In Venice, Chelleri enjoyed a successful career, writing seven operas between 1715 and 1722. This made him the youngest composer at the time to write operas for the Venetian theaters, establishing him among Albinoni, Lotti, Orlandini, Pollarolo and Vivaldi. Fortunato Chelleri was a typical example of the many eighteen-century Italian composers who travelled across Europe in search of work and recognition. These geographical wanderings not only shaped their lives but also influenced their work. The operatic centers of Italy, the courts of Germany and Austria, and major urban centers like London, all welcomed talent, but made at the same time, specific demands on style and genres.
Chelleri was no exception, and his compositional output reflects the pattern of his travels. After his years of apprenticeship and first engagements in Italy, he spent the major part of his life in Spain, Gemany, England and Sweden. The name Chelleri is an italianization of the German surname Keller. His father of Bavarian origin emigrated to Italy in the first half of the seventeenth century. In Parma, Chelleri was orphaned at the age of 12, and he was taken under the guardianship of his maternal uncle, Francesco Maria Bazzani, who supervised his education. Chelleri than moved to Piacenza where Bazzani was maestro di capella at the cathedral. Bazzani taught him to sing and play the keyboard and young Chelleri was diligent enough to be entrusted with an organist's post after only three years of study. Chelleri's first musical education with training in singing was during period 1700-3 in churches of Parma as choirboy. Than in 1703-7 in Piacenza Cathedral, he received training in cello, keyboard instruments and composition. His first works were in 1707, opera 'La Griselda', performed at Piacenza. In period 1708-21, he composed operas that were performed and/or premiered in established theaters of Venice, Padua, and Florence. Most of the music of these dramas has been lost. While in Venice, Chelleri was friend with Antonio Caldara.
Performed by:
Vanni Moretto directs the 11 musicians of Atalanta Fugiens with spirited vitality, presenting these pre-Classical string symphonies with sympathetic assurance (first 8 symphonies in this video). Vanni Moretto with Atalanta Fugiens, providing us with a fascinating glimpse of a little known composer who bridged the transition from the Baroque to the Classical era. The 8 symphonies here were published as a group in Paris sometime between 1742 and 1751. Short and compact, they use clear phrasing structures and create a direct impact while following the Italian format of 'fast-slow-fast'.
Sol Gabetta and her ensemble play cello concertos by Chelleri (last Concerto for Violoncello in this video), contemporaries from the mid-18th century. The concert was discovered in the music library of Count Erwein von Schönborn in Wiesentheid in Franconia.
Chapters:
0:00 Symphony No. 1 in D Major
I. Prestissimo, II. Andante, III. Presto
5:36 Symphony No. 2 in C Major
I. Allegro, II. Andante, III. Allegro
14:26 Symphony No. 3 in B flat Major
I. Allegro, II. Affettuoso, III. Allegro
21:48 Symphony No. 4 in A Major
I. Allegro, II. Andante, III. Allegro
30:01 Symphony No. 5 in D Major
I. Allegro, II. Affettuoso, III. Allegro (incompl.)
35:16 Symphony No. 6 in B flat Major
I. Allegro, II. Andante, III. Allegro, IV. Non Tanto Allegro
43:18 Brussels Symphony in B flat Major
I. Allegro, II. Adagio Con Amore, III. Presto
51:45 "Polonaise" from the Brussels Symphony in A Major
54:11 Concerto for Violoncello and Orchestra in G Major
I. Adagio staccato. Tempo giusto, II. Andante e spuntato, III. Allegro
Cover art:
Decoration of the under-arch above the main altar at the dome of Sanctuary of Santa Maria della Steccata in Parma, Italy. As a child, Chelleri spent time as choirboy, in the chapel choir of the same Madonna della Steccata. Fresco is named "Arch of the wise and foolish virgins" work by Girolamo Francesco Maria Mazzola more commonly known, as Parmigianino ( 11 January 1503 - 24 August 1540).