Biography (read more)
Antonio Sartorio was an Italian composer of the Baroque period, active chiefly in Venice, with a period from 1665 to 1675 serving as Kapellmeister at the court of Hanover. A leading opera composer in Venice during the 1660s and 1670s, his works include Giulio Cesare in Egitto (1676), L’Orfeo (1672), and L’Adelaide (1672), alongside sacred vocal music. He died in Venice in December 1680 after a prolonged illness, reportedly while still at work on a new opera, La Flora.
Sartorio was one of the most prominent figures of the flourishing Venetian opera scene of his era, and his Giulio Cesare in Egitto is regarded as an important precursor in the operatic treatment of the Julius Caesar and Cleopatra story later taken up by Handel. His dual career linking Venice and the Hanover court also exemplified the cross-pollination of Italian operatic style into German courts in the later seventeenth century.
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‘Quando voglio’ from Cesare in Egitto (Rosso – Italian Baroque Arias)
Antonino e Pompeiano, Act 3: “La certezza di sua fede” (Pompeiano)— Jakub Józef Orliński
Performed by Jakub Józef Orliński
L’Orfeo, Act 1: “Cara e amabile catena” (Euridice, Orfeo)— Philippe Jaroussky
Performed by Philippe Jaroussky
L’Orfeo, Act 2: “Ahimè, Numi, son morta” (Euridice, Orfeo)— Philippe Jaroussky
Performed by Philippe Jaroussky
L’Orfeo, Act 3: “Risvegliati, sù” (Euridice, Orfeo) – Sinfonia (Orchestra)— Philippe Jaroussky
Performed by Philippe Jaroussky
L’Orfeo, Act 3: “Numi, che veggio… Non ti volger” (Euridice, Orfeo)— Philippe Jaroussky
Performed by Philippe Jaroussky
L’Orfeo, Act 3: “Chiuso, ahimè, di Cocito… Rendetemi Euridice” (Orfeo)— Philippe Jaroussky
Performed by Philippe Jaroussky