"Pimpinone" - works by Telemann performed by the Jerusalem Baroque Orchestra. Conductor: David Shemer. Vocal soloists: Daniela Skorka, Lidor Ram Mesika

Lidor Ram Mesika Ⓒ Yoel Levy

Daniela Skorka Ⓒ Yoel Levy

 

"Pimpinone", Concert No.5 of the Jerusalem Baroque Orchestra's 36th season, was conducted by JBO founder and music director Prof. David Shemer. The program comprised two works of Georg Philipp Telemann. Soloists were Daniela Skorka (soprano) and Lidor Ram Mesika (baritone/countertenor). This writer attended the performance on May 11th, 2025, at the Jerusalem International YMCA. 

 

Telemann’s extensive oeuvre comprises no fewer than 135 overtures (ouvertures) or suites for orchestra. Although written for specific occasions and for different instrumental combinations (perhaps originally as ballet music) they have joined the canon of concert repertoire due the composer's inspired writing and craftsmanship. A popular genre, which had its roots in France, the ouverture also included other influences, such as that of the Italian style, some also coloured with elements of traditional music. The evening's program opened with Telemann's Ouverture Suite in B-flat, "Burlesque", TWV 55:B8 for strings and basso continuo, a work which, besides two minuets, depicts several characters from the world of the commedia dell'arte. Setting the scene with the Overture itself, the JBO players lined up the characters - the villainous, manoeuvring Scaramouche,  leaping Harlequinade buffoonery and japery, an appealing, cantabile description of the servant Columbine (Harlequin's mistress), the mischievous trickery and comments of the lovesick Pierrot, then to wind up with a wild, impetuous dance representing the schemer and trouble-maker Mezzetin, its closing moments laced with a touch of the oriental. In playing of tasteful, articulate expression, the JBO instrumentalists brought out the contrasts between the ouverture's various movements, together with its whimsical and theatrical aspects.

 

 

Also based on the commedia dell’arte tradition, Telemann's comic opera "Pimpinone" TWV 21:15 originated as an intermezzo form. Premiered at the Gänsemarkt Opera in Hamburg in September 1725 and performed as an insert in George Frederic Handel’s opera seria "Tamerlano", it soon took on a life of its own and was heard all over Europe. Telemann took the highlights from a sparkling Italian libretto of Pietro Pariati and combined them with new texts by German poet Johann Philipp Praetorious. What emerged was an opera whose texts alternate between the Italian- and German languages. Telemann set the recitatives in German, thereby ensuring that his audience at the Gänsemarkt Opera could easily follow the plot. The comic opera features just two characters – Pimpinone, an elderly, wealthy, gullible man, and Vespetta, a scheming chambermaid. In search of a husband and fortune. Vespetta (her name translates as "little wasp") first convinces Pimpinone to hire her as his maid, then persuading him to propose marriage. Now his wife, she becomes the real boss of the household, controlling every aspect of the titular character’s life. The roles seem tailor-made for home-grown artists Daniela Skorka and Lidor Ram Mesika. Skorka makes for a coquettish Vespetta, revelling in her underhand control of the foolish, love-struck Pimpinone, as she constantly shares her wily strategies with the audience. Mesika, less blusterous, showing fewer facial and physical gestures (indeed, a reflective, confused Pimpinone) draws the audience in with his exceptionally resonant singing, his marvellously rich baritone voice emerging natural, even in timbre and well-anchored.  His aria (or, rather, duet with himself) “So quel che si dice e quel che si fa”, on the subject of gossiping neighbours, was a special treat, as he imitated the gossip-mongers, juggling their patter in quick exchanges of baritone- and countertenor passages. Skorka harnesses the sheer beauty of her bright, clear voice and her delightful stage presence to present the message of each aria. Both singers shifted smoothly between the Italian and German texts. The succession of arias - saucy and headstrong pieces for Vespetta and the confused and increasingly outraged numbers for Pimpinone - were produced with articulacy and fine diction, as were the duets, some of which presented the characters' singing individual agendas simultaneously! These also were performed with transparency and zest. The singers were supported by nimble, high-quality instrumental playing.

 

 

Breathing new life into stock comic characters from the 17th century in this delightful little domestic sitcom, Telemann's score bubbles with rhythmic verve and melodic invention. Not to be ignored is the fact that the piece is a musical comment on then-contemporary professional and private spheres, referring to the hard life of single women, the significance of wealth and social standing for eligibility for marriage and the injustices of patriarchal marriage law. Add to those the element of ridicule directed at romantically-inclined senior citizens.  However, Telemann's own domestic life was turned upside-down after his second marriage to Maria Katharina Textor, the teenage daughter of a local town clerk.  Rumours of Maria’s extra-marital activities began to circulate throughout Hamburg society, as local newspapers published detailed accounts of her romantic conquests, leaving Telemann mercilessly mocked as the aging, senile and scorned husband. The composer, in turn, responded artistically to these insults by composing "Pimpinone", aptly named "Die ungleiche Heirat zwischen Vespetta und Pimpinone” or “Das herrschsüchtige Kammer Mädchen" ("The Unequal Marriage Between Vespetta and Pimpinone" or "The Domineering Chambermaid".). 

 

It was a sparkling, uplifting concert, excellently presented. Prof. David Shemer dedicated the event to the memory of musicologist Prof. Jehoash Hershberg, researcher of Baroque opera and one of the JBO's original instrumentalists.