Cannabich: Electra

Album review

This Cannabich will doubtless turn heads with its exploration of the terrible Atrides family in the form of a melodrama which brought music to an acclaimed text. This genre, often regarded as a hybrid form inspired by classical Greek drama, thrives through its mediation between theatre and opera.

Invented by Jean-Jacques Rousseau and his friend Horace Coignet (a merchant embroiderer and Lyonnais amateur musician) with Pygmalion (created in Lyon in 1770), melodrama came to take over all of Europe, most notably with Georg Anton Benda who became one of the genres most revered composers. The genre impressed Mozart who became very attached to the scores for Ariadne auf Naxos and Medea which served as models for his Thamos, king of Egypt and Zaïde. Beethoven is also remembered for his staged musical work Egmont which ended with a long melodrama.

It is once again Frieder Bernius who delivers us this Electra by Christian Cannabich, composed in 1781. This most excellent Mannheim School Kappellmeister (at the time a popular symphony, ballet and chambre music writer) composes music that is incredibly descriptive and attentive down to the slightest details in the libretto that are reflected through five scenes that represent diverse moments in history. One can notice changes in environment and imitations of sounds from the natural world. All is achieved through his usual expressive arsenal: syncopated rhythms, expressive chromatism and great, dynamic contrasts. © François Hudry/Qobuz