{"id":729,"date":"2017-11-28T20:26:47","date_gmt":"2017-11-28T20:26:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/gcornish.digitalscholar.rochester.edu\/MHS123_Fall2017\/?p=729"},"modified":"2017-11-28T20:27:40","modified_gmt":"2017-11-28T20:27:40","slug":"bartolis-mission-a-modern-woman-and-baroque-music","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gcornish.digitalscholar.rochester.edu\/MHS123_Fall2017\/assignments\/music-video-review\/bartolis-mission-a-modern-woman-and-baroque-music\/","title":{"rendered":"Bartoli’s Mission: A Modern Woman and Baroque Music"},"content":{"rendered":"

Cecilia Bartoli\u2019s album, Mission<\/i><\/span><\/a>, released in 2012, profiles the works of Agostino Steffani,<\/span><\/a> a long forgotten baroque composer. This recording features some world premiere recordings of baroque fireworks by a woman who has referred to herself as, \u201cthe Indiana Jones of classical,<\/span><\/a>\u201d\u00a0 <\/span>in an interview with All Things Considered <\/i>host, Robert Siegel. In collaboration with EuroArts, a film was produced to follow this music and the life of the composer. This film acts as an extended music video, following a light plot but focusing mostly on the music and especially the period of the music. The opening aria, \u201cP\u00ecu non v\u2019ascondo\u201d from the opera Tassilone<\/i> employs vocal fireworks while being set in Versailles, promoting a staunch take on the status of baroque music. <\/span><\/p>\n

The film, Mission<\/em><\/a>, was co-produced by Id\u00e9ale Audience & ARTE France. The film opens following a priest-composer, a parallel to Steffani. Ms. Bartoli uses this imagery of the priest-composer as well on her album cover where she portrays the image of a bald man of the cloth holding a cross.
\n\"\"<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

The film is\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0set at the Palace of Versailles, a strange choice for a film of the works of a composer who was strongly based in Italy. Additionally, there are no overt connecti<\/span>ons between Steffani and France, much less Versailles; he died soon after the second phase of expansion. Setting Mission<\/i> in Versailles does not demonstrate an element of the composer\u2019s life, but rather portrays the elaborate nature of baroque chamber music. Just as the ornate,\u00a0<\/span>\"\"almost gaudy stylings of the Palace of Versailles, baroque music is equally ornate and come with\u00a0<\/span>a hefty price tag. Most chamber pieces were written by court composers; Steffani was the court composer in D\u00fcsseldorf, which is where <\/span>Tassilone<\/i> premiered. This also demonstrates the elite nature of baroque chamber music; it was written for the royal court. This feeling of an ornateness and social elite is evident within <\/span>Mission<\/i> through its setting and design elements, but also parallels Steffani\u2019s life through the inclusion of the priest-composer.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cP\u00ecu non v\u2019ascondo\u201d<\/a> comes from Steffani\u2019s opera,Tassilone<\/i>, a court opera following the life of the Bavarian prince, Tassilo III who opposed the Emperor Charlemagne. The aria translates to \u201cI no longer miss it\u201d and features flighty melismas. The original score calls for 2 oboes, bassoon, trumpet, strings, and basso continuo. Bartoli\u2019s recording adds some percussion in the form of a tambourine and a recorder that add an extra light-heartedness to the recording. Cecilia Bartoli\u2019s recording <\/a>and filming<\/a> of this aria mimics the bouncy nature of the piece through the cinematography and demeanor of the musicians. Bartoli captures the essence of a baroque royal in both her appearance in a silken green gown and her demeanor with proud smile and joyous, hopeful movement. The instrumentalists, I Barocchisti, mimic this demeanor as well, though they are not wearing courtly attire. The joyful nature of the piece is further cemented by the camera angles which mimic the movement of the piece in an almost dizzying effect. Midway through the aria, the camera switches from a pan to a pivot point movement which is very disconcerting to watch full screen but also captures the excitement of the musicians and the grandeur of the setting at the same time. Additionally, NPR argues<\/a> that the piece ends with a “vocal wink” which Ms. Bartoli physicalizes in the filming. The camera angles and setting further demonstrate the joy and grandeur of baroque music which drew Ms. Bartoli to the Steffani project initially.<\/span><\/p>\n

Mission <\/i>was covered extensively by NPR and other broadcasting outlets, lauding the virtuosity of Ms. Bartoli and the originality of the project<\/a>. The film similarly received very positive comments on YouTube shown by Mirtika Schultz\u2019s comment, \u201cThis woman makes my ears so happy. Glorious talents. She’s been a fave of mine for many years….she’s not so young anymore, but she still makes the air dance.\u201d For Mirtika, Bartoli\u2019s talents transcend the video and makes the environment move with the music. S\u00f3lveig Sigmarsd\u00f3ttir agrees, writing, \u201cCecilia proofs [sic] it once again, that\u00a0 <\/span>she is magnificence and inspire her fans with joyful and gorgeous performance. Bellissimo :).\u201d The only negative comment I found was from MandO Marc and applies to the uploading of the video rather than the video or Ms. Bartoli\u2019s performance, brilliantly penning the comment, \u201cThanks for putting video ads throughout the video so I can’t listen to songs uninterrupted. Reminds me of this time I took a shit in a mailbox.\u201d Cecilia Bartoli\u2019s performance and production of Mission <\/i>reflect the music and aesthetic of Steffani\u2019s time period through the setting, wardrobe, and cinematography.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Cecilia Bartoli\u2019s album, Mission, released in 2012, profiles the works of Agostino Steffani, a long forgotten baroque composer. This recording features some world premiere recordings of baroque fireworks by a woman who has referred to herself as, \u201cthe Indiana Jones of classical,\u201d\u00a0 in an interview with All Things Considered host, Robert Siegel. In collaboration with … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “Bartoli’s Mission: A Modern Woman and Baroque Music”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[351,348,352,350,349,347,353],"class_list":["post-729","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-music-video-review","tag-dizzy","tag-ifitsnotbaroque-n","tag-musicvideo","tag-recorder","tag-steffani","tag-tbtuesday","tag-versailles"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gcornish.digitalscholar.rochester.edu\/MHS123_Fall2017\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/729","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gcornish.digitalscholar.rochester.edu\/MHS123_Fall2017\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gcornish.digitalscholar.rochester.edu\/MHS123_Fall2017\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gcornish.digitalscholar.rochester.edu\/MHS123_Fall2017\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gcornish.digitalscholar.rochester.edu\/MHS123_Fall2017\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=729"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/gcornish.digitalscholar.rochester.edu\/MHS123_Fall2017\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/729\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":736,"href":"https:\/\/gcornish.digitalscholar.rochester.edu\/MHS123_Fall2017\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/729\/revisions\/736"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gcornish.digitalscholar.rochester.edu\/MHS123_Fall2017\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=729"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gcornish.digitalscholar.rochester.edu\/MHS123_Fall2017\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=729"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gcornish.digitalscholar.rochester.edu\/MHS123_Fall2017\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=729"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}