Tra la fiamme
Cantata for soprano with 2 recorders, oboe, violins 1 & 2, viola da gamba, and continuo
Program Notes by Martin Pearlman
The cantata Tra le fiamme (In the flames) dates from about 1708, during Handel's apprenticeship years in Italy. It was a time when he wrote over a hundred Italian cantatas. The cerebral text of this work, so characteristic of the Italian academies that Handel frequented, compares flights of the human spirit to the journey of Dedalus and Icarus, as well as to butterflies being drawn to the flame. It was written by the Cardinal Pamphili, a noted poet and humanist who provided Handel with a number of other librettos, as well.
The sonority of this work is unusual and beautiful. It is scored for solo soprano with recorders, oboes, viola da gamba, violins and continuo. Every aria has an obbligato part for the viola da gamba. That and the combination of recorders and gamba in the opening movement create a light and transparent texture for this cantata about flight. The opening movement is repeated at the end of the cantata.
Handel later returned to this cantata a number of times to borrow music from it for use in several of his Italian operas.
Boston Baroque Performances
Tra le fiamme
January 1, 1997
Sanders Theater, Cambridge, MA
Martin Pearlman, conductor
Soloists:
Sharon Baker, soprano
Laura Jeppesen, viola da gamba
January 1, 1993
Sanders Theater, Cambridge, MA
Martin Pearlman, conductor
December 31, 1992
Church of the Covenant, Boston, MA
Martin Pearlman, conductor
November 11, 1988
NEC’s Jordan Hall, Boston, MA
Martin Pearlman, conductor