Francesca Caccini – O Viva Rosa
Shannon Mercer; Luc Beauséjour; Sylvain Bergeron; Amanda Keesmaat
Analekta AN 2 9966
Francesca Caccini, daughter of composer and Florentine Camerata member Giulio Caccini, enjoyed a brilliant career as a renowned performer and composer in the Medici court. Admired by Henry IV of France and Claudio Monteverdi, she was often referred to as “La Cecchina” (The Songbird). Caccini’s vocal compositions reflect her great artistry as a singer, incorporating impossibly long melismas and exquisite ornamentations that few mere mortals can manage. But suggest this repertoire, as harpsichordist Luc Beauséjour did, to a singer like Shannon Mercer and she will set to work and rise beautifully to the challenge. Not just technically, but emotively as well. For this music also requires an extremely sensitive interpretation of its delicate sensuality and oftentimes anguished vulnerability.
The repertoire is chosen from Caccini’s Il primo libro delle musiche (1618), and the were songs likely originally accompanied by theorbo alone. This recording features a fuller continuo, with Beauséjour (harpsichord), Sylvain Bergeron (lute, baroque guitar, theorbo) and Amanda Keesmaat (cello) who are featured in additional instrumental selections, some by father Giulio. While the liner notes provide an excellent historical survey of the composer, I was a little disappointed that the lyrics and their translation were not included, though there is a note that they are available on the Analekta website. That being said, this CD is an exquisitely executed offering of truly rare gems in the vocal repertoire.
