Jan Dismas Zelenka: Il diamante, Serenata

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If we speak about the late works of Jan Dismas Zelenka, we usually refer to his fascinating last masses, oratorios or litanies, which have today finally gained the attention and acclaim they so fully deserve. With sacred music always being the focal point of Zelenka's work. Still, among his late works we also find the Serenata ZWV 177 from 1737, another major work, which, thanks to the newly discovered printed libretto, now has a title Il Diamante. It was one of the few secular vocal compositions, possibly also the last, Zelenka wrote for the Dresden court, and crowns his work as a music dramatist. Il Diamante is the only known contribution Zelenka made to the genre of serenata. Serenatas were mostly vocal-instrumental compositions written to Italian texts, situated somewhere between the cantata and the opera. Zelenka took full advantage of the rich possibilities presented by the famous Dresden orchestra and its outstanding singers, for his music is brilliant and galant, and at the same time very demanding for the musicians. Here, it is the dynamic rhythmic diversity as well as the richness of the orchestral setting that mark Zelenka's highly original compositional style. Within these features the serenata crosses the boundaries of the genre, and this, as in his remarkable Trio Sonatas, is one of the reasons why his music is so fascinating for the modern day listener.