- I disingannati – Antonio Caldara; Vienna, Hoftheater (1729)
- Boris Godunov (Revised 1872 version) – Modest Petrovich Musorgsky; St Petersburg, Mariinsky Theatre (1874)
- Four Saints in Three Acts – Virgil Thomson; Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford, Connecticut (1934)
February 8, 2010
Today’s opera premieres
February 7, 2010
Today’s opera premieres
- Ercole amante – Francesco Cavalli; Paris, Tuileries, Salle des Machines (1662)
- Der Schauspieldirektor – Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart; Schönbrunn, Orangery, (1786)
- Prima la musica e poi le parole – Antonio Salieri; Vienna, Schönbrunn Orangerie (1786)
- Il matrimonio segreto – Domenico Cimarosa; Vienna, Burgtheater (1792)
- Thérèse – Jules Massenet; Monte Carlo, Opéra (1907)
February 6, 2010
Today’s opera premieres
- Idalma – Bernardo Pasquini; Rome, Palazzo Capranica (1680)
- La buona figliuola – Niccolò Piccinni; Rome, Teatro delle Dame (1760)
- Tancredi – Gioachino Rossini; Venice, Teatro La Fenice (1813)
- La voix humaine – Francis Poulenc; Paris, Opéra-Comique (1959)
February 5, 2010
Today’s opera premieres
- Don Giovanni - Giuseppe Gazzaniga; Venice, Teatro San Moisè (1787)
- Barbe-bleue - Jacques Offenbach; Paris, Théâtre des Variétés (1866)
- Otello - Giuseppe Verdi; Milan, Teatro alla Scala (1887)
- Cavalleria rusticana - Domenico Monleone; Amsterdam, Paleis voor Volksvlyt (1907)
I wanted to post a few sound clips in honor of the 123rd anniversary of Otello’s prima in Milan, but there’s just so much amazing music that I had a hard time deciding what to choose. Rather than spend all day hashing it out, I figured I had to go with one of the most fiendishly difficult first entrances in all of opera, the “Esultate,” in which Otello, arriving at the port of Cyrus during a violent storm at sea, announces to the assembled crowd that the Turkish fleet has been vanquished.
Here, then, are a few of my favorite recordings of that scene, starting with the man for whom the title role was written, Francesco Tamagno, and finishing up with perhaps the preeminent Otello of the postwar era, Mario del Monaco. I’ve also included one of only two recorded Otello excerpts by Franco Corelli, mainly as a reminder of what might have been had he ever performed the part in its entirety.
Francesco Tamagno (1903)
Antonio Paoli (1911)
John O’Sullivan (1922)
Beniamino Gigli (1938)
Giacomo Lauri-Volpi (1941)
Mario del Monaco (1951)
Franco Corelli (1954)
February 4, 2010
Today’s opera premieres
- Girello – Alessandro Stradella; Rome, Palazzo Colonna (1668)
- Artaserse – Leonardo Vinci; Rome, Teatro delle Dame (1730)
- L’ajo nell’imbarazzo – Gaetano Donizetti; Rome, Teatro Valle (1824)
- Belisario – Gaetano Donizetti; Venice, Teatro La Fenice (1836)
“Here is the news [about Belisario]. The truth above all and without self-esteem, as far as a papa can report it. Prelude, so-so [ 'così-così']. [Mezzo-soprano Antonietta] Vial’s cavatina, applause. [Soprano Carolina] Ungher’s cavatina, shouts and turmoil so she could not begin the reprise of the cabaletta. The duet for [tenor Ignazio] Pasini and [baritone Celestino] Salvatori, equal applause. The chorus, so-so. [The Act 1] Finale, applause and repeated curtain calls for everyone. Act 2: Pasini’s aria, three curtain calls. The duet for Vial and Salvatori, many shouts of bravi, but at the end (so they say) the situation is so moving that they were weeping. The terzetto, applauded. Final scene: Ungher, much applauded and called out, both alone and with the others, and with me.”
February 3, 2010
Today’s opera premieres (and a few birthdays)
Another light day for opera premieres. so as is my wont from time to time, I’ve added a few birthdays to fill out the post.
- Proserpine – Jean-Baptiste Lully; St Germain-en-Laye, court (1680)
- Semiramide – Gioachino Rossini; Venice, Teatro La Fenice (1823)
- Felix Mendelssohn – German composer (1809-1847)
- Giulio Gatti-Casazza - Italian impresario (1869-1940)
- Gertrude Stein - American writer (1874-1946)
- Luigi Dallapiccola - Italian composer (1904-1975)
- Claire Watson - American soprano (1927-1986)
- Matti Kastu - Finnish tenor (1943)
February 2, 2010
Today’s opera premieres
- Poro – George Frideric Handel; London, King’s Theatre (1731)
- Artaxerxes – Thomas Augustine Arne; London, Covent Garden (1762)
- Der Bettelstudent – Peter Winter; Munich, Nationaltheater (1785)
- Il Reggente – Saverio Mercadante; Turin, Teatro Regio (1843)
- Louise – Gustave Charpentier; Paris, Opéra-Comique (1900)
Six randomly chosen singers, six very different versions of the best known piece from Charpentier’s Louise, the title character’s Act 3 aria, “Depuis le jour.” Don’t feel compelled to listen to all of these, but if you do, please take a moment and complete the poll at the end of this post.
Eleanor Steber
Lucia Popp
Ninon Vallin
Nicole Cabell
Maria Callas
Elizabeth Schwarzkopf
February 1, 2010
Today’s opera premieres
- Manon Lescaut - Giacomo Puccini; Turin, Teatro Regio (1893)
- La bohème – Giacomo Puccini; Turin, Teatro Regio (1896)
- Von heute auf morgen – Arnold Schoenberg; Frankfurt, Opernhaus (1930)
Last year on this date, I blogged about Cesira Ferrani, the Turinese soprano who created the roles of Manon Lescaut and Mimi in both of the Puccini operas debuting today. That post also included two recorded examples of Ferrani’s voice made in 1903, not long before she retired at the age of 46.
January 31, 2010
Today’s opera premieres
- Admeto – George Frideric Handel; London, King’s Theatre (1727)
- Quinto Fabio – Ferdinando Bertoni; Milan, Teatro Interinale (1778)
- Orpheus og Eurydike – Johann Gottlieb Naumann; Copenhagen, Royal Opera (1786)
- Cherevichki – Pyotr Il’yich Tchaikovsky; Moscow, Bol’shoy Theatre (1887)
- The Wandering Scholar – Gustav Holst; Liverpool, David Lewis Theatre (1934)
January 30, 2010
Today’s opera premieres
- Telemaco – Christoph Willibald Gluck; Vienna, Burgtheater (1765)
- Giulietta e Romeo – Niccolò Antonio Zingarelli; Milan, Teatro alla Scala (1796)
- Maria de Rudenz – Gaetano Donizetti; Venice, Teatro La Fenice (1838)
- Eine Florentinische Tragödie – Alexander Zemlinsky; Stuttgart, Hoftheater (1917)