'Infinite Refrain, Music of Love's Refuge' Celebrates Pride with 17th-Century Music About Gay Love

Infinite Refrain, Music of Love’s Refuge', a new album that is the first of its kind, features passionate duets and arias that explore the nuances of gay love in the 17th century in Venice.

Though often concealed or suppressed, the connection, doubts, joy, misery, laughter, longing, and elation of same-sex admiration existed, nonetheless.  Conceived as the journey of two men in love, told through 17th-century music, this album draws back the curtain of religious absolutism that has obscured stories of gay romance for hundreds of years. Countertenor Scotting stated, “On stage in the 1600s, people were playing different genders than they represented in their everyday life. Men were wearing dresses, women were often in men’s suits, male castrati were singing in high voices… so many things were fluid about opera and music at this time.”

Tenor Navarro Colorado added: “many of the duets on the album were also composed to be purposely ambiguous in terms of gender and allowing for queer interpretations so that whoever is listening will feel connected to their message of love.”

Vivid duets by Monteverdi, including both of his achingly beautiful musical love letters (lettere amorose) – one carrying the hopes of an optimistic lover, and the other a dire confession of someone pushed to the extreme when love feels unrequited – are matched with four modern-day premieres by unknown composers.  One of these is the charming duet ‘Se per tè lieto mi lice’ (To be happy for you is precious to me), by the practically unknown composer Giovanni Antonio Boretti, in which the mythic lovers Hercules and Theseus pledge their devotion to each other while escaping Hades, hand-in-hand.  “This duet portrays two of the greatest heroes of Greek antiquity matter-of-factly proclaiming their love for each other and it is offered here just as Venetian audiences would have heard it in 1670” said Scotting. Hercules’ rescue of Theseus from his imprisonment in Hades would have carried clear same-sex connotations for audiences at the time given Hercules’ mythical reputation for man-on-man intimacy (according to Plutarch, Hercules had at least six male lovers).

Some music on the programme will be recognisable, yet heard in a new way, like Monteverdi’s well-known duet ‘Pur ti miro, pur ti godo’ (Finally, I see you; finally, I enjoy you), which closes the album and is recorded here by two men for the first time. The title, Infinite Refrain, music of love’s refuge, acknowledges a love that has always been and the word refuge was chosen to spotlight Venice as a safe haven for love in greater Europe at a time of continual conflict and religious oppression. By 1650, Venice had already been notable for over a century for its freedom from religious fanaticism, with several accounts of outed or persecuted people finding sanctuary amongst its more permissive culture. As a bustling hub for shipping and commerce, Venice was a wealthy centre within Europe that embraced liberal views, and with its six-month long Carnival, it also offered a sexually tolerant atmosphere. While the music on this album is nearly four centuries old, its focus on gay love resonates today with an unmistakable immediacy.

Rising stars in the baroque music world, countertenor Randall Scotting (Metropolitan Opera, Bayerische Staatsoper, Royal Opera House) and tenor Jorge Navarro Colorado (Grand Théatre de Genève, La Fenice, Irish National Opera), collaborate with baroque-specialist conductor and skilled harpsichordist Laurence Cummings. The orchestra, the Academy of Ancient Music, has a worldwide reputation for excellence in baroque music and is distinguished as the most listened-to period-instrument orchestra online with over one million monthly listeners on Spotify.

Randall Scotting has become a sought-after artist by some of the world’s most esteemed opera houses. He recently made spectacular debuts at The Royal Opera House in London, Bayerische Staatsoper, and Staatsoper Hamburg, with future engagements including leading roles at Seattle Opera, Frankfurt Opera, Pinchgut Opera in Sydney, and with Ars Lyrica in Houston.  Randall’s breakout moment came in 2019 when he stepped in last-minute at the Royal Opera House to perform Apollo in Britten’s Death in Venice singing all performances after opening night. He then joined the roster of the Metropolitan Opera and has been consistently working at top-level houses since. He received rave reviews as the Refugee in a filmed version of Jonathan Dove’s opera Flight, as well as praise for the leading role of Adonis in the Staatsoper Hamburg’s 2023 world premiere of Sciarrino’s Venere e Adone, led by conductor Kent Nagano. Future performances see him singing in several Handel operas, including the title character in Amadigi, Ruggiero in three different productions of Alcina, and Goffredo in Rinaldo.

Randall’s past engagements have linked him with major North American and European opera houses and venues including the Lyric Opera of Chicago, Santa Fe Opera, Carnegie Hall, Italy’s Spoleto Festival, the Göttingen Handel Festival, Boston Baroque, the New York Philharmonic, and many others.  Randall trained at the Royal College of Music in London, the Juilliard School in New York, and as a Fulbright Scholar at the Liszt Academy in Budapest. He made his leading operatic debut in Vivaldi’s Ercole su’l Termodonte with Il Complesso Barocco at Spoleto’s Festival dei due mondi (available on DVD) and he can be heard on other solo albums including The Crown, heroic arias for Senesino with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, Lovesick with acclaimed lutenist Stephen Stubbs, a cantata for chorus and countertenor, entitled Dive: A Water Music, and as the title role in the oratorio Santo Stefano primo re dell’Ungheria by Antonio Caldara.  Scotting also holds a PhD in 18th-century Italian opera from London’s Royal College of Music and is an avid bodybuilder.

Jorge Navarro Colorado is a baroque tenor on the rise, having recently performed with many of Europe’s top venues, orchestras, and conductors, including his debut at the Grand Théâtre de Genève in Monteverdi’s Il Ritorno d’Ulisse under the direction of Fabio Biondi, Handel’s Scipione with Christian Curnyn at the London Handel Festival, his debut at La Fenice in Venice in Vivaldi’s Griselda under the baton of Diego Fasolis, Mozart’s Requiem with the Barcelona Symphony Orchestra and Trevor Pinnock, Vivaldi’s Griselda with Irish National Opera under the baton of Peter Whelan, and Handel’s Lotario and Rodrigo, both at the Göttingen Handel Festival conducted by Laurence Cummings. 

Jorge regularly sings the music of Handel, recently performing in Rinaldo with Capella Cracoviensis and Xavier Sabata at the Halle Handel Festival, Acis and Galatea with Early Opera Company and Christian Curnyn, Alcina with Lautten Compagney Berlin, Tamerlano with English Touring Opera, Ariodante at the Handel Festival in Göttingen, Partenope at Iford Opera, Brockes Passion (staged version) at Opera Halle, Il Trionfo del Tempo e del Disinganno with Bach Consort Wien, and he presented the concert Arias for Ballino with the baroque orchestra Opera Settecento at the London Handel Festival (album forthcoming in 2024). 

Additionally, he has worked with Ensemble Diderot in Paris, the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Barber Opera in Birmingham, Göteborg Baroque in Sweden, Israel Camerata, Bach Collegium Barcelona, Vespres d’Arnadí, Israel Chamber Orchestra, Irish Baroque Orchestra, Polski Chór Kamerlany, and City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra.  His discography includes Handel’s Lotario and Rodrigo, recorded live at the Göttingen Festival (Accent), and the album German Cantatas for Voice and Virtuoso Violin with Ensemble Diderot and Johannes Pramsohler.  Jorge studied classical singing and opera at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London and completed his training in the Britten-Pears and Samling programmes. 

Laurence Cummings, conductor and harpsichordist, is one of Britain’s most exciting and versatile exponents of historical performance. He has been Musical Director of the London Handel Festival since 1999 and Artistic Director of the International Handel Festival in Göttingen, Germany, since 2012, as well as acting as Music Director for Orquestra Barroca Casa da Musica in Portugal. He is Professor of Historical Performance at the Royal Academy of Music and has conducted productions for English National Opera, Opera North, Glyndebourne Festival Opera, Theater an der Wien, Opernhaus Zürich, Opera de Lyon, Théâtre du Châtelet, Garsington Opera and at The Royal Opera Covent Garden.  He regularly conducts the English Concert and the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment and has worked with the Academy of Ancient Music, Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Handel and Haydn Society (Boston), St Paul Chamber Orchestra (Minnesota), National Symphony Orchestra (Washington), Moscow Chamber Orchestra, and Basel Chamber Orchestra, among others.  

Academy of Ancient Music is an orchestra with a worldwide reputation for excellence in baroque and classical music. Using historically informed techniques, period-specific instruments and original sources, they bring music vividly to life in committed, vibrant performances.  Established nearly 50 years ago to make the first British recordings of orchestral works using original instruments, AAM has released more than 300 albums to date, collecting countless accolades including Classic BRIT, Gramophone and Edison awards. They now regularly record on their own label, AAM Records, as well as with other labels and they are proud to be the most listened-to period-instrument orchestra online, with over one million monthly listeners on streaming platforms. AAM is Associate Ensemble at London’s Barbican Centre and the Teatro San Cassiano, Venice, and Orchestra-in-Residence at the University of Cambridge, Milton Abbey International Summer Music Festival and The Apex, Bury St Edmunds. The 2022-23 season is the second for Music Director Laurence Cummings, who joined the orchestra as it approached its 50th anniversary in 2023.

Signum Classics is a leading British independent label, specialising in classical music. Founded in 1997, Signum boasts a catalogue of over 800 titles collectively streamed over 650 million times and continues to release 35+ new recordings each year by internationally acclaimed artists such as The King’s Singers, Philharmonia Orchestra, Gabrieli Consort & Players, and many others. Signum’s outstanding recordings include an array of award-winners (Grammys™, Gramophone and BBC Music Magazine Awards) and 5-star reviews. The label is most celebrated for its outstanding early music, choral and orchestral recordings as well as nurturing young and emerging artists.

Photo credit: Joel Benjamin

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