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André Campra was a French composer and conductor of the Baroque era who was born on 4 December 1660 in Aix-en-Provence, France. Campra served as maître de musique (music director) at the cathedrals of Arles and Toulouse before serving in a similar capacity at the cathedral of Notre Dame de Paris from 1694 to 1700. In 1697, he began to compose for the theatre and published some theatrical compositions under his brother's name to protect his reputation. In 1700, he gave up his post at Notre Dame and devoted himself to theatrical music with critical success.
Le Carnaval de Venise is a "comédie-lyrique" in a prologue and three acts by Campra, with libretto by Jean-François Regnard. It premiered on 20 January 1699 at the Salle du Palais-Royal in Paris, performed by the Académie royale de musique, and was later restaged in February 1711.
The opera is set in Venice during the carnival season and tells a story of love triangles, foolish old men, and an elopement in the first two acts, interwoven with Italianate slang. The third act is about Orpheus and his journey to Hades to recover Eurydice.
Recommended for Intermediate and Advanced Performers
About Michael P Walker
I studied guitar at Birmingham-Southern College under David Walpert who was a student of Andre Segovia and I have been playing guitar, ukulele, Baroque guitar, and the lute for more than fifty years. Just as Adrian Le Roy published these pieces to expand the repertoire of the Renaissance guitar, I have transcribed these compositions with the hope of exposing this rich, beautiful music to a wider audience of guitar and ukulele players.
About the author
Michael Walker has worked as a data analyst for over 30 years at a variety of educational institutions. He is currently the CIO at College Unbound in Providence, Rhode Island, in the United States. He has also taught data science, research methods, statistics, and computer programming to undergraduates since 2006.
