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Midway through her ambitious album Mission, Cecilia Bartoli sings, in vehement Italian, “I take no counsel, except from fury. A desire for vengeance and zeal for honour care naught for danger.“ Those words could have been an epitaph for Agostino Steffani, the man who wrote the music she's singing. Steffani, barely more than a footnote in music history these days, wrote reams of well-built vocal music a generation before J.S. Bach and led an extraordinary life. When Steffani wasn't composing some 15 operas and 75 chamber duets, he accepted missions throughout Europe as a priest, diplomat and political operative. He rubbed elbows with German royalty, the Austrian emperor and the Pope. His life, according to Bartoli, was shrouded in mystery and conspiracy. Cecilia Bartoli's Latest 'Mission' Rediscovers Agostino Steffani All of which is great fodder for Bartoli's record company, Decca, which must be having a blast promoting the album. Photos (see the slidesho
