CAKE AND BENEVOLI
May 13, 2026 · 54 min · 24 segments
Robert talks to Eamonn and tracks down Sammy to reflect on I Fagiolini's series of THREE albums by the 17th century multi-choir master Orazio Benevoli. Support this show…
May 13, 2026 · 54 min · 24 segments
Robert talks to Eamonn and tracks down Sammy to reflect on I Fagiolini's series of THREE albums by the 17th century multi-choir master Orazio Benevoli. Support this show…
Robert HollingworthHost
Eamonn DouganHost
Nicholas MulroyGuestWell, he's born 1605, same year as, uh, as Carissimi, which is why we put the Carissimi Yefte on, on the second disc along with a, a Benevoli mass.
Um, and he's born into a, you know, strong Counter-Reformation Rome, where they are finishing building St. Peter's, or they've mostly finished it and they're now building the, the Baldacchino, the, the wooden thing that sort of surrounds the, the altar.
Does that thing where kind of you're not taken seriously unless you, unless you leave your own shores and prove your worth elsewhere.
And then comes back and, uh, he's singing at the, I think the French Church.
Um, but he gets the job as director of music of the Cappella Giulia, which is the choir that sings in St. Peter's Rome when the Pope is not there.
Um, uh, but you know what, what they first thought when they tried to sing in St. Peter's, because it is an almighty marble bathroom, and, uh, uh, I suppose that's one of the, o- one of the questions of this music, you know, to what extent it, it could be, it, it could actually be heard and appreciated.
But the, the tradition is to have, um, a two-choir mass as a festival day.
So, instead of your normal single choir, you know, four voices, five voices, um, uh, it's to have a, a two-choir mass as a, as a special day.
But of course, once you've done that a lot, you need to outdo that and have a three-choir mass for a special day.
So, we basically get to a type of choral inflation or a po- polychoral inflation.
So, by the time Benevoli comes along in the 1640s, late 1640s, he's writing four-choir masses.
I think there are eight of them, and we've now recorded three, and one of the three-choir ones, and they are, they are I think the best, the ones, ones we've recorded.
I think your, your word invention is absolutely everything because they do extraordinary things.
Well, he's born 1605, same year as, uh, as Carissimi, which is why we put the Carissimi Yefte on, on the second disc along with a, a Benevoli mass.
Um, and he's born into a, you know, strong Counter-Reformation Rome, where they are finishing building St. Peter's, or they've mostly finished it and they're now building the, the Baldacchino, the, the wooden thing that sort of surrounds the, the altar.
Does that thing where kind of you're not taken seriously unless you, unless you leave your own shores and prove your worth elsewhere.
And then comes back and, uh, he's singing at the, I think the French Church.
Um, but he gets the job as director of music of the Cappella Giulia, which is the choir that sings in St. Peter's Rome when the Pope is not there.
Um, uh, but you know what, what they first thought when they tried to sing in St. Peter's, because it is an almighty marble bathroom, and, uh, uh, I suppose that's one of the, o- one of the questions of this music, you know, to what extent it, it could be, it, it could actually be heard and appreciated.
But the, the tradition is to have, um, a two-choir mass as a festival day.
So, instead of your normal single choir, you know, four voices, five voices, um, uh, it's to have a, a two-choir mass as a, as a special day.
But of course, once you've done that a lot, you need to outdo that and have a three-choir mass for a special day.
So, we basically get to a type of choral inflation or a po- polychoral inflation.
So, by the time Benevoli comes along in the 1640s, late 1640s, he's writing four-choir masses.
I think there are eight of them, and we've now recorded three, and one of the three-choir ones, and they are, they are I think the best, the ones, ones we've recorded.
I think your, your word invention is absolutely everything because they do extraordinary things.
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