All seven of Lotti's operas!

[benwiggy]

I have finally finished my editions of all seven of Lotti's surviving complete operas.

In 2009, as part of my PhD research, I began typing in the arias and recits from Teofane into individual Finale files, leaving me with the problem of how to assemble them into a complete score.

"Some time passed", until November 2018, when Dorico 2.2 introduced "Flow Headings", which allowed each musical section to be automatically titled and positioned on the same page as the preceding one. Only then was I able to collate all the bits into one document, finishing it before the year was out.

Vaughan Schlepp kindly gave me some Finale files that he'd created of selections from Alessandro Severo, and I was able to complete the rest of it in early 2019.

The remaining five were knocked out between then and now, all 7 done in less than 4 years. (On top of various other projects, lockdown, family, etc...)

https://www.ancientgroove.co.uk/lotti/lottiopera.html

There's some lovely arias in there, slightly let down by the clichéd plots of opera seria; and the use of castrati (often very high soprano) is perhaps a barrier to performance. If you're into recit, there's some sympathetic treatment of the text.

I'm somewhat tempted to go back and revise the earlier ones, given what I've learnt from the experience of doing it the first time...

I created a little video of my 'process' in Dorico, if anyone's interested.
https://youtu.be/vuumCtgdYmo

[John Ruggero]

Congratulations, Ben! This is a valuable contribution and beautifully done. I listened to a bit of Lotti's sacred music, which was unknown to me, and was impressed by its sensitivity and imagination. Lotti brought to mind William Klenz, the biographer of Bononcini, who was a professor at Duke University when I was a student there.

[odod]

Congratulations Ben!! awemazing works

[Harpsichordmaker]

What an incredible work! And freely-downloadable, too. That’s very generous. Beautifully engraved, too (that’s no surprise).