Stabat Mater (Rossini)
Encyclopedia
Rossini composed his Stabat Mater late in his career after retiring from the composition of opera. He began the work in 1831 but did not complete it until 1841.
owner of Château Margaux
. In the course of the trip, Fernández Varela, a state councillor, commissioned a setting of the traditional liturgical text, the Stabat Mater
. Rossini managed to complete part of the setting of the sequence
in 1832, but ill health made it impossible for him to complete the commission. Having written only half the score (nos. 1 and 5-9), he asked his friend Giovanni Tadolini
to compose six additional movements. Rossini presented the completed work to Varela as his own. It was premiered on Holy Saturday of 1833 in the Chapel of San Felipe el Real in Madrid, but this version was never again performed.
When Varela died, his heirs sold the work for 2,000 francs to a Parisian music publisher, Antoine Aulagnier, who printed it. Rossini protested, claiming that he had reserved publication rights for himself, and disowned Aulagnier's version, since it included the music by Tadolini. Although surprised by this, Aulangier went ahead and arranged for a public performance at the Salle Herz on October 31, 1841, at which only the six pieces by Rossini were performed. In fact, Rossini had already sold the publication rights for 6,000 francs to another Paris publisher, Eugène Troupenas. Lawsuits ensued, and Troupenas emerged the victor. Rossini finished the work, replacing the music by Tadolini, before the end of 1841. The brothers Léon and Marie Escudier, who had purchased the performing rights of Rossini's final version of the score from Troupenas for 8,000 francs, sold them to the director of the Théâtre-Italien for 20,000 francs, who began making preparations for its first performance.
Rossini's extensive operatic career had divided the public into admirers and critics. The announcement of the premiere of Rossini's Stabat Mater provided an occasion for a wide-ranging attack by Richard Wagner
, who was in Paris at the time, not only on Rossini but more generally on the current European fashion for religious music and the money to be made from it. A week before the scheduled concert Robert Schumann's
Neue Zeitschrift für Musik
carried the pseudonymous essay, penned by Wagner under the name of "H. Valentino", in which he claimed to find Rossini's popularity incomprehensible: "It is extraordinary! So long as this man lives, he'll always be the mode." Wagner concluded his polemic with the following observation: "That dreadful word: Copyright—growls through the scarce laid breezes. Action! Action! Once more, Action! And money is fetched out, to pay the best of lawyers, to get documents produced, to enter caveats.— — —O ye foolish people, have ye lost your hiking for your gold? I know somebody who for five francs will make you five waltzes, each of them better than that misery of the wealthy master's!" Of course, Wagner himself, at the time that he wrote this, was still in his late twenties, and had not yet had much success with the acceptance of his own music in the French capital.
The Stabat Mater was performed complete for the first time in Paris at the Théâtre-Italien's Salle Ventadour
on January 7, 1842, with Giulia Grisi
(soprano), Emma Albertazzi
(mezzo-soprano), Mario
(tenor), and Antonio Tamburini
(baritone) as the soloists. The Escudiers reported that: "Rossini's name was shouted out amid the applause. The entire work transported the audience; the triumph was complete. Three numbers had to be repeated...and the audience left the theater moved and seized by an admiration that quickly won all Paris."
In March Gaetano Donizetti
led the Italian premiere in Bologna
with great success. The soloists included Clara Novello
(soprano) and Nikolay Ivanov (tenor). Donizetti reported the public's reaction: "The enthusiasm is impossible to describe. Even at the final rehearsal, which Rossini attended, in the middle of the day, he was accompanied to his home to the shouting of more than 500 persons. The same thing the first night, under his window, since he did not appear in the hall."
Despite the fact that the work is markedly different from his secular compositions, northern German critics, as reported by Heinrich Heine
in an essay on Rossini, criticised the work as "too worldly, sensuous, too playful for the religious subject." In response the French music historian Gustave Chouquet has remarked that "it must not be forgotten that religion in the South is a very different thing from what it is in the North."
, mezzo-soprano
, tenor
, and bass
), mixed chorus, and an orchestra of 2 flute
s, 2 oboe
s, 2 clarinet
s, 2 bassoon
s, 4 horn
s, 2 trumpet
s, 3 trombone
s, timpani
, and strings
.
Rossini divided the poem's twenty 3-line verses into ten movements and used various combinations of forces for each movement:
Written in 1841 for tenor solo, the andantino maestoso section Cuius animam, with its rollicking and memorable tune, is often performed apart from the work's other movements as a demonstration of the singer's bravura technique.
Composition
In 1831 Gioachino Rossini was traveling in Spain in the company of his friend the Spanish banker, Alexandre AguadoAlexandre Marie Aguado
Don Alejandro María Aguado y Ramírez de Estenoz, 1st Marquis of the Guadalquivir Marshes , Spanish banker, was born of Old Christian parentage, originally from La Rioja, at Seville. He began life as a soldier, fighting with distinction in the Spanish War of Independence first against French, then...
owner of Château Margaux
Château Margaux
Château Margaux, archaically La Mothe de Margaux, is a wine estate of Bordeaux wine, and was one of four wines to achieve Premier cru status in the Bordeaux Classification of 1855. The estate's best wines are very expensive...
. In the course of the trip, Fernández Varela, a state councillor, commissioned a setting of the traditional liturgical text, the Stabat Mater
Stabat Mater
Stabat Mater is a 13th-century Roman Catholic hymn to Mary. It has been variously attributed to the Franciscan Jacopone da Todi and to Innocent III...
. Rossini managed to complete part of the setting of the sequence
Sequence (poetry)
A sequence is a chant or hymn sung or recited during the liturgical celebration of the Eucharist for many Christian denominations, before the proclamation of the Gospel. By the time of the Council of Trent there were sequences for many feasts in the Church's year.The sequence has always been sung...
in 1832, but ill health made it impossible for him to complete the commission. Having written only half the score (nos. 1 and 5-9), he asked his friend Giovanni Tadolini
Giovanni Tadolini
Giovanni Tadolini was an Italian composer, conductor and singing instructor, who enjoyed a career that alternated between Bologna and Paris. Tadolini is probably best known for completing six sections of Rossini's 1833 version of the Stabat mater after the latter fell sick...
to compose six additional movements. Rossini presented the completed work to Varela as his own. It was premiered on Holy Saturday of 1833 in the Chapel of San Felipe el Real in Madrid, but this version was never again performed.
When Varela died, his heirs sold the work for 2,000 francs to a Parisian music publisher, Antoine Aulagnier, who printed it. Rossini protested, claiming that he had reserved publication rights for himself, and disowned Aulagnier's version, since it included the music by Tadolini. Although surprised by this, Aulangier went ahead and arranged for a public performance at the Salle Herz on October 31, 1841, at which only the six pieces by Rossini were performed. In fact, Rossini had already sold the publication rights for 6,000 francs to another Paris publisher, Eugène Troupenas. Lawsuits ensued, and Troupenas emerged the victor. Rossini finished the work, replacing the music by Tadolini, before the end of 1841. The brothers Léon and Marie Escudier, who had purchased the performing rights of Rossini's final version of the score from Troupenas for 8,000 francs, sold them to the director of the Théâtre-Italien for 20,000 francs, who began making preparations for its first performance.
Rossini's extensive operatic career had divided the public into admirers and critics. The announcement of the premiere of Rossini's Stabat Mater provided an occasion for a wide-ranging attack by Richard Wagner
Richard Wagner
Wilhelm Richard Wagner was a German composer, conductor, theatre director, philosopher, music theorist, poet, essayist and writer primarily known for his operas...
, who was in Paris at the time, not only on Rossini but more generally on the current European fashion for religious music and the money to be made from it. A week before the scheduled concert Robert Schumann's
Robert Schumann
Robert Schumann, sometimes known as Robert Alexander Schumann, was a German composer, aesthete and influential music critic. He is regarded as one of the greatest and most representative composers of the Romantic era....
Neue Zeitschrift für Musik
Neue Zeitschrift für Musik
Die Neue Zeitschrift für Musik was a music magazine published in Leipzig, co-founded by Robert Schumann, his teacher and future father-in law Friedrich Wieck, and his close friend Ludwig Schuncke...
carried the pseudonymous essay, penned by Wagner under the name of "H. Valentino", in which he claimed to find Rossini's popularity incomprehensible: "It is extraordinary! So long as this man lives, he'll always be the mode." Wagner concluded his polemic with the following observation: "That dreadful word: Copyright—growls through the scarce laid breezes. Action! Action! Once more, Action! And money is fetched out, to pay the best of lawyers, to get documents produced, to enter caveats.— — —O ye foolish people, have ye lost your hiking for your gold? I know somebody who for five francs will make you five waltzes, each of them better than that misery of the wealthy master's!" Of course, Wagner himself, at the time that he wrote this, was still in his late twenties, and had not yet had much success with the acceptance of his own music in the French capital.
The Stabat Mater was performed complete for the first time in Paris at the Théâtre-Italien's Salle Ventadour
Salle Ventadour
The Salle Ventadour, a former Parisian theatre in the rue Neuve-Ventadour, now the rue Méhul , was built between 1826 and 1829 for the Opéra-Comique, to designs by Jacques-Marie Huvé, a prominent architect...
on January 7, 1842, with Giulia Grisi
Giulia Grisi
Giulia Grisi, also known as Madame De Candia was an Italian opera singer...
(soprano), Emma Albertazzi
Emma Albertazzi
Emma Albertazzi was an English stage contralto.Born Emma Howson, she was the daughter of Francis Howson, an English music professor. She was a pupil of Michael Costa with whom she began studying at the age of 14 in London. She debuted in 1829 at Argyle Rooms, London...
(mezzo-soprano), Mario
Mario (tenor)
Giovanni Matteo "Mario" was an Italian opera singer. The most celebrated tenor of his era, he was lionized by audiences in Paris and London.-Early life:...
(tenor), and Antonio Tamburini
Antonio Tamburini
Antonio Tamburini was an Italian operatic baritone.Born in Faenza, then part of the Papal States, Tamburini studied the orchestral horn with his father and voice with Aldobrando Rossi, before making his debut as a singer, aged 18, in La contessa di colle erbose . He went on to become one of the...
(baritone) as the soloists. The Escudiers reported that: "Rossini's name was shouted out amid the applause. The entire work transported the audience; the triumph was complete. Three numbers had to be repeated...and the audience left the theater moved and seized by an admiration that quickly won all Paris."
In March 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...
led the Italian premiere in Bologna
Bologna
Bologna is the capital city of Emilia-Romagna, in the Po Valley of Northern Italy. The city lies between the Po River and the Apennine Mountains, more specifically, between the Reno River and the Savena River. Bologna is a lively and cosmopolitan Italian college city, with spectacular history,...
with great success. The soloists included Clara Novello
Clara Novello
Clara Anastasia Novello was an acclaimed soprano, the fourth daughter of Vincent Novello, a musician and music publisher, and his wife, Mary Sabilla Hehl....
(soprano) and Nikolay Ivanov (tenor). Donizetti reported the public's reaction: "The enthusiasm is impossible to describe. Even at the final rehearsal, which Rossini attended, in the middle of the day, he was accompanied to his home to the shouting of more than 500 persons. The same thing the first night, under his window, since he did not appear in the hall."
Despite the fact that the work is markedly different from his secular compositions, northern German critics, as reported by Heinrich Heine
Heinrich Heine
Christian Johann Heinrich Heine was one of the most significant German poets of the 19th century. He was also a journalist, essayist, and literary critic. He is best known outside Germany for his early lyric poetry, which was set to music in the form of Lieder by composers such as Robert Schumann...
in an essay on Rossini, criticised the work as "too worldly, sensuous, too playful for the religious subject." In response the French music historian Gustave Chouquet has remarked that "it must not be forgotten that religion in the South is a very different thing from what it is in the North."
Work
The Stabat Mater is scored for four vocal soloists (sopranoSoprano
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...
, 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...
, 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...
, and 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...
), mixed chorus, and an orchestra of 2 flute
Flute
The flute is a musical instrument of the woodwind family. Unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is an aerophone or reedless wind instrument that produces its sound from the flow of air across an opening...
s, 2 oboe
Oboe
The oboe is a double reed musical instrument of the woodwind family. In English, prior to 1770, the instrument was called "hautbois" , "hoboy", or "French hoboy". The spelling "oboe" was adopted into English ca...
s, 2 clarinet
Clarinet
The clarinet is a musical instrument of woodwind type. The name derives from adding the suffix -et to the Italian word clarino , as the first clarinets had a strident tone similar to that of a trumpet. The instrument has an approximately cylindrical bore, and uses a single reed...
s, 2 bassoon
Bassoon
The bassoon is a woodwind instrument in the double reed family that typically plays music written in the bass and tenor registers, and occasionally higher. Appearing in its modern form in the 19th century, the bassoon figures prominently in orchestral, concert band and chamber music literature...
s, 4 horn
Horn (instrument)
The horn is a brass instrument consisting of about of tubing wrapped into a coil with a flared bell. A musician who plays the horn is called a horn player ....
s, 2 trumpet
Trumpet
The trumpet is the musical instrument with the highest register in the brass family. Trumpets are among the oldest musical instruments, dating back to at least 1500 BCE. They are played by blowing air through closed lips, producing a "buzzing" sound which starts a standing wave vibration in the air...
s, 3 trombone
Trombone
The trombone is a musical instrument in the brass family. Like all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player’s vibrating lips cause the air column inside the instrument to vibrate...
s, timpani
Timpani
Timpani, or kettledrums, are musical instruments in the percussion family. A type of drum, they consist of a skin called a head stretched over a large bowl traditionally made of copper. They are played by striking the head with a specialized drum stick called a timpani stick or timpani mallet...
, and strings
String instrument
A string instrument is a musical instrument that produces sound by means of vibrating strings. In the Hornbostel-Sachs scheme of musical instrument classification, used in organology, they are called chordophones...
.
Rossini divided the poem's twenty 3-line verses into ten movements and used various combinations of forces for each movement:
- Stabat Mater dolorosa (verse 1) - Chorus
- Cujus animam (verses 2-4) - Tenor
- Quis est homo (verses 5-6) - Soprano and mezzo-soprano
- Pro peccatis (verses 7-8) - Bass
- Eja, Mater (verses 9-10) - Bass recitative and chorus
- Sancta Mater (verses 11-15) - All four soloists
- Fac ut portem (verses 16-17) - Mezzo-soprano
- Inflamatus (verses 18-19) - Soprano and chorus
- Quando corpus morietur (verse 20) - Chorus
- In sempiterna saecula. Amen (not part of the standard text) - Chorus
Written in 1841 for tenor solo, the andantino maestoso section Cuius animam, with its rollicking and memorable tune, is often performed apart from the work's other movements as a demonstration of the singer's bravura technique.
Recordings
Listed in order of conductor's surname.- DG 449 178-2GH
- Myung-Whun Chung, conductor
- Vienna Philharmonic, Vienna State Opera Concert Choir
- Soloists: Luba Orgonosova, Cecilia BartoliCecilia BartoliCecilia Bartoli is an Italian coloratura mezzo-soprano opera singer and recitalist. She is best-known for her interpretation of the music of Mozart and Rossini, as well as for her performances of lesser-known Baroque and classical music...
, Raúl GiménezRaúl GiménezRaúl Giménez , is an operatic tenor, particularly associated with the Italian bel canto repertory, in which he is considered one of the best exponent in recent years.Giménez was born in the small town of Carlos Pellegrini, Argentina...
, Roberto Scandiuzzi - Gramophone Guide 2008: rated 1 of 4 (Strongly recommended)
- Decca Decca 460781-2 (2003)
- Riccardo ChaillyRiccardo ChaillyRiccardo Chailly, Cavaliere di Gran Croce OMRI is an Italian conductor. He started his career as an opera conductor and gradually extended his repertoire to encompass symphonic music.-Biography:...
, conductor - Royal Concertgebouw OrchestraRoyal Concertgebouw OrchestraThe Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra is a symphony orchestra of the Netherlands, based at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam. In 1988, Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands conferred the "Royal" title upon the orchestra...
; Netherlands Radio Chorus - Soloists: Barbara FrittoliBarbara FrittoliBarbara Frittoli is an Italian operatic soprano who has sung leading roles in opera houses throughout Europe and in the United States. She was born in Milan and graduated from the Milan Conservatory...
, Sonia GanassiSonia GanassiSonia 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...
, Giuseppe SabbatiniGiuseppe SabbatiniGiuseppe Sabbatini is a lyric tenor.His opera repertoire includes Idomeneo, Mitridate, re di Ponto, Don Giovanni, Linda di Chamounix, La favorita, L'elisir d'amore, Anna Bolena, Maria Stuarda, Roberto Devereux, Lucrezia Borgia, Dom Sébastien, I puritani, Rigoletto, La Traviata, Falstaff, La...
, Michele Pertusi - FanfareFanfare MagazineFanfare is a magazine devoted to reviewing classical music performance and recordings.Fanfare's contributors have a range of expertise from the medieval to contemporary work...
's Herbert Glass (2004): "The present production emerges several sizes too large in terms of orchestral and choral weight. ... The numerous CD versions of the Stabat Mater include large-scale affairs such as the present one and those under Kertész, Giulini, Muti, and Chung, and the period editions under Marcus Creed and Christoph Spering, both with accomplished, less hefty solo ensembles and correspondingly smaller orchestral and choral forces. None is without its points of interest, but as overall satisfying encounters with this wonderfully entertaining work, I’ll take the lightweights, first choice being Spering’s (on the Opus 111 label) for its verve and clarity, and for contralto Sara MingardoSara MingardoSara Mingardo is an Italian classical contralto who has had an active international career in concerts and operas since the 1980s. Her complete recording of Anna in Hector Berlioz's Les Troyens won a Gramophone Award and both the Grammy Award for Best Opera Recording and the Grammy Award for Best...
’s standout contribution."
- Riccardo Chailly
- Harmonia Mundi HMC90 1693 (1999)
- Marcus CreedMarcus CreedMarcus Creed is an English conductor.Born in Eastbourne, Sussex , he was educated at King's College in Cambridge, Christ Church in Oxford, and Guildhall School in London. He moved to Germany in 1976 and worked firstly as a coach and chorusmaster at the Deutsche Oper Berlin...
, conductor - Academy for Ancient Music Berlin, RIAS Chamber Choir
- Soloists: Krassimira Stoyanova, Petra Lang, Bruce FowlerBruce Fowler (tenor)Bruce Fowler is an American classical tenor who has had a major international performance career in operas and concerts since the early 1990s. He is particularly known for his appearances in bel canto operas. His first recording, as the tenor soloist for Handel's Messiah with Telarc, was nominated...
, Daniel Borowski - Gramophone Guide 2008: rated 1 of 4 (Strongly recommended)
- Period instrument recording. FanfareFanfare MagazineFanfare is a magazine devoted to reviewing classical music performance and recordings.Fanfare's contributors have a range of expertise from the medieval to contemporary work...
's Joel Kasow (1999): "This may be the first recording of Rossini's Stabat Mater using 'original' instruments, but if the performance is to be so literal and unimaginative, then the result is pointless. ...search out the rival recording on DG by Chung, who shows us what a conductor ... can make of this deceptively simple music."
- Marcus Creed
- Audite 95587 (mono, live recording from Berlin Konzertsaal der Hochschule, September 22, 1954)
- Ferenc FricsayFerenc FricsayFerenc Fricsay was a Hungarian conductor. From 1960 until his death, he was an Austrian citizen.Fricsay was born in Budapest in 1914 and studied music under Béla Bartók, Zoltán Kodály, Ernst von Dohnányi, and Leo Weiner. Fricsay had a meteoric rise to fame, making his first appearance as a...
, conductor - RIAS Symphony Orchestra, Berlin Women's Chorus, RIAS Chamber Choir, RIAS Boy's Choir
- Soloists: Maria StaderMaria StaderMaria Stader was a Hungarian born Swiss lyric soprano, known particularly for her Mozart interpretations.-Biography:...
, Marianna Radev, Ernst HaefligerErnst HaefligerErnst Haefliger was a Swiss tenor.Haefliger was born in Davos, Switzerland and studied at the Zürich Conservatory. He studied with Fernando Capri in Geneva and Julius Patzak in Vienna....
, Kim BorgKim BorgKim Borg was a Finnish bass, teacher and composer. He had wide-ranging, resonant, warm voice.-Biography:Kim Borg was born in Helsinki... - Fanfares Jerry Dubins (2010): "As archival material that documents the accomplishment of one of the great conductors of the 20th century, not to mention the artistry of some of its finest singers, this release will be indispensable to Fricsay collectors. ...sounds a bit constricted, recessed, and muffled in the loudest passages. ...there are quite a few later [recordings] available in far better sound and in performances at least equal to if not superior to this one—Kertész with Lorengar, Minton, Pavarotti, Sotin, and the LSO comes to mind..."
- Ferenc Fricsay
- DG 477 6333 (1983)
- Carlo Maria GiuliniCarlo Maria GiuliniCarlo Maria Giulini was an Italian conductor.-Biography:Giulini was born in Barletta, Italy, to a father born in Lombardy and a mother born in Naples; but he was raised in Bolzano, which at the time of his birth was part of Austria...
, conductor - Philharmonia ChorusPhilharmonia ChorusThe Philharmonia Chorus is an independent self-governing symphony choir of up to 150 singers based in London, UK. It performs concert and operatic choral repertory from baroque to contemporary...
and OrchestraPhilharmonia OrchestraThe Philharmonia Orchestra is one of the leading orchestras in Great Britain, based in London. Since 1995, it has been based in the Royal Festival Hall. In Britain it is also the resident orchestra at De Montfort Hall, Leicester and the Corn Exchange, Bedford, as well as The Anvil, Basingstoke... - Soloists: Katia RicciarelliKatia Ricciarelli-Biography:Born at Rovigo, Veneto, to a very poor family, she struggled during her younger years when she studied music.She studied at the Benedetto Marcello Conservatory in Venice, won several vocal competitions in 1968, and made her professional debut as Mimì in La bohème in Mantua in 1969,...
, Lucia Valentini TerraniLucia Valentini TerraniLucia Valentini Terrani was an Italian coloratura mezzo-soprano, particularly associated with Rossini roles.-Life and career:...
, Dalmacio Gonzalez, Ruggero RaimondiRuggero RaimondiRuggero Raimondi is an Italian bass-baritone opera singer who has also appeared in motion pictures.-Early training and career:Ruggero Raimondi was born in Bologna, Italy, during World War II... - Penguin GuideThe Penguin Guide to Recorded Classical MusicThe Penguin Guide To Recorded Classical Music is a widely-distributed annual publication from Britain published by Penguin Books, reviewing and rating currently available recordings of classical music...
2008: 2.5 of 4 stars
- Carlo Maria Giulini
- Chandos 8780 (1990)
- Richard HickoxRichard HickoxRichard Sidney Hickox CBE was an English conductor of choral, orchestral and operatic music.-Early life:Hickox was born in Stokenchurch in Buckinghamshire into a musical family...
, conductor - City of London SinfoniaCity of London SinfoniaThe City of London Sinfonia is an English chamber orchestra based in London. In London, the CLS performs regularly at Cadogan Hall and St Paul's Cathedral. It is also the resident orchestra at Opera Holland Park. The CLS has annual residencies in four towns in Southern England: Ipswich, King's...
, London Symphony ChorusLondon Symphony ChorusThe London Symphony Chorus is a large symphonic concert choir based in London, England, consisting of over 150 amateur singers, and is one of the major symphony choruses of the United Kingdom. It was formed in 1966 as the LSO Chorus to complement the work of the London Symphony Orchestra... - Soloists: Helen Field, Della JonesDella JonesDella Jones , is a Welsh mezzo-soprano, particularly well-known for her interpretations of works by Handel, Mozart, Rossini, Donizetti, and Britten.-Life and career:Della Jones was born in Tonna, near Neath, Wales...
, Arthur Davies, Roderick Earle - Penguin GuideThe Penguin Guide to Recorded Classical MusicThe Penguin Guide To Recorded Classical Music is a widely-distributed annual publication from Britain published by Penguin Books, reviewing and rating currently available recordings of classical music...
2008: 4 of 4 stars, "Key recording", "Rosette"
- Richard Hickox
- Decca Ovation 417 766-2 (reissued from 1971)
- István Kertész (conductor), conductor
- London Symphony OrchestraLondon Symphony OrchestraThe London Symphony Orchestra is a major orchestra of the United Kingdom, as well as one of the best-known orchestras in the world. Since 1982, the LSO has been based in London's Barbican Centre.-History:...
and Chorus - Pilar LorengarPilar LorengarLorenza Pilar García Seta was a Spanish soprano who used the professional name Pilar Lorengar. She was best known for her interpretations of opera and the Spanish genre Zarzuela, and as a soprano she was known for her full register, a youthful timbre as well as a distinctive vibrato.Pilar was...
, Yvonne MintonYvonne MintonYvonne Fay Minton CBE is an Australian opera singer. She is variously billed as a soprano, mezzo-soprano or contralto.Yvonne Minton was born in Sydney, New South Wales. She studied voice on a scholarship at the New South Wales Conservatorium of Music. She won the National Eisteddfod in Canberra,...
, Luciano PavarottiLuciano Pavarottiright|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...
, Hans SotinHans SotinHans Sotin is a German operatic bass.He was born in Dortmund and studied with Friedrich Wilhelm Hetzel and Dieter Jacob at the Dortmund Hochschule für Musik.... - Gramophones Richard Osborne (1989): "Extant recordings have yet to reach double figures and of those only three—the Giulini/DG, the Muti/EMI, and the deleted 1955 DG recording conducted by Ferenc Fricsay—have any real merit. ... [The Kertész recording] is strongly cast and has the advantage of some dedicated choral contributions from Arthur Oldham's LSO Chorus. But none of this is to much avail when the conducting itself is so perfunctory."
- Naxos 8.554443 (1999)
- Pier Giorgio Morandi, conductor
- Hungarian State Opera Orchestra and Chorus
- Soloists: Patrizia Pace, Gloria Scalchi, Antonio Siragusa, Carlo Colombara
- Gramophones Richard Osborne (1999): " The conducting is bold and warm-hearted, the soloists accomplished, the recording generous. ... Morandi draws expressive singing from the Hungarian State Opera Chorus in slower, quieter music; elsewhere, the singing is no match for the choral work on rival full-price versions under conductors such as Hickox and Creed."
- EMI Classics CDC7 47402-2 (1987)
- Riccardo MutiRiccardo MutiRiccardo Muti, Cavaliere di Gran Croce OMRI is an Italian conductor and music director of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.-Childhood and education:...
, conductor - Maggio Musicale FiorentinoMaggio Musicale FiorentinoMaggio Musicale Fiorentino is an annual opera festival which was founded in April 1933 by conductor Vittorio Gui with the aim of presenting contemporary and forgotten operas in visually dramatic productions. It was the first music festival in Italy. The first opera presented was Verdi's early...
Orchestra - Soloists: Catherine MalfitanoCatherine MalfitanoCatherine Malfitano is an American operatic soprano. She is generally considered to be one of America's leading operatic sopranos...
, Agnes BaltsaAgnes BaltsaAgnes 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...
, Robert Gambill, Gwynne HowellGwynne HowellGwynne Howell is a Welsh bass, particularly associated with Verdi and Wagner roles.-Life and career:Born in Gorseinon, Wales, he studied at the RMCM, where he sang Leporello in concert, and Hunding, Fasolt, and Pogner in staged performances.He joined the Sadler's Wells Theatre in 1968, and the...
- Riccardo Muti
- EMI Classics (2010)
- Antonio PappanoAntonio PappanoAntonio Pappano is a British conductor and pianist of Italian parentage.Pappano's family relocated to England from Castelfranco in Miscano near Benevento, Italy in 1958 and at the time of his birth his parents worked in the restaurant business, but Pasquale Pappano, his father, was by vocation a...
, conductor - Orchestra dell'Accademia Santa Cecilia, orchestra and chorus
- Soloists: Anna NetrebkoAnna NetrebkoAnna Yuryevna Netrebko is an Russian operatic soprano. She now holds dual Russian and Austrian citizenship and currently resides in Vienna. She has been nicknamed "La Bellissima" by fans.-Biography:...
, Joyce DiDonatoJoyce DiDonatoJoyce DiDonato is an award-winning American operatic mezzo-soprano particularly admired for her interpretations of the works of Handel, Mozart, and Rossini...
, Lawrence BrownleeLawrence BrownleeLawrence Brownlee is an American operatic tenor particularly associated with the bel canto repertoire. In 2001 he won the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions. He was named Seattle Opera's Artist of the Year in 2008 for his performances as Arturo in Bellini's I puritani. He has also...
, Ildebrando D'ArcangeloIldebrando D'ArcangeloIldebrando D'Arcangelo is an Italian bass-baritone opera singer.-Biography:A Native of Pescara, Abruzzo, D'Arcangelo began his studies in 1985 at the conservatory of Luisa D'Annunzio in Pescara, under Maria Vittoria Romano, honing his skills under Paride Venturi in Bologna.From 1989 to 1991 he...
- Antonio Pappano
- Erato/RCA MCE75493 (1989)
- Claudio ScimoneClaudio ScimoneClaudio Scimone is an Italian conductor.He was born in Padua, Italy and studied conducting with Dmitri Mitropoulos and Franco Ferrara. He has established an international reputation as a conductor, as well as a composer. He has revived many baroque and renaissance works...
, conductor - I Solisti VenetiI Solisti VenetiI Solisti Veneti is one of the first rank of small Italian chamber orchestras with modern instruments. Founded in Padua in 1959 by Claudio Scimone, it has made a reputation especially with Italian Baroque music, recording many works by Antonio Vivaldi, Tomaso Albinoni, Francesco Geminiani,...
, Ambrosian SingersAmbrosian SingersThe Ambrosian Singers are one of the best-known London choral groups, particularly appreciated for its great variety of recorded repertory.They were founded after World War II in England... - Soloists: Cecilia GasdiaCecilia Gasdia-Biography:Cecilia Gasdia studied music and piano at the Conservatorio di Verona, graduating in 1980. That same year she won the first prize in the "New Voices for Opera" competition dedicated to Maria Callas...
, Margarita Zimmermann, Chris MerrittChris MerrittChris Merritt is an opera singer. He studied piano, singing, dance and drama at Oklahoma City University where he made his first stage appearance in Jacques Offenbach's Les contes d'Hoffmann in a university production. At age 21, he was accepted into the summer season Apprentice Program for...
, José Garcia - Gramophones Richard Osborne (1989): "Scimone's conducting ... isn't perfunctory but it is uneven, often distractingly quick, and frequently guilty of a degree of rhythmic regimentation that leaves the soloists unable to breathe or phrase at all adequately. ... [Merritt] understands Rossini's neo-classical heroic style and thus outmanoeuvres Pavarotti (Decca) in the 'Cuius animam'."
- Claudio Scimone
- OPUS 111 OP 30247 (2001)
- Christoph Spering, conductor
- Das neue Orchester, Chorus Musicus
- Iride Martinez, Sara MingardoSara MingardoSara Mingardo is an Italian classical contralto who has had an active international career in concerts and operas since the 1980s. Her complete recording of Anna in Hector Berlioz's Les Troyens won a Gramophone Award and both the Grammy Award for Best Opera Recording and the Grammy Award for Best...
, Charles CastronovoCharles CastronovoCharles Castronovo , is an American tenor. He is currently in demand internationally as an opera singer. Castronovo was born to a Sicilian father and an Ecuadorian mother in Queens, New York but grew up in Southern California. He attended California State University, Fullerton for undergraduate...
, John RelyeaJohn RelyeaJohn Relyea is a bass-baritone opera singer and winner of the 2003 Richard Tucker Award.He was born in Toronto, Canada, to Gary Relyea, one of Canada's well-known opera singers, and Anna Tamm-Relyea, also a professional singer.... - Fanfares Joel Kasow (2001): "This is a literal reading: The tempos are quite jaunty, with blaring brass instruments more appropriate to the Dies Irae from Verdi's Requiem.... None of the singers is particularly distinctive.... My recommendation remains the Chung recording on DG, though acquaintance with the Fricsay recording (also DG) has its rewards despite the choppy phrasing of the singers."
Sources
- Gossett, PhilipPhilip GossettPhilip Gossett is an American musicologist and historian, and recently officially retired from the post of Robert W. Reneker Distinguished Service Professor of Music at the University of Chicago...
(1983). "Gioachino Rossini" in The New Grove Masters of Italian Opera. New York: Norton. ISBN 9780393300895. - Maitland, J. A. Fuller, editor (1908). Grove's Dictionary of Music and Musicians (five volumes). London: Macmillan.