TITANS : Haendel / Colonna

In this extensive programme of sacred music, Leonardo García-Alarcón brings together two titans of Baroque music by pairing a seminal work by Handel – his Dixit Dominus – with a lesser-known but equally magnificent discovery: Giovanni Paolo Colonna’s Mass in E minor.

Handel composed music for the church only occasionally: the Dixit Dominus is a psalm written during his stay in Rome, modelled on Venetian works and incorporating elements of Gregorian chant. What’s striking is the richness of the soundtrack to the lyrics: emotion pierces the spirit. The tiny human being in the face of immensity…

A major composer in late 17^th century Italy, Giovanni Paolo Colonna was appreciated and sought after by the greatest, even turning down an offer from Pope Innocent XII to become Kapellmeister of St. Peter’s Basilica at the end of his life.

Composing most of his works for the church, Colonna’s style is majestic, with changes in style and taste characteristic of an era when sacred music oscillated between the gravity of the old style and the brilliance of the new.