Search - Niccolo Jommelli, Frieder Bernius, Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra :: Jommelli: Il Vologeso

An excellent work, unjustifiably neglected

Bruce Bogin | rural France | 06/22/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Niccolo Jommelli is one of those composers who was famous during his lifetime but then was forgotten. Today we are so consumed by the music of Mozart and Haydn, the two great composers of the latter half of the 18th century that we forget or overlook the superb music of the many other fine composers. We tend to include in our repetoire the music of Gluck and CPE Bach, but we tend to pass up the music of Jommelli ( who was born that same year 1714) as well as Traetta, Piccinni, Michael Hayden, Cimarosa, Paisiello and Johann Christian Bach, thereby depriving ourselves of some outstanding music. I think it would be a mistake to judge Jommelli by a couple of intermezzi he wrote. They are light and frothy and in my opinion don't amount to much. But Jommelli wrote some very serious operas including the work reviewed here as well as Didone Abbandonata and Armida Abbandonata. In these operas you will be able to hear the transition occurring as the Baroque era phased into the Classical. The music of Vologeso is in my view on a level with the operas of Mozart and Haydn. The singers are first rate, particularly Mechthild Bach and Jorg Waschinski. The others are not as well-known perhaps but nonetheless are absolutely first rate, particularly Gabriele Rossmanith and Helene Schneiderman. I very strongly recommend this work and the other two Jommelli operas to all those who treasure Classical opera."