Auditorio de Tenerife Chamber Music series presents Al cappone, by the Orquesta Barroca de Tenerife.

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In the three years since it was set up and as part of the Plan to Standardize Baroque music in the programmes of the islands, the Orquesta Barroca de Tenerife (OBdT), with its young musician and their historicist know-how, has given nineteen concerts supported by the Auditorio de Tenerife, the Cabildo de Tenerife and the Government of the Canary Islands. The OBdT first played at the Real Academia Canaria de Bellas Artes where they performed their programme Monteverdi. Legado operístico to pay homage to Claudio Monteverdi. The repertoire included works by F. Cavalli, T. Merula, B. Marini, B. Strozzi and G. Legrenzi, and was presented on the first Thursday of May 2017 at their main venue, the Sala de Cámara of Auditorio de Tenerife. That is why we’ve decided to start this new post-Covid phase, with a concert devoted to 18th century Baroque opera singing that features a very special guest, Filippo Mineccia, who will remind us, live and only on that night, the relaunching of dei castrasti into the world after the Italian-Belgian-French co-production Farinelli, directed by Gérard Corbiau in 1994, about the life and career of Italian opera singer Carlo Broschi (1705-1782), known as Farinelli, starring Stefano Dionisi and the, synthesized and mixed voices of Ewa Malas Godlewska and Derek Lee Ragin.

                The Baroque liking for strong sound contrasts, polychorality, stile concertante, improvisation and ornamentation of the OBdT is accompanied today by the perfect instrument, voice. A voice that emulates that of the castrati, an invention of the  Eastern Roman Empire for Constantinople’s Byzantine choirs from the 4th to the 13th century, which fell into disuse after the fourth Crusade and was revived in the Renaissance, reaching its peak  in opera nell'ottocento to then decline in the late 19^th century. It should be reminded that falsetto singing has always been part of human nature and its technique co-existed with the Eunuchs since the Middle Ages but the demands of the vocal parts  written by Baroque authors needed the power, sound pressure and, particularly, the extreme tension of tessitura of castrated male singers. We can still see it clearly in the operas by J. Haydn (1732-1809) where tenors used the falsetto technique in their roles.

                It was not until the wave of historicist reinterpretations, which began after the material reconstruction of Europe, devastated by the 2nd World War,  with the Aufführungspraxis und historische Instrumentenkunde movement, that a new approach emerged from the perspective of musicology applied to 18^th century opera singing, among many other matters.

                That is how falsetto was taken up again, returning to the change introduced by Manuel García (1805-1906) voice technique in his Tratado completo del arte del canto de los años 1840 y 1847, recognising the value of male passing notes, supported by countless reprintings of treatises, manuals, vocal scores dating from the time of these compositions including  G. F. Handel (1685-1759), A. Vivaldi (1678-1741) and A. Ariosti (1666 – 1729), that came to help perform them according to history. A reinterpretation to keep it alive and reunite the cultural history of Music and its fabulous musical forms.

                Mineccia is a beautiful example of the new Italian historicist singing school. Leaving everything intact, he sings just like some of his historical fellow countrymen might have done: Carestini (1705–1760); Caffarelli (1710–1783); Gizziello (1714–1761); Manzuoli (1720–1782); Guadagni (1725–1792) or Marchesi (1754–1829).

                The programme’s title  Al cappone, does not refer to the famous US gangster  senza doppia p, but to the sound world of the castrati  who sang the best roles of Baroque operas, a product of history, and especially tonight, thanks to the effort of the promoters, the tenacity of the OBdT, Mineccia’s refined technique and the will of the sponsors; but particularly, thanks to the maturity of the audience who allow us to continue recovering repertoires from the past, not just as a tribute to our forefathers but also as a demonstration of the capacity of our culture to survive the ups and downs of life and of cultural policies.

Conrado Álvarez, artistic director of the Orquesta Barroca de Tenerife