The Book
Published by theRod on Friday, January 11, 2008
I am the author of the book: Giacomo Antonio Perti Five-voice Motets for the assumprion of the Virgin Mary.
It was published in December 2007 by AR Editions, Middleton. The complete bibliography is:
Rodolfo Zitellini, Five-voice Motets for the Assumption of the Virgin Mary, Madison, A-R Editions, 2007 («Recent Researches in the Music of the Baroque Era», 147), ISBN 978-0-89579-613-4.
The publisher’s page is http://www.areditions.com/rr/rrb/b147.html, and you can find a preview on google books too.
About
In the book I publish the critical edition of three motets by Giacomo Antonio Perti, a bolognese composer of the eighteenth century. I can proudly state that this is the first modern edition of his music.
Bologna in the seventeenth / eighteenth century was quite an important musical centre. We had many important and influent musicians, and the city “exported” many of the best virtuosi all over Europe.
Unfortunately modern musicology tends to ignore anything than is not Bach related, and so much of the italian music from the 1600s and 1700s is completely unknown (well, this is not totally true since in recent years much research has been done, but we are just at the beginning). Yes, Vivaldi was not the only italian composer from the eighteenth century! And by the way, Perti even collaborated with him (or the other way round, Vivaldi rewrote pieces of a Perti’s opera).
So, why I think this music was worth publishing? Well, we are generally more accustomed to “complex” music of this period, Bach is a perfect example, while most of the italian music was “simple”: simple melodies, short pieces, avoiding too complex counterpoint, and so on (well, not always, but the situation is quite complex, let’s just say, it tends to be more “easy listening” than german music). The magical thing about this music it that is it simple, not simplistic. Generally what you find are beautifully crafted musical pieces, with beautiful melodies and just enough counterpoint. And Perti was surely a great master in this. It strikes me how much so (apparently) simple music can be beautiful and effective! And he was a great master of counterpoint too, writing magnificent fugues.
I think the music I selected for this book maybe represents him as it’s best. These works where written on commission for a Prince, Prince Ferdinando de’ Medici in the first ten years of the 1700s. In these works he puts the best of his mastery, combining counterpoint, opera-stile arias and monumental choral effects in an unique combination, combining elements typical of the Bolognese style with some unusual stravaganze (like the use of the cornett, and almost disused instrument at the time.