Pietro Terziani
Twelve canzonettas for soprano, guitar, and bass
edited by Giacomo Sciommeri

(Vocal Chamber Music, 11)

L, 32 p.; 29,7 x 21 cm
Intro and Apparatus in Italian and English

Pietro Terziani (1765-1831) was chapel master at various Roman churches (San Giovanni in Laterano, Chiesa del Gesù, Sant’Ignazio di Loyola, San Silvestro in Capite), as well as a member of both Philharmonic Academy, Bologna, and St. Cecilia Congregation, Rome. A highly valued composer in his time (his admirers included Fortunato Santini, Franz Sales Kandler, Pietro Alfieri, and Giuseppe Trambusti), Terziani composed several oratories, operas, sacred and chamber music pieces.

The twelve Canzonettas in this edition are a typical example of his musical output intended for private performances among late 18th- and early 19th-century bourgeoisie. Their instrumentation is quite unusual: besides the singer part, with its elegant and modern phrases, and the guitar accompaniment, based on simple late 18th-century arpeggio patterns, there is a third unattributed bass line. It may have been intended for a harpsichord or a piano realizing a basso continuo, or for a cello supporting the guitar on the lower range. The lyrics are taken from part II of the Cicalata sul Fascino volgarmente detta jettatura (Naples, 1787) by Nicola Valletta (1750-1814).

1. A Nice infedele (Vanne infedele addio)
2. La pesca (Leggiadra Galatea) 
3. Il pretesto (Crudele mi chiami) 
4. O sì, o no (Io far l’amore così) 
5. La felicità (Qual farfalletta al lume) 
6. L’indifferenza (Chi viver lieto brama) 
7. La tomba (Sento già nel viver mio) 
8. Barbara navicella (Sciolse le vele o Dio) 
9. Lo strale di Clori (Una piaga che ho nel sen) 
10. Nice lontana (Io spargo i sospiri) 
11. L’affanno (L’acerba ed aspra pena) 
12. Il sospiro (Ah sospiro mio)

The introduction to this edition also has a detailed reconstruction of Terziani’s life, fixing and integrating what was known so far, after the discovery of such unpublished documents as his baptism act.).

Giacomo Sciommeri got his master's degree in "Musicology and Musical Heritage", and his PhD in "Cultural Heritage and Territory" (Musicology) at the Tor Vergata University, Rome. He received his 2nd level diploma in “Historical, Critical and Analytical Musicology” from the S. Cecilia Conservatory of Rome. His main research focus is on Italian chamber cantata. He is a scientific committee member of the Istituto Italiano per la Storia della Musica, the secretary of the Centro Studi sulla Cantata Italiana, a coordinator of the "Clori. Archivio della cantata italiana" international project, and editor of the journal, Studi Musicali. He has taught Music History at the Umberto Giordano Conservatory, Foggia, and he is Teaching Assistant of "Music History" and Adjunct Professor of Master MIDA at the Tor Vergata University, Rome. He edited for SEdM several Cantatas by Carlo Francesco Cesarini and Johann David Heinichen, and a guitar duo by Giacomo Antonio Monzino.