His fame was such that he attracted students from all over Europe. The Holy Roman Emperor Leopold I tried unsuccessfully to attract him to the prosperous Viennese court. For decades he was one of the most prominent composers and performers active in Rome. Yet today the music of Bernardo Pasquini (1637-1710) is relatively little known. Renowned as a keyboard virtuoso, in recent years his vocal music has also begun to receive more attention, and Publick Musick has performed two of his beautiful solo cantatas. Our 2017 performance of the Christmas cantata S’apriro i Cieli may well have been the first in over 300 years, and we are very pleased to be able to offer to you the live recording of this performance in the video below.

We recently had the pleasure of sitting down (remotely) with two knowledgeable friends, Edoardo Bellotti and Greta Haenen, for an in-depth discussion of Pasquini, his music, and his time. This fascinating and fact-filled conversation precedes the cantata, which begins at 38:07 in the video.

The cantata performance is subtitled (with both the original Italian and an English translation) in the video. You can also read the text and translation here.

S’apriro i Cieli

Cantata for Christmas by Bernardo Pasquini (1637-1710)

Ekaterina Gorlova, soprano
Mary Riccardi and Boel Gidholm, violin
Aika Ito, viola
Christopher Haritatos, cello
Naomi Gregory, harpsichord
Deborah Fox, theorbo

Recorded in concert on December 8, 2017, at the Lutheran Church of the Incarnate Word, Rochester, NY

Recording engineer: Carl Pultz, Alembic Productions

Videographer/Editor: Douglas Ashbaugh