Falvetti

I have now received from Amazon my copy of Falvetti's interpretation of Il diluvio universale (Noah's flood)

It is amazing. The music could be by Monteverdi

And as a CD, it is shorn of graphics.  But that seems to be good.  Just as music it is superb

It is one of the most marvellous pieces from the Baroque era to be rediscovered recently.  It was written in 1682 in Messina, Sicily by Sicilian priest  Michelangelo Falvetti.

The video is here:



The first aria is particularly worth watching as the contralto has the most expressive face.  I see that her name is Evelyn Ramirez Munoz, which sounds Spanish.  In expressiveness however she could be Sicilian.  The conductor is from Argentina so maybe she is too.  Argentinians are about 50/50 Spanish and Italian.

The feminist claim that the RC church is "patriarchal" has always been amusing -- considering the devotion that the church devotes to the Blessed Virgin.  Catholics very often direct their prayers to the Virgin Mary.  And the rosary has a lot more Hail Marys than Paternosters.

So I was amused to see that the contralto in Falvetti's oratorio was in fact speaking for God!  How patriarchal!  A Sicilian priest obviously saw no problem with giving a woman the top job.

Feminists sometimes appear to think that they have done something clever by referring to God as "she" but that in fact poses no theological difficulties for any Christian (not sure about Muslims).  God is conceived as neither male nor female, with "he" being merely a linguistic convention.