# Favorite Baroque vocal works that aren't by J.S. Bach



## Xisten267 (Sep 2, 2018)

I've been listening to a lot of Baroque music recently, and just yesterday discovered the very beautiful Vivaldi oratorio _Juditha Triumphans_, which impressed me. I want to discover more great music of the period, and would like to know which are your favorite vocal compositions of it as suggestions for me to try and listen to them. Because I already know a considerable amount of vocal music by J.S. Bach, and because I think that his vocal works are hors concours for that period anyway, I would like that the lists didn't include his compositions.

Rules: Make a list of at least ten Baroque vocal works that aren't by J.S. Bach and that are among your absolute favorites from the period. They can be operas, oratorios, masses, cantatas, madrigals etc., but must be for one or more voices. If possible, please tell me which are your favorite performances for the mentioned works and/or give a short explanation on what makes you like them so much.

Thanks!


----------



## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

I find Handel's _Dixit Dominus_ amazing. I believe it's an early work, pre-dating the oratorios we're familiar with. I'd have guessed it was by an Italian, it's so dramatic.


----------



## Jacck (Dec 24, 2017)

Zelenka - Requiem in C minor
Zelenka - Responsoria
Monteverdi - Vespers
Monteverdi - Orfeo
Gluck - Orfeo ed Euridice
Biber - Missa Bruxellensis
Buxtehude - Membra Jesu Nostri
Cavalli - La Calisto
Vivaldi - Stabat Mater
Pekiel - Missa a 14
Striggio - Mass for 40 & 60 voices (this is probably Renaissance)
Černohorský - Laudetur Jesus Christus


----------



## tdc (Jan 17, 2011)

The Handel, Monteverdi, Biber and Buxtehude suggestions above are also among my favorites, some others:

Lully - Benedictus
Vivaldi - Dixit Dominus RV 595
Charpentier - Te Deum
Monteverdi - Beatus vir
Monteverdi - Madrigals Book VIII
Monteverdi - L'Incoronazione di Poppea
Schütz - Weihnachtshistorie
Schütz - Schwanengesang
Schütz - Musikalische Exequien
Biber - Missa Salisburgensis


----------



## tdc (Jan 17, 2011)

In general Savall, Gardiner, Herreweghe and René Jacobs are 'go to' conductors in this type of repertoire.


----------



## Clairvoyance Enough (Jul 25, 2014)

tdc said:


> In general Savall, Gardiner, Herreweghe and *René Jacobs* are 'go to' conductors in this type of repertoire.


Indeed!






These aren't all Jacobs, but you should really peruse Handel's operas and oratorios. Be careful of slow, plodding performances that just completely suck out the romp and energy that is inherent in his music. The Baroque era seems especially prone to that for some reason.


----------



## Tchaikov6 (Mar 30, 2016)

Vivaldi Gloria.


----------



## Taggart (Feb 14, 2013)

Most of my favourites have already been mentioned.

Handel - Coronation Anthems


----------



## Ingélou (Feb 10, 2013)

I'm not a connoisseur when it comes to performances or versions - I take what I can get.

But here's a list of what I like and why I like it - just in the order that it occurs to me.

1. Vivaldi, Stabat Mater - The music is so elegant that at first it seems at odds with the subject matter. But then you realise that behind the elegant baroque style is an intensity, a concentration on the mother's suffering - with a trememdous change of emotional climate at the words 'Eia, mater' that gets me every time.

2. Lully, Cadmus et Hermione - we have a dvd of this, and extracts from it appear on YouTube - I discuss it in the group 'Baroque Exchange' - https://www.talkclassical.com/groups/baroque-exchange-d268-baroque-chat-2-may.html
I love the mixture of ballet and singing, and the situation and lyrics which seem to teach about life and love. The music draws me in - I find it beguiling.

3. Purcell, Dido and Aeneas - This is (in a sense) underdeveloped as it was written for a girls' school to perform and if I listen to it on cd, I find it pleasant. But if I see it in performance, and know that Dido is doomed, and can hear ironic echoes in the jaunty sailors' songs, and be cut to the heart by the poignancy of 'When I am laid in earth', I find it powerful.

4. Vivaldi, Gloria
5. Handel, Zadok the Priest etc

They just carry me away - the full glory of the sound lifts the spirit and seems to encapsulate all the beauteous possibilities of the cosmos (she said, portentously  ). But hey, it's true!

6. Monteverdi, Orfeo - I listened to it as part of my 'Love of the Baroque' project but can't find the posts. I remember I preferred John Eliot Gardiner to Savall - I found the dark staging and pared down costumes and acting very affecting. It made me think about death and loss. The music was haunting.

7. Handel, The Messiah - I've seen it twice now in Norwich Cathedral. The first time, it just blew me away. It probably helps heighten *my* response that I'm a Christian, but I'd have thought anybody of any religion or none could relate to the story of suffering and the search for meaning within it, to thoughts of death and whether fear or hope predominate. The music is beautiful. I love the Alleluia chorus, but it's the darker songs - He was despised - I know that my redeemer liveth (it *is* dark, with its talk of worms and corruption) that speak to my emotions.

8. Salga el Torillo Hosquillo - by Diego José de Salazar (1660 - 1709) - from the cd we own called 
Fire Burning in Snow by the Ex Cathedra Consort & Baroque Ensemble.
This presents Christ on Calvary as a young boy facing a bull (the devil) in the ring. It is dramatic, with changes of tempo and voices and cascades of sound. It raises gooseflesh.

9. Purcell, The Indian Queen - Christopher Hogwood & the Academy of Ancient Music - 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-j7t...0yvabzg4J_14_E
Excellent & expressive playing & singing. Great trumpet tunes too.

10. Barbara Strozzi, Cappella Mediterranea




Some of these are for single voice, but many are choral.
I find Strozzi's songs to be passionate and intense - yet with an eerie quality too.

:tiphat: Great thread.


----------



## Dorsetmike (Sep 26, 2018)

In addition to what's been posted above Purcell's settings of Te Deum and Jubilate, his Bell anthem and other anthems, Clare College choir have quite a few of them on You tube.
Pergolesi Stabat Mater, posted recently on Baroque on You tube thread along with some of the other works referred to in posts above.

I'm still searching.


----------



## larold (Jul 20, 2017)

Purcell *Music for Funeral of Queen Mary*

Handel *Israel In Egypt, Dixit Dominus, Julius Caesar*

Vivaldi *Dominae ad adjuvandum me*, *Stabat Mater*, *Dixit Dominus, Nisi Dominus*

Baldassare Galuppi *Laudate Pueri, Dominae ad adjuvandum me*

Pergolisi *Stabat Mater*

Michael Haydn *Salve Regina in G minor* may be too late to be considered Baroque


----------



## hammeredklavier (Feb 18, 2018)

Jacck said:


> Gluck - Orfeo ed Euridice


Wait, Gluck doesn't really count as a 'baroque composer', does he? Stylistically, he's closer to Style Galante.



larold said:


> Pergolisi *Stabat Mater*


The same goes for Pergolesi.

Anyway, here's an exquisite choral work by Antonio Lotti I want to share


----------



## Dorsetmike (Sep 26, 2018)

Pergolesi Stabat mater composed 1736.

Gluck born 1714, Orfeo composed 1762 so only just over the borderline.


----------



## Marinera (May 13, 2016)

Everything by Vivaldi sacred or secular. I am not very picky where Vivaldi's concerned.

Caldara wasn't mentioned yet. 


Caldara's oratorio Maddalena ai Piedi di Cristo. I love Rene Jacobs version. It's so good that I cannot see how it can be bettered. However, incidentally there's a new release of the oratorio on alpha label performed by Damien Guillon with Le Banquet Celeste. Performers interest me, but I haven't heard it yet, so cannot comment on performance.

There's another oratorio called Sedecia, I haven't heard it (I looked it up just now and can't find any recordings of it, so perhaps it's not even available on cd) , but there is famous aria 'Ahi! come quella un tempo citta di popol piena' from it. Several countertenors recorded it, and my favourite is Jurgen Banholzer with La Gioia Armonica. 

Another very similar and beautiful aria from another Caldara's oratorio 'Gioseffo che interpreta I sogni' titled 'Liberta cara I gradita' by the same performer and ensemble, same album. 
I believe Caldara's vocal music is really worth investigating.


----------



## hammeredklavier (Feb 18, 2018)

Dorsetmike said:


> Pergolesi Stabat mater composed 1736.
> 
> Gluck born 1714, Orfeo composed 1762 so only just over the borderline.


Stylistically though, Pergolesi's Stabat Mater is of the Rococo-styled branch of music that rebelled against the intricate style of the baroque. I guess it depends on how you see it, I think the classical period overlaps with the baroque period for much of the time in the beginning of the 18th century, as Bach was considered old-fashioned in his time.
Anyway, even JS Bach liked it so much he transcribed in his Parodie BWV 1083.


----------



## Ariasexta (Jul 3, 2010)

I really avoid to use favorite in describing any piece from the period, rather remarkable or outstanding. Let me use my term to recommend you 10 oeuvres as remarkable which I found quite recently.

1-Laetatus Sum and other cantatas by Johann Fasch (1688-1758), mainly I am refering to this CD






If you consider my opinion, buy this one. Pure joy.

2-Selva Morale by Monteverdi for the rest of the 8 pieces to be listed here. Mainly, I mean this CD








I know it would be a bomb if pour myself out here OK, these 2 CDs do form a piece from my mass-shocking would be bombshells. Buy it. However, Monteverdi again? sounds a bit routine, yes, but this CD will make you reconsider him. Buy the right CDs is quite important sometimes, not just the names of composers. I would only pour out after 10 years about what I could have said more today. I do not want patronize over peoples future listening experience. Just show the very basical means. Patience, respect, buy good CDs.


----------



## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

It seems that one of the more neglected Baroque masters, in relation to the size of his output, is Alessandro Scarlatti. I was pleasantly surprised by the oratorio intriguingly (or discouragingly) titled _La Santissima Trinita._

The text of this is even odder than its title suggests: a cast of characters named Faith, Theology, Faithlessness, Time, and Divine Love debate the meaning of that perpetual enigma, the Holy Trinity, for over an hour's worth of arias and recitatives, with Faith (who else?) winning the argument. Whether or not he really believed there was anything to argue about, Scarlatti gives no evidence of skepticism and comes up with more beautiful music than you'd imagine such a debate could inspire.

The recording I have is by Ensemble Europa Galante under Fabio Biondi, with a fine bunch of soloists. It's an invigorating performance that makes as effectively as I can imagine the case for theological disputation being a fun pastime. See if you agree:


----------



## Xisten267 (Sep 2, 2018)

Telemann, D. Scarlatti and Rameau weren't cited yet, anyone has favorite choices of baroque works by them? Or of others, of course?


----------



## StDior (May 28, 2015)

Bach, Johann Christop - Meine Freundin, du bist schön
Buxtehude - Membra Jesu Nostri
Caldara - Maddalena ai Piedi di Cristo
Cavalli - La Calisto
Handel - The Messiah
Monteverdi – 1610 Vespers
Monteverdi: Il ritorno d'Ulisse in patria
Monteverdi - L'Incoronazione di Poppea
Vivaldi - Juditha Triumphans
Vivaldi – La fida ninfa


----------



## SixFootScowl (Oct 17, 2011)

Woodduck said:


> It seems that one of the more neglected Baroque masters, in relation to the size of his output, is Alessandro Scarlatti. I was pleasantly surprised by the oratorio intriguingly (or discouragingly) titled _La Santissima Trinita._
> 
> The text of this is even odder than its title suggests: a cast of characters named Faith, Theology, Faithlessness, Time, and Divine Love debate the meaning of that perpetual enigma, the Holy Trinity, for over an hour's worth of arias and recitatives, with Faith (who else?) winning the argument. Whether or not he really believed there was anything to argue about, Scarlatti gives no evidence of skepticism and comes up with more beautiful music than you'd imagine such a debate could inspire.
> 
> The recording I have is by Ensemble Europa Galante under Fabio Biondi, with a fine bunch of soloists. It's an invigorating performance that makes as effectively as I can imagine the case for theological disputation being a fun pastime. See if you agree:


I have that one on CD. A fine piece of music!


----------



## Marinera (May 13, 2016)

Allerius said:


> Telemann, D. Scarlatti and Rameau weren't cited yet, anyone has favourite choices of baroque works by them? Or of others, of course?


I'm not very knowledgeable about Telemann cantatas, but I would recommend Nuria Rial's album









I like her voice and singing, sample some tracks to decide. She recordered several baroque albums.

There are very good new recordings of Lully's Alceste and Rameau Pygmalion on Aparte label. Rameau - Dardanus / dir. Marc Minkowski. Also, William Christie's directed Rameau's Les Indes Galantes.















From sacred music one of my top favourites are Rameau Grand motets. Favourite - Herreweghe's version. And there's excellent record on alpha Lalande's Grand Motets titled Majeste.















Other favourite French baroque sacred works and recordings: Charpentier - Lecons De Tenebres performed my Gerard Lesne.

And: Charpentier - Medee. With amazing Lorraine Hunt Lieberson


----------

