Lelio Colista (1629-1680)
Sinfonia a tre en fa majeur, W-K26
Sinfonia a tre en la majeur, W-K22
Sinfonia a tre en do majeur, W-K14
Sinfonia a tre en mi mineur, W-K31
Sinfonia a tre en do majeur, W-K13
Sinfonia a tre en si bémol majeur, K-W28
Sinfonia a tre en sol majeur, W-K37
Sinfonia a tre en do majeur, W-K10
Sinfonia a tre en fa majeur, W-K25
Ballo a tre en sol mineur, W-K41

Ensemble Giardino di Delizie

Katarzyna Solecka, violon baroque
Valeria Brunelli, violoncelle baroque
Fabrizio Carta, archiluth, guitare baroque
Elisabetta Ferri, clavecin, orgue
Ewa Anna Augustynowicz, violon baroque, direction

Lelio Colista (1629-1680) : voilà un compositeur quasi inconnu. Celui que l’on surnommait en son temps « l’Orphée de la ville de Rome » ou encore « le bien-aimé Lelio » commença sa jeune carrière à la fois comme petit chanteur et danseur (ce qui est assez rare pour être noté), avant de devenir un virtuose du luth et du violon, puis l’écuyer du pape Alexandre VII (cela ne s’invente pas !) et enfin maître de chapelle de Santa Maria del Popolo. Il composa quelques cantates et des Sonate, Sinfonie et Balli (ballets). Les Sinfonie et le Ballo enregistrés ici sont des premières mondiales au disque : on y remarquera particulièrement la joyeuse Sinfonia en Do majeur, les Sinfonia en Mi mineur et en Sol majeur sur lesquelles l’archiluth peut greffer un « solo se piace » (c’est-à-dire improviser à volonté à partir de la basse écrite) et enfin l’entraînant Ballo en Sol mineur. L’Ensemble romain Giardino di Delizie, dont la directrice artistique est Ewa Anna Augustynowicz, a choisi comme lieu de prise de son de ce CD la belle église Saint François de Trévise, dont l’orgue fameux date de 1509 : dommage que celui-ci n’ait pas été utilisé dans le présent programme, probablement pour des raisons pratiques d’éloignement. (Jean-Paul Lécot)

Brilliant Classics presents another forgotten composer to add to its unrivalled library of Baroque rarities in modern, period-aware, world-premiere recordings. Who was Lelio Colista (1629-1680)? Known by his early 20s as ‘the Orpheus of Rome’, he began his musical education as a choirboy before soon becoming a performer at the papal Barberini court. He then made his name as a lutenist and a theorbo virtuoso, but his talents evidently extended beyond music. He became an equrry to the Pope at the age of 26 and Keeper of the Sistine Chapel paintings from 1660 until his death around two decades later. He toured Europe widely, earning the admiration of King Louis XIV, before returning to Rome and teaching the art of lute-playing to notable composers of the next generation such as Gaspar Sanz. Very little of Colista’s own music has been widely heard; a neglect which may be attributed to the composer’s reluctance to have it published during his lifetime. The manuscript for these nine three-part sinfonias is kept by the National Liibrary in Turin. They were performed on Christmas Eve 1664 at the Roman church of Santa Maria del Popolo and perhaps not since then, until this enterprising Polish-Italian group of period-instrument musicians has revived them for this recording. The sinfonias all follow a satisfying template, mostly opening with a grave slow movement, and reserving the practice of strict counterpoint for the penultimate movement before the upbeat finale. Only one of the nine is cast in a minor-key, but the recording is completed by another manuscript piece, the Ballo in G minor, which plays with Baroque expressions of mourning. Previous Brilliant Classics albums by the Ensemble Giardino di Delizie have won praise for their innovative programming and performances full of youthful verve and expression, including most recently ‘Gems of Polish Baroque’ (95955), also featuring several world-premiere recordings.