Fux: Il Fonte della Salute /Koike · Perillo · Monoyios · Voss · Chum · Bankl · Wiener Akademie · Haselböck

"Il Fonte della Salute" is something interestingly different from the norm of 18th C oratorios. Structurally, it's a conservative resuscitation of the 17th C 'oratorio at the altar' - remember that the word Oratorio derives from the Latin 'orare', meaning pray - developed by the Roman composers of the Counter Reformation as a response to the popularity of secular opera. But in another sense, Il Fonte is a surprising reincarnation of the Medieval liturgical drama, a musical dinosaur if you will, a ceremonial passion play with music of the High Baroque. Johann Joseph Fux wrote at least six such "sepulcher" dramas, all with different scripts, of which Il Fonte was the first, composed in 1716. The 'sepulcher' refers to a scene constructed in front of an altar in a church, in this case the imperial court chapel, where the 'acts' of the Passion and resurrection were played out dramatically and musically. Such Holy Week passion plays were effectively the only times when women could sing such operatic roles in a sacred setting. The whole tradition was not destined to survive the increasing influence of Protestant austerity, even in Vienna; Fux, a great innovator in symphonic orchestration, was also the last significant composer of 'sepulcher' dramas.The characters in this drama are not Biblical but rather allegorical figures: Grace, Pity, Justice, A Demon, and two Sinners, one Contrite and one Obstinate. Theology aside, the literary merits of the libretto are not such that would justify singing this composition, were it not for the splendid music. It's in Italian, by the way, the language of courtly preference in Vienna until after Fux's lifetime.Conductor Martin Haselböck and his Wiener Akademie are stringently committed to historically informed performance. In the case of Fux, a huge amount of historical information is in fact available from the Austrian court archives, including exact instrumentation and sometimes even the identities of the singers. The orchestra for Il Fonte is: 5 violins, 2 violas, 1 cello, 1 viola da gamba, 1 violone, 2 bassoons, 1 chalumeau, 1 trombone, and an organ. The bassoons are prominent, and very well played, and the chalumeau, an unreliable beast of a transitional instrument, is quite handsomely tootled by Peter Rabl.The singers are sopranos Kumiko Koike (Grace), Linda Perillo (Pity), Ursula Fiedler (Justice); male alto Henning Voss (Contrite Sinner), tenor Johannes Chum (Obstinate Sinner), and bass Wolfgang Bankl (Demon). Since 'we' are listening for musical values more than dramatic ones, I have only praise for all of them except Linda Perillo, who doesn't quite satisfy my snobbery about perfect tuning. But she is by no means weak enough to diminish my appreciation of this whole 2-CD performance.There are no other available recordings of Fux's oratorios, except one being offered at scalper's prices, also performed by Haselböck and Co. In fact, to my standards, there are only four worthy performances on CD of the vocal music of Fux, one of the major voices of the Baroque. Two are by Haselböck and two are conducted by Rene Clemencic. This is the third of them that I've reviewed in recent days.

Die Habsburger waren fromm und gingen unter anderem in der Karwoche brav in die Hofkapelle. Die jeweiligen Hofkomponisten hatten für die "pietas austriaca" (österreichische Spiritualität) die passende Musik zu liefern. 'Il Fonte della Salute' ist ein sogenanntes "Sepolcro", eine Art Passionsoratorium für den Karfreitag zur Grablegung Christi. Fux war sich seiner kaiserlichen Auftraggeber und des Anlasses bewusst und hat ein eindrucksvolles, theologisch tiefgründiges, spirituelles und musikalisch anspruchsvolles Werk geschaffen.Die vorliegende Einspielung ist ausgezeichnet: Gute Gesangsolisten, tadellose Instrumentalisten, gutes Dirigat ... Höchstes Lob!