16. Act 1: "Un'altra volta ancor" (Rosmira) 	2:32
17. Act 1: "Rosmira, oh Dio, Rosmira" (Arsace) 	0:20
18. Act 1: "Sento amor con novi dardi" (Arsace) 	5:22
19. Act 1: "Stan pronti i miei guerrier" (Partenope, Ormonte) 	0:31
20. Act 1: "T'appresta forse Amore" (Ormonte) 	3:38
21. Act 1: "Signora" (Armindo, Partenope) 	1:36
22. Act 1: "Bramo restar, ma no" (Armindo) 	6:08
23. Act 1: "E di che reo son io?" (Arsace, Partenope) - "Per te moro" (Arsace, Partenope) 	0:48
24. Act 1: "E se giunge Eurimene?" (Partenope, Arsace, Rosmira) 	2:12
25. Act 1: "Sei mia gioia, sei mio bene" (Partenope) 	3:15
26. Act 1: "I novelli amor tuoi" (Rosmira, Arsace) 	0:32
27. Act 1: "Dimmi, pietoso Ciel" (Arsace) 	4:20
28. Act 1: "Ecco Emilio" (Ormonte, Emilio, Partenope, Armindo, Rosmira, Arsace) 	2:11
29. Act 1: "Anch'io pugnar saprò" (Emilio) 	3:13
30. Act 1: "Arsace, tu sarai" (Partenope, Armindo, Rosmira, Arsace, Ormonte) 	1:08
31. Act 1: "Io ti levo l'impero dell'armi" (Partenope) 	6:46
32. Act 1: "Lascia, deh, lascia, oh prence" (Arsace, Rosmira, Armindo) 	0:49
33. Act 1: "È figlio il mio timore" (Arsace) 	3:16
34. Act 1: "Prence, di te mi lagno" (Armindo, Rosmira) 	0:43
35. Act 1: "Io seguo sol fiero" (Rosmira) 	4:33
36. Act 2: Sinfonia 	0:32
37. Act 2: "Forti mie schiere" (Emilio) 	0:22
38. Act 2: Marche 	0:58
39. Act 2: "Ma le nemiche squadre" (Emilio, Partenope) 	0:26
40. Act 2: "Con valorosa mano" (Chorus, Emilio, Partenope, Tutti) 	0:54
41. Act 2: Sinfonia 	0:44
42. Act 2: "Soccorso" (Partenope, Armindo) 	0:15
43. Act 2: Sinfonia 	0:44
44. Act 2: "Renditi, oppure estinto" (Emilio, Arsace, Rosmira, Partenope, Ormonte) 	1:15
45. Act 2: "Vi circondi la gloria d'allori!" (Partenope, Arsace, Armindo, Rosmira, Ormonte) 	1:32
46. Act 2: "Contro un pudico amor" (Emilio) 	0:42
47. Act 2: "Barbaro fato, sì" (Emilio) 	4:22
48. Act 2: "Care mura" (Partenope) 	1:42
49. Act 2: "Emilio!" (Partenope, Emilio, Rosmira, Arsace, Ormonte, Armindo) 	2:28
50. Act 2: "Voglio amare insin ch'io moro" (Partenope) 	6:15
51. Act 2: "Ti bramo amico, e teco" (Arsace, Emilio, Armindo, Rosmira) 	0:24
52. Act 2: "E vuoi con dure tempre" (Arsace, Rosmira) 	3:05
53. Act 2: "Non può darsi in un petto" (Emilio, Armindo, Rosmira) 	1:43
54. Act 2: "Furie son dell'alma mia" (Rosmira) 	3:16
55. Act 2: "A pro di chi t'offese" (Partenope, Arsace) 	1:19
56. Act 2: "Poterti dir vorrei" (Arsace) 	3:02
57. Act 2: "Regina" (Armindo, Partenope) 	1:40
58. Act 2: "Non chiedo, oh luci vaghe" (Armindo) 	2:36
59. Act 2: "Più d'ogn'altro sarebbe" (Partenope) 	0:25
60. Act 2: "Qual farfalletta" (Partenope) 	6:30
61. Act 2: "Quanto godo, Eurimene" (Armindo, Rosmira) 	1:04
62. Act 2: "Rosmira mia, mio bene!" (Arsace, Rosmira) 	0:48
63. Act 2: "Furibondo spira il vento" (Arsace) 	4:04
64. Act 3: Sinfonia 	0:36
65. Act 3: "Regina, ti compiace" (Armindo, Partenope, Arsace, Emilio) 	0:46
66. Act 3: "Non è incauto il mio consiglio" (Armindo, Emilio, Arsace, Partenope) 	1:30
67. Act 3: "Partenope, Eurimene" (Rosmira, Partenope, Arsace, Armindo, Emilio) 	1:45
68. Act 3: "Arsace, oh dio, cosi" (Rosmira) 	0:55
69. Act 3: "Chi m'apre i lumi?" (Partenope, Emilio, Armindo) 	0:27
70. Act 3: "Spera e godi, oh mio tesoro" (Partenope) 	2:59
71. Act 3: "Prencipe, ardir!" (Emilio, Armindo, Rosmira, Arsace) 	1:05
72. Act 3: "La speme ti consoli" (Emilio) 	4:11
73. Act 3: "Rosmira, ove ti guida" (Arsace, Rosmira) 	1:38
74. Act 3: "Ch'io parta?" (Arsace) 	4:04
75. Act 3: "Oh dio, par che dal petto" (Rosmira) 	0:31
76. Act 3: "Quel volto mi piace" (Rosmira) 	2:48
77. Act 3: "Ormonte, ti destino" (Partenope, Ormonte, Armindo) 	1:04
78. Act 3: "Nobil core che ben ama" (Armindo) 	4:05
79. Act 3: "Non chiedo, oh miei tormenti" (Arsace) 	1:06
80. Act 3: "Ma quai note di mesti lamenti" (Arsace) 	2:48
81. Act 3: "Cieli, che miro!" (Rosmira) 	0:41
82. Act 3: "Ma Partenope vien" (Rosmira, Partenope, Arsace) 	1:31
83. Act 3: "Un cor infedele" (Partenope, Arsace, Rosmira) 	2:15
84. Act 3: "Passo di duolo in duolo" (Arsace) 	0:09
85. Act 3: "Fatto è Amor un dio d'inferno" (Arsace) 	2:58
86. Act 3: "Di bel desire avvampo" (Emilio, Armindo) 	0:31
87. Act 3: "La gloria in nobil alma" (Emilio) 	4:36
88. Act 3: Sinfonia 	0:32
89. Act 3: "Regina, in queste arene" (Ormonte, Partenope, Emilio, Rosmira, Armindo, Arsace) 	4:05
90. Act 3: "Sì, scherza, sì" (Partenope) 	4:01
91. Act 3: "Armindo sia mio sposo" (Partenope, Armindo, Arsace, Rosmira) 	0:33
92. Act 3: "D'Imeneo le belle tede" (Chorus) 	1:12
93. Act 3: "Regina, in queste arene" (Ormonte, Partenope, Emilio, Rosmira, Armindo, Arsace) 	4:09
94. Act 3: "Seguaci di Cupido" (Arsace) 	3:47
95. Act 3: "Tu vanne in libertate" (Partenope) 	0:19
96. Act 3: "D'Imeneo le belle tede" (Chorus) 	1:26

Karina Gauvin - Partenope  
Philippe Jaroussky - Arsace 
Emoke Barath - Armindo    
Teresa Iervolino    Rosmira 
John Mark Ainsley - Emilio 
Luca Tittoto - Ormonte      

Il Pomo d’Oro
Riccardo Minasi, conductor

Opera in three acts
Libretto by Silvio Stampiglia

Handel’s sparkling opera Partenope reunites Erato’ star countertenor Philippe Jaroussky and the captivating Canadian soprano Karina Gauvin, who both made such an impact in the Erato recording of Steffani’s rediscovered opera Niobe, released in early 2015 and welcomed as a “landmark event” by Gramophone.

Jaroussky’s Erato catalogue is rich, varied and extensive – and this summer he appeared as Ruggiero in Handel’s Alcina in a spectacular new production at the Aix-en-Provence Festival – but it is some time since he last recorded a complete Handel opera for the label: Faramondo, which was released in 2009. If Faramondo remains something of a rarity on the world’s stages, Partenope – which offers plenty of comedy as Queen Partenope juggles an array of suitors – is a popular work, and in recent years has even enjoyed productions in such large theatres as the San Francisco Opera and English National Opera.

Jaroussky takes the role of Arsace, Prince of Corinth, while Karina Gauvin is Queen Partenope herself. She has superb credentials as a Handelian and has recorded Ariodante (with Joyce DiDonato and the late Alan Curtis) and Giove in Argo (with Ann Hallenberg and Curtis) for Erato. Gramophone has spoken of her “ideal Handelian mix of grace and profound emotional truth,” while the Sunday Times has praised her “glinting soprano, bright-edged yet deliciously rounded and sensual … used with rare understanding for character” and the “sculptural beauty” of her phrasing.

The conductor is Riccardo Minasi, who, with his ensemble Il Pomo d’Oro, also appears on Joyce DiDonato’s bel canto collection, Stella di Napoli and Edgar Moreau’s new Erato album Giovincello. Praising conductor and orchestra for their command of Handel’s operatic style, Forum Opéra has written: “A real drama unfolds from the overture onwards … The conductor brings true brio as he engages with Handel’s rhetoric … The players of Il Pomo d’Oro can switch in a moment from the role of interlocutor to commentator … Add to this a perfect mastery of the way the recitatives lead into the arias, and you have the formula for an approach that remains constantly fresh.”

The rich-voiced Italian mezzo-soprano takes the role of Rosmira – Arsace’s former lover, who is disguised as a man, Prince Eurimene – while the diamantine Hungarian soprano Emőke Baráth takes the role of a real man, Prince Armindo, who is in love with Partenope. “Supremely stylish” were the words used by the Telegraph to describe John Mark Ainsley when he sang Emilio (yet another prince seeking Partenope’s hand) at English National Opera, and the distinguished Italian bass Luca Tittoto brings authority to the role of Partenope’s advisor Ormonte. --- mdt.co.uk

Partenope and Lotario were premiered in the same opera season to balance one another. Lotario is a very conventional Italian opera seria, while Partenope is one of Handel's unusual creations. It belongs to the category of Handel's operas known as the anti-heroic. It spoofs everything about opera seria and its conventions, and derives much of its entertainment value from sexual ambiguity, suggestiveness, and double meaning. Although not an opera buffa, it definitely displays a lighter vein than Handel's other operas, and its humor is witty and sophisticated. The opera opens with an elaborate tableaux, which celebrates the founding of the city of Naples by Queen Partenope. This opens the opera with visual spectacle, ceremony, and festive music, elements which the London audiences craved. There is a beautiful someil scene in the second act, in which the hero Arsace is found asleep by Rosmira. This scene is delicately accompanied with fine attention to coloristic effects; muted strings, theorbo lute, and basses in pizzicato and then pianissimo arco provide sleepy mood music. There is also a battle scene in which Partenope, at the head of her own troops, triumphs over one of her suitors. The climax of the opera is built up throughout the third act, in which the former lover of the lead castrato male is allowed to berate and embarrass him in front of the rest of the cast of characters. She is disguised as a man, and casts aspersions on his valor and worth as a hero. She even challenges him to a duel towards the end. At his request, all participants must fight bare-chested, stripped from the waist up, and so his beloved's ruse is uncovered at last. In keeping with the comic subject matter, Handel's music is lighter than in his heroic operas, the arias are shorter, and there are more vocal ensembles in the opera, including a brief quartet in act III. Quartets were very uncommon except in opere buffe, and almost never included in any of Handel's serious operas.

The original libretto to Partenope was by Stampiglia, and Handel most likely heard the setting by Caldara when he was in Italy. His score is based on Caldara's, which was performed at the Carnival in Venice in 1708. The Stampiglia libretto was part of the library of Handel's old collaborator Niccola Haym. Although it is unknown who the author was who adapted Stampiglia's version for the London stage, Haym is a likely suspect. The scenic constructions are flexible, and the length and style of the aria writing is similar to his. There are fewer strict arias, and there are elaborate stage directions, which point to the dramatic imagination of Haym.

The feminine heroine of the story is Queen Partenope, a complex woman, ruler, and lover. The lead male castrato is Arsace, an ardent lover of both Rosmira and Queen Partenope, and hopelessly confused by his infidelity to both of them. Made vulnerable by his failings, he is pursued and bullied by the woman he jilted, until in a comic turn-around, she is cornered at last. Queen Partenope on her part has three suitors as the opera opens, but by the middle, the disguised Rosmira has become a fourth. The comic situations arising from the endless deceptions keep the opera moving until its conclusion. Although an opera such as Partenope should have appealed to the tastes of a London audience in love with the ribaldry of The Beggar's Opera, it was a complete failure. The entire season was inglorious, and considered a disaster. --- Rita Laurance, Rovi

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