Dopo notte

There is no doubt that the 18th century was characterized by the vocal excellence of the great singing stars, both men and women, sopranos such as Bordoni and Cuzzoni and castrati such as Farinelli and Carestini. They were what you would nowadays call superstars: alter egos of "their" composers, with whom an almost symbiotic relationship often existed. In addition to their absolute virtuosity - the arias from the Baroque period deservedly rank among the most difficult in the opera repertoire - these sometimes almost mythical figures fascinated the public with their phenomenal cantabile art. They were often the unparalleled rulers of the European opera stage, the public worshipped them as gods, their fees drove many a house to ruin and their vocal artistry was so spectacular that even today, when their voices have long since passed away, their names are still mentioned with admiration: the great vocal virtuosos of the Baroque live on in the music that great composers wrote from their throats. Georg Friedrich Händel and Johann Adolph Hasse were two of these famous composers who were not least successful through their interaction with many famous singers. Hasse was one of the founders of pre-classicism and combined Neapolitan vocality with an orchestral density that undoubtedly reflects his German roots. The other German giant of opera seria was George Frideric Händel, because the composer spent most of his life in London and assumed English nationality. Like Hasse, Händel also went through the Hamburg Opera, where at the age of nineteen he wrote his first opera score, Almira (1705). The recording was made with one of the most important international Baroque orchestras, the Vienna Academy Orchestra under the direction of Jeremy Joseph.