Also available on Blu-ray

Le nozze in villa (‘The Wedding in the Villa’) tells the story of Sabina and the young Claudio. They are in love, but this match goes against the will of her father, who wants her to marry the Schoolmaster Trifoglio. Misunderstandings and tensions between city emancipation and provincial narrow-mindedness are resolved, and romance ultimately triumphs thanks to the alliance of ‘gracefulness, faith and youth’. This early and virtually unknown opera buffa by Donizetti is full of Rossini-influenced lyrical inventiveness and beautiful arias. Specially restored for the 2019 Bergamo Festival, this revival brings out all of the opera’s ‘sparkling spirit and melodiousness’ (bachtrack.com).

In its original form, Maria di Rohan was without doubt the most audacious result – pre-Verdi – of aesthetic transformation beyond the courtly dramas of “long Italian classicism”. The opera’s intrigue develops like an unstoppable machine: the fatal triangle formed by Maria, Chalais and Chevreuse being the work of Richelieu’s absolute power (despite never appearing on stage). Like trapped animals, the characters hopelessly search for a way out, and they devour each other in turn. Recorded at the Bergamo Donizetti Festival, October 2011, this is the first DVD release of Donizetti’s 1843 opera.

This sparkling opera buffa is a premiere from the 2016 Donizetti Festival of Bergamo, with the part of Pasquale in Neapolitan dialect. It is the story of two rich merchant brothers from Lisbon, who are used to weighing everything against their barganing power. Also the marriage of Pasquale's niece Isabella is a "bargain" to them: she must marry another merchant, so as not to break with family tradition. The gags among the various characters are hilarious - especially those between the two brothers, who have competely different characters - creating an almost surreal atmosphere. Olivo, interpreted by Bruno Taddia, is teh real protagonist: as Isabella's father, he portrays a gruff, inflexible man, and does so with self-assurance and ease but never over the top. No less convincing is Filippo Morace as his brother Pasquale: istrionic and exhilarating as a na ctor, musically precise, and excellent in his Neapolitan dialect performance. Laurea Giordano, also thanks to her physique du role, is perfect as Isabella, the heartbroken girl torn between love for the young Camillo and obedience towards her grouchy father.

DONIZETTI Roberto Devereux • Marcello Rota, cond; Dimitra Theodossiou (Elizabeth, Queen of England); Federica Bragaglia (Sara, Duchess of Nottingham); Massimiliano Pisapia (Robert Devereux, Earl of Essex); Luigi Albani (Lord Cecil); Andrew Schroeder (The Duke of Nottingham); Giorgio Valerio (Sir Walter Raleigh); Bergamo Musica Festival O & Ch • NAXOS 2.110232 (DVD: 134:14) Live: Bergamo 9/2006

Roberto Devereux is one of Donizetti’s most accomplished and engaging scores. A great success at its Naples premiere in 1837, it soon spread throughout Italy and Europe. Although the story has almost no connection with actual historical events, the libretto presented Donizetti with an uncomplicated story of well-developed scenes that obviously inspired the composer.

This DVD preserves a very good performance from the 2006 Bergamo Musica Festival. Dimitra Theodossiou portrays Elizabeth as the aged and imperious queen she was. She has the power to make the character believable and the softness for the lover who fears she has been rejected for a rival. She copes easily with the florid music in a range extending over two octaves; I was particularly impressed that the lowest notes in her role are sung as well as those above the staff.

Massimiliano Pisapia has a strong, ringing tenor voice that matches well the ardent lover he is portraying. As his secret love interest, Federica Bragaglia displays a soft-grained voice that sometimes is in danger of being overwhelmed by the chorus or orchestra, but she manages to hold her own and otherwise sings quiet well. She is also lovely to look at and does the best acting of the cast. Andrew Schroeder’s solid baritone is just what is needed for Nottingham. The minor roles are adequately cast or better.

The Chorus and Orchestra were specially formed in 2006 to participate in the Bergamo Festival. There was a time, not so many years ago, when Italian orchestras were known for sloppy technique, but this is no longer true. Despite their ad hoc nature, both chorus and orchestra perform as if they are well-established, strongly disciplined ensembles. Much of the credit for this must go to the chorus master, Corrado Casati, and especially to conductor Marcello Rota. Rota provides excellent support to the singers, keeping the performance moving while allowing the singers to linger over a note or phrase when appropriate.

There is, however, one practice, which I wish Rota had not allowed. All four principals engage in an annoying practice in which they stop singing toward the end of a set piece so that they can prepare to belt out an unwritten high note or hold the last note of an aria or duet long past its written value in an obvious attempt to milk applause. This vanity at the expense of the music should be discouraged, but unfortunately it disfigures far too many live performances.

Rota does not perform the Overture, which was not written for the original Naples production but was added by Donizetti for the opera’s first performance in Paris in 1838. Otherwise, the opera appears to be performed complete. I qualify this statement because there are small differences between the Kalmas vocal score and the opera as performed; however, other performances I have heard contain similar differences, so I assume that the score as performed here is the result of modern scholarship.

The production is quite attractive and is, wonder of wonders, set in the correct historical context. There are a couple of miscalculations, however. The camera allows us to see what looks like a terrible makeup job on Andrew Schroeder. Stranger still is the portrayal of Elizabeth in the final scene of the opera. Previously, she had been shown as the familiar aged, bald Elizabeth with a flaming red wig, which nevertheless leaves the front of her scalp bald. In the final scene, in which Elizabeth is portrayed in a less-formal setting, she is shown without a wig but has suddenly developed a full head of grey hair where there was baldness before. Otherwise, David Walker, who was responsible for the sets and costumes, is to be commended for an excellent job. The performance is well miked, with the singers being easily audible from every part of the stage. Subtitles are available only in English and Italian.

Revived after 171 years in oblivion, the staging of Rosmonda d’Inghilterra at Bergamo’s Teatro Donizetti proved fascinating for the Italian public. From the excellent cast of singers, Jessica Pratt and Eva Mei gave standout performances. The opera revolves around a tale of love and intrigue surrounding the main protagonists- the famous Queen Eleanor of Aquitaine, her husband Henry II of England, and the fair Rosamund de Clifford. Rosmonda is the quintessential innocent, unaware that the man she loves is the King of England and that she has unwittingly become a rival to the much-feared Queen Eleanor of Aquitaine. Eleanor, having already had her first marriage annulled for reasons of consanguinity, is unwilling to se her second marriage also fail. Only the faithful page Arturo, secretly in love with Rosmonda, knows that the Queen is aware of her husband’s betrayal; but he too is embroiled in this game of deceit hoping that he will end up winning the girl. The emotional and dramatic development is very effective. There is not a page in this score without some example of brilliant writing, a captivating theme, a moving passage. It all goes to prove how deeply original Donizetti was and how much there is still to be discovered about this underappreciated composer.

This work is captivating in its intensity and focuses on aspects of and moments in Tasso's rich, eventful life. Indeed, Donizetti seems to have been so actively involved in drafting his subject that he may well have seen in Tasso not a little of himself. After all, both composer and poet hailed from Bergamo. Reports at the time indicate the opera was initially received with considerable warmth and, on occasion, outright enthusiasm. Yet this success proved short-lived. The growing vogue for tragic subjects in opera probably made Torquato Tasso seem an odd hotchpotch of unrelated elements with a finale that, for all its outstanding approach to the music, in dramatic terms had neither a properly happy nor unhappy ending. The fact remains, however that the music of Torquato Tasso is highly inventive – outstandingly so. If today's audiences can strike a balance between the several approaches to stagecraft in this opera, Torquato Tasso will reveal new delights for the eye and ear and so become one of the finest instances of Donizetti at his most experimental and charismatic.

“Dvořák's New World Symphony - A Lens on the American Experience of Race”
A PostClassical Ensemble “More than Music” film
Written and produced by Joseph Horowitz
Visual presentation by Peter Bogdanoff
Film one in the six-film Naxos series:
“Dvorak’s Prophecy: A New Narrative for American Classical Music”

The six documentary films in this series align with Joe Horowitz's new book 'Dvořák’s Prophecy and the Vexed Fate of Black Classical Music'. Like the book, they explore a “new paradigm” for the history of classical music in the United States. Why classical music in America “stayed white” is a central concern of Dvořák’s Prophecy." The films incorporate Naxos recordings as well as live performances, including William Sharp singing Ives, Kevin Deas singing Harry Burleigh, and Dennis Russell Davies conducting Harrison’s Piano Concerto. Participating commentators include critic Alex Ross, Black Classical Music pioneer George Shirley, music historians Bill Alves, Beth Levy, and Judith Tick, and the African-American conductors Roderick Cox and the late Michael Morgan.

 This first film in the series keys on Dvořák’s prophecy and explores its present-day pertinence. In New York City and Spillville, Iowa, Dvořák boldly chose to regard African-Americans and Native Americans as representative Americans. That decision was both acclaimed and ridiculed at the time. It remains inspirational. His New World Symphony, still the best known and best loved symphonic work conceived on American soil, is saturated with the influence of plantation song, and also with Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s The Song of Hiawatha. This act of appropriation, the film argues, was an act of empathy performed by a great humanitarian. The musical selections here are mainly taken from the Hiawatha Melodrama, which Joe Horowitz co-composed with the music historian Michael Beckerman with orchestrations by Angel Gil-Ordonez. It mates Dvorak with Longfellow. The participating commentators include the music historians Mark Clague and Lorenzo Candelaria, the literary historian Brian Yothers, the conductor JoAnn Falletta, faculty members from Howard University – and also (sagely commenting on cultural appropriation) the bass-baritone Kevin Deas, and the late Michael Morgan.

"Horowitz's six beautiful films reveal a compelling inclusive tradition in American classical music, open to influences from popular, Black, Native American, and world music, this music is deeply interwoven with American culture." – J. Peter Burkholder, author of A History of Western Music and Listening to Charles Ives.