Johann Friedrich Agricola - Achille in Sciro (Gerd Amelung)

Information

Composer: Johann Friedrich Agricola

• Achille in Sciro (First Recording)

Angelo Giordano; Julia Gromball

Joel Vuik; Jasper Sung

Nicolas Zielinski; Leila Grace Hills

Miriam Zubieta

Opernchor des Theaters Altenburg Gera

Philharmonisches Orchester Altenburg Gera

Gerd Amelung, conductor

Date: 2024

Label: Rondeau Production

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Johann Friedrich Agricola (1720–1774) is primarily known today as the author of a significant vocal treatise. Even more remarkable is the world premiere recording of his late Baroque festivity opera Achille in Sciro (1765), which, after more than 250 years, is being performed again by the Theater Altenburg Gera under the direction of Gerd Amelung.

Agricola, a student of Johann Sebastian Bach, was called from Thuringia to Berlin, where he worked as a court composer alongside contemporary luminaries such as Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach and Joachim Quantz. In Achille in Sciro – with a libretto by the opera revolutionary Pietro Metastasio – the young Achilles, disguised as a woman, escapes his fated involvement in war on the island of Skyros. Torn between his lust for war and his love for the king's daughter, Deidamia, he faces a fateful decision.

The outstanding ensemble of soloists, almost exclusively consisting of high voices – including three countertenors – brings the nuances of vocal artistry in the transitional period from Baroque to Classical to life in an impressive way.