After leaving conservatory in 1854, Filippo Marchetti (1831-1902) immediately set to work composing for the theater. After three successful opera stagings in fifteen years, true, lasting success was finally achieved in 1869 in collaboration with librettist Carlo D’Ormeville and Victor Hugo’s play, Ruy Blas. It was performed in all of Italy’s large and small theaters. During the composer’s lifetime, it reached the most distant shores of five continents, becoming popular in the UK and especially in the US. This 1998 performance, on Bongiovanni, is its first commercial recording.

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

The artistic heritage of Antonio Vivaldi, acknowledged for his talent as far as the mastery of instrumental music is concerned, has waited for years for a correct evaluation in the opera music field as well. On the other hand, a musician who in 1739, at 61 years of age, was able to boast of having composed no less than 94 operas had a legitimate right to describe himself first and foremost an opera composer. Nowadays, unfortunately, only 23 of his opera scores have been preserved and not all are complete; as the scholar Reinhard Strohm writes, “We’re only able to document approximately 60 operatic performances between 1713 and 1739, in which the composer was personally involved in various ways. For these performances, he may have chosen the complete score, revised music by other composers, chosen and instructed the singers, rehearsed and conducted the performance, influenced revisions of his music by others, or worked in any combination of these possibilities. If we give a wide meaning to the word, Vivaldi was just as much an opera ‘impresario’ as an opera composer. This wasn’t at all common in Italy at that time and even less so for a priest. The least we can deduce from this situation was Vivaldi’s profound artistic passion for musical theatre.” Composed in 1724 for Rome’s Capranica Theatre, Giustino is a cornerstone work, situated on the ridge between the Red Priest’s old and new styles; precise indication of this importance is given by the fact that the customary borrowing from oneself, current usage in that period, is considerably reduced by Vivaldi for this work. Rather than to save time, since the inclusion of pre-existent episodes in the libretto and the score nevertheless involved laborious revision, this careful selection of the borrowing was used by Vivaldi to gather together a good part of his best previous music to impress the public: Giustino, as Strohm again states, is a sort of “Vivaldi anthology.” In fact, the borrowed pieces are often to be ranked among the best he’d ever written.

Classical Music

Classical Music

On 9 October 1943, NBC Radio in New York broadcast the world premiere of a one-act opera by Italo Montemezzi (1875-1952), L’incantesimo, (The Spell), with Italian libretto by playwright Sem Benelli (1877-1949). The broadcast was a belated form of recognition, because by that time Montemezzi was widely famous in the United States. Conducted by Arturo Toscanini, this opera ran in New York for 25 seasons - an extraordinarily long-lived success, with such major names as Serafin, Stokowsky, De Sabata and Bruno Walter conducting quality editions of the work to widespread critical approval. In the New York Times, the respected critic Olin Downs echoed the general enthusiasm, praising the music, action and style as eminently suited to performance on the radio, adding that the work's lyricism was as strong as in L’Amore dei tre re, although perhaps less immediate than Puccini's. Montemezzi's moderately modern music follows a middle path between a freely declamatory approach for the main characters and more markedly melodic passages for tenor and soprano which might easily pass for short concert pieces or in the great narrative scene of the description of the hunt. Nonetheless, Montemezzi's real capacity for invention lies in his orchestral writing which evokes Wagnerian “infinite melody” and, in certain sections, the imaginative symphonic approach of Richard Strauss with its variety, wealth of color, modulation, rhythmic phrasing, and solo instrumental gesture.

Antonio Smareglia was born in Pola in the Istria region in 1854 and after his early studies in Vienna, (he was of course a citizen of the Hapsburg empire), like the composer Catalani from Lucca he moved to Milan, where he had the support of Franco Faccio and Arrigo Boito, and soon made a fairly successful debut at La Scala. La Falena was premiered in Venice on September 6, 1897 and proved not only in step with the literature and painting of the time but also anticipated coming trends in opera: Pelléas et Mélisande would not appear until 1902, Salome not until 1905. Even Illica & Mascagni’s Iris with its floral-inspired symbolism was not staged until 1898. The truly new and most original element of La Falena is the extraordinary presence of the orchestra and its life-giving language, which is all modulation and excursions into rare key signatures, leading many experts to dub Smareglia a Wagnerian. This was not simply because of the three evocative preludes but also Smareglia’s use of the orchestra. With timbres ranging from harsh and violent to delicate and refined, the Leit-Motiv technique applied throughout as the orchestra provides the structure that holds the opera up rather than merely the accompaniment for this or that musical number.

Nobody could challenge the fact that Vivaldi loved the Bassoon: his 39 concerts are the proof of it. There is no doubt that the mellow and warm resonance of the Bassoon, it's technical elasticity, and it's potential expressiveness come together harmoniously in these musical jewels. Was it due to the fashion of the time or the need to satisfy a patron that these were written and printed for the string instrument? It is difficult to say. However, we should never forget that authors such as Galliard, Boismortier, Corrette, etc. Published their Sonatas with the captions: "for cello and bassoon," "for bassoon and cello," and "for cello, viola, and bassoon." They would not limit their execution to one single instrument: the composition itself would leave the option open. The compositions of Geminani, Boccherini, Breval, and others would not allow this possibility: the constant use of chords and the range would impose the string instrument. In these six Sonatas by Vivaldi too, we find the use of some chords and bichords, but these seem to be added to justify the caption "Sonatas for Cello" rather than for a real musical necessity. Bassoonist Mauro Monguzzi beautifully performs these works alongside pianist Walter Mammarella Giordano.

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

UMBERTO GIORDANO Giuseppe Altomore; Fabio Andreotti; Patrizia Cigna; Francesco Facini; Maria Scogna; Coro Lirico "Umberto Giordano di Foggia"; Orchestra Sinfonica di Capitanata/Gianna Fratta; Live: Teatro Umberto Giorano di Foggia, January 2006; NTSC All Region; Stereo; DD 5.1 UMBERTO GIORDANO: Il Re.

ALESSANDRO SCARLATTI (1660 – 1725)
Il Pastor di Corinto, Opera pastorale in tre atti (1701)

Bruna Tredicine, soprano; Anna Carbonera, soprano; Cristina Cappellini, soprano; Caterina Novak, mezzo; Carlo Putelli, tenor; Roberta De Nicola, soprano buffo; Massimo Di Stefano, bass buffo

Romabarocca Ensemble/Lorenzo Tozzi

Tito Schipa, Jr., stage director
Adriana Ruvolo, costumes; Luigi Stefano Cannelli, design

Recorded: Auditorio di San Francesco a Bolsena, August 16 & 17, 2007 NTSC All Region; 16:9; 5.1; Approx. 140 mins. Subtitled in Italian, English

Starring Antonio de Gobbi, Alberto Gazale, Francesco Demuro.

•When we hear the voice of the authentic ‘lirico spinto’ tenor Pedro Lavirgen (b. 1930) today, we may legitimately ask how much more prestigious would his career have been in our own times. Able to take on the heaviest repertoire without apparent problem, the burnished, shining color of his timbre, vocal strength accompanied by long breaths, real passion, sculptured diction and phrasing and incredible volume; these qualities complete the picture of this singer greatly admired by his public.

Salomone Rossi's output was influenced by more than the events of his times and such a figure as Monteverdi. What makes him different is that he was Jewish by birth and upbringing and was deeply affected by his relations within the Jewish community in Mantua and the age-old music of the chanting of the Old Testament Book of Psalms in the religious ceremonies he would have attended. Echoes of this ancient psalmody can be heard in the profoundly religious feeling of his arias, almost as though Rossi were attempting to keep his distance from a trend - already present in the late 1500s due to social, cultural and aesthetic factors – towards using sacred cantatas as an exercise in baroque vocal extravagance to showcase the skill of the performer rather than inspire religious feeling in the listener.

Classical Music

In the 19th century, the salons of the well-to-do and the aristocracy hosted spectacular virtuoso piano versions of favorite opera tunes of the day; this project puts a contemporary spin on this enchanting tradition with the unforgettable melodies of the tango of Argentina. An increasing number of music lovers have found in the tango an art that cuts across barriers of language and culture and the genre has made it's mark forcefully in the media and mass communication. The prime mover in this was Astor Piazzolla who broadened the horizons of the tango by taking it out of Argentinian folklore and into concert halls throughout the world. And audiences everywhere have been won over by the richly passionate character which has ensured the tango's universal appeal. "Not Just a Tango" is a crossover project for concert performance encompassing tango, classical music and jazz. The historical, stylistic and musical foundation is, of course, the tango of Argentina. A masculine element (the piano) and a feminine element (the violin) have been added to mirror this harmoniously sensual dance in sound. What makes "Not Just A Tango" special is that arrangements assimilated the tango of folk music and popular song and expanded it with variations that take in jazz and hints of musical forms which might at first seem unusual, such as the waltz or rumba. Yet the spirit of the tango always comes through in the ever-growing excitement of these brilliantly intense virtuoso musical dialogues between soloists who are fully each other's equal in timbre and line.

It is no secret that Rossini never wasted his energy and, partly out of haste and partly out of laziness, he was always ready to resurrect pages of music which would have otherwise been destined to oblivion. Thus, when in 1822 he was invited by Prince Klemens von Metternich to commemorate with suitable music the Congress of the European heads of state which would take place in Verona-to "harmonize" the souls, as it were-this proclaimed "God of harmony" gladly accepted. Il vero omaggio ("sincere" act of devotion toward the Austrian Emperor) was a recycling of the pastoral cantata La riconoscenza, performed by Rossini in Naples the year before. The sequence of pieces which constitute Il vero omaggio confirm Rossini's own statement: the musical nature of the cantata is quite similar to the first act of a normal opera. As such, it was enjoyed by the public of the period, partly due to the fact that the performance was staged. What distinguishes such a cantata from an opera is not, indeed, the visual aspect, as one might assume, but rather the absence of a veritable dramatic design. The subject of the cantata was thus a mere pretense for staging a public panegyric to the Austrian Emperor by means of a grandiose concert of vocal music. The work is interpreted here by conductor Herbert Handt.

Classical Music

Errico Petrella, was a Sicilian-Neapolitan composer, a contemporary of Verdi and Wagner and a maverick student of the Neapolitan school. Jone was composed for the 1857 carnival-Lent season of La Fenice in Venice, but was included instead in the 1857-58 season at La Scala and it made its debut in Milan’s leading opera house on January 26, 1858. The libretto, based on the historical novel, The Last Days of Pompei, by Bulwer-Lytton, is set in Pompei in 79 ad and was put into fairly elegant verse by the Venetian poet and patriot Giovanni Peruzzini. It tells the story of two young Greeks, Glauco and Jone, whose love is obstructed by the plotting of Arbace, the high priest of Isis. The plot mirrored the preferences of the day and was a percursor to the pro-oriental and pseudo-archeological trend that would characterize so much of European opera in the second half of the century.