Those Baroque Jesuits

Last updated on: April 22, 2015 at 2:15 pm by Joseph Susanka

Those Baroque Jesuits 2015-04-22T14:15:20-06:00 Joseph Susanka

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OK, so that title’s a) click-baity (because The Pope), and b) not accurate. It should say “Jesuit,” not “Jesuits.” Because I’m talking about one. Namely, Domenico Zipoli:

…an Italian Baroque composer who worked and died in Córdoba (Argentina). He became a Jesuit in order to work in the Reductions of Paraguay where his musical expertise contributed to develop the natural musical talents of the Guaranis. He is remembered as the most accomplished musician among Jesuit missionaries.

I stumbled across his name (and his Vespers of Saint Ignatius) during the Great Lenten Musical Journey of 2015/last month, and was interested/intrigued enough to head to the YouTubes in search of more. (Quite an unusual fellow, sounds like. Also, he wrote an opera about Saint Ignatius. And inspired an opera-ish thing himself.)

Let’s start off with this:

I hear a bit of Bach’s famous G-Air in there. And also the Adagio Not Written By Albinoni. (It’s also the orchestral piece that popped up the most readily and most frequently when I started YouTubin’ “Zipoli.”)

This long recording of a number of his keyboard sonatas being performed on a very strange-sounding piano was the next thing that came up. (Not the best selling-point, maybe. I like the music; I like nearly all Baroque keyboard works. The instrument itself is a bit hard for me to stomach, though. But there’s more, so stick around.)

https://youtu.be/Qm82PMSgauk

Here. This is also long, but not quite as strange-sounding. And the music is really fine, if a notch or two below the Transcendent Baroque Trio. (But then, who isn’t?)

https://youtu.be/F4qKj9faoVQ

This sprightly, brassy bit is even more to my liking. As is anything that has the words “suite” and “trumpet” in the title. Just make sure you stick with it ’til the 10:21 mark (or just jump there directly). Great stuff.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A106IdYdspE

And let’s finish off with a touch of the sacred Zipoli (which was doubtless the dearest to him, personally. And which sort of reminded me of Morricone’s work on The Mission. Probably because the Reductions/Guarani stuff’s in my head now. I doubt that particular musical association would’ve popped up on its own.)

Attribution(s): Cropped and Contrasty Version of Ad Meskens‘ “Carolus Borromeus,” which is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons.

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