CCMusic.com

Gelosia! (Jealousy!), Philippe Jaroussky's latest project with the instrumentalists of Artaserse, takes it's dramatic name from two solo cantatas receiving world premiere recordings. Programmed beside cantatas by Vivaldi, Handel and Alessandro Scarlatti, they are by the Neapolitan Nicola Porpora (1686-1768) and the Venetian Baldassare Galuppi (1706-1785). Though composed some 35 years apart, both cantatas set the same text, 'La Gelosia', written by the prolific Pietro Metastasio. "The cantata da camera or secular cantata, was an incredibly popular genre in the 18th century," explains Philippe Jaroussky. "Written for a solo singer, it often portrays a man or woman going through the torments of love and depicts the character's various states of mind... Cantatas of this kind served, I believe, as a kind of personal diary for composers. Being away from opera, with it's more academic demands, they could write as they wanted, completely free to express their feelings."