dramma per musica

• 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)

• 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)

• 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)

• 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.”

• 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.

• 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.