{"id":6693,"date":"2026-10-27T14:06:17","date_gmt":"2026-10-27T14:06:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/accademiaclub.com\/album\/muera-cupido-2\/"},"modified":"2026-10-27T14:06:17","modified_gmt":"2026-10-27T14:06:17","slug":"muera-cupido","status":"publish","type":"album","link":"https:\/\/accademiaclub.com\/en\/album\/muera-cupido\/","title":{"rendered":"Muera Cupido"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Muera Cupido<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The labels we use to classify artistic styles often conceal worlds so rich and diverse that they sometimes mean very little. A good example is the use of the word \u201cBaroque\u201d for music composed in the 17th and 18th centuries, and the Spanish case is particularly revealing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Paradoxically, it was the accession to the throne of the French Bourbon family that brought to Madrid, in 1701, the tidal wave then sweeping across musical Europe: the Italian style. Until then Spanish music had been governed by its own traditions and rules, with characteristic harmonies, instrumental writing that was at times not very idiomatic, highly syllabic vocal writing and even a special notation for its singular rhythms somewhere between duple and triple \u2013 very flamenco rhythms, we would say today. These features can still be recognised in Dur\u00f3n\u2019s Sosieguen, descansen<\/em> and in the contemporary dances that serve as our instrumental interludes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Italian cantatas in the National Library of Spain (All\u2019assalto de pensieri<\/em> and Pastorella che tra le selve<\/em>), on the other hand, serve as examples of the arrival of what North was already calling \u201cthe fire and fury of the Italian style\u201d. The coming of the Bourbons also meant Dur\u00f3n\u2019s rise to maestro de capilla (chapel master) \u2013 although, curiously, Dur\u00f3n ended his days in exile, unmasked as an enthusiastic supporter of the Habsburg cause. Titles such as arietta ytaliana<\/em> reveal his unmistakable attempts to adapt to the new times, which decades later would see him accused of Italianising by Father Feijoo in M\u00fasica de los templos <\/em>(Teatro cr\u00edtico universal<\/em>, 1726):<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is the music of our times, with which the Italians have regaled us through the hand of their devotee, maestro Dur\u00f3n, who was the one who introduced foreign fashions into the music of Spain. It is true that since then these have been pushed so far that, were Dur\u00f3n to rise from the dead, he would not recognise them; but he can always be blamed for all these novelties, for having been the first to open the door to them.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Feijoo was probably aghast when, in the years immediately following that text, he heard the operas and zarzuelas of Jos\u00e9 de Nebra, who had already fully and masterfully embraced the fiery Italian style, with its secco recitatives full of daring modulations, its da capo<\/em> arias, its specific instrumental writing and its demanding coloratura in the vocal lines\u2026 By skilfully combining these with then-popular forms and rhythms such as the fandango or the seguidilla, Nebra pursued a successful career in the effervescent world of Madrid stage music in the first half of the 18th century, without giving up the qualities that make him, in the view of many, the finest Spanish composer of his century.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Juan Ram\u00f3n Lara<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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MUERA CUPIDO<\/strong>
Theatre music in Spain, c. 1700
N\u00faria Rial, soprano
Fahmi Alqhai, quinton & direction<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

ACCADEMIA DEL PIACERE
Rodney Prada, quinton
Johanna Rose, viola da gamba (track 9 only)
Rami Alqhai, violone
Miguel Rinc\u00f3n, archlute & baroque guitar
Francisco Javier N\u00fa\u00f1ez, harpsichord
<\/p>\n\n\n\n


Recorded in Seville in 2018
Adaptations: Fahmi Alqhai
Jordi Gil (Sputnik), recording
\u00c1lvaro Torrente, musicological advice.
Juan Ram\u00f3n Lara, musical advice<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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1. Pavana 4:35
Francisco Guerau (1649-c. 1722), arranged by Fahmi Alqhai<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2. Y, pues consentir no debo (recitado) 3:05
3. Yo hermos\u00edsima Ninfa (aria) 3:29
From \u201cEl imposible mayor en amor le vence Amor\u201d, attributed to Sebasti\u00e1n Dur\u00f3n (1660-1716) and Jos\u00e9 de Torres (c. 1670-1738)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

4. Quantos tem\u00e9is al rigor 5:38
Arietta ytaliana – Rezitado [Brioso] – [Vibo] from \u201cLas nuevas armas de Amor\u201d, by Sebasti\u00e1n Dur\u00f3n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

5. Marionas 5:18
Fahmi Alqhai<\/p>\n\n\n\n

6. Pastorella che tra le selve 3:39
Giovanni Bononcini (1670-1747) (Ms. 2245 of the Biblioteca Nacional de Espa\u00f1a)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

7. All\u2019assalto de pensieri 4:55
Anonymous \u201cCantada\u201d (Ms. 2246 of the Biblioteca Nacional de Espa\u00f1a)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

8. X\u00e1cara 4:26
Francisco Guerau – Fahmi Alqhai<\/p>\n\n\n\n

9. Sosieguen, descansen 6:16
Solo humano, from \u201cSalir el Amor del Mundo\u201d, by Sebasti\u00e1n Dur\u00f3n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

10. Selva Florida 7:31
Aria from \u201cViento es la dicha de Amor\u201d, by Jos\u00e9 de Nebra (1702-1768)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

11. Fandango 2:16
Jos\u00e9 de Nebra & Francisco Javier N\u00fa\u00f1ez<\/p>\n\n\n\n

12. Tempestad grande, amigo 3:18
Fandango from \u201cVendado es amor, no es ciego\u201d, by Jos\u00e9 de Nebra<\/p>\n\n\n\n

13. Adi\u00f3s, prenda de mi amor 9:38
Aria from \u201cAmor aumenta el valor\u201d, by Jos\u00e9 de Nebra<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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