Maria Stuarda
Encyclopedia
Maria Stuarda is a tragic opera
, (tragedia lirica), in two acts, by Gaetano Donizetti
, to a libretto
by Giuseppe Bardari
, based on Friedrich Schiller
's 1800 play Maria Stuart.
Although Giuseppe Bardari (1817–1861), was the librettist for Maria Stuarda, he was not Donizetti's first choice because, at that point, he was only 17 years old, and was a student with no experience. As such, Donizetti had the opportunity to work closely with him, or to even write entire scenes by himself. A complete Opera Rara
recording and pdf with historical information of the play can be found on-line through the Naxos Music Library.
The story is loosely based on the lives of Mary, Queen of Scots (Mary Stuart) and her cousin Queen Elizabeth I
. Schiller had invented the confrontation of the two Queens, who in fact never met. The libretto adds the love story of Mary Stuart and Dudley, which has no basis in fact. At the time of the events portrayed, Dudley was actually 55, Elizabeth was 53 and Mary was 44.
When forced to simplify part of the music for the original Elisabetta, Donizetti scribbled on the margin "But it's ugly!", and further on refused a change, writing "Do it, and may you live for a hundred years!"
It is one of a number of operas by Donizetti which deal with the Tudor period
in English history
, including Anna Bolena
(named for Henry VIII's second wife, Anne Boleyn
), Roberto Devereux
(named for a putative lover of Queen Elizabeth I of England) and Il castello di Kenilworth
. The lead female characters of the operas Anna Bolena, Maria Stuarda, and Roberto Devereux are often referred to as the "Three Donizetti Queens".
banned performances of the opera "perhaps because his Queen, Maria Christina, was a direct descendant of Mary Stuart". Donizetti responded by revising and removing large segments of the score and by quickly employing a new librettist, Pietro Salatino, in order to create a different work, which he named Buondelmonte referring to a character who appears in Dante
's Paradiso
"who apparently caused a war between the Guelphs and the Ghibellines". Under that name, the opera was first given on 18 October 1834, but it was not successful and Donizetti withdrew it.
Finally, in its original form as Maria Stuarda, the opera was first given on 30 December 1835 at La Scala
, Milan. Maria Malibran
(a famous mezzo-soprano who often sang soprano parts) starred in the premiere, but she ignored the censoring revisions (vil bastarda – "vile bastard" became donna vile) and the city banned further performances.
Realizing the impossibility of a run in Italy, a London premiere was planned, but Malibran's death at the age of 28 in 1836 cancelled the project. Except for several productions of the Buondelmonte version and a few of Maria Stuarda in Oporto and Lisbon as well as Naples in 1865, the work was neglected until 1958 when a production in Bergamo
, Donizetti's hometown, brought the original work into popularity.
The US premiere was as a concert performance on 16 November 1964 in Carnegie Hall
, while the premiere in England followed on 1 March 1966 in London. However, the first US staged performance took place at the San Francisco Opera
on 12 November 1971 with Joan Sutherland
in the title role.
The first staged performances of the "Three Queens" operas together in the US took place on 7 March 1972 when the trio earned some degree of fame when American soprano Beverly Sills
promoted them as a series at New York City Opera
.
Since January 2009, 92 performances of 19 productions worldwide have been or will be presented, attesting to the continued popularity of Maria Stuarda. There are several recordings.
, who sang the soprano roles of Donna Anna, in Don Giovanni
, and Norma
but also the mezzo-soprano role of Rosina, in The Barber of Seville
. The King of Naples banned the opera when it was in rehearsal and it became Buondelmonte with one or other of the queens (probably Elisabetta) turned into the tenor title-role and de Begnis singing a role called Bianca. Malibran (who sang Norma but also Leonore and Cenerentola
and had a range of g-e
, and that in post-favorite performances, starting with one in Naples (1865) they had been replaced by different numbers from Donizetti's "lesser operas".
Scene 2: Fotheringhay Castle (in many modern performances this scene is called Act 2, with the final act becoming Act 3)
Scene 2: Maria's room
Scene 3: The courtyard at Fotheringhay
Opera
Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...
, (tragedia lirica), in two acts, by Gaetano Donizetti
Gaetano Donizetti
Domenico Gaetano Maria Donizetti was an Italian composer from Bergamo, Lombardy. His best-known works are the operas L'elisir d'amore , Lucia di Lammermoor , and Don Pasquale , all in Italian, and the French operas La favorite and La fille du régiment...
, to a libretto
Libretto
A libretto is the text used in an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, oratorio, cantata, or musical. The term "libretto" is also sometimes used to refer to the text of major liturgical works, such as mass, requiem, and sacred cantata, or even the story line of a...
by Giuseppe Bardari
Giuseppe Bardari
Giuseppe Bardari was an Italian lawyer and writer. Although chiefly known today for having written the libretto for Donizetti's 1835 opera, Maria Stuarda, he played a prominent role in the judiciary of Naples in the years leading up to the unification of Italy.-Biography:Giuseppe Bardari was born...
, based on Friedrich Schiller
Friedrich Schiller
Johann Christoph Friedrich von Schiller was a German poet, philosopher, historian, and playwright. During the last seventeen years of his life , Schiller struck up a productive, if complicated, friendship with already famous and influential Johann Wolfgang von Goethe...
's 1800 play Maria Stuart.
Although Giuseppe Bardari (1817–1861), was the librettist for Maria Stuarda, he was not Donizetti's first choice because, at that point, he was only 17 years old, and was a student with no experience. As such, Donizetti had the opportunity to work closely with him, or to even write entire scenes by himself. A complete Opera Rara
Opera Rara
Opera Rara is a British record label, founded in the early 1970s by Americans Patric Schmid and Don White to promote concerts of rare and/or forgotten operas by Giacomo Meyerbeer and Donizetti and such other "bel canto" composers as Giovanni Pacini, Saverio Mercadante, and Federico Ricci.The...
recording and pdf with historical information of the play can be found on-line through the Naxos Music Library.
The story is loosely based on the lives of Mary, Queen of Scots (Mary Stuart) and her cousin Queen Elizabeth I
Elizabeth I of England
Elizabeth I was queen regnant of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death. Sometimes called The Virgin Queen, Gloriana, or Good Queen Bess, Elizabeth was the fifth and last monarch of the Tudor dynasty...
. Schiller had invented the confrontation of the two Queens, who in fact never met. The libretto adds the love story of Mary Stuart and Dudley, which has no basis in fact. At the time of the events portrayed, Dudley was actually 55, Elizabeth was 53 and Mary was 44.
When forced to simplify part of the music for the original Elisabetta, Donizetti scribbled on the margin "But it's ugly!", and further on refused a change, writing "Do it, and may you live for a hundred years!"
It is one of a number of operas by Donizetti which deal with the Tudor period
Tudor period
The Tudor period usually refers to the period between 1485 and 1603, specifically in relation to the history of England. This coincides with the rule of the Tudor dynasty in England whose first monarch was Henry VII...
in English history
History of England
The history of England concerns the study of the human past in one of Europe's oldest and most influential national territories. What is now England, a country within the United Kingdom, was inhabited by Neanderthals 230,000 years ago. Continuous human habitation dates to around 12,000 years ago,...
, including Anna Bolena
Anna Bolena
Anna Bolena is a tragedia lirica, or opera, in two acts by Gaetano Donizetti. Felice Romani wrote the Italian libretto after Ippolito Pindemonte's Enrico VIII ossia Anna Bolena and Alessandro Pepoli's Anna Bolena, both telling of the life of Anne Boleyn...
(named for Henry VIII's second wife, Anne Boleyn
Anne Boleyn
Anne Boleyn ;c.1501/1507 – 19 May 1536) was Queen of England from 1533 to 1536 as the second wife of Henry VIII of England and Marquess of Pembroke in her own right. Henry's marriage to Anne, and her subsequent execution, made her a key figure in the political and religious upheaval that was the...
), Roberto Devereux
Roberto Devereux
Roberto Devereux is a tragedia lirica, or tragic opera, by Gaetano Donizetti...
(named for a putative lover of Queen Elizabeth I of England) and Il castello di Kenilworth
Il castello di Kenilworth
Il castello di Kenilworth is a melodramma serio or tragic opera in three acts by Gaetano Donizetti. Andrea Leone Tottola wrote the Italian libretto after Victor Hugo's play Amy Robsart and Eugene Scribe's play Leicester, in its turn after Scott's novel Kenilworth...
. The lead female characters of the operas Anna Bolena, Maria Stuarda, and Roberto Devereux are often referred to as the "Three Donizetti Queens".
Performance history
After its successful dress rehearsal, King of NaplesFerdinand II of the Two Sicilies
Ferdinand II was King of the Two Sicilies from 1830 until his death.-Family:Ferdinand was born in Palermo, the son of King Francis I of the Two Sicilies and his wife and first cousin Maria Isabella of Spain.His paternal grandparents were King Ferdinand I of the Two Sicilies and Queen Marie...
banned performances of the opera "perhaps because his Queen, Maria Christina, was a direct descendant of Mary Stuart". Donizetti responded by revising and removing large segments of the score and by quickly employing a new librettist, Pietro Salatino, in order to create a different work, which he named Buondelmonte referring to a character who appears in Dante
Dante Alighieri
Durante degli Alighieri, mononymously referred to as Dante , was an Italian poet, prose writer, literary theorist, moral philosopher, and political thinker. He is best known for the monumental epic poem La commedia, later named La divina commedia ...
's Paradiso
Paradiso (Dante)
Paradiso is the third and final part of Dante's Divine Comedy, following the Inferno and the Purgatorio. It is an allegory telling of Dante's journey through Heaven, guided by Beatrice, who symbolises theology...
"who apparently caused a war between the Guelphs and the Ghibellines". Under that name, the opera was first given on 18 October 1834, but it was not successful and Donizetti withdrew it.
Finally, in its original form as Maria Stuarda, the opera was first given on 30 December 1835 at La Scala
La Scala
La Scala , is a world renowned opera house in Milan, Italy. The theatre was inaugurated on 3 August 1778 and was originally known as the New Royal-Ducal Theatre at La Scala...
, Milan. Maria Malibran
Maria Malibran
The mezzo-soprano Maria Malibran , was one of the most famous opera singers of the 19th century. Malibran was known for her stormy personality and dramatic intensity, becoming a legendary figure after her death at age 28...
(a famous mezzo-soprano who often sang soprano parts) starred in the premiere, but she ignored the censoring revisions (vil bastarda – "vile bastard" became donna vile) and the city banned further performances.
Realizing the impossibility of a run in Italy, a London premiere was planned, but Malibran's death at the age of 28 in 1836 cancelled the project. Except for several productions of the Buondelmonte version and a few of Maria Stuarda in Oporto and Lisbon as well as Naples in 1865, the work was neglected until 1958 when a production in Bergamo
Bergamo
Bergamo is a town and comune in Lombardy, Italy, about 40 km northeast of Milan. The comune is home to over 120,000 inhabitants. It is served by the Orio al Serio Airport, which also serves the Province of Bergamo, and to a lesser extent the metropolitan area of Milan...
, Donizetti's hometown, brought the original work into popularity.
The US premiere was as a concert performance on 16 November 1964 in Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, United States, located at 881 Seventh Avenue, occupying the east stretch of Seventh Avenue between West 56th Street and West 57th Street, two blocks south of Central Park....
, while the premiere in England followed on 1 March 1966 in London. However, the first US staged performance took place at the San Francisco Opera
San Francisco Opera
San Francisco Opera is an American opera company, based in San Francisco, California.It was founded in 1923 by Gaetano Merola and is the second largest opera company in North America...
on 12 November 1971 with Joan Sutherland
Joan Sutherland
Dame Joan Alston Sutherland, OM, AC, DBE was an Australian dramatic coloratura soprano noted for her contribution to the renaissance of the bel canto repertoire from the late 1950s through to the 1980s....
in the title role.
The first staged performances of the "Three Queens" operas together in the US took place on 7 March 1972 when the trio earned some degree of fame when American soprano Beverly Sills
Beverly Sills
Beverly Sills was an American operatic soprano whose peak career was between the 1950s and 1970s. In her prime she was the only real rival to Joan Sutherland as the leading bel canto stylist...
promoted them as a series at New York City Opera
New York City Opera
The New York City Opera is an American opera company located in New York City.The company, called "the people's opera" by New York Mayor Fiorello La Guardia, was founded in 1943 with the aim of making opera financially accessible to a wide audience, producing an innovative choice of repertory, and...
.
Since January 2009, 92 performances of 19 productions worldwide have been or will be presented, attesting to the continued popularity of Maria Stuarda. There are several recordings.
Roles
| Role | Voice type Voice type A voice type is a particular kind of human singing voice perceived as having certain identifying qualities or characteristics. Voice classification is the process by which human voices are evaluated and are thereby designated into voice types... |
Premiere cast, 30 December 1835 (Conductor: Eugenio Cavallini Eugenio Cavallini Eugenio Cavallini was an Italian conductor, composer, violinist, and violist. In 1833 he became first violinist of the orchestra at La Scala, a post he held through 1855... ) |
|---|---|---|
| Maria Stuarda, Queen of Scotland | soprano Soprano A soprano is a voice type with a vocal range from approximately middle C to "high A" in choral music, or to "soprano C" or higher in operatic music. In four-part chorale style harmony, the soprano takes the highest part, which usually encompasses the melody... |
Maria Malibran Maria Malibran The mezzo-soprano Maria Malibran , was one of the most famous opera singers of the 19th century. Malibran was known for her stormy personality and dramatic intensity, becoming a legendary figure after her death at age 28... |
| Elisabetta, Queen of England | soprano | Giacinta Puzzi Toso Giacinta Toso Giacinta Toso , , Maman Puzzi, was an Italian operatic soprano who had a significant career in England during the 1820s and 1830s, before ill health forced her to retire from the stage... |
| Anna Kennedy, Maria's companion | mezzo-soprano Mezzo-soprano A mezzo-soprano is a type of classical female singing voice whose range lies between the soprano and the contralto singing voices, usually extending from the A below middle C to the A two octaves above... |
Teresa Moja |
| Roberto Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester, KG was an English nobleman and the favourite and close friend of Elizabeth I from her first year on the throne until his death... , Earl of Leicester |
tenor Tenor The tenor is a type of male singing voice and is the highest male voice within the modal register. The typical tenor voice lies between C3, the C one octave below middle C, to the A above middle C in choral music, and up to high C in solo work. The low extreme for tenors is roughly B2... |
Domenico Reina Domenico Reina Domenico Reina was a Swiss bel canto tenor, notable for creating roles in the operas of Vincenzo Bellini, Gaetano Donizetti, Saverio Mercadante and other Italian composers.... |
| Lord Guglielmo Cecil William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley , KG was an English statesman, the chief advisor of Queen Elizabeth I for most of her reign, twice Secretary of State and Lord High Treasurer from 1572... , Chancellor of the Exchequer |
baritone Baritone Baritone is a type of male singing voice that lies between the bass and tenor voices. It is the most common male voice. Originally from the Greek , meaning deep sounding, music for this voice is typically written in the range from the second F below middle C to the F above middle C Baritone (or... |
Pietro Novelli |
| Giorgio Talbot George Talbot, 6th Earl of Shrewsbury George Talbot, 6th Earl of Shrewsbury, 6th Earl of Waterford, 12th Baron Talbot, KG, Earl Marshal was a 16th century English statesman.-Life:... , Earl of Shrewsbury |
bass Bass (voice type) A bass is a type of male singing voice and possesses the lowest vocal range of all voice types. According to The New Grove Dictionary of Opera, a bass is typically classified as having a range extending from around the second E below middle C to the E above middle C... |
Ignazio Marini Ignazio Marini Ignazio Marini was a celebrated Italian operatic bass. He sang in the world premieres of several operas by Gaetano Donizetti, Saverio Mercadante, and Giuseppe Verdi and appeared as a guest artist in major opera houses throughout Europe and in New York City and Cairo.-Biography:Ignazio Marini was... |
| A herald | tenor |
The casting of Maria and Elisabetta
Originally the roles of Maria and Elisabetta were written for sopranos; many modern-day productions, dating from the late 1950s onwards, cast a mezzo-soprano as either Maria or Elisabetta. The role of Maria was written for Giuseppina Ronzi de BegnisGiuseppina Ronzi de Begnis
Giuseppina Ronzi de Begnis was an Italian operatic soprano, one of the leading sopranos of her time, particularly associated with Donizetti roles....
, who sang the soprano roles of Donna Anna, in Don Giovanni
Don Giovanni
Don Giovanni is an opera in two acts with music by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and with an Italian libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte. It was premiered by the Prague Italian opera at the Teatro di Praga on October 29, 1787...
, and Norma
Norma (opera)
Norma is a tragedia lirica or opera in two acts by Vincenzo Bellini with libretto by Felice Romani after Norma, ossia L'infanticidio by Alexandre Soumet. First produced at La Scala on December 26, 1831, it is generally regarded as an example of the supreme height of the bel canto tradition...
but also the mezzo-soprano role of Rosina, in The Barber of Seville
The Barber of Seville
The Barber of Seville, or The Futile Precaution is an opera buffa in two acts by Gioachino Rossini with a libretto by Cesare Sterbini. The libretto was based on Pierre Beaumarchais's comedy Le Barbier de Séville , which was originally an opéra comique, or a mixture of spoken play with music...
. The King of Naples banned the opera when it was in rehearsal and it became Buondelmonte with one or other of the queens (probably Elisabetta) turned into the tenor title-role and de Begnis singing a role called Bianca. Malibran (who sang Norma but also Leonore and Cenerentola
La Cenerentola
La Cenerentola, ossia La bontà in trionfo is an operatic dramma giocoso in two acts by Gioachino Rossini. The libretto was written by Jacopo Ferretti, based on the fairy tale Cinderella...
and had a range of g-e
La favorite
La favorite is an opera in four acts by Gaetano Donizetti to a French-language libretto by Alphonse Royer and Gustave Vaëz, based on the play Le comte de Comminges by Baculard d'Arnaud...
, and that in post-favorite performances, starting with one in Naples (1865) they had been replaced by different numbers from Donizetti's "lesser operas".
Synopsis
- Place: Palace of WestminsterPalace of WestminsterThe Palace of Westminster, also known as the Houses of Parliament or Westminster Palace, is the meeting place of the two houses of the Parliament of the United Kingdom—the House of Lords and the House of Commons...
, London and Fotheringhay CastleFotheringhay CastleFotheringhay Castle was in the village of Fotheringhay 3½ miles to the north of the market town of Oundle, Northamptonshire .King Richard III was born here in 1452 and it was also where Mary, Queen of Scots, was tried and executed in 1587....
, NorthamptonshireNorthamptonshireNorthamptonshire is a landlocked county in the English East Midlands, with a population of 629,676 as at the 2001 census. It has boundaries with the ceremonial counties of Warwickshire to the west, Leicestershire and Rutland to the north, Cambridgeshire to the east, Bedfordshire to the south-east,...
, England. - Time: 1587.
Act 1
Scene 1: Elisabetta's court at WestminsterScene 2: Fotheringhay Castle (in many modern performances this scene is called Act 2, with the final act becoming Act 3)
Act 2
Scene 1: A room in Elisabetta's apartmentsScene 2: Maria's room
Scene 3: The courtyard at Fotheringhay
Recordings
| Year | Cast (Maria, Elisabeta, Leicester, Talbot) |
Conductor, Opera House and Orchestra |
Label |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1971 | Beverly Sills Beverly Sills Beverly Sills was an American operatic soprano whose peak career was between the 1950s and 1970s. In her prime she was the only real rival to Joan Sutherland as the leading bel canto stylist... , Eileen Farrell Eileen Farrell Eileen Farrell was an American soprano who had a nearly 60 year long career performing both classical and popular music in concerts, theatres, on radio and television, and on disc. While she was active as an opera singer, her concert engagements far outnumbered her theatrical appearances... , Stuart Burrows Stuart Burrows Stuart Burrows - OBE is a Welsh operatic tenor.-Biography:The Cilfynydd-born singer scaled the peaks of musical distinction during his lengthy career which saw him give up teaching to pursue a new life on the opera stage... , Louis Quilico Louis Quilico Louis Quilico, CC was a Canadian opera singer. One of the leading dramatic baritones of his day, he was an ideal interpreter of the great Italian and French composers, especially Giuseppe Verdi. He was often referred to as "Mr Rigoletto" in reference to the Verdi opera... |
Aldo Ceccato Aldo Ceccato Aldo Ceccato is an Italian conductor. He has worked as assistant to Sergiu Celibidache and was music director of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra from 1973 until 1977. He was music director of the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra from 1985 until 1990... , London Philharmonic Orchestra London Philharmonic Orchestra The London Philharmonic Orchestra , based in London, is one of the major orchestras of the United Kingdom, and is based in the Royal Festival Hall. In addition, the LPO is the main resident orchestra of the Glyndebourne Festival Opera... with John Aldis Choir |
CD: Deutsche Grammophon Deutsche Grammophon Deutsche Grammophon is a German classical record label which was the foundation of the future corporation to be known as PolyGram. It is now part of Universal Music Group since its acquisition and absorption of PolyGram in 1999, and it is also UMG's oldest active label... Cat: 289 465961-2 (Part of "3 Queens" box set) |
| 1974/75 | Joan Sutherland Joan Sutherland Dame Joan Alston Sutherland, OM, AC, DBE was an Australian dramatic coloratura soprano noted for her contribution to the renaissance of the bel canto repertoire from the late 1950s through to the 1980s.... , Huguette Tourangeau Huguette Tourangeau Huguette Tourangeau, is a French-Canadian operatic mezzo-soprano, particularly associated with the French and Italian repertories.- Life and career :... , Luciano Pavarotti Luciano Pavarotti right|thumb|Luciano Pavarotti performing at the opening of the Constantine Palace in [[Strelna]], 31 May 2003. The concert was part of the celebrations for the 300th anniversary of [[St... , Roger Soyer Roger Soyer Roger Soyer is a French operatic bass-baritone, particularly associated with the French repertory and with Mozart.Soyer was born in Paris, and first studied privately with G. Daum, before entering the Paris Conservatoire at the age of 19. There he was a pupil of Georges Jouatte and Louis Musy... |
Richard Bonynge Richard Bonynge Richard Alan Bonynge, AO, CBE is an Australian conductor and pianist.Bonynge was born in Sydney and educated at Sydney Boys High School before studying piano at the Royal College of Music in London. He gave up his music scholarship, continuing his private piano studies, and became a coach for... , Teatro Comunale di Bologna Teatro Comunale di Bologna The Teatro Comunale di Bologna is an opera house in Bologna, Italy, and is one of the most important opera venues in Italy. Typically, it presents eight operas with six performances during its November to April season.... Orchestra and Chorus |
CD: Decca Decca Records Decca Records began as a British record label established in 1929 by Edward Lewis. Its U.S. label was established in late 1934; however, owing to World War II, the link with the British company was broken for several decades.... Cat:00289 425 4102 |
| 1982 | Dame Janet Baker Janet Baker Dame Janet Abbott Baker, CH, DBE, FRSA is an English mezzo-soprano best known as an opera, concert, and lieder singer.She was particularly closely associated with baroque and early Italian opera and the works of Benjamin Britten... , Rosalind Plowright Rosalind Plowright Rosalind Anne Plowright OBE is an English opera singer who spent much of her career as a soprano but in 1999 changed to the mezzo-soprano range.- Life and career :... , David Rendall, Alan Opie Alan Opie Alan Opie is a Cornish baritone, primarily known as an opera singer.He attended Truro School and studied at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama and the London Opera Centre before joining the Sadler's Wells Opera... |
Charles Mackerras Charles Mackerras Sir Alan Charles Maclaurin Mackerras, AC, CH, CBE was an Australian conductor. He was an authority on the operas of Janáček and Mozart, and the comic operas of Gilbert and Sullivan... , English National Opera English National Opera English National Opera is an opera company based in London, resident at the London Coliseum in St. Martin's Lane. It is one of the two principal opera companies in London, along with the Royal Opera, Covent Garden... Orchestra and Chorus |
CD: Chandos Chandos Records Chandos Records is an independent classical music recording company based in Colchester, Essex, in the United Kingdom, founded in 1979 by Brian Couzens.- Background :... Cat: CHAN 3017(2) |
| 1989 | Edita Gruberová Edita Gruberová Edita Gruberová , is a Slovak soprano who is one of the most acclaimed coloraturas of recent decades. She is noted for her great tonal clarity, agility, dramatic interpretation, and ability to sing high notes with great power, which made her an ideal Queen of the Night in her early years... , Agnes Baltsa Agnes Baltsa Agnes Baltsa is a leading Greek mezzo-soprano.Baltsa was born in Lefkada. She began playing piano at the age of six, before moving to Athens in 1958 to concentrate on singing... , Francisco Araiza Francisco Araiza Francisco Araiza , is a Mexican operatic tenor. As one of the leading tenors of his generation he was named Kammersänger of the Wiener Staatsoper in 1988 and has been a permanent member of the Opernhaus Zürich since 1977.... , Simone Alaimo Simone Alaimo Simone Alaimo is an Italian bass-baritone. He is particularly known for his performances of the bel canto repertoire.... |
Giuseppe Patanè Giuseppe Patanè Giuseppe Patanè was an Italian opera conductor.Giuseppe Patané was born in Naples, the son of the conductor Franco Patanè , and studied in his native city. He made his debut there in 1951. He was principal conductor at the Linz opera from 1961–1962... , Münchner Rundfunkorchester |
CD: Phillips Phillips International Records Phillips International Records is a sub-label of Sun Records started by Sam Phillips in October 1957.The label, showed a blue globe with Phillips prominent and the words Sam C --- International Corp on a red white and blue ribbon below.... Cat: 426233-2 |
| 2001 | Carmela Remigio, Sonia Ganassi Sonia Ganassi Sonia Ganassi is an Italian mezzo-soprano. She made her debut as Rosina in Rossini’s The Barber of Seville. She has performed in many of the world’s famous opera houses including the Metropolitan Opera in New York City, the Royal Opera House in London and the Teatro alla Scala, Milan. She is best... , Joseph Calleja Joseph Calleja Joseph Calleja, , is a Maltese tenor. He began singing at the age of 16 and, having been discovered by Paul Asciak, continued his studies with him. At 19, he made his operatic debut as Macduff in Verdi's Macbeth at Astra Theatre in Gozo and went on to become a prize winner at the Belvedere Hans... , Riccardo Zanellato |
Fabrizio M. Carminati, Orchestra Stabile di Bergamo "G.Donizetti" |
DVD: Dynamic Dynamic (record label) Dynamic is an Italian independent record label located in Genoa. Founded in 1978, it specialises in classical music and opera, especially rarely performed works and has produced several world premiere recordings... Cat:33407 |
| 2008 | Mariella Devia Mariella Devia Mariella Devia is an Italian soprano, well known for performing many roles in the bel canto repertoire.Born in Chiusavecchia, Devia trained at the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Rome with Iolanda Magnoni... , Anna Caterina Antonacci Anna Caterina Antonacci Anna Caterina Antonacci is an Italian soprano, known for her roles in the bel canto and Baroque repertoire.Born in Ferrara, Antonacci studied in Bologna, and made her debut as Rosina in 1986 at Arezzo. She spans the soprano and mezzo-soprano repertoire... , Francesco Meli Francesco Meli Francesco Meli is an Italian operatic tenor particularly associated with the bel canto reportoire. He began his vocal studies at age 17 with Norma Palacios at the Conservatorio di Musica "Niccolò Paganini" in Genoa. He later became a pupil of mezzo-soprano Franca Mattiucci... , Simone Alberghini |
Antonino Fogliani, Teatro alla Scala orchestra and chorus |
DVD: ArtHaus Musik Cat: 101 361 CD: Premiere Opera Ltd, Cat: CDNO 2836-2 |