What Opera Are You Listening to Now?

[steve ridgway]

Schoenberg: Moses und Aaron

Half way through at the moment .

[steve ridgway]

Schoenberg: Moses und Aaron

Crikey, Act II was even better .

[ritter]

First listen to Licinio Refice's Cecilia, in this recently released live recording from the enterprising Teatro Lirico di Cagliari.



Refice was a catholic priest, and this azione sacra is his bet known work. It was premiered to great acclaim in Rome in 1934, with Claudia Muzio in the title rôle (she went on to record the final aria "Grazie, sorelle").

Ralph Moore describes (in MusicWeb-International) the composer's style as follows: "This is undoubtedly sensuous music which maintains great dignity and poise". I think this sums it up quite nicely. Certainly good to know this score.

[springrite]

Marschner: Der Vampyr (Video, Hanover Opera)

[steve ridgway]

Bartók: Bluebeard's Castle

Oh, another opera I'm actually enjoying! .

[ritter]

Bellini's La Straniera, in its first commercial recording, under Gianfranco Masini and with Lucia Aliberti in the leading rôle.



This might be one of the lesser-known Bellini operas, but his melodic genius shines through, the music is highly expressive, and it all is a very rewarding listening experience. The performance, live from the Teatro Verdi in Trieste, is excellent.

[Henk]

Great opera. Feels relevant to our times. Recording is from 2020.

[ritter]

Riccardo Zandonai's now almost forgotten take in the Romeo and Juliet story...



This Giulietta e Romeo is from 1922, i.e. from eight years after the composer's only (more or less) lasting success, Francesca da Rimini. It is a solidly constructed and effective opera, but doesn't seem a very inspired one.  The rich orchestral backdrop is the most striking aspect to my ears.

This is a typical Cetra production from 1961, with a cast that ranges from the obscure (tenor Angelo Lo Forese and baritone Mario Zanasi) to the never-heard-of (soprano Antonietta Mazza Medici and conductor Loris Gavarini).

[Roasted Swan]

I'm not sure when I last 'properly' listened to this work in the abbreviated version conducted by its composer Aaron Copland;

[img=350x350]https://i.discogs.com/mnujqLn2e--Kw0lGiPIaK8K4TkTu0nnbXfAOUAzGKsM/rs:fit/g:sm/q:90/h:600/w:600/czM6Ly9kaXNjb2dz/LWRhdGFiYXNlLWlt/YWdlcy9SLTgxODI0/MjItMTQ1NjY3NjQ5/My03NjY5LmdpZg.jpeg[/img]

Yes it is Copland in prime "home-spun-down-on-the-farm" mode yearning for an America that probably never existed but he does that idiom so well and so movingly.  I really enjoyed this version - excellent, idiomatic singers who find the right balance between natural/easy singing and operatic weight.  It has made me want to seek out the full opera now - even if it proves that this single disc contains the best bits!

[Ganondorf]

A question: did Callas ever sing Minnie from Puccini's Fanciulla del West, either on stage or on Record?

[Tsaraslondon]

A question: did Callas ever sing Minnie from Puccini's Fanciulla del West, either on stage or on Record?

No, she never sang a note of it and, to be honest, I can't really imagine her as a gun-toting cowgirl. Callas actually didn't think very highly of Puccini, even Tosca,though she became so famous for the role. In actual fact, though she sang it quite a lot in her early career, she never sang it, nor any other Puccini role, at La Scala, which was her cultural home between the years of 1952 and 1958. Indeed, after making the famous 1953 recording at La Scala, she sang it only rarely (once in Genoa in 1954 and also at her two Met seasons of 1956 and 1958) until it became the vehicle of her return to the stage at Covent Garden in 1964 in the famous Zeffirelli production.

Turandot she sang quite a bit between 1947 and 1949, but dropped it as soon as she could, "because it's not very good for the voice, you know" and Butterfly she sang for one series of performances in Chicago in 1955. She sang Angelica in a student performance in 1940, when she would have been only seventeen, but Mimi and Manon were just studio creations.

Callas was much more of a bel canto and Verdi soprano.

[JBS]

No, she never sang a note of it and, to be honest, I can't really imagine her as a gun-toting cowgirl. Callas actually didn't think very highly of Puccini, even Tosca,though she became so famous for the role. In actual fact, though she sang it quite a lot in her early career, she never sang it, nor any other Puccini role, at La Scala, which was her cultural home between the years of 1952 and 1958. Indeed, after making the famous 1953 recording at La Scala, she sang it only rarely (once in Genoa in 1954 and also at her two Met seasons of 1956 and 1958) until it became the vehicle of her return to the stage at Covent Garden in 1964 in the famous Zeffirelli production.

Turandot she sang quite a bit between 1947 and 1949, but dropped it as soon as she could, "because it's not very good for the voice, you know" and Butterfly she sang for one series of performances in Chicago in 1955. She sang Angelica in a student performance in 1940, when she would have been only seventeen, but Mimi and Manon were just studio creations.

Callas was much more of a bel canto and Verdi soprano.

You know have me contemplating an alternate universe in which Callas sang the role of Liu instead of the title role.

[Tsaraslondon]

You know have me contemplating an alternate universe in which Callas sang the role of Liu instead of the title role.

Haha. No way would Callas play seconda donna!

[ritter]

Another recent purchase, Pergolesi's delightful Livietta e Tracollo, a comic intermezzo in two parts, written to be interpolated in the opera seria Adriano in Siria. Very eloquent performance, and surprisingly vivid sound for the vintage (1961).

[ritter]

Listening to Act I of Donizetti's La Favorite, in its original French version. Donato Renzetti conducts, and Gloria Scalchi, Luca Canonici and René Massis are the lead singers. Live from the Teatro Donizzetti in Bergamo in 1991.



I'm not the greatest fan of Donizetti, but when Melomania.com in Paris was offering for a pittance this long OOP recording of the (then new) critical edition of one of his major operas —which was not represented in my collection— I pulled the trigger. So far, this is proving enjoyable (I always get the impression that Italian composers of that era tried to outdo themselves when working for Paris). The only caveat so far is the poor French diction of some of the singers and the chorus.

I actually saw La Favorita (i.e. the version translated into Italian) fully staged many years ago in Caracas, in what turned out to be an (unintentionally) hilarious performance. Leonor was Fiorenza Cossotto no less, and her husband Ivo Vinco was also in the cast. Alphonse XI was Pablo Elvira. The problem was that the initially announced tenor fell ill (or defected for some other reason) and the only cover that could find was the then very young Antonio Barasorda, who didn't know the rôle of Fernando well. He therefore sung from the wings, score in hand,  while the stage director (a very thin man, particularly next to Signora Cossotto) mimed the rôle onstage. It all looked like a scene from a Marx Brothers movie. 

But at least I can say I saw Fiorenza Cossotto live  in a major rôle (even if past her prime).

[JBS]

Listening to Act I of Donizetti's La Favorite, in its original French version. Donato Renzetti conducts, and Gloria Scalchi, Luca Canonici and René Massis are the lead singers. Live from the Teatro Donizzetti in Bergamo in 1991.



I'm not the greatest fan of Donizetti, but when Melomania.com in Paris was offering for a pittance this long OOP recording of the (then new) critical edition of one of his major operas —which was not represented in my collection— I pulled the trigger. So far, this is proving enjoyable (I always get the impression that Italian composers of that era tried to outdo themselves when working for Paris). The only caveat so far is the poor French diction of some of the singers and the chorus.

I actually saw La Favorita (i.e. the version translated into Italian) fully staged many years ago in Caracas, in what turned out to be an (unintentionally) hilarious performance. Leonor was Fiorenza Cossotto no less, and her husband Ivo Vinco was also in the cast. Alphonse XI was Pablo Elvira. The problem was that the initially announced tenor fell ill (or defected for some other reason) and the only cover that could find was the then very young Antonio Barasorda, who didn't know the rôle of Fernando well. He therefore sung from the wings, score in hand,  while the stage director (a very thin man, particularly next to Signora Cossotto) mimed the rôle onstage. It all looked like a scene from a Marx Brothers movie. 

But at least I can say I saw Fiorenza Cossotto live  in a major rôle (even if past her prime).

My own single encounter with La Favorita was almost as bad, but with no humor to lighten it:
A MET touring production which had been put on with Pavarotti: but he cancelled and James Alexander substituted. That was depressing, but what killed the experience was the prima donna. I don't remember her name (only that it was Slavic) but I do remember that she was a very big lady, possibly cast to match Pavarotti's bulk, who insisted on standing front and center downstage as often as possible, even when it meant Alexander was hidden from view behind her. Her singing was not bad, but it wasn't enough to keep her from becoming a bore by the end of Act I.

[springrite]

Listening to Act I of Donizetti's La Favorite, in its original French version. Donato Renzetti conducts, and Gloria Scalchi, Luca Canonici and René Massis are the lead singers. Live from the Teatro Donizzetti in Bergamo in 1991.



I'm not the greatest fan of Donizetti, but when Melomania.com in Paris was offering for a pittance this long OOP recording of the (then new) critical edition of one of his major operas —which was not represented in my collection— I pulled the trigger. So far, this is proving enjoyable (I always get the impression that Italian composers of that era tried to outdo themselves when working for Paris). The only caveat so far is the poor French diction of some of the singers and the chorus.

I actually saw La Favorita (i.e. the version translated into Italian) fully staged many years ago in Caracas, in what turned out to be an (unintentionally) hilarious performance. Leonor was Fiorenza Cossotto no less, and her husband Ivo Vinco was also in the cast. Alphonse XI was Pablo Elvira. The problem was that the initially announced tenor fell ill (or defected for some other reason) and the only cover that could find was the then very young Antonio Barasorda, who didn't know the rôle of Fernando well. He therefore sung from the wings, score in hand,  while the stage director (a very thin man, particularly next to Signora Cossotto) mimed the rôle onstage. It all looked like a scene from a Marx Brothers movie. 

But at least I can say I saw Fiorenza Cossotto live  in a major rôle (even if past her prime).

Haha! This is hilarious!

La Favorita is my favorite Donizetti opera. The recording I have is in Italian (as most are, I am sure), with Alfredo Kraus.

Opera in French sung by non-French cast is always a problem. Let's face it, nobody who's not French can sing in French!

[Roasted Swan]

Listening to Act I of Donizetti's La Favorite, in its original French version. Donato Renzetti conducts, and Gloria Scalchi, Luca Canonici and René Massis are the lead singers. Live from the Teatro Donizzetti in Bergamo in 1991.



I'm not the greatest fan of Donizetti, but when Melomania.com in Paris was offering for a pittance this long OOP recording of the (then new) critical edition of one of his major operas —which was not represented in my collection— I pulled the trigger. So far, this is proving enjoyable (I always get the impression that Italian composers of that era tried to outdo themselves when working for Paris). The only caveat so far is the poor French diction of some of the singers and the chorus.

I actually saw La Favorita (i.e. the version translated into Italian) fully staged many years ago in Caracas, in what turned out to be an (unintentionally) hilarious performance. Leonor was Fiorenza Cossotto no less, and her husband Ivo Vinco was also in the cast. Alphonse XI was Pablo Elvira. The problem was that the initially announced tenor fell ill (or defected for some other reason) and the only cover that could find was the then very young Antonio Barasorda, who didn't know the rôle of Fernando well. He therefore sung from the wings, score in hand,  while the stage director (a very thin man, particularly next to Signora Cossotto) mimed the rôle onstage. It all looked like a scene from a Marx Brothers movie. 

But at least I can say I saw Fiorenza Cossotto live  in a major rôle (even if past her prime).

Back in 1984/5 when I was playing for an Italian opera house we did Saint-Saens Samson et Dalila with Cossotto in her vocal pomp playing the title roll.  She was utterly astounding.  One of my career all-time highlights....

[Wendell_E]

My own single encounter with La Favorita was almost as bad, but with no humor to lighten it:
A MET touring production which had been put on with Pavarotti: but he cancelled and James Alexander substituted. That was depressing, but what killed the experience was the prima donna. I don't remember her name (only that it was Slavic) but I do remember that she was a very big lady, possibly cast to match Pavarotti's bulk, who insisted on standing front and center downstage as often as possible, even when it meant Alexander was hidden from view behind her. Her singing was not bad, but it wasn't enough to keep her from becoming a bore by the end of Act I.

It's John (not James) Alexander. Checking the Met database, the Leonora for all tour performances was Bianca Berini, who's Italian, not Slavic.

[Florestan]

Listening to Act I of Donizetti's La Favorite, in its original French version. Donato Renzetti conducts, and Gloria Scalchi, Luca Canonici and René Massis are the lead singers. Live from the Teatro Donizzetti in Bergamo in 1991.



I'm not the greatest fan of Donizetti, but when Melomania.com in Paris was offering for a pittance this long OOP recording of the (then new) critical edition of one of his major operas —which was not represented in my collection— I pulled the trigger. So far, this is proving enjoyable (I always get the impression that Italian composers of that era tried to outdo themselves when working for Paris). The only caveat so far is the poor French diction of some of the singers and the chorus.

I actually saw La Favorita (i.e. the version translated into Italian) fully staged many years ago in Caracas, in what turned out to be an (unintentionally) hilarious performance. Leonor was Fiorenza Cossotto no less, and her husband Ivo Vinco was also in the cast. Alphonse XI was Pablo Elvira. The problem was that the initially announced tenor fell ill (or defected for some other reason) and the only cover that could find was the then very young Antonio Barasorda, who didn't know the rôle of Fernando well. He therefore sung from the wings, score in hand,  while the stage director (a very thin man, particularly next to Signora Cossotto) mimed the rôle onstage. It all looked like a scene from a Marx Brothers movie. 

But at least I can say I saw Fiorenza Cossotto live  in a major rôle (even if past her prime).

Hilarious!