(1) Sinfonia I Allegro 02:48 
(2) Sinfonia I Andante 04:46 
(3) Sinfonia I Allegro di Molto 02:13 
(4) Cephalus und Aurore 09:46 
(5) Sinfonia II Allegro 2:14 
(6) Sinfonia II Andante 3:14 
(7) Sinfonia II Allegro 2:27 
(8) Scherzi Notturni Allegro 5:16 
(9) Scherzi Notturni Andantino 01:36 
(10) Sinfonia II Allegro moderato 8:04 
(11) Marianne 10:49 
(12) Sinfonia III Allegro 2:33 
(13) Sinfonia III Andante sempre piano 1:47 
(14) Sinfonia III Allegro 1:53 
(15) Er ist dahin der Frühling meiner Blüthe 10:37

Kamila Zajickova - Soprano
Madalena Kozena - Mezzosoprano
Musica Aeterna de Bratislava
Peter Zajicek – director

Jirí Antonín Benda (later Germanized to Georg Anton Benda) was the third child of Jan Jirí Benda (1686 - 1757), a minor village musician and weaver, and his wife, Dorota Brixi, offspring of a well-known musical family. Georg and his older brother Franz (Frantisek) are the two most famous of Jirí's five musician children. Georg became a notable Classical composer after attending the Piarist high school in Kosmonos, Bohemia, and a Jesuit college in Jicin. In 1742, his restless brother Franz found his lifetime job with King Frederick the Great of Prussia, a notable music lover who called for the rest of the Benda family to come join his musical establishment. Benda became a violinist in the Prussian court orchestra.

In 1750, he became Kapellmeister to Duke Friedrich III of Saxe-Gotha. Initially, he concentrated on church and instrumental music because the local clergy had blocked any idea of forming a musical theater. But they relented for the birthday of Duchess Luise Dorothea in 1765, for which occasion Benda wrote his first opera, Xindo reconnosciuto. This broke the ice, leading to the production of various short Italian operas (called intermezzos). Benda was sent to Italy to study opera, came back, and wrote several popular works. However, court theatrics ended after the Duchess died in 1767. The Duke himself died in 1772, resulting in Benda's duties as chapel music director being assigned elsewhere. He married and had seven children, several of them musically talented; the most famous among them was composer Friedrich Ludwig Benda.

In 1774, the Seyler theatrical troupe arrived in Gotha and commissioned Benda to write music for their German stage works. However, the company brought with it another composer who became the music director of the revived court theater. Benda resigned from the musical establishment of the Saxe-Gotha court. He traveled to Hamburg, but did not get a job there. He then spent the majority of his time in composition and elevated the art of the melodrama, to a popular form in German music. He also wrote German singspiels and a good amount of instrumental music, much of which became popular. Most of his compositions were written after he was 50. He returned on a pension, ultimately settling in Köstritz, where he died. Today, some of his offspring, along with other descendants of Jirí Benda, still perform as the Benda Musicians. ---Joseph Stevenson, Rovi

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1. Ariadne auf Naxos
2. Pygmalion

Prague Chamber Orchestra
Christian Benda – Conductor

Rec.: Chapel of the Brethren, Prague, 7-14.XI.1994.

When Mozart was in Mannheim he heard Benda’s Ariadne auf Naxos and thought it was excellent. This very enterprising recording shows us why. Benda’s ‘melodramas’ are spoken throughout (there is no singing), but in them the orchestra develops a glorious musical character in its own right – interjecting, urging on the drama and conjuring up scenes and moods. Mozart soon put Benda’s techniques to good use in Zaide, Thamos and Idomeneo. Of course, such a crucial role for the orchestra demands great flexibility from its players. Here they are at their best in moments of ravishing tenderness. When, for example, Ariadne speaks of resting happily on her mother’s bosom, a violin solo of quite extraordinary beauty emerges from the warm halo of sound in the orchestra. The moments of high drama, though, lack edge and pace. Pygmalion, which presents an artist anguishing over the nature of art (and which is astonishing for its time), fares better, perhaps because the narrator, Peter Uray, displays a stronger sense of theatre than Quadlbauer in Ariadne. But full marks to Naxos (the recording label, that is, not the island) for giving us these gems from the vaults of history. ---Anthony Pryer, classical-music.com

Jiri Antonin Benda, known in German as Georg Benda, was born in 1722 at Staré Benátky and had his schooling in Bohemia before moving in 1742 with the rest of his family to join his brother Frantisek at Potsdam. In 1750 he became Kapellmeister to Duke Friedrich III of Saxe-Gotha. Gotha had long and distinguished musical traditions, to which Benda contributed, breaking new ground there with his Italian opera seria Xindo riconnosciuto, written for the Duchess Luise Dorothea. There followed a period in Italy for further study which resulted in the composition of two Intennezzi, Il buon marito and Il nuovo maestro di capella, performed in Gotha in 1766 and 1767. More significantly he was largely responsible for giving wide popularity to the form of melodrama. His early and very successful attempts at the genre were written after the arrival in Gotha in 1774 of the theatrical troupe directed by the Swiss actor Abel Seyler, a company which had been active in Hanover and Weimar. For the Seyler troupe Benda wrote his melodramas Ariadne auf Naxos, Medea and Pygmalion, the first two of which aroused the admiration of Mozart, who heard performances in Mannheim and himself planned something of the same kind on the subject of Semiramide. Benda also wrote a series of singspiel for the Gotha theatre. ---naxos.com

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1.    Sinfonia, Allegro assai - Alla Pollaca - Presto  6:59 
2.    Chorus, Trinkt! Trinkt! - Allegro  1:22 
3.    Aria (Obriste) - Hier steh ich - Andante moderato  3:17 
4.    Aria (Lenchen) - Schone Herren - Un poco allegro  1:43 
5.    Aria (Barbchen) - Ja, Lukas - Andante  1:47 
6.    Romance (Barbchen) - In unserm ganzen Dorf - Andante sostenuto  5:16 
7.    Duet (Lukas, Barbchen) - Glaubst du - Allegro  3:35 
8.    Aria (Fickfack) - Lassen Sie mich - Allegretto  1:46 
9.    Aria (Fickfack) - Anfangs wird das Herzchen - Allegro  2:36 
10.   Aria (Lukas) - Ach, ich liebte sie - Un poco lento  4:36 
11.   Trio (Lenchen, Lukas, Fickfack) - Pflicht und Ehre - Allegro moderato  1:33 
12.   Recitative, aria (Barbchen) - Was hor ich - Allegro  2:26 
13.   Aria (Lukas) - Schon locket mich - Allegro  3:11 
14.   Aria (Barbchen) - Ach Vater - Allegro di molto  0:59 
15.   Aria (Fickfack) - Was fur Gesperre - Allegro assai  1:25 
16.   Duet (Eva, Fickfack) - Fort mit ihm - Andante moderato  1:16 
17.   Aria (Barbchen) - Mein Retter - Allegro non troppo  5:48 
18.   Tercet (Barbchen, Lukas, Fickfack) - Muster guter Harren lebe Allegretto  1:54 

Lukas,Hans - Joachim ROTZSCH, tenor
Bärbchen - Renate KRAHMER, soprano
Eva - Renate HOFF, soprano
Lenchen - Renate HOFF, soprano
Obriste - Jan HLAVSA, tenor
Fickfack - Günther LEIB, bass

Prague Philharmonic Choir
Prague Chamber Orchestra
Hans von Benda - conductor

Singspiel in one act; abridged version Leipzig 1930
libretto Friedrich Wilhelm GOTTER
10·II·1775 Hoftheater Gotha

This recording, made in 1968, contains the music (but not the dialogue) for a lovely little Singspiel that was first performed in 1775 at the court of the Duke of Gotha in Thuringia. The work concerns a young couple (Lukas and Bärbchen) and the attempts to thwart their marriage by a lieutenant who has designs on the latter. He gets his sergeant-major (Fickfack) to convince Lukas to enlist, thereby freeing up Bärbchen for himself. Of course the confusion is ironed out and all ends happily. The music never goes beyond airy and charming, but there are a couple of fine trios and duets in addition to some flavorful, folksy arias.

The best role is that of Bärbchen, composed for high coloratura, and Renate Krahmer sings both her energetic and introspective music well, albeit with an overly bright tone. Lukas is tenor Hans-Joachim Rotzsch, and while his vocal production tends to be tight, he’s in tune and fluent, and indeed likeable. Fickfack is bass Günther Leib, though he sounds far lighter than a bass, and he’s convincing. The others are good. Orchestra and chorus are perky, involved, and play and sing well under Hans von Benda. This is a bauble, but it’s interesting to find out what the German equivalent of Cimarosa was doing at the time. You’ll know if this is your cup of tea. Sonics are fine. ---Robert Levine, classicstoday.com

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