Review:

At last! While we have plenty of filmed productions of Coppélia to watch and enjoy – whether vintage, bang up to date or downright wacky – and a very good one of Sylvia, this new release finally brings the first of Delibes’s three ballets, La source, to a wide audience via Blu-ray and DVD.

The usual explanation for La source’s historical neglect has been that the contribution of Delibes’s co-composer Ludwig Minkus diminished the overall quality of the score. But that suggestion isn’t an adequate one – or even necessarily accurate. In the first place, we need to be clear that “co-composers” doesn’t mean that each of the score’s individual numbers was a sort of high-quality-Delibes-watered-down-by-workmanlike-Minkus hybrid. In fact, the way in which the collaborative process worked was a very practical one – even if we have no idea why it was adopted – with each man allocated responsibility for different parts of the score. Minkus was entrusted with Act 1 and the second scene of Act 3, while Delibes was responsible for Act 2 and Act 3’s first scene. That turned out, in practice, to be a pretty even split, for Minkus ended up providing about 45 minutes worth of music and Delibes penned about 44[.]

It is certainly true that there are differences between the two men’s scores. To some extent, those derive from the mundanely practical point that each composer was writing music for very different sections of the story. Minkus’s focus in Act 1 was on establishing the ballet’s various characters and generally setting the scene, while the finale to Act 3 offered few opportunities as it gave him only six minutes to wrap up the whole drama. Delibes, on the other hand, was tasked with creating the music underpinning the more glamorous jollifications at the khan’s court, which allowed him to concentrate on writing livelier material that was characterised by far more colour, glitter and exotic sensuality.

There is, however, a second and somewhat more fundamental explanation for the perceived contrasts between the two composers’ scores, for Minkus and Delibes had rather different conceptions of what writing music for the ballet actually meant. The former was a composer of the old school who, as Ivor Guest wrote in his booklet essay for the aforementioned Bonynge CD, “specialised in composing music for the ballet, a field not highly regarded in musical circles but which nonetheless demanded a special gift to satisfy the ballet-master’s requirements – to produce melodious numbers for the dances and suitably descriptive passages for the action, and above all to deliver to a deadline”. That has led some critics to perceive Minkus as little more than a hack journeyman who churned out unmemorable material on demand, even though audiences who have come to appreciate the manner in which his skilfully-wrought scores underpin such popular ballets as Don Quixote and La bayadère might beg to differ. In reality, his music was in no way “inferior” to that of the next generation of ballet composers: it simply aimed to achieve a very different - but certainly no less legitimate – musical and dramatic purpose. The first embodiment of that subsequent generation, Delibes himself, was, on the other hand, a composer whose conception of ballet was developing into something rather more ambitious. No less a figure than Tchaikovsky, the originator of the modern “symphonic” style of ballet score, regarded Sylvia as “the first ballet in which the music constitutes not just the main, but the sole interest. What charm, what grace, what melodic, rhythmic and harmonic richness. I was ashamed. If I had known this music earlier, then of course I would not have written Swan Lake”.

It is far too easy, in fact, to assert glibly that any contrasts between the two composers’ contributions are necessarily qualitative in nature. Indeed, when listened to blind and without foreknowledge of who actually composed what, the score of La source – skilfully edited and occasionally augmented here by Marc-Olivier Dupin - actually emerges as a pretty seamless whole.

In reality, there were two other much more significant causes of the ballet’s failure to maintain a long-term place in the repertoire. In the first case, its plot was undeniably involved, and it is notable that the production under consideration omits several of its complicating plotlines. Moreover, the fact that there are no less than three central female figures and that easily confused names were selected for some of the central characters (Naïla/Nouredda, Djémil/Dadjé) does not help. The inconsistency of some of the participants’ on-stage motivations can also be puzzling from time to time – though, in the absence of any other modern production with which to compare it, that may be a feature unique to this particular one.

The second legitimate reason for La source’s relatively rapid descent into obscurity is simply accidental. It successfully maintained its place in the repertoire for a decade and there is no reason to doubt that regular revivals might subsequently have been mounted. However, a disastrous fire in 1873 destroyed the drawings, models and plans on which the original production had been based and, rather than recreate them from scratch, it no doubt seemed easier to ballet impresarios at the time to move on to different projects.

This new Blu-ray/DVD release preserves a new production of the ballet dating from almost 150 years after its premiere. Conservatively choreographed by Jean-Guillaume Bart for the Paris Opera Ballet, it follows the original story’s broad outlines and uses much of the Minkus/Delibes score. Booklet notes author Laure Guilbert is nevertheless at pains to stress that this production is in no way a “reconstruction” of the original but instead has a character and identity of its own. Those last words might be enough to strike fear in the heart of traditionalist ballet fans, but in reality the French choreographer (gushingly described by Ms. Guilbert as a man who “fervently cultivates his attachment to the classical universe… a lover of dance who has transformed [it] into an odyssey throughout the near- and far-flung realms of the art”) is owed a real debt of gratitude for his achievement in returning La source to the stage. There are, it’s true, a few significant problem areas that would have benefited from attention. In the case of the plot, Nouredda’s motivation and reactions as she experiences her character’s trials and tribulations can be somewhat opaque or even downright puzzling. In addition, the stage production itself is visually rather disconcerting. There is, to my own eyes at least, a jarring mismatch between Christian Lacroix’s detailed and often gorgeously elaborate costumes and Éric Ruf’s essentially impressionistic set designs. The latter are highly imaginative and attractive in their own right (especially a set of prominent and exquisitely lit ropes, lowered over the stage from the flies, that represent trees) but they are clearly not intended as any sort of realistic depiction of the settings and that doesn’t gel with the detailed, elaborate and convincingly “realistic” clothing sported by the dancers. Neither element can be described as wrong in itself, but another producer might have chosen to integrate them more effectively.

The quality of the dancing, meanwhile, is generally high, with the women, in particular, demonstrating confident assurance in their own technical skills. Ludmila Pagliero as Naïla performs with delicacy and an appropriate sense of otherworldliness; she presumably impressed not only the theatre audience but the company’s management, too, as within a year of this performance she had been promoted to the top rank of danseuse étoile. Meanwhile, the nature of her role as the princess Nouredda means that the other leading female dancer, Isabelle Ciaravola, tends to spend a disproportionate amount of time on stage looking depressed and generally mopey – although there are also moments, as already noted, when she looks bizarrely happy even though her circumstances are at their worst. If her acting is somewhat questionable, the same cannot be said, however, of Ms. Ciaravola’s dancing which is, invariably, both sensitively and often rather beautifully delivered. Of the men, Karl Paquette combines sheer energy with attention to detail in a winning performance that suffers only from an uncharacteristically drab and featureless costume, little suited, in my opinion, to the hero of a classical ballet. The role of Nouredda’s brother Mozdock, concerned about her only as far as she serves his own political ambitions, is taken by Christophe Duquenne who delivers an effectively villainous turn while leading his energetic and well-drilled soldiers in several lively numbers. Dancing as the elf Zaël, Mathias Heymann is the audience’s favourite as he leaps his way enthusiastically and repeatedly across the stage, creating a genuine character out of his role. The dancer portraying the libidinous khan, Alexis Renaud, makes the most of his opportunities but does not create as much of an impression as the other men. The rest of the company make a very positive contribution, to the extent that I thought that the numbers in which the primary focus was on the corps de ballet were among the most effectively delivered in the whole performance.

On the technical side, I was particularly impressed by the effectively realised stage lighting which has been very well captured on film. The sound, as relayed on this recording, is also more than merely acceptable and allows us to appreciate plenty of felicitous detail from the orchestra, led on this occasion by Koen Kessels who will be known to many as music director of the Royal Ballet. Meanwhile, the experienced François Roussillon’s film direction focuses our attention to everything that we need to see while not distracting us unnecessarily or drawing undue attention to itself.

This is an important release for balletomanes. It is, I think, unlikely that there will be an alternative version of La source any time soon...I repeat, therefore, my original reaction to the release of this new and well-produced Blu-ray disc – at last!
 
Rob Maynard

A beautiful production of this charming ballet with a wonderfully melodic score by Delibes.
Sylvia was first produced at the Palais Garnier, Paris on 14 June 1876, four years after Delibes other big success, Coppélia. Of Delibes’s Sylvia music, Tchaikovsky, who saw the ballet in Vienna in 1877, enthused, “It is the first ballet in which the music constitutes not just the main but the only interest. What charm and elegance, what riches in the melody, the rhythm, the harmony. I was ashamed. If I had known this music before, I would not have written Swan Lake.”. Praise indeed, but Tchaikovsky is being very hard on the other elements of this charming ballet based on classical mythology.

Frederick Ashton choreographed the production, featured on this DVD, first performed at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden on 3 September 1952. Ashton was not completely satisfied with it, however, and it was put aside. The production languished for forty years or so; and by now Ashton had died. The realization and staging of this 2005 production is the work of Christopher Newton who had danced under the direction of Ashton and was aware of the sort of refinements the great choreographer had in mind. Newton is interviewed about all this in the interviews before Act III of the ballet.

The sets and lighting are sumptuous and atmospheric, the costumes gorgeous and colourful. Delibes’ music is full of melody, one memorable tune succeeding another right through the ballet. Darcey Bussell enchants as the warrior nymph, Sylvia; arrogant in her taunting of the statue of the god Eros who repays her by shooting her with an arrow of love so that she falls for the enamored, shepherd, Aminta (Roberto Bolle). She is gracefully athletic especially in her dances with her two male leads: Bolle and Thiago Soares as the evil Orion who lusts after Sylvia and kidnaps the nymph, carrying her off to his island lair. Here, in Act II Darcey has to dance seductively to divert the attentions of Orion, to make him drunk so that she might escape - an escape made possible by a disguised Eros. Arguably Bussell does not have the figure for seductive dancing, she is also too graceful and stately, so the dance is sinuous rather than seductive. The two male leads are strong and acrobatic, displaying tremendous leaps. The corps de ballet impress throughout with beautiful ensemble dancing and the speciality dancers – the orientals in Act II and the goats in Act III - are quite charming.

The DVD includes interviews with Christopher Newton and Peter Farmer who added his special design talents to the original sets of Robin and Christopher Ironside. Before each act Darcy Bussell comments on the ballet and we see her and others in rehearsal and behind the scenes and between acts during the performance. Illustrated synopses of the action in each of the ballet’s three acts are also enclosed.

David Nice’s erudite note details Delibes music as applied to the dances and shows how the composer was influenced by Berlioz and Wagner. Elgar, as a young man, Nice reminds us, played the violin in a Birmingham performance of the Sylvia Suite and later conducted it himself. Moreover, Nice claims, Delibes’s broad ‘Bacchus’ theme, influenced Elgar’s First Pomp and Circumstance March.

A beautiful production of this charming ballet with a wonderfully melodic score by Delibes.

-- Ian Lace, MusicWeb International [reviewing the standard DVD version]

Note: This Blu-ray Disc is only playable on Blu-ray Disc players, and not compatible with standard DVD players.

Leo DELIBES (1836-1891)
Sylvia - ballet in three acts with choreography by Frederick Ashton (1876)
Sylvia … Darcey Bussell
Aminta … Roberto Bolle
Orion … Thiago Soares
Eros … Martin Harvey
Diana … Mara Galeazzi
The Royal Ballet
Orchestra of the Royal Opera House/Graham Bond
rec. The Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, London, 1, 5 December 2005

FORMAT: All Formats
REGIONS: All Regions
PICTURE FORMAT: 16:9
LENGTH: 117 Mins
SOUND: DTS SURROUND 5.1 / LPCM STEREO
SUBTITLES: EN/FR/DE/ES/IT
NO OF DISCS: 1

DER FLIEGENDE HOLLANDER (THE FLYING DUTCHMAN)

Arthaus Musik presents a DVD release of Weber's masterpiece Der Freisch�tz in a production by the legendary director Ruth Berghaus. Chorus and orchestra of the Zurich opera are conducted by Nikolaus Harnoncourt, universally celebrated for the structural t

This set contains 1 blu-ray audio disc playable only on blu-ray players and 1 Hybrid SACD playable on all CD players.

DIABOLO presents music at its finest, as one has come to expect from MDG, with a unique cast featuring the crème de la crème of the classical world: Elisabeth Leonskaja, Christian Zacharias, Hariolf Schlichtig, the Beethoven Orchestra of Bonn, the Mozart Piano Quartet, Jin Ju, Frank Bungarten, the Norddeutscher Figuralchor, and many others promise you a top—class musical fireworks. Seventy-eight minutes of performance joy from Bruckner to Beethoven, from Chopin to Shostakovich, and from Scheidemann to Schönberg recreate MDG’s legendary recording venues in all their facets right in your own living room and with a breathtaking you - are - there feeling never experienced before.

When Canadian opera director Robert Carsen produced his intense and cogent staging of Poulenc, Francis's compelling opera Les Dialogues des Carm�lites at the Nederlandse Opera in Amsterdam in 2001, it impressed audiences and critics alike, and also gained

Classical Music

Barrie Kosky, one of the most exciting opera directors of our time, opened his newly staged Da Ponte cycle at the Wiener Staatsoper with a character-driven new production of Mozart's Don Giovanni. Kyle Ketelsen in the title role and Philippe Sly as Leporello "took centre stage (...) and dared to satirise the burden of tradition" (ORF). Hanna-Elisabeth Muller is a compelling Donna Anna, Patricia Nolz gives a remarkable role debut as Zerlina, and Peter Kellner shines as Masetto. Kate Lindsey presents a fascinating character study as Donna Elvira, and Stanislas de Barbeyrac excels as Don Ottavio. Philippe Jordan conducts the Orchestra of the Wiener Staatsoper, bringing "transparency, tangibility and poetry on the basis of historical accuracy" (Der Standard) - even in the subtly played recitatives on the fortepiano. "Kosky and Jordan met congenially in the direction of the singers." (ORF)

More than two centuries after its creation, the emotional pull of this supreme opera remains absolutely intact. Dmitri Therniakov duly revisits the myth and makes the seducer of Seville a “man without qualities,” a cipher whose words have a hypnotic power over women. Louis Langrée leads the Freiburg Baroque Orchestra.

Donizetti's Don Pasquale is one of a triumvirate of 19th-century Italian opere buffe - L'elisir d'amore and Rossini's Il barbiere di Siviglia being the others - that continue to enchant the world's stages. Don Pasquale represents the high point of the opera buffa tradition, employing figures taken from commedia dell'arte - the blustering old man, his lovesick nephew, the wily widow and the scheming doctor - and brings new life to the genre in this beautifully constructed comic opera full of cabalettas, cadenzas and coloratura, gently tinged with melancholy. This production employs a new critical edition of the work and stars the seasoned baritone Roberto de Candia in the central role, alongside Giulia Mazzola as Norina.

Initially composed for performance during the season of Lent, Donizetti's Il diluvio universale ('The Great Flood') takes a Biblical story and mixes it with the human nature of the main characters, creating a uniquely intense drama. Performed here with a stellar cast in it's acclaimed 2023 revival at the Festival Donizetti in Bergamo, this production transports Donizetti's opera into the present day. In this staging collective and individual destinies are interwoven, urging us to reflect on issues such as the environmental crisis and climate change.

Gaetano Donizetti had big shoes to fill at his debut in Naples in 1823, arriving at the Teatro di San Carlo just after Rossini's departure, full of talent but still seeking his true voice. Alfredo il Grande is influenced by Rossini, but also shows hints of great things to come. The narrative is a celebration of heroism and magnanimous royalty, taking us to 9th century England where King Alfred the Great is on the run from the Vikings. Revived two centuries after the spectacular failure of it's premiere, this little-known opera seria can now stand as a reflection on humanitarian values and gestures of resistance against the destructiveness of war.

Donizetti's three-act tragic opera Belisario was a resounding success in its day, driven by its composer’s superlative theatrical instinct and his skillful interweaving of intense tragic narrative and emotional pathos. Belisario is betrayed by his wife Antonina, who falsely accuses him of high treason. Belisario is blinded and exiled, with proof of his innocence coming too late, and is mortally wounded during a final military victory. This production was performed and recorded without an audience in Bergamo during the Covid-19 lockdown in November 2020 – a moving performance reflecting a spirit of defiance amidst ruin and darkness.

•This 2013 Royal Opera House staging of Gaetano Donizetti's Don Pasquale stars the great Italian baritone Alessandro Corbelli in title role, with Danielle de Niese as his reluctant wife. The London Philharmonic Chorus and Orchestra is led by bel canto specialist Enrique Mazzola. Mariame Clément’s sensitive and perceptive production was hailed by theFinancial Times as ‘classic’. Bonus features include Behind The Curtain, Ms. de Niese introduction, Staging the Opera and cast gallery.

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Enrico di Borgogna is a melodramma per musica that was premiered in Venice in 1818, marking Donizetti’s stage debut. The plot of this rare opera follows a rather traditional scheme: Enrico wants to defeat the son of the villain who usurped his father’s throne and is about to marry his beloved Elisa. Fortunately, he succeeds in stopping the marriage and regaining his inheritance. This release is a world premiere video recording of the 2018 Donizetti Opera festival performance, which received great reviews for its brilliant staging. Director Silvia Paoli uses a “theatre within the theatre” approach which gives way to moments of sheer humor and amusement: as the curtain opens, the public is brought back to the time of the opera premiere. Played on period instruments by Academia Montis Regalis and conducted by repertoire specialist Alessandro De Marchi, this opera features two prima donnas like Sonia Ganassi and Anna Bonitatibus in the main roles. Extra content: interviews with Conductor Alessandro De Marchi, Sonia Ganassi and Anna Bonitatibus. “This was…a genuinely funny presentation, which had the audience laughing out loud. Everything was treated as a source of fun, from the narrative, and its mix of characters through the theatrical conventions of the time, even poking fun at the singers themselves. It was all staged in a blaze of color, fast-moving action, fabulous costumes and cleverly managed extraneous silliness.” (Operawire) [Anna Bonitatibus] displayed a burnished, deep timbre, sparkling coloratura and wonderful phrasing, confirming her status as the most interesting mezzo of her generation.” (Bachtrack.com) “Sonia Ganassi…has a strong, dynamically versatile and flexible voice which she is able to manage intelligently and with skill. . “(Operawire)

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REVIEW:

A love story with the usual intrigues is at center of the plot of Donizetti’s rediscovered opera Enrico di Borgogna. A lively staging, tight tempi as well as glowing colors from the orchestra, a very good choir and good soloists make this a valuable production.

– Pizzicato

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This opera, which had fallen into oblivion, was revived in 1973 in the Dutch city of Zaanstad (the Saardam of the libretto) and staged at Bergamo’s Teatro Sociale as part of the Donizetti Festival in a new critical edition made for the Donizetti Foundation by Alberto Sonzogni. In the plot, the Tsar Peter the Great works incognito as a carpenter at the shipyard of Sardaam to acquire technical knowledge to carry back home. On the podium, the knowledgeable Roberto Rizzi Brignoli leads the orchestra of the Donizetti Opera, assisted by the internationally renowned cinema director Davide Ferrario. In the cast, Andrea Concetti (a successful artist who has sung throughout the world) is joined by singers who are emerging in the belcanto repertoire, such as Giorgio Caoduro, Juan Francisco Gatell, Irina Dubrovskaya and Aya Wakizono.

Two very rare operas in one act. Pigmalione was Gaetano Donizetti’s first opera, written to a libretto by Simeone Antonio Sografi in just two weeks at the age of nineteen. The “lyrical scene” Pigmalione, as Donizetti himself defined it, is the composer’s only approach to a mythological subject and tells the story of a sculptor whose statue becomes alive. The main role is sung by Antonino Siragusa, who gives a masterful interpretation, especially in the long and significant recitatives, and displays a polished and colourful voice. Excellent also is the Japanese soprano Aya Wakizono, Galatea, whose enticing voice well suits the requirements of her short part. Che originali! is a little-known farce in a single act on a libretto by Gaetano Rossi, and was, from the very beginning, one of Giovanni Simone Mayr’s most successful operas. The opera tells the story of a music fanatic, Don Febeo: in his house everybody must know and love music. Emanuele Sinisi’s beautiful sets are almost surreal but well suited to Febeo’s bizarre affair. The direction is humorous, often verging on the grotesque, in line with the style of the farce but always elegant and well-structured from a dramaturgical point of view. The protagonist, Febeo, is entrusted to Bruno de Simone, an excellent actor endowed with a clear and precise voice, and a master in the fast spelled-out passages.

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Gaetano Donizetti's L’Ange de Nisida was commissioned by the director of the Théâtre de la Renaissance in Paris. The libretto was entrusted to Gustave Vaëz and Alphonse Royer, and the opéra en quatre parties was completed in 1840. Unfortunately the theatre went bankrupt and the opera never reached the stage. Donizetti was aware that other venues would have rejected his work as it stood, for both repertoire and censorship reasons (the plot revolved around the King of Naples, Ferdinando d’Aragona, and his mistress). Consequently, he revised the score and incorporated a significant portion of it within his new one, La favorite. The autograph score of L’Ange was subsequently lost and it is only thanks to the painstaking research of musicologist Candida Mantica that it was brought to light again. She took on the huge challenge of classifying the roughly 470 randomly alternate pages of L’Ange de Nisida that had survived at the Bibliothèque Nationale de France in Paris; she re-established their original order and finally managed to reconstruct roughly 97 percent of Donizetti’s music. The few gaps in the score were judged as irrelevant by both Mantica and Donizetti Opera, so that the opera was considered a complete work in itself, with no need for additions written by other composers. 180 years after its composition, the opera was finally performed for the first time in its original theatrical form in Donizetti’s native Bergamo, at the construction site of the city theatre bearing his name, a most symbolic coincidence that added emotional value to a long-awaited event. The performance was hailed as a triumph by both the public and the critics and was awarded a special prize at the 39th Franco Abbiati Prize of Italian music critics.

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REVIEW:

The cameras of the filming and the detailed and careful preparation of conductor Tingaud and director Micheli provide viewers of the DVD, through excellent sound and vision, with a more complete visual and aural experience than might have been possible for the real-life audience. Cunningly and efficiently done, both staging and musical interpretation fit the score like a glove. Hugely recommended.

– Gramophone (Editor's Choice, Jan 2021; DVD/Blu-ray of the Month)

Country boy Nemorino is determined to win the haughty Adina's heart, but she refuses to give him the time of day. Can Doctor Dulcamara's so-called 'elixir of love' work it's magic? Conductor Sesto Quatrini makes his house debut, as does soprano Nadine Sierra in the role of Adina. She is joined by Liparit Avetisyan, Boris Pinkhasovich and the incomparable Bryn Terfel as the genial wheeler-dealer Doctor Dulcamara.

Gaetano Donizetti's La Favorite was rather laborious in the making: it started out as a re-working of L'Ange de Nisida, to which the composer added parts taken from some other operas of his. The work, which was premiered at the Op�ra of Paris, is set in 14th-century Castile and tells the story of the hapless love between Fernand, who has second thoughts about taking holy orders and leaves the monastery of Santiago de Compostela, and Leonor, the mistress of king Alphonse XI. It is an intimate drama, where history and politics are but the backdrop to the protagonists' passions and torments. Fabio Luisi's conducting is both measured in balancing the orchestral sounds, and personal, varied and vigorous. The orchestra is crystal-clear, neat in it's accompaniment, neither subject to the voices nor prevaricating. Veronica Simeoni (Leonor), Celso Albelo (Fernand) and Mattia Olivieri (Alphonse) give excellent vocal and acting performances.

One of the composer's most beguiling scores, La Favorite is Gaetano Donizetti's La favorita in it's original French form; a tale of love and war that represents a glorious mix of Italian bel canto and 19th c. grand opera. Vincent Boussard's arresting Toulouse production does full justice to this newly renewed masterpiece. Three international principals take on the work's demanding roles: Chinese tenor Yijie Shi is a 'revelation' (La Depeche) as Fernand, the rich-toned, authoritative French baritone Ludovic Tezier as King Alphonse XI and lauded American mezzo Kate Aldrich - 'the Carmen of this generation' (San Francisco Sentinel) - plumbing the emotional depths of Leonor's music. Conductor and bel canto specialist Antonello Allemandi adds to the passionate proceedings onstage. Maestro Allemandi demonstrated full authority over the stage for the musically complex scenes, and in the arias and duets demonstrated his confidence in the singers by establishing ample tempos to support their soaring vocal lines... (Opera Today)

Described as ‘a joyous romp’ (Opera News), Donizetti’s dramma giocoso shows us what can go wrong when the egos of the actors get in the way of putting on a good show. From the prima donna and the sub-par lead tenor, to the seconda donna’s boisterous mother (played by a bass singer) and all the characters in between, everyone is playing the diva whilst the director pulls his hair out in frustration, and questions of who will fund the production are raised... Le convenienze ed inconvenienze teatrali (‘The Conventions and Inconveniences of the Stage’) – a joyful play on words in itself – more commonly known as Viva la mamma! is a two-act farce that shines an exaggerated spotlight on the behind-the-scenes working of a theatre and the rehearsal process with hilarious results. Laurent Pelly directs this masterpiece of comic timing and satire, marking the continuation of his celebrated relationship with Opéra de Lyon.

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).

Linda di Chamounix is a pretty country girl who is in love with Carlo, who she believes is a penniless artist. Her honor is threatened by the local squire and she escapes to Paris in search of fortune. This is a tale of courage and madness, in which we discover and experience the strength and suffering of a woman torn apart by estrangement from family and love. Donizetti reaped full and long-lasting success with Linda di Chamounix, and it became one of his most modern, appreciated and long-lived works. Jessica Pratt leads an all-star cast in this acclaimed production from the Teatro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino.

In 1835 Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor made it's triumphant debut at the San Carlo in Naples. For it's Parisian appearance four years later as Lucie de Lammermoor, the composer went much further than merely Gallicising the heroine's first name, he subjected the opera to a condensation in which Lucie became the only woman in the entire cast. Donizetti's orchestration remains largely the same but the French influence is audible in new recitatives. This later version is no surrogate or mere abridgement, but, perhaps because of it's greater concision, is more brutal and emotional than the original.