José de Nebra | Selected works 1728-1754

The labels used to classify artistic styles often mean very little, due to very rich and diverse worlds. A good example is the use of the word Baroque to define the music composed in the 17th and 18th century and the Spanish case is particularly revealing. At the beginning of the 18th century a musical tsunami was flooding Europe: the Italian style. Paradoxically it arrived in Madrid thanks to the ascent to the Spanish throne of the French House of Bourbon. Until 1701, Spanish music had been ruled by its own traditions, with particular harmonies, non-idiomatic instrumental writing, syllabic vocal writing and even with a special notation for its unique cross-rhythms: flamenco rhythms, we would say today. Some Italian cantatas kept at the National Library of Spain – serve as examples of the introduction of what North called “the fire and fury of the Italian style”. The arrival of Bourbons also meant the promotion of Durón to maestro de capilla and his titles reveal his obvious attempts to adapt to the new style; in 1726 he was accused of being Italianate by Father Feijoo: “This is the music of these times, the one the Italians have given us, thanks to their enthusiastic maestro Durón, who introduced foreign styles into the music of Spain... if Durón resuscitated, he would no longer recognize it; but we can always put the blame on him for all these innovations, for being the first one to leave the door open.“ Father Feijoo was probably horrified when hearing the operas and zarzuelas by José de Nebra in the years immediately following that quote. Nebra fully and masterfully adopted the fiery Italian style, with its recitativo secco full of daring modulations, its arie da capo, an idiomatic instrumental writing, demanding colorature in the vocal writing... Skillfully combining them with folk Spanish forms and rhythms, such as the fandango or the seguidilla, Nebra enjoyed a successful career in the effervescent world of theatrical music of the Madrid of the first half of the 18th century. He was, in the opinion of many, the best Spanish composer of his century. 00:00 1. Lamentación II de Viernes Santo 10:24 2. ¡Ay Amor!, opera Amor aumenta el valor 20:05 3. Naturaleza humana, cuyo llanto..., from El Diablo mudo 26:22 4. Auditui meo, from Miserere 30:47 5. Responsorio Beata viscera, from Stabat Matter 38:01 6. Adiós, prenda de mi amor, opera Amor aumenta el valor 47:21 7. Miserere mei Deus, from Miserere 53:16 8. Ay Venus bella (Adonis), from Venus y Adonis 56:35 9. Sólo el Amor Es Deida, zarzuela Viento es la dicha de Amor Lamentación II de Viernes Santo: As Vicemaestro of the Royal Chapel, in 1752-4 Nebra composed the lamentations for the Holy Thursday and the lamentations for the Holy Friday (chap 1). They are earliest Holy Week lamentations composed by Nebra and they are preserved in the Archive of the Royal Palace in Madrid. Amor aumenta el valor (Love Augments Valour) is a musical drama in three acts to an original libretto by José de Cañizares and combined work by musicians of the Spanish court – the José de Nebra who wrote Act 1 (chapters 2, 6), and Italians Falconi and G. Facco. This was first Nebra’s opera writing, premiered on Jan 18, 1728 at the palace of the Spanish ambassador in Lisbon. El Diablo mudo (The Devil’s World), an auto sacramental by Pedro Calderón de la Barca, religious works of an allegorical character represented, performed mainly in Spain and Portugal on the streets during Corpus Christi from 1647 to 1681. Nebra put in to the music in 1751 (chap 3). It represents dialog between Divine Nature and Human Nature. Miserere mei, Deus (Have mercy on me, O God) - chapters 4, 7. In 1751, Nebra was elevated to assistant chapelmaster in the Royal Chapel. He also became assistant director of the Colegio de niños cantores, the royal school for choir boys. It is during this time that his output as a composer of sacred music increased. Stabat Mater dolorosa (The sorrowful mother stood) - generations of composers have set this 13th-century hymn meditating on the suffering and in the same time celebrating the mystery of the Virgin Mary. With an aria (chap 5), Nebra put Stabat Mater in the music in 1753. Venus y Adonis (Venus and Adonis) melodrama, premiered in 1729. It was reconstructed from Nebra’s manuscripts, that collected dust in the Musical File of the Jesuit N. Otaño in the Sanctuary of Loyola for 290 years. The work is a mixture of more modern elements, related to the zarzuelas of Nebra that elevates his opera with the appearance of Adonis singing the aria Ay, Venus bella (chap 8), admirable in the voice of Eugenia Boix, soprano. Viento es la dicha de amor (Wind is the poetry of love) and its Coro (chap 9) with original text by Antonio de Zamora, is one of a group of more or less mythological, but undoubtedly fantastic and spectacular zarzuelas, premiered in Madrid on November 28, 1743. Cover: Basilica of Santa Maria, oldest active church in Alicante, Spain.