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Boismortier is well-known
today as a composer of small-scale works, which present only moderate
difficulty in performance, and which are therefore popular with amateur
musicians. A factor contributing to the availability today of his large
output is the fact that after he settled in Paris in about 1724, he set
out to publish all his work, a project in which he was very successful
and which earned him a fortune.
The present work is taken from the second
book of cantatas, op. 67, of 1737.
Boismortier is not ranked with the most highly regarded composers of cantatas,
but it is noteworthy that this work Actéon was mistakenly
attributed to Rameau, and even included in a collected edition of his
works, and this must be a tribute to its quality. Actéon
has a typical structure of six movements alternating Recitative and Air.
The obbligato instruments, oboe and cor de chasse reflect the
hunting context of Acteon’s metamorphosis. While out hunting he
gets separated from the hunt, and chances upon Diana bathing: in her outrage
she transforms him into a stag, who is then set upon by his own hunters.
The part for the cor de chasse can easily be taken by the oboe
in this rather hearty air without sacrificing too much musical colour.
The excruciating ‘moral’ of the last Air is that Acteon suffered
his fate through timidity – he should have ‘moved in' fast
on the goddess! This is musically however the most elegant and lyrical
of the airs.
sample pages -
Boi 1.pdf
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