Ashbrook, W. - A Donizetti Update (2000)

R E C O R D I N G S 4 9 9
the benefit of the doubt at first, only to find it wears thin upon repetition.
Caveat emptor.
Roland Graeme
A Donizetti Update
Editor's Note: Since the publication of the extensive recording review section in our Donizetti
commemorative issue (vol. 14, no. 3 [spring 1998]), several new CDs of the composer's operas have been
released/reissued. The following compilation supplements our original coverage and evenfillsin a few
by including reviews ofseveral titles appearing for the first time on record.
Downloaded from http://oq.oxfordjournals.org/ at University of Connecticut on May 23, 2015

Zoraida di Granata (1822 original and 1824 revision)
Zoraida: Majella Cullagh Ines: Cristina Pastorello
Almuzir: Bruce Ford Academy of St. Martin in the Fields
Abenamet: Paul Austin Kelly (1822 version), Geoffrey Mitchell Choir
Diana Montague (1824. version) David Parry, conductor
AU: Matthew Hargreaves Opera Rara (distributed by Harmonia Mundi)
Almanzor: Dominic Natoli ORC17 (4 CDs)
Alahor in Granata (1826)

Alahor: SimoneAlaimo Orquestra "Ciudad de Granada"
Zobeida: Patrizia Pace Chorus ofTeatro de laMaestranza (Seville)
Muley-Hassem: Vivica Genaux Josep Pons, conductor
Alamor: Juan Diego Fldrez Almaviva (distributed by Qualiton Imports)
Sulima: Soraya Chaves DS-oizs (2 CDs)
Ismaele: Rube'n Amoretti
The two sets listed above form a most welcome contribution to the recent
Donizetti bicentennial observance, allowing a striking view of the composer in
the earliest stages of his career. Zoraida of 1822 marked its real launching in an
important theater, the Teatro Argentina in Rome, following four apprentice
works in small northern Italian venues. Alahor (Teatro Carolino, Palermo), a
work long thought lost but rediscovered comparatively recently, is presented
here in its twentieth-century premiere, 168 years after its last chronicled per-
formance. Both works reveal surprising maturity and real effectiveness from a
composer who was twenty-four when Zoraida made a hit in Rome and estab-
lished Donizetti as a force his rivals would have to reckon with.
The existence of two two-act serious operas dealing with dynastic squabbles
during thefinaldays of the Moorish kingdom in Spain coming along in such
close succession is understandable when we remember that the Italian censor-
ship boards in the 1820s were particularly touchy about anything that might
seem to disparage a Christian monarch (officially portrayed in those days as rul-
j O O R E C O R D I N G S
ing by divine right). On the other hand, non-Catholic rulers could be depicted
as more captious as long as their magnanimity was revealed in the obligatory
lietofinc. One of the popular literary sources for such plots was Gonsalve de Cor-
dove, ou Grenade reconquise by Jean-Pierre Claris de Florian, published in Paris
in 1793. Zoraida adheres fairly faithfully to Florian's narrative, whereas Alahor's
relationship to this source is more generic. The cousinship, as it were, of the
two plots requires no great astuteness to detect.
Turning first to Zoraida: Opera Rara has done a wonderful service by pre-
senting both the 1822 original version in its first complete form ever, as we shall
see, and the 1824 rifacimento in those numbers that differ from their counter-
parts in the first version. (The set's booklet contains a comprehensive back-

ground essay by Donizetti scholar Jeremy Commons, a full libretto, and a help-
ful breakdown of the contents of the two versions, presented in parallel
columns.) Shortly before the premiere of Zoraida— on 28 January 1822, cou-
pled with a performance of Pacini's Cesare in Egitto (the opening bill of that sea-
son at the Argentina) — the tenor, Americo Sbigoli, in his effort to equal the
stentorian topnotes of rival tenor Donzelli, ruptured a blood vessel in his throat
and, soon thereafter, died. As Zoraida was composed with two prominent tenor
roles, the result of this catastrophe was Donizetti's having to eliminate three
pieces involving the character of Abenamet (Sbigoli's role) and to rearrange
hastily the dramatically essential pages of Abenamet's music for the only avail-
able substitute, an obscure mezzo-soprano named Adelaide Mazzanti. The audi-
ence's sympathy for the young composer's difficult situation was such that
Zoraida enjoyed a true success. Thus in Opera Rara's recording the complete
tenor role of Abenamet from the autograph of the 1822 version, as originally
designed, is performed for the first time ever. When the opera was restaged in
1824 at the Argentina, Donizetti was invited to revise his score, and the role of
Abenamet was redesigned to show off the prowess of a star contralto, Benedetta
Pisaroni-Carrara.
In this twentieth-century reincarnation of Zoraida one is struck by the high
level of extremely listenable music and by the skillful handling of traditional
forms. The full-scale sinfonia sounds fresh, and Donizetti's innate good musi-
cal taste is everywhere apparent. The splendid quartet in act 1 and the wonder-
fully accruing groundswell of the first finale offer admirable previews of what
would prove his great knack for ensemble-writing. The jewel of the score, how-
ever, is Zoraida's act 2 romanza, "Rose che un di' spiegaste," a simple melody
with a string accompaniment that fairly breathes with a young girl's wistful
romantic aspirations. Personally, I would unhesitatingly rank this aria in the
first category of Italian soprano solos of the first half of the nineteenth century.
Opera Rara's cast is well suited to this challenging music. As Almuzir, Bruce
Ford is undismayed by the role's considerable demands. Except for an occa-
sional tightness of tone, Majella Cullagh creates a persuasive heroine, at her
best in the melancholy of "Rose che un di'." Paul Austin Kelly projects a musi-
cally adroit persona as Zoraida's beloved Abenamet, by whom she is finally won.
R E C O R D I N G S J O I
The other roles are conscientiously performed, with Cristina Pastorello giving
a charming account of Ines's aria di sorbetto, "Del destin la tirannia." Conduc-
tor David Parry has been a tower of strength in Opera Rara's explorations of
neglected Italian works of the first half of the nineteenth century, and here his
long experience in these projects adds an extra fillip of stylistic nuance. With a
cast of this level of plausibility, Donizetti's score comes across with a vividness
that helps the listener understand why this work produced such a warm recep-
tion at its first performance.
The second version ofZoraida is represented by the numbers featuring the
expanded mezzo role of Abenamet. In this role Diana Montague sings fear-
lessly. She belongs to the modern school of bravura mezzos who develop their

coloratura technique by maintaining a mezzo — as opposed to arichcontralto —
color, as the voice descends without any audible gear-shifts between registers.
We have no way of knowing what Pisaroni's vocal production was like, but I
tend to suspect that it emphasized the voce di petto. In the altered numbers of
the 1824 version, which occupy all of one CD and part of another, there are
clear signs of a change in Donizetti's style. He was the favorite pupil of Johann
Simon Mayr, a Bavarian come to Italy who became a leading opera composer
of the 1790s and the first two decades of the next century. In Donizetti's Zoraida
many tell-tale touches of orchestration and a classic elegance of line that is
instinct with feeling put one in mind of Mayr's serious operas. However, the
numbers adapted and added in 1824, most of them with extrovert choral sec-
tions, possess a sharpness of outline and a florid garrulity that indicate
Donizetti's coming-to-terms with rossinianismo. Two things spared Donizetti
from the trap of being a mere imitator: one, his uncommon sensitivity to ver-
bal values/inflections; the other, his susceptibility to dramatic (as opposed to
only musical) stimuli.
To turn now to Alahor in Granata, the performance under review is from the
work's twentieth-century revival, on the occasion of the restoration of a score
long thought to be irretrievably lost; in October 1998 there was a run of four
performances at the Teatro de la Maestranza in Seville. To summarize this
opera's thin performance history: as the Neapolitan theaters were closed in the
winter of 1825-26, Donizetti accepted a position of musical director of Teatro
Carolino in Palermo with an obligation to compose a new opera. It proved to
be a not altogether happy assignment, but after a number of frustrating delays
Alahor had its premiere on 7 January 1826, with the English soprano Elizabeth
Ferron (Zobeida), Marietta Gioia-Tamburini (Muley-Hassem), Berardo Win-
ter (Alamor), Antonio Tamburini (Alahor), and Salvatore Patti (the father of
Adelina) as Ismaele. In September 1826 it was given threetimesat the San Carlo
in Naples, with Meric-Lalande as the prima donna and Lablache in the title role.
After a revival at the Carolino in 1830, the work went unperformed until the
1998 Seville production.
From its ingratiating sinfonia to its charming finale (later recycled by
Donizetti as the conclusion of the 1828 version of his Emilia di Liverpool), Ala-
5 O 2 R E C O R D I N G S
hor is full of effective and engaging music. That the work did not survive more
hardily when it was new is because its plot belonged to a species ofspagnuolismo
and a heroic mode whose vogue was past, and the composer was already eager
for more powerfully dramatic and more highly romantic subject matter. Indeed,
Donizetti was to use Alahor as a mine for materials that he later adapted in
modified and amplified form in a number of his later scores. The most imme-
diately recognizable of these pre-echoes is the march that brings on the ruler
Muley-Hassem in the middle of act i; we know it best as the tune that Sergeant
Belcore and his troop march onstage to in act i oflfelisir d'amore. The sections
of this score that I found myself revisiting again and again were the overture,
the slow movement of the midpoint finale, and the act 2 soprano-mezzo duet.

Prime Donizetti.
The performance on this recording presents an interesting mix of experienced
donizettiani and newcomers (to me) who show surprising aptitude for this sort
of repertory. To the title role Simone Alaimo brings his usual intelligence and
stylistic competence, if not the richest of bass-baritone sounds. Vivica Genaux
is a modern mezzo for whom the formidable roulades and figurations of the
role of Muley-Hassem are no high hurdles; she also conveys a believably noble
character. Patrizia Pace is a less even singer, but she proves a beguiling Zobeida
when at her best, as in the finale to act 1 and in the beautiful act 2 love duet,
where the passages a due with Genaux are both graceful and mellifluous. The
Peruvian tenor Juan Diego Florez is a tidy, small-scale singer with unforced
high notes; in big ensemble passages he fails to make much impression. The
two comprimario roles are competently performed. Conductor Josep Pons
brings the score to dramatic life in a reading that pulsates with tension and
energy.
Opera Rara's Zoraida gives us an elegant concert reading of an important
score, while the live Alahor recording from Seville has the verbal intensity and
conviction that come from stage experience. Both sets are highly recommended.
William Ashbrook
Ilfortunato inganno (1823)

Lattanzio Lattughelli: Domenico Colaianni Fiordelisa: Madia Todisco
Aurelia: Stefania DonzeUi Biscaglino Spizzoletti: Luca Grassi
Fulgenzia del Folletto: Magali Damonte Ascanio: Mario Nisticd
II Colmello Ortenzw Franceschetti: Orchestra Internazionale d'ltalia
Nicolas Rivenq Bratislava Chamber Choir
II Tenente Eduardo: Saverio Fiore Arnold Bosnian, conductor
II Signer Bequadro: Luciano Miotto Dynamic (distributed by Qualiton Imports)
Vulcano: Massimiliano Chiarolla CDS 228/1-2 (2 CDs)
Eugenia: Eun-Joo Lee
Ilfortunato inganno, a delightful comic opera by the twenty-five-year-old

Donizetti, apparently received no more than three performances at the Naples

Ashbrook, W. - A Donizetti Update (2000)

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Ashbrook, W. - A Donizetti Update (2000)

Uploaded by

Document Information

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Ashbrook, W. - A Donizetti Update (2000)

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

R E C O R D I N G S 4 9 9

Downloaded from http://oq.oxfordjournals.org/ at University of Connecticut on May 23, 2015

Alahor in Granata (1826)

Downloaded from http://oq.oxfordjournals.org/ at University of Connecticut on May 23, 2015

Downloaded from http://oq.oxfordjournals.org/ at University of Connecticut on May 23, 2015

Downloaded from http://oq.oxfordjournals.org/ at University of Connecticut on May 23, 2015

Ilfortunato inganno (1823)

Ilfortunato inganno, a delightful comic opera by the twenty-five-year-old

You might also like