What better way for Masonic brothers, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Emmanuel Shikaneder to disseminate Masonic virtues, than through the most popular musical entertainment of their age, a happy ending folktale that features a dragon, enchanting flutes and bells, mixed-up parentage, and a beautiful young princess in distress?
Since its first performance at the Teatro Santi Giovanni e Paolo during Venice’s 1643 Carnevale, Monteverdi’s L’Incoronazione di Poppea has been one of the most important milestones in the genesis of modern opera despite its 250 years of unmerited obscurity.
Though 2013 is the bicentennial of the births of Giuseppe Verdi and Richard Wagner, the releases of Cecilia Bartoli’s recording of Bellini’s Norma on DECCA, a new studio recording of Donizetti’s Caterina Cornaro from Opera Rara, and this première recording of Saverio Mercadante’s forgotten I due Figaro, suggest that this is the start of a summer of bel canto.
Recording Richard Wagner’s Der Ring des Nibelungen is for a record label equivalent to a climber reaching the summit of Mount Everest: it is the zenith from which a label surveys its position among its rivals and appreciates an achievement that can define its reputation for a generation.
Few people who love opera in general and bel canto in particular have never heard the comment made by Lilli Lehmann, veteran of the inaugural Ring at Bayreuth in 1876, that singing all three of Wagner’s Brünnhildes—in Die Walküre, Siegfried, and Götterdämmerung, respectively, all of which she sang to great acclaim—pales in comparison with singing the title rôle in Bellini’s Norma.
Paul Dukas’ Ariane et Barbe-Bleue, first heard in 1907, once seemed important. Arturo Toscanini conducted the Met premiere in 1911 with Farrar and later arranged some of its music for a 1947 recording with his NBC Symphony.
The economics of the recording companies dictate much that is not ideal. Wagner’s operas were not composed as they were in order to permit the extraction of bleeding chunks, even on those occasions when strophic song forms do occur.
Among the recent recordings of Mahler’s Eighth Symphony, Valery Gergiev’s release on the LSO Live label is an excellent addition to the discography of this work.
While not unknown, the songs of Alexander von Zemlinsky (1871-1942) deserve to be heard more frequently.
Recorded on 5 and 6 May 2008 and 17 and 18 January 2009 at the Lisztzentrum (Raiding, Austria), this recent Bridge release makes available the piano-vocal versions of three song cycles by Gustav Mahler, Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen, Rückert-Lieder, and Kindertotenlieder performed by mezzo-soprano Hermine Haselböck, accompanied by Russell Ryan.
Contraltos rarely achieve the acclaim and renown of sopranos. Assigned few leading roles in opera, they are condemned to playing the villain or the grandmother, or to stealing the castrati’s trousers in en travesti roles.
Following their 2011 Decca recording of Striggio’s Mass in 40 Parts (1566), I Fagiolini continue their quest to unearth lost treasures of the High Renaissance and early Baroque, with this collection of world-premiere recordings, ‘reconstructions’ and ‘reconstitutions’ of music by Giovanni and Andrea Gabrieli, Monteverdi, Palestrina, and their less well-known compatriots Viadana, Barbarino and Soriano.
Eternal Echoes is an album of khazones [Jewish cantorial music] for cantorial soloist, solo violin and a blended instrumental ensemble comprising a small orchestra and the Klezmer Conservatory Band.
Michael Tilson Thomas’s recording of Mahler’s Third Symphony is an outstanding contribution to the composer’s discography.
Oliver Knussen burst into British music with an unprecedented flourish. In 1967, the London Symphony Orchestra premiered Knussen’s First Symphony, with István Kertész scheduled to conduct.
Based on performances given in Summer 2010 at the Lucerne Festival, this recording of Beethoven’s Fidelio is an admirable recording that captures the vitality of the work as conducted by Claudio Abbado.
Stanisław Moniuszko (1819-1872) was one of the most popular composers of his day in Poland, and of the many works he wrote for the stage, two are performed from time to time, Halka (1848) and Strazny dwór [The Haunted Manor] (1865).
The Polish alto Jadwiga Rappé is a familiar voice in various stage and concert works, and the recent release of a selection of songs by Stanisław Moniuszko (1819-1872) is an opportunity to hear her performing artsongs.
Originally released on multiple discs in 1981 this reissue on two CDs is a comprehensive collection of art songs by Italian and French composers from the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
An exciting contribution to the discography of this popular opera, the live performance of Richard Strauss’s Salome from the Festspielhaus at Baden-Baden is a compelling DVD.
Pietro il Grande ossia Il falegname di Livonia was premiered to open the 1819-20 Carnival season at the Teatro San Samuele in Venice, a city that saw the birth of many of the light operas of the decade, including quite a few by Rossini. The premiere took place on Dec. 26, 1819.
It was the fourth of Donizetti’s operas to be performed during his life, and the first of Donizetti’s to achieve any kind of performance history. It had at least seven stagings by 1827 , when its last known performance in the 19th century took place. It was neglected until 2003 when it was given in St. Petersburg. It was on the same subject as Pacini’s Falegname di Livonia, although the latter had a much better record of performances between its premiere (also in 1819) and 1840, when it was last heard. The Pacini work had an unusual total of 47 performances at La Scala in its premiere run, and was to have close to 40 more stagings. As a matter of fact, throughout the 1820s, it was Pacini rather than Bellini, Donizetti or Mercadante who gave Rossini the biggest competition in Italy.
The plot of Pietro il Grande is relatively simple. Carlo, a carpenter in an unnamed town in Livonia (Latvia), which was then under Russian rule, is in love with the orphan Annetta who also lives in the town. Carlo claims to be of noble origin and shows that he has a bit of a temper when the tsar and his wife, Caterina, arrive, both traveling incognito. They are looking for the tsarina’s lost brother, and have reason to suspect that it might be Carlo. The tsar asks the innkeeper, Madame Fritz, about this carpenter, when Carlo enters. Carlo, not knowing who the stranger is, is rather insolent to him, and an argument ensues, with Peter threatening Carlo with dire consequences. The town magistrate , Ser Cuccupis, also gets into an argument with Peter. This magistrate has pretensions of grandeur. Not knowing who the stranger is, he goes so far as to threaten him with his friend, the tsar. Peter decides to pull rank on the magistrate, and tells him that he is Menzikoff, a high officer of the tsar. The magistrate has Carlo imprisoned. The latter is about to be convicted when Madame Fritz runs in with some documents proving that he is Catherine’s brother. Carlo is not told this until Act II, at which time he introduces the girl to the imperial couple. He warns them that the tsar must never see her since she is the daughter of the traitor Mazeppa (the subject of several operas). When told that Mazeppa is dead, Menzikoff pardons the girl. The captain of the troops tells the magistrate that Menzikoff is actually the tsar. The magistrate sees an opportunity to advance himself, but since the tsar has already recognized him for what he is, he fires him from his position of authority and orders him to pay a fine. Peter, Catherine, Carlo and Annetta leave happily for St. Petersburg.
Donizetti was to write a second opera on Peter the Great’s incognito travels some eight years later (1827). The details of the plot differ, although the tenor is again a carpenter (falegname), the buffo becomes the town mayor rather than a magistrate, and the heroine the mayor’s daughter rather than an orphan. The action takes place at the seaport of Zaandam in Holland,, rather than the town in Livonia (Latvia). This second Donizetti work on the subject, Il Borgomastro di Saardam was to be less successful than the first, although the same plot was used in 1837 by Albert Lortzing for his tremendously successful Zar und Zimmermann . Another 17 years were to pass before Meyerbeer put his oar in with L’etoile du Nord , where Peter and Catherine first fall in love, not surprisingly, the tsar also starts out incognito in this work, in his customary disguise as a carpenter.
When I was first asked to review this recording, I expected a very Rossinian opera buffo. It is, to a large extent, but I was still able to see tiny glimpses of Donizetti’s own personality come shining through. An example is the lyric pathos of Annetta’s “veder l’amato bene” in the finale to Act I. There are other lovely numbers, including the duet for Pietro and the Magistrate: “Ser Decuppia siete voi”, definitely a forerunner of the delightful “Cheti, cheti” in Don Pasquale and Carlo’s aria “Il dolce nome e tenero”.
Martina Franca often uses unfamiliar, but talented young singers, as is the case here. I particularly enjoyed the Madame Fritz of Rosa Anna Peraino, the Pietro of Vito Priante and the intentionally obnoxious Magistrate of Giulio Mastrototaro. But the entire cast contributes to the success of the performance.
Still, if I may make a suggestion for future Dynamic releases of operas of the period, the consistency between the tabulation of the tracks on the CDs and the cast list could stand a little more attention. Thus, looking at the tabulation on pages 2 and 3, we see several “numbers” sung by the “Magistrato”. But there is no “Magistrato” in the cast list on page 1 — instead, he is listed under his other name of Ser Cuccupis.
Martina Franca has a long history of reviving long forgotten works, often giving these as part of a series with a thread in common. Perhaps they will give Peter the Great the same treatment, and revive Pacini’s Falegname di Livonia , Donizetti’s Borgomastro di Saardam, and Meyerbeer’s Etoile du Nord . Hopefully, if such a revival of operas dealing with Peter the Great takes place, they will all be recorded by Dynamic
This is a recording I can recommend not only to Donizetti completists, but to all who appreciate Italian opera
Tom Kaufman