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Chiesa di Santa Caterina da Siena

Requiem in Mi bemolle maggiore – Niccolò Jommelli

Pietà de’ Turchini Choir directed by Davide Troìa

Talenti Vulcanici


The Soave Sia Il Vento Festival will open the celebrations of the great Maestro Niccolò Jommelli in the year of the third centenary of his birth, proposing one of the most heart breaking pages of the author, the Requiem, which will give occasion to the Pietà de’ Turchini Choir and its director Davide Troìa to exhibit to the public the results of the great commitment he has been carrying out for two years. The solo parts will be performed by Giacinta Nicotra, soprano, Leopoldo Punziano, tenor, Daniela My, contralto, Martin Briody, bass. The instrumental ensemble with Emanuele Cardi as organist will be formed by some of the young instrumentalists of the Talenti Vulcanici Ensemble, founded by the Foundation through a training project in 2011: Ingrid Neyza Copa De Finot and Enrico Gramigna (violins), Filippo Bergo (viola), Nazarena Ottaiano (cello).


PROGRAMME

Niccolò Jommelli

(Antwerp, 1714 – Naples, 1774)

from Sieben kleine KirchenKompositionen for choir and continuo

  • Haec est domus domini
  • Diffusa est gratia
  • Locus iste

REQUIEM in Eb major for solos, choir, strings and continuo

  1. Requiem (choir and solos)
  2. Kyrie (choir) – Christe (solos and choir) – Kyrie (choir)
  3. Dies irae (choir and solos)
  4. Salva me (solos and choir)
  5. Oro supplex (solos and choir)
  6. Pie Jesu (choir)
  7. Domine Jesu (choir) – Libera eas (choir) – Quam olim Abrahae (solos)
  8. Hostias (solos and choir)
  9. Sanctus (solos and choir)
  10. Hosanna (choir)
  11. Benedictus (solo Soprano )
  12. Agnus Dei (choir and solos)
  13. Dona eis requiem (solos and choir)

Lux aeterna (choir) – Requiem aeternam (choir and solos)


On the 300th anniversary of Niccolò Jommelli’s birth, the Pietà de’ Turchini youth ensamble and the Choir of the Early Music Centre of Naples, directed by Davide Troìa, pay homage to the Aversano composer with the performance of the famous Requiem and other pieces of sacred choral music by the same feather, such as Haec est Domus Domini, four-part antiphon in C major (Rome, 1750); Diffusa est gratia, gradual for four concertante voices in G major (Rome, 1751) and Locus iste, gradual for five voices in C major (Rome, 1752).

The Requiem (Missa pro defunctis) in Eb Major was written by Jommelli for the death of Maria Augusta Anna of Thurn und Taxis on February 1, 1756. She became Duchess of Württemberg after her marriage to Carlo Alexander of Württemberg (1727). Maria Augusta was the mother of Duke Carlo Eugenio di Württemberg who in 1751 had allowed the performances of Ezio and Didone by Jommelli in the Stuttgart theater. During those years the relations of patronage between the duke and the composer became quite frequent: Jommelli wrote the pasticcio Fetonte in 1753 to pay homage to the duke’s birthday.

The latter, after a trip to Rome, accepted Cardinal Albani’s recommendation to hire the Anversan as director of the Stuttgart Theater, electing him as Oberkapellmeister of the Stuttgart court, not without having first commissioned an opera from him (La clemenza di Tito). It was during this period of excellent relationship with the duke, before a series of misunderstandings that led him to break off the connection with the court and return to Italy, that the Requiem was composed. The compositional act most likely took place in a very short time, at least if we believe what is reported in a manuscript copy “per uso del Real Cons[ervato]rio di S. M[ari]a della Pietà de’ Torchini”, dated 1781 and kept in the library of the Naples conservatory (I-Nc Mus. Relig. 981/1). The manuscript reports: “Missa pro defunctis written in 3 days in 1766 for the death of the mother of the Duke of Wittembergh 1766”.

Among the most fortunate pages of Jommelli – as demonstrated by both the recent discography and the numerous handwritten copies of the score, sometimes altered and implemented in the body and in the movements – the Requiem appears to be a musical synthesis between the Neapolitan and German musical taste, imposed also by the client, in a perfect balance between tradition and innovation of personal style.

Giacomo Sances


The Pietà de’ Turchini Choir

Born in 2012 from the “liberi di cantare” project for the enhancement of the Church of San Rocco in Chiaia, the choir gathers 40 members and is entrusted to the direction of Davide Troìa. The repertoire explored is very vast: sacred, profane and popular, a cappella and with instruments, from the Renaissance to the Contemporary. Participation in the Choir is open to all and takes place through periodic auditions, its main objective is to approach music and concert activity in a joyful way. In two years of activity, the Choir, has already completed several projects and performed concerts for the season of the Early Music Centre and for other festivals in Campania.


Davide Troìa, graduated in Choral Music and Choral Direction with C. Pagliuca, Composition with A. Di Martino and G. Panariello, Instrumentation for Band, Piano with A. Di Donna and Singing with V. Profeta. He attended the two-year specialization course in Choir Conducting with Norbert Balasch at the National Academy of S. Cecilia in Rome; the course of Choir Conducting, Choral Practice and Early Vocality “R. Goitre ”with G. Acciai and Stephen Woodbury; courses on contemporary choral music with B. Zanolini, G. Hollerung, G. Graden. He has attended numerous early music seminars with C. Cavina, G. Banditelli, C. Ansermet, R. Invernizzi, A. Florio, and at the Civic School of Music in Milan with R. Gini and C. Miatello.

He is the founder and director, since 1990, of the “Exsultate Deo” Polyphonic Choir, at the helm of which he has won prizes in national and international competitions, including the 1st absolute prize at the 4th Edition of the National Competition for Polyphonic Choirs “Mutterle Prize ’98” Of Battipaglia (SA); 2nd prize at the 8th Edition of TIM ( International Music Tournament 1998-99); 2nd prize (1st prize not awarded) at the 2nd Edition of the “San Bartolomeo” 2002 National Competition in Benevento. He has participated in numerous festivals, including: 6th Aprutina polyphonic festival (Teramo 1999); Ascoli Piceno-Festival (1999); “Santa Cecilia” 6th Dauna Festival  (Foggia 2000); 1st Season of Choral Music the Pietà de’ Turchini Centre for Early Music (Naples 2000); 9th National Festival of Serino Polyphonic Choirs – Av (2003); Festival “Grande musica in Chiesa” (Rome 2004); A. Scarlatti Association of Naples (Voci nel chiostro 1st, 3rd, 5th edition); 13th International Festival “Città di Campobasso” (2004); 9th musical season “Itinerari vocali” (Montevarchi-Arezzo 2005); 4th “Polyphonia” Choral Festival (Pesaro-Urbino 2005); “TuttInCoro” Auditorium D. Scarlatti of RAI (Naples 2006/2007); 13th International Polyphonic Festival “Città di Atri” (Teramo 2006); 9th Edition “Concerti d’Avvento” (Latina 2008); Festival of folk songs “Tanto per cantare” (Rome 1999 and 2009); International Festival of Musical Chapels (Loreto 2000 and 2009); Vocalizzo italiano (Aquileia-Udine 2010); 3rd Centenario Pergolesi (Jesi-Ancona 2010).

Since September 2013 he has been leading the Pietà de’ Turchini Choir, founded to enhance the Church of San Rocco alla Riviera di Chiaia, entrusted to the Pietà de’ Turchini Foundation in the Jubilee year. The vocal ensemble performed for the Foundation in Afragola in 2013, and has carried out some musical projects, dedicated to the early and contemporary repertoire for the music festival promoted by the Re.Crea Association (Creative Residence) which finds its realization in San Rocco. San Rocco together with the Church of Santa Caterina da Siena is the headquarters of the Pietà de’ Turchini Foundation.

Davide Troìa combines his activity as conductor with that of countertenor, carrying out solo and in group activities.

He has made numerous elaborations for choir and held the role of juror in Choral Composition competitions.

He is professor of Choir Direction and Choral Composition at the “L. Canepa” Conservatory of Sassari.


Emanuele Cardi was born in Naples in 1973. He graduated with honors in Organ and Organ Composition after four years of studying with Wijnand van de Pol at the F. Morlacchi Conservatory of Perugia where he also obtained, with honors, the Academic Diploma of 2nd level. Later he graduated in Choral Music and Conducting Choir, Piano and Harpsichord.

Interested in the difficulties of restoration of ancient organs and performance practice, he has been running specific studies on Neapolitan music and organ-making for several years. He writes articles for specialized magazines on several occasions, participates in conferences as a speaker and carries out consultancy work in the field of the recovery of historical organs and the creation of new instruments. He also holds summer courses and masterclasses on Renaissance and Baroque organ music, and is often a member of the jury in international organ competitions.

Guest of some of the most prestigious musical institutions in the world, he carries out an intense concert activity in Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France Germany, England Ireland, Norway, Holland, Poland, Czech Republic, Sweden, Switzerland, Spain, Hungary, Russia, United States, Brazil and Uruguay, playing some of the best known instruments including those of St. Thomas in New York, San Francisco (USA), Passau cathedrals, Friborg, Fulda, Munich, Bonn (Germany) Lausanne (Switzerland) London, Edinburgh, Brussels, Copenhagen, Turku (Finland), Lund (Sweden), Oliwa (Poland) and Moscow. Guest lecturer at the University of Kansas (USA) and at the Moscow and St. Petersburg conservatories, he has played in the main Russian concert institutions including the St. Petersburg, Ufa, Kazan, Ekaterinburg, Perm, Krasnoyarsk, Tomsk, Kemerovo philharmonics , up to Irkutsk. He has also played numerous inaugural concerts, including that of the great organ of the Clonard Monastery in Belfast and of the First Unitarian Church in Worcester (MA) in the United States. He collaborated in the founding of the youth ensemble of the Pietà de’ Turchini – Talenti Vulcanici – which he conducted on several occasions. He is professor of Organ and Organ Composition at the “S. Giacomantonio” Conservatory in Cosenza. He regularly records for the record companies “La Bottega Discantica” (Milan), ” Priory Records” (London) and “Brilliant Classics” (Holland) whose recent recording, Neapolitan Organ Music, was awarded 5 stars by the “Music” magazine.

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