Giovanni Felice Sances


Giovanni Felice Sances was an Italian singer and a Baroque composer. He was renowned in Europe during his time.
Sances studied at the Collegio Germanico in Rome from 1609 to 1614. He appeared in the opera Amor pudico in Rome in 1614. His career then took him to Bologna and Venice. His first opera Ermiona was staged in Padua in 1636, in which he also sang.
In 1636 he moved to Vienna, where he was initially employed at the imperial court chapel as a tenor. In 1649, during the reign of Ferdinand III he was appointed vice-Kapellmeister under Antonio Bertali. He collaborated with Bertali to stage regular performances of Italian opera. He also composed sepolcri, sacred works and chamber music.
In 1669 he succeeded to the post of Imperial Kapellmeister upon Bertali's death. From 1673, due to poor health, many of his duties were undertaken by his deputy Johann Heinrich Schmelzer. He died in Vienna in 1679.

Works

Sacred works

Published motet collections

  • Motetti a una, due, tre, e quattro voci
  • Motetti a 2, 3, 4, a cinque voci con Litania della BVM dedicated to Guglielmo Slavata chancellor
  • Salmi a 8 voci dedicated to Archduke Leopold Wilhelm
  • Salmi brevi a 4 v. concertate dedicated to Ferdinand IV, King of the Romans
  • Antiphonae sacrae una voce decantandae dedicated to Antonio Spindler abbot of the Schottenkirche
  • Motetti a quattro voci ; Venice, 1658

Various works

  • 60 Mass settings including
  • * Missa Sanctae Maria Magdalenae
  • *Missa SolicitaStabat Mater or Il pianto della Madonna O Domine JesuO Deus MeusO Maria Dei genitrixCaro MeaImproperium expectavit cor meumVulnerasti cor meumDomine quid multiplicati suntPlagae tuae Domine
  • ''Iste confessor''

Secular works

Six operas, of which three lost
  • Opera: L’Ermiona - lost - libretto by Pio Enea degli Obizzi on the story of Cadmus and Hermione, performed as an introduction to a tournament.
  • Oratorios: Lachrime di San Pietro La morte de bellata, Sette consolazioni a Maria Vergine per la morte di Cristo, Il trionfo della Croce, Il Paradiso aperto per la morte di Cristo, L' ingiustitia della sentenza di Pilato

Published secular music

  • Cantatas book I - lost
  • Cantatas for one voice
  • Cantatas for two voices
  • Il Quarto Libro, cantatas for one voice, with two duets and one for three voices.
  • Capricci Poetici, 23 works
  • Trattenimenti musicali per camera,, 16 works

Various

Mi fai peccato Si fera s'uccida, Misera, hor si ch'il piantoChi sa amare e tracer mercede aspetti Presso l'onde tranquille Traditorella che credi Perché Vechia gli dissi Che sperasti ò mio cor
  • Cantata: Lagrimosa beltà
  • Cantata: Non sia chi mi riprende
  • Dialogo a due. Pastor e Ninfa
  • Pianto della Madonna cantata per alto e organo

Recordings

Tirsi Morir Volea, Sacro & Profano, Marco Mencoboni