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Virtuosity and Charm Toronto
Koerner Hall
05/23/2025 - & May 24, 25*, 2025
Joseph Bologne de Saint-George: L’Amant anonyme: Overture & Aria “Enfin une foule importune” – Concerto for violin in D major, op. 3, no. 1: 2. Adagio (arranged for two violins)
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Il rè pastore, KV 208: Overture & Aria “Intendo amico rio” – Symphony no. 10 in G Major, KV 74: Allegro – Le nozze di Figaro, KV 492: Aria “Dove sono”
Joseph Haydn: Armida, Hob. XXVIII.12 : Aria “Barbaro! E ardisci ancora... Odio, furor”
Antonio Salieri: Semiramide: Aria “Sento l’amico speme” – Armida: Sinfonia
Christoph Willibald Gluck: Antigono: Aria “Berenice che fai... Perché se tanti” – Orfeo ed Euridice: Aria “Che farò senza Euridice”
Marianna Martines: Overture in C Major
Maria Antonia Walpurgis: Talestri, Regina delle Amazzoni: Overture & Aria “Da me ti dividi” (arranged for cello & orchestra)
Samuel Marino (countertenor)
Tafelmusik, Julia Wedman (conductor)
J. Wedman, S. Marino (© Dahlia Katz)
This concert promised to be a revelation. Venezuelan countertenor Samuel Marino, who’d already seduced Toronto two years earlier, returns with an eclectic selection of arias from the classical period. The concert alternated between orchestral pieces and operatic arias, not from the baroque era, as one would expect from a countertenor, but rather from the period of Sturm und Drang (late eighteenth century).
Some of the featured composers were familiar, such as Mozart, Haydn, Gluck and (to a lesser extent) Salieri, while others would have been unknown to the audience. Most interesting amid the unfamiliar was the work of Joseph Bologne (1745‑1799), or the Chevalier de Saint‑George. Known as Le Mozart noir, this biracial composer, born in Guadeloupe to a wealthy French plantation owner and an African slave, was the first composer of African descent to attain fame in Europe. He was multi‑talented, excelling in fencing, composition, conducting and most of all as a virtuoso violinist.
Three Bologne pieces were featured, including the overture and an aria from his only surviving opéra comique, L’Amant anonyme (1780). The aria “Enfin une foule importune” is performed when the young widow Léontine, being courted by an anonymous admirer, wonders about Valcour, who has always been a loyal platonic friend. At the end, Valcour turns out to be the anonymous letter writer and all ends happily with their wedding. The orchestral excerpt was a movement from a violin concerto, arranged for two violins, his preferred instrument.
Though it was exciting to hear an aria by this neglected composer, Marino’s French diction was wanting. Luckily, the original texts and their English translation were provided in the program. This enunciation issue, particularly noticeable in this French aria, thankfully did not plague the rest of the (Italian) arias.
Aminta’s aria, “Intendo amico rio”, from the early opera Il rè pastore (1775), was originally written for a castrato. Aminta is actually the male hero of the opera. The aria “L’amerò, sarò costante”, by his love interest, Elisa, usually a light lyric soprano, is the opera’s most famous. The brief aria, lasting a mere two minutes, is a delicate aria that Aminta sings to the river (rio) expressing his longing for his beloved. It was an odd choice for Marino, renowned for his coloratura, as it presents few technical challenges.
The most familiar aria was the Countess’s aria “Dove sono i bei momenti” from Le nozze di Figaro, one of the longer arias in this concert. Marino sang it with expressivity, invoking the neglected Countess’s melancholy. He conveyed the mood change in the final part of the aria “Ah! Si almen la mia costanza...”. Though technically proficient, Marino’s voice lacked the fruity quality and the colours needed to conjure the mature Countess. Nevertheless, it was quite touching.
Of the arias by other Mozart contemporaries, the most emotionally charged was “Che farò senza Euridice” from Gluck’s Orfeo ed Euridice (1762). Expressivity matters more than virtuosity in this aria, most often sung by mezzos and contraltos. It does not lie in the upper register, a sopranista’s biggest asset, yet Marino most likely chose it to show his ability to emote, which was successful, as proven by the audience’s generous applause. The other Gluck aria, “Berenice che fai... Perché se tanti”, from Antigono (1756), was virtuosic, and Marino impressed in the aria’s rapid finale.
Unfortunately, the music of two unfamiliar female composers Marianna Martines (1755‑1812) and Maria Antonia Walpurgis (1724‑1787) was purely orchestral. It was a tantalizing avant‑gout, especially the latter composer, who was a Bavarian princess who married the Elector of Saxony and was its Regent following her husband’s death. Her music showed the Italianate influence of composers who flourished in Dresden during the reign of Saxony’s dynasty over Poland after the extinction of its own dynasty.
In 1712, the House of Wettin of the very Lutheran Saxony converted to Catholicism to assume the reign of Poland. The newly Catholic royal family imported Italian architects (hence the magnificent architecture of Dresden) and composers, such as Ristori and Porpora. Even German and other non‑Italian composers at Dresden’s court, such as Hasse and Zelenka, adopted an Italian style. It would have been interesting to hear a virtuoso aria from Walpurgis’s opera Talestri, Regina delle Amazzoni (1760), but alas the aria featured was arranged for cello and orchestra. Cellist Kieran Campbell delighted as a soloist, but one yearned for a human voice, especially one as ravishing as Marino’s.
Tafelmusik made the most of the generous orchestral selections. The selections by Walpurgis and the Overture to Bologne’s L’Amant anonyme were the most successful. The splendid acoustics of the 1,135 capacity Koerner Hall (built in 2009) are ideal for chamber and baroque music.
Mozart is close to Marino’s heart, for the two encores he gave were his: Cherubino’s “Voi che sapete” from Le nozze di Figaro and Exsultate, jubilate. These were also the works that most suited Marino’s voice. Boyish charm characterized the former, and technical virtuosity the latter. To the audience’s delight, the exuberant sopranista brought his poodle on stage in Cherubino’s aria to add to the light‑hearted ambiance of the evening. Marino is a true showman, who not only relies on his beautifully unusual voice, but also his canny intuition, knowing exactly how to best communicate with and charm his audience. Bravo!
Ossama el Naggar
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