Gaspare Spontini

Arie da camera per voce media e pianoforte o arpa

Gaspare Spontini, composer and conductor, was celebrated for his operas in the late 1700s and early 1800s, although he also composed several pieces of vocal chamber music at the same time. The chamber repertoire was composed with the amateur performer in mind: the tessitura of his melodies falls mostly within the medium/high range and does not call for any special techniques. This does not, however, diminish the artistic value of hischamber music; indeed, it is a body of work of great interest and beauty. Each piece was written for a single voice accompanied by the piano or the harp - the two instruments most commonly found in salons of the time - and in a variety of forms:bagatelle, barcarole, chansonnette, romance, stances, stances élégiaques, élégie, strophes, Lied, romanze, ariette, melodici accenti, duetti and duetti notturni.
In addition to a selection of compositions for medium-range voices - proposed here in the original tonic key - this book also includes the most celebrated and significant of Spontini's compositions.