Giovanni Battista Casali: Sacred Music from Eighteenth-Century Rome
The history of music-making in Rome tends to focus on Renaissance polyphony, with an occasional nod to the Baroque thereafter. But thanks to composers like Giovanni Battista Casali (1715–92), choral music continued to flourish in Roman churches and other religious establishments in the eighteenth century, too, until Napoleon’s occupation broke many of its traditions. Casali’s music, though, is as good as unknown, and this pioneering recording reveals a composer at home in the galant style – with a surprising fondness for the occasional dissonance.
Costanzi Consort
Peter Leech, director
Listen To This Recording:
- Confitebor tibi, Domine (2:02)
- Comedetis carnes (2:54)
- Adiuva nos, Deus (2:18)
- Improperium expectavit* (2:34)
- Tantum ergo (3:38)
- Christum regem adoremus (2:37)
- Ad te levavi (2:38)
- Ave Maria a4 (3:38)
- Exaltabo te (2:50)
- Hodie nobis de caelo (2:23)
- Quem vidistis pastores (2:36)
- Constitues eos (2:13)
- Ave Maria a8 (4:05)
- Justus ut palma (2:45)
- Scapulis suis (3:32)
- Caro mea, vere est cibus (3:18)
- Haec dies (2:39)
- Memoria fecit (Confitebor in D)(2:22)
- Gloria Patri (Confitebor in D) (3:26)
All Except * First Recordings
University of Virginia :
‘One of the characteristics of Casali is his clarity. The text is sung in four-part harmony. There’s a lot of homophonic singing, with clear enunciation of the text.
The internal lines are easy to make out. In fact, most of these selections have a clean, transparent ensemble blend. Counterpoint is present, but the interwoven melodies sound clear and easy to follow.
Casali was also an opera composer. To me, his sacred choral music bears a strong resemblance to opera choruses of the day. And that’s not a bad thing.
The Constanzi Consort is directed by Peter Leach. The soloists are very good and sing in a straightforward manner. A welcome addition to our collective knowledge of the Classical Era.’
—University of Virginia