Melani, A.: Complete Cantatas

This volume presents the complete extant works of Atto Melani (1626–1714), a seventeenth-century singer, composer, diplomat, and spy. All fifteen pieces are chamber cantatas, predominantly for soprano and basso continuo (composed ca. 1655–65). They are certainly the product of a fascinating life: Atto regularly crisscrossed Europe, captivating his many patrons--including Mattias de' Medici, Cardinal Jules Mazarin, Emporer Ferdinand III, Duke Carlo II of Mantua, and Pope Clement IX—as much with his castrato voice as his political acumen. Not surprisingly, perhaps, Atto's cantatas parallel the diversity of his lifestyle, ranging from short strophic songs to vast composite structures, virtual recitative soliloquies to successions of ariosi, amorous laments to satirical assaults on love. Although rooted in the style of Luigi Rossi's circle, the works frequently evince a surprising inventiveness, surely aimed at dazzling Atto's patrons. Indeed, his corpus of works offers an impressive and beautiful snapshot of the Italian cantata just after midcentury.