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American Record Guide: (03/2017) 
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In 1638, Amelot de la Houssaye, the French ambassador to Venice, arranged for a solemn high Mass at the Church of St George to celebrate the birth of Louis XIII and Anne of Austria’s first son, the Dauphin Louis, later Louis XIV. The ambassador commissioned Giovanni Rovetta (1596-1668) to supply most of the music, which the composer duly published in 1639, dedicated to Louis XIII. This new release, made at a concert in the chapelle royale at Versailles, is a reconstruction by Benjamin Chenier of that Mass based on Rovetta’s publication and chronicles at the time.

 

Rovetta, the deputy maestro di cappella at the Basilica of San Marco, was clearly influenced by his superior, Claudio Monteverdi, especially the works later printed in the older master’s Selva Morale e Spirituale in 1640, both in terms of musical style and instrumentation. The sensitive text settings (sometimes repeating and reordering the liturgical text) demonstrate Rovetta’s understanding of Monteverdi’s seconda prattica. Only the Kyrie, Gloria, and Credo were composed for the Mass, since the Sanctus and Agnus Dei movements would have been breve more Veneto (in the short Venetian manner), because the Venetians preferred to have more interesting vocal concertos and instrumental music in this part of the Mass. To fill this lacuna Chenier took these short movements and an instrumental sonata (together lasting only 7:24) from a 1640 publication by Giovanni Antonio Rigatti. For the other parts of the Proper of the Mass missing in Rovetta’s publication, Chenier made intelligent choices from Rovetta’s smaller vocal works, added two short motets by Monteverdi (‘Christe adoramus te’ performed by instruments, and ‘Adoramus te, Christe’), and a final motet, ‘Omnes gentes plaudite manibus’, by the leader of the instrumentalists at San Marco, Giovanni Bassano.

 

While there are single concerted motets by Rovetta in various recorded collections of Venetian sacred music from the early 17^th Century, the only previous complete recording was of the Vespers music from his 1639 publication (Sept/Oct 2008). The music for the Vespers psalms requires a smaller instrumental ensemble, and Junghänel follows the one-perpart performance practice. Because Rovetta’s Mass has a clear solo-tutti contrast, Chenier adds a tutti choir of six voices to the core group of eight solo singers. Rovetta’s Credo was included on Andrew Parrott’s reconstruction of the Venetian Mass of Thanksgiving from 1631 (Sept/Oct 1994) but three sections were replaced by Monteverdi’s compositions. Parrott also used a much larger vocal ensemble, so the solo-tutti contrast is much stronger. This type of strong contrast is also evident on the complete recording of Rigatti’s Mass with a 40-voice chamber choir (Mar/Apr 1999). The performance is of a very high standard by both vocalists and instrumentalists. This is not a full liturgical reconstruction (as in Parrott’s) since some of the chanted portions and liturgical readings are missing. Chenier’s essay is instructive, and full texts and translations are included. But this was a concert—and the applause was a bit of a shock at the end.

 

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