It’s settled, then: the current mini-tour marks a turning point in Mr PJ’s career. “I’m going to sing arias that I love which I will then never sing again – like the famous ‘Scherza infida’. But that shouldn’t make anyone sad,” Mr PJ is quoted as saying. [x] We take note of the first, but obviously cannot easily commit to the second!
This circumstance makes the concerts at the TCE and at the Kursaal Donostia-San Sebastián “Last Chances to See” – and hear:
20th November 2021, Théâtre des Champs-Elysees, 20:00
22th November 2021, Palacio de Congresos y Auditorio Kursaal. 19:30
The concert’s program illustrates the rivalry between Farinelli and Carestini with selected works by Georg Friedrich Händel and Antonio Porpora.
Porpora:
Polifemo, overture
“Oh volesser gli Dei”…”Dolce freschi aurette” (Aci), Polifemo
“Dall’amor più sventurato” (Orfeo), Orfeo
Haendel:
Concerto grosso op. 3 n° 5
“Mi lusinga il dolce affetto” (Ruggiero), Alcina
“Agitato da fiere tempeste”(Oreste), Oreste
Ariodante, overture
“E vivo ancora” … “Scherza infida” (Ariodante), Ariodante
Concerto grosso op.6 n° 1
Porpora:
“Alto Giove” (Aci), Polifemo
“Alontanata agnella” (Achille), Ifigenia in Aulide
Le Concert de la Loge
Julien Chauvin, concertmaster
The end of one era, the dawn of another
Everyone who has ever been passionate about art knows the feeling of loss. I don’t mean the consumerist realization of having read all books by an author, or a disenchantment that sometimes comes with age when certain songs or movies don’t speak to us any more the way they used to back when we were young.
Enjoying art isn’t consumerist – it is participation; it takes a certain willingness to immerse oneself and sometimes a certain background to work ideally. On rare occasions, live concerts become holy moments where even heathens like the humble author of these lines experience a moment of transcendence. The music isn’t something we consume then, it becomes an organic extension of ourselves, only more refined and articulate, giving a voice to the facets of our soul that, for lack of words, too often have to remain silent.
Recordings will never be a replacement for witnessing the marvel of creation that comes with the realization that life is precious, fragile, and fleeting.
And for the record – a thank you
For Mr PJj, there might also be a sense of relief that comes with shedding the obligation to sing arias that accompanied, and in some aspects, founded a career.
We are looking forward to seeing many new labours of love being shared live and on record – all while we continue to also enjoy the many recordings of arias we won’t have the pleasure of listening to live any more.
We guess we also speak in the name of the composers Mr PJ’s grace was bestowed upon, like Händel and Porpora, when we say: Thank you.
~FR, Biri and David, with thanks to Chris
P. S.: We could not decide on one “Alto Giove”, so here are two:
“Alto Giove”
(Mighty Jove)
from Polifemo
Nicolo Antonio Porpora (music), Paolo Antonio Rolli (words)
(Aci)
Alto Giove
è tua grazia è tuo vanto
Il gran dono di vita immortale
Che il tuo Cenno sovrano mi fà
Ma il rendermi poi quella
Già sospirata tanto
Diva amorose e bella
è un dono senza uguale come la tua beltà
Mighty Jove,
by your grace and your merit,
your sovereign gesture bestows upon me
the gift of immortal life.
But to finally return to me the one
for whom I have already sighed so much,
lovely and beautiful goddess,
is a nonpareil gift, like your beauty.