2024 08 23 Summer Baroque Concert: With Guest Countertenor Liu Yi

Orlando furioso RV 728 is an opera in 3 acts composed by Vivaldi and was premiered in 1727. The story is based on Ludovico Ariosto’s (1474-1533) epic poem Orlando furioso. The great knight Orlando is crazily in love with the princess Angelica, who is regarded as the most beautiful woman in the world, but she does not love him and is in a romantic relationship with Medoro, an ordinary African soldier. Orlando is driven mad with jealousy and sings the aria Nel profondo cieco mondo. The aria is set in ABA form which is also known as da capo aria. The orchestra is either in unison with the vocal line or accompanying it in Vivaldian descending fifths sequences. The vocal line is composed with very technically demanding coloraturas, which symbolizes the madness of Orlando.

Lyrics
Nel profondo cieco mondo
si precipiti la sorte
già spietata a questo cor.
Vincerà l’amor più forte
con l’aita del valor.

Lyrics English Translation
Let us hurl
my adverse fate
into the deep, blind world.
Love is stronger, and shall win
with the help of courage.

歌詞中文翻譯

讓我們投擲
我的不幸命運
進入深邃而盲目的世界。
愛更堅強，必獲勝
在勇氣的幫助下。

2. Antonio Vivaldi (1678-1741)
Sinfonia in B minor “Al Santo Sepolcro”, RV 169

Adagio molto – Allegro ma poco

The Sinfonia “Al Santo Sepolcro” (to the Church of the Holy Sepulcher) RV 169, probably composed around 1730, is an unusual work in Vivaldi’s output.

Santo Sepolcro is a fourth-century church in the Christian Quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem. The church is considered containing both the site of Golgotha where Jesus was crucified, and the location of Jesus’ empty tomb, where he was buried and resurrected.

The two movement, a slow section and a fugue, seem as if they were intended to accompany some paraliturgical service between Maundy Thursday and Holy Saturday in the chapel at the Pieta, an orphanage in Venice. The music is characterised by musical gestures expressing grief, and their contrapuntal textures and rich chromatic intensity.

3. Antonio Vivaldi (1678-1741)

Gloria Patri from Nisi Dominus RV 608

Nisi Dominus, RV 608 is based on Psalm 127 (Vulgate 126), intended for Vespers.

This section uses a special string instrument, viola d’amore. The literal translation of “viola d’amore” would be “viol of love”. It was once a popular instrument in the 17th and 18th centuries. A typical viola d’amore has 12 to 14 strings in total. There are 6 or 7 playing strings, and each string is paired with a sympathetic string. The sympathetic strings are not played directly, instead they create resonances through the tones of the playing strings. The viola d’amore produces a very tender sound, and the resonances produced by the sympathetic strings enrich the overall colour.

Lyrics
Gloria Patri et Filio,
et Spiritui Sancto.

Lyrics English Translation
Glory be to the father, and to the son,
and to the holy spirit.

歌詞中文翻譯
榮耀歸於父親，歸於兒子，
和聖靈。

4. Alessandro Scarlatti (1660-1725)

Dormi, o fulmine di guerra from Giuditta, R.500.9

Alessandro Scarlatti (1660-1725) has composed two different versions of the oratorio La Giuditta. The more popular setting (Rome Giuditta) was composed in 1693, but this aria is taken from another setting (Cambridge Giuditta), which was composed in 1697 and its manuscript is kept in the music library of King’s College, Cambridge. Both of them are based on the Book of Judith from the Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Christian Old Testament. This aria is a lullaby sung by Nutrice, mother of Giuditta, intending to comfort the enemy General Holofernes, before his beheading by Giuditta.

Lyrics
Dormi,
O fulmine di guerra.
Scorda l’ire;
già provasti ch’a ferire
L’arco e il dardo d’un bel ciglio,
D’un bel guardo, han vigor che i forti atterra.

Lyrics English Translation
Sleep,
O lightning of war.
Forget your anger;
you have already proven that to strike
The bow and the arrow of a beautiful brow,
Of a beautiful look, have strength that knocks down the strong.

歌詞中文翻譯
睡吧，
噢，戰爭的雷霆。
忘記憤怒；
你已經嘗試過傷害
美麗睫毛的弓和箭，
看上去，他們有著足以擊倒強者的實力。

5. Johann Rosenmüller (1619-1684)
Sonata No.9 from Sonatae à 2, 3, 4 e 5 stromenti da arco et altri
(Sonatas for 2, 3, 4, and 5 instrument for bowed or other instruments) (1682)

Grave – Allegro – Adagio – Presto – Adagio – Largo – Adagio – Presto

Rosenmüller was a German composer, although he had most of his career in Italy. His music had high reputation in Germany and considered as an important figure in the transmission of Italian styles to the north.

Rosenmüller was first employed as a trombonist at San Marco, Venice. Later he established as a composer. Rosenmüller also held the post of composer at the Pietà, an orphanage in Venice, from 1678 until July 1682.

The collection contains 12 sonatas for 2 to 5 parts. These sonatas were probably intended for church use.

6. Giovanni Legrenzi (1626-1690)
Lumi, potete piangere from La divisione del mondo (1675)

The opera La divisione del mondo was composed by the Italian composer Giovanni Legrenzi (1626-1690). This 3-act opera was commissioned by the Marquis Guido Rangoni and was premiered in 1675. It tells the story of the division of the world after the Titan deities were defeated by the Olympian gods. Venus provides the central conflict of the opera through a series of moral temptations which lead all the other gods, except Saturn, into debauchery. The aria Lumi potete piangere is from act 3, where Venus laments on the rocks. Originally it was composed as a solo aria with basso continuo, but the Austrian theorbist and conductor Christina Pluhar has made a duet version out of it in the early 2000s. This arrangement has been very successful and frequently performed as an individual concert piece.

Lyrics
Lumi, potete piangere
non riderete più.
Il cor, che lieto fu
nel duol si sente a frangere.
Lumi, potete piangere.

Lyrics English Translation
Eyes, you can cry
You will never laugh again,
This heart that once was merry
Is breaking now with grief
Eyes, you can cry.

歌詞中文翻譯
眼睛，你可哭泣
你將永不能歡笑
這顆曾經歡樂的心
正在悲痛地破碎
眼睛，你可哭泣

7. Philipp Heinrich Erlebach (1657-1714)
Ouverture [Suite] No.6

Ouverture – Entrée – Gavotte – Menuet alternativement avec le Trio – La Plainte Lentement – Entrée – Chaconne

Erlebach was a German composer. He was one of the leading composers of his time in central Germany. After his death, the Rudolstadt court bought his collection of music from his widow; many were destroyed by fire in 1735. Among 120 or so instrumental works, only six suites, six trio sonatas and a march survived. The suite we are playing today was one of the surviving 6 suites.

The suites show the influence of French orchestral suites, for example the opening French overture, use of French terms & clefs. Erlebach succeeded in uniting foreign formal elements with German features, which can be seen above all in the distinctly folklike nature of some of the melodic material and which also produces sonorities reminiscent of those of vocal music.

8. Johann Adolf Hasse (1699 – 1783)
Mea tormenta, properate! from Sanctus Petrus et Sancta Maria Magdalena (1758)

Hasse was a German composer famous for his opera seria, a type of Italian opera of the 18th and 19th centuries on a heroic or tragic subject. “Mea tormenta, properate!” is an aria for Saint Peter in Sanctus Petrus et Sancta Maria Magdalena, an oratorio written for five singers and orchestra with Latin text. The aria depicts Saint Peter’s extreme inner turmoil at the sight of Christ on the cross. His pain is only calmed when he speaks directly to Jesus, hoping in vain for a final word from the Saviour.

Lyrics
Mea tormenta, properate!
Ubi sunt flagella et caedes?
Crucem quaero, crucem date
volo mori, o Deus, in te.
Jesu mi, si me vocasti
sancta facie tua serena
in tua cruce et in tua poena
Jesu care, voca me.

Lyrics English Translation
Hasten to me, my torments!
Where are the lashes and blows?
I seek the cross; bring me the cross!
I would die, o God, in You.
My Jesus, if once You called me
to your holy face serene,
to your cross and to your punishment
dear Jesus, call me now.

歌詞中文翻譯

快來吧，我的痛苦！
鞭打和擊打在哪裡？
我尋求那十字架；把那十字架帶給我！
神啊，我願意死在祢懷裡。
我的耶穌，如果你曾經呼喚過我
面對你神聖的面容，
到你的十字架和你的懲罰
親愛的耶穌，現在就呼喚我。

Guest Countertenor Liu Yi

Liu Yi is a Chinese countertenor based in Germany. Having graduated his Bachelor and Master degree in classical singing at the Xinghai Conservatory of Music in the classes of Prof. Shuyi Wang and Prof. Yan Yang, he is currently studying a second master degree in Early Music singing at the University of Music Trossingen, Germany in the class of Gundula Anders. During his studies he actively attended masterclasses with Dame Emma Kirkby, Antonio Giovannini, Ning Liang, Ao Li, Ma Xiao and Ping Gu, etc.

Liu Yi has obtained a number of prizes in both national and international singing competitions, including the First Class Award of the Hong Kong International Vocal Open Competition (2019), the Gold Award of the Macau International Art Open Competition (2019), the First Prize in category Baroque of the Bach International Music Competition (2022), the Second Prize of the Rocky Mountain Voice Competition (2022), First Prize with Excellence Nomination in category Baroque of the Vivaldi International Music Competition (2022), the Second Prize of the Chinese Vocal Peafowl Award (2022), the Absolute Platinum Medalist of the Canadian International Music Competition (2023) and the Gold Award of the Ordinary Chamber International Music Festival Hong Kong (2023).

Liu Yi is a chamber music partner with his enlightening teacher in Early Music Kelvin Tsui and performs frequently as a soloist with the Guangzhou Gamut Baroque Ensemble and the Guangzhou Baroque Orchestra (GBO). He has also performed as a soloist in Fauré’s Requiem at the World Choral Day 2020 and Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater under the baton of Prof. Victoria Vakulishyna. He also sang the role of Sorceress in the production of Purcell’s Opera Dido and Aeneas by the Xinghai Conservatory of Music. In 2021 he has premiered a number of vocal works by the Chinese composer Prof. Guangping Cao and also participated in the GBO’s production of Handel’s Messiah as the alto soloist. In 2023, he also performed the alto solo in Handel’s Johannes-Passion with the Institute of Performance Practice of the Trossingen University of Music. His performances have taken him to Germany, Italy, South Korea and many cities in China.

劉一，旅德假聲男高音，現就讀於德國國立特羅辛根音樂學院跟隨女高音歌唱家Gundula Anders學習早期聲樂演唱。研究生畢業於廣州星海音樂學院，先後師從於聲樂歌劇系旅德聲樂博士、女高音歌唱家王書毅教授、聲樂教育家、星海音樂學院歌劇中心主任楊岩教授。學習期間得到多位當代著名歌唱家的精心指導，其中包括：英國古樂代表人物Emma Kirkby、意大利假聲男高音歌唱家Antonio Giovannini、花腔女中音歌唱家梁寧、低男中音歌唱家李鰲、假聲男高音歌唱家肖瑪、男高音歌唱家顧平等…

曾獲（2019）香港國際音樂節美聲聲樂公開組一等獎、（2019）澳門國際藝術公開賽青年專業組金獎、（2022）巴赫國際音樂比賽巴洛克青年組一等獎、（2022）加拿大洛基山聲樂比賽大學生及專業音樂家組二等獎、（2022）維瓦爾第國際音樂比賽巴洛克青年組一等獎及卓越提名獎（全場最高分）、第八屆孔雀杯全國高等藝術院校聲樂展演音樂與藝術院校研究生美聲組銀孔雀杯、（2023）第三屆加拿大國際音樂比賽藝術家組別特等獎、第二屆平凡雅樂（香港）國際音樂節美聲唱法公開組金獎等獎項。

他與其古樂啟蒙老師、歷史鍵盤演奏家徐錦輝是室內樂夥伴、同時他還是佳慕巴洛克古樂團與廣州巴洛克樂團（GBO）的獨唱演員，曾受邀參加（2020）世界合唱日—IFCM國際合唱聯盟，並憑借法國作曲家G.Faure《安魂曲》獲得最佳solo獎、2020年參演由Victoria Vakulishyna教授指揮的佩格萊西清唱劇《聖母悼歌》，並擔任主唱，同年參演由星海音樂學院主辦的巴洛克歌劇《迪多與埃涅阿斯》，扮演Sorceress一角；2021年首演由著名作曲家曹光平教授專為假聲男高音而作的中國藝術歌曲《一剪梅·紅藕香殘玉簟秋》、清唱劇作品《飄色》、《花非花》等原創作品；並攜手廣州巴洛克樂團（GBO)上演亨德爾大型清唱劇《彌賽亞》，擔任獨唱；2023年受德國特羅辛根音樂學院古樂團邀請，參演亨德爾大型清唱劇《約翰福音》並擔任獨唱等；成功於北京、上海、廣州、濟南、成都、韶關等地舉辦多場巴洛克主題個人獨唱音樂會；攜手佳慕巴洛克古樂團上演多場《巴洛克時期教堂音樂福音分享會》，長期活躍在教會音樂的舞台上。