Piramo E Tisbe

I purchased a recording of one of Hasse's early operas (Cleofide) a few years ago, and was delighted by the harmonies and melodies, and the rich Baroque arias and orchestration. This recording became a favorite of mine, and I play excerpts from it nearly every day. I found it easy to believe why this composer was held in such high esteem by his contemporaries. When an opportunity came to purchase `Piramo e Tisbe' distributed by the same Capriccio label, I jumped at it. However, I was startled to discover that this opera does not sound `Baroque' at all! Gone are the da capo arias, the counter-tenors, and (gulp) the Baroque orchestration! I hurriedly read the liner notes to make sure this was the same Hasse who composed Cleofide... and discovered indeed it was. What had changed? One very important encounter had occurred between the composition of these two stage works: Hasse had met Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, and recognized immediately that this young upstart had created new opera sound. `Piramo e Tisbe', written in 1768 as a small private performance for a wealthy patroness, was the result of this recognition. Hasse changed his composition style easily and with great skill. The cast of this opera is small: two sopranos (Piramo, a trouser role for Bernarda Fink, and Tisbe, sung by Ann Monoyios) and a tenor (Wilfred Jochens), but the story is more contained and dramatic that the typical sketchy and thin plots of Baroque opera. The arias are longer, more dramatic, and require less vocal virtuosity than Hasse's earlier works, but are more emotionally genuine and intentional. The recitatives are accompanied by the orchestra rather than the harpsichord. The orchestration (including an overture and two ballet interludes) is Classical in style, and remind the listener of Mozart's `Die Entfuhrung aus dem Serail' or `Bastien und Bastienne.' Once I understood what had changed, I settled in to listen with greater intention and discovered a beautiful opera with lovely arias, a dramatic story of undying love. The singers are all marvelous, and Michael Schneider directs La Stagione with sensitivity and a firm grasp of Hasse's intent and new style. This recording is highly recommended, and leads one to hope that `Piramo e Tisbe' will become a standard of the modern operatic repertoire.

I hope that more music lovers track this recording down. It is a superb recording of this work. Barbara Schlick, singing the castrato role of Piramo, is in top form and she is one of my favourite singers of Baroque music. Alas, she doesn't seem to be recording anymore. Ann Monoyios is another fine singer of Baroque music and she sings the role of Tisbe here.
Wilfried Jochens I know well from is interpretations of a lot of 17th century German music - he did some magnificent stuff with Musica Fiata on their recording of Johann Hermann Schein's "Opella Nova II".

The work is a little more like Gluck than Handel and it is interesting to note that Michael Schneider and his La Stagione ensemble also made a very fine recording of Gluck's "Paride ed Elena". If you like "Piramo e Tisbe", you should make the Gluck your very next purchase.

Warmly recommended by me.

"Piramo e Tisbe" is an "intermezzo", a small-scale chamber opera composed for an intimate gathering of nobles. Intermezzi were usually "buffa" operatic short stories, but, as "Piramo" is based on the Greek myth with the sad ending, it's an "intermezzo tragico". It's not as interesting as "Cleofide" (the only other Hasse work I have), but perhaps the comparison is unfair, since "Cleofide" is a full-scale baroque opera seria. The big question here is just how influenced by the young Mozart Hasse was at this point (1768-9). Many have noted that "Piramo" sounds quite Mozartean, and there's little question that Hasse would have been generally familiar with the music of the sensational young prodigy, but whether Hasse had heard any of Mozart's very early operatic efforts is questionable. Hasse may have heard a performance of Mozart's "Bastien & Bastienne" in Vienna (Mozart himself heard a performance of Hasse's "Partenope" in Vienna at this time). For myself, "Piramo" is at the exact tipping point between Handel and Mozart: Hasse's Italian opera seria foundations are still visible here, but everywhere Mozart's rococo lightness breaks out in bloom. One might expect Hasse to be most influenced by the towering operatic figure of the time, Gluck, as the two were nearly exact contemporaries. Yet to my ears Hasse has none of the French tradition incorporated in Gluck, and this is confirmed by the astute English music critic Charles Burney, who heard Hasse in Vienna in the early 1770s: "Party runs high among poets, musicians, and their adherents at Vienna as elsewhere. Metastasio and Hasse may be said to be at the head of one of the principal sects, Calsabigi and Gluck of another." (Burney follows the standard practice of ranking librettists as more significant than composers).

Fortunately this performance of "Piramo e Tisbe" is more than a dusty history lesson. La Stagione under Michael Schneider turn in a fine authentic performance, but it's the soloists here who make this recording worth owning. Barbara Schlick as Piramo and Ann Monoyios as Tisbe are both fresh, athletic, and supple. I'm tempted to say buy this for Schlick's singing alone. A delightful experience all around.

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