Bellini ᵴ I Puritani
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BELLINI ᵴ I PURITANI SARAH COBURN LAWRENCE BROWNLEE CONSTANTINE ORBELIAN, conductor DE 3537 KAUNAS CITY SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA KAUNAS STATE1 CHOIR VINCENZO BELLINI (1801-1835) I PURITANI Opera in three acts Libretto: Count Carlo Pepoli, after the French playTêtes Rondes et Cavaliers, by Jacques-François Ancelot and Xavier Boniface Saintine Lord Arturo tALbo: Lawrence Brownlee, tenor ELvirA: Sarah Coburn, soprano Sir riccArdo Forth: Azamat Zheltyrguzov, baritone Sir GiorGio WALton: Tadas Girininkas, bass Lord GuALtiEro WALton: Liudas Norvaišas, bass Sir bruno robErton: Tomas Pavilionis, tenor EnrichEttA di FrAnciA: Jovita Vaškevičiūtė, mezzo-soprano Constantine Orbelian, conductor Kaunas City Symphony Orchestra Kaunas State Choir 2 VINCENZO BELLINI (1801-1835) BELLINI ᵴ I PURITANI CD 1 (37:05) 7. T’appellan le schiere (4:17) I PURITANI (Bruno, Riccardo) p. 14 1. Sinfonia (3:02) Opera in three acts SCENE IV ACT I 8. O amato zio (2:13) Libretto: Count Carlo Pepoli, after the French playTêtes Rondes et Cavaliers, SCENE I (Elvira, Giorgio) p. 15 by Jacques-François Ancelot and Xavier Boniface Saintine 2. All’erta! All’erta (5:03) 9. Sai com’arde in petto mio (6:49) (Bruno, Coro) Libretto: p. 10 (Elvira, Giorgio) p. 16 3. O di Cromwell guerrieri (3:13) 10. Odi ... qual suon si desta? (3:47) (Bruno, Elvira, Arturo, Riccardo, Giorgio, (Elvira, Giorgio, Coro) p. 20 Coro) p. 11 SCENE II CD 2 (55:31) 4. A festa! (2:40) SCENE V (Coro) p. 12 1. Ad Arturo onore (3:11) SCENE III (Coro) p. 23 5. Or dove fuggo io mai (2:45) 2. A te, o cara (5:48) (Riccardo, Bruno) p. 12 (Arturo, Giorgio, Walton, Elvira, Coro) p. 23 6. Ah! Per sempre io ti perdei (3:12) SCENE VI (Riccardo) p. 14 3. Il rito augusto si compia senza me (2:05) (Arturo, Giorgio, Walton, Enrichetta) p. 25 3 SCENE VII ACT II 4. Com’io, v’unisca (4:14) SCENE I: (Walton, Enrichetta, Arturo) p. 26 11. Ah, dolor! Ah terror! (5:40) SCENE VIII (Coro) p. 45 5. Son vergin vezzosa (4:17) SCENE II (Elvira, Enrichetta, Arturo, Giorgio, Walton, Coro) p. 29 12. Qual novella? (1:49) (Coro, Giorgio) p. 46 SCENE IX 13. Cinta di fori e col bel crin disciolto (4:47) 6. Sulla verginea testa (:45) (Giorgio, Coro) p. 46 (Enrichetta, Arturo) p. 33 14. E di morte lo stral non sarà lento (4:08) SCENE X (Riccardo, Coro, Giorgio) p. 49 7. Ferma! Invan rapir pretendi (5:26) (Ricccardo, Arturo, Enrichetta, Coro) CD 3 (69:31) p. 34 SCENE III 8. È già al ponte - passa il forte (4:18) (Riccardo, Walton, Bruno, Coro, Elvira, 1. O rendetemi la speme (10:37) Giorgio) p. 38 (Giorgio, Riccardo, Elvira) p. 50 9. O, vieni al tempio (5:10) 2. Tornò il riso sul suo aspetto (1:22) (Elvira, Riccardo, Giorgio, Bruno, Coro) (Giorgio, Riccardo, Elvira) p. 54 p. 41 3. Vien, diletto, è in ciel la luna! (5:20) 10. Ma tu già mi fuggi? (3:48) (Elvira, Riccardo, Giorgio) p. 54 (Elvira, Coro) p. 44 4 SCENE IV SCENE II 4. Il rival salvar tu dei (4:21) 12. Finì ... me lassa! (3:20) (Riccardo, Giorgio) p. 55 (Elvira, Arturo) p. 64 5. Se tra il buio un fantasma vedrai (2:43) 13. Che provo lontan da me? (3:15) (Riccardo, Giorgio) p. 57 (Elvira, Arturo) p. 66 6. Riccardo! Riccardo! (1:49) 14. Vieni, vieni fra queste braccia (5:09) (Giorgio, Riccardo) p. 58 (Elvira, Arturo) p. 68 7. Suoni la tromba, e intrepido (3:19) 15. Ancor s’ascolta questo suon molesto (1:29) (Giorgio, Riccardo) p. 59 (Arturo, Elvira) p. 70 ACT III 16. Alto là! (1:13) (Coro, Arturo, Elvira) SCENE I: p. 71 . on salo alfn son salo (4:) SCENE III (Arturo) p. 61 17. Cavalier, ti colse il Dio (1:39) . na onte aitto e solo (4:1) (Riccardo, Giorgio, Coro, Elvira) p. 72 (Elvira, Arturo) p. 62 18. Credeasi, misera! (5:52) 10. Qual suon! Alcun s’appressa! (1:44) (Arturo, Elvira, Giorgio, Riccardo, Coro) (Arturo, Coro) p. 62 p. 73 11. Son già lontani (4:12) 19. Suon d’araldi? (3:46) (Arturo) p. 63 (Riccardo, Giorgio, Coro, Elvira, Arturo) p. 78 5 Introduction: complished bass Liudas Norvaišas, who depicts Lord Walton (Gualtiero) impeccably; and mezzo enor Lawrence Brownlee has thus far been the oita aeiit o brins te role o een Tglittering star of two recordings on Delos: The Enrichetta to radiant life. Grammy-nominated Virtuoso Rossini Arias (DE 3455) in 2014, followed in 2016 by the critically Notes: acclaimed Allegro io son (DE 3515)—featuring bel Vincenzo Bellini (1801-1835) was born in Cat- canto arias by Donizetti and Bellini. And he does ania, Sicily, to a musical family. His father, an brilliant justice to the role of Arturo in this 2017 re- organist, sent him to study at the Naples Con- cording of I Puritani inceno ellinis fnal oera. servatory, where he gained the patronage of a As has been pointed out by music historians, Bel- distinguished impresario who commissioned lini composed I Puritani or seeral o te fnest is frst oera Bianca and Fernando. Composed singers of his day, thereby setting very high vocal while the young composer was still a student, standards for interpreters ever since. Such stan- the work’s success earned him further commis- dards apply in particular to the artists interpret- sions, one of which resulted in another early ing the lead roles of Arturo and Elvira. One could opera, Il Pirata (1827). Composed for Milan’s La ardl cast a fner siner or te role o rtro Scala, it was a work that gained him something than Mr. Brownlee. Similarly, the same high vo- approaching an international reputation. With a cal standards apply—in particular—to the female public image to match, he was tall, handsome lead role of Elvira, sung ravishingly in this record- and something of an elegantly dressed dandy, ing by the acclaimed soprano Sarah Coburn, who who looked more like a glamorous stage per- has established herself as a leading international former than a composer. superstar. The important role of Riccardo—Ar- The precocious quality of his work soon brought turo’s rival for the love of Elvira—is impeccably him to the attention of the important theater sung by the renowned Kazakh baritone Azamat poet Felice Romani, who served him as the li- Zheltyrguzov. The remaining roles are beautiful- brettist for his next six operas. These included ly performed by Lithuanian artists, two of whom three more works of note: I Capuleti e i Mon- have graced Delos’s Grammy-nominated record- tecchi (1830), La sonnambula (1831) and Norma ing of Giuseppe Verdi’s Rigoletto, starring the (1831), which some consider to be Bellini’s mas- late, great baritone Dmitri Hvorostovsky. These terpiece. After a brief stay in London, he moved gentlemen are the gifted bass Tadas Girininkas, to Paris, where fellow bel canto composer Gio- who performs the role of Giorgio, and the charis- achino Rossini arranged for him a commission matic tenor Tomas Pavilionis, who sings the role to create an opera for Paris’s Theatre-Italien: the of Bruno. The remaining Lithuanian artists are ac- result was I Puritani. 6 But Bellini’s choice of librettist, the inexperienced public preoccupation with rebellion and civil strife. Count Carlo Pepoli, was not altogether fortunate. And given the fractured nature (and culture) of Ita- He produced a second-rate libretto, which was ly’s separately ruled cities and provinces, such pre- based on a French play, Têtes Rondes et Cavaliers occupation held particularly intense meaning for by Jacques-François Ancelot and Xavier Boniface Italians, both in Bellini’s day and afterwards. While Saintine, which in turn was inspired by Sir Walter Bellini’s inimitable bel canto style captivates oper- Scott’s novel, Old Mortality. However, whatever agoers with its sheer beauty and rich melodic in- Pepoli may have lacked as a librettist, he made up vention, the opera can hardly stand as an accurate for with his understanding of the favored stage history lesson, given the broad artistic license that techniques of his day, and how to use them to was accorded to exceptional composers at the generate audience appeal. Still, his libretto was time. Perhaps I Puritani’s most remarkably por- overlong, and made for a rather convoluted and trayed human characteristic was its extraordinary awkward plot. But Bellini’s music was absolutely depiction of insanity, especially as it applies to the exquisite: a paragon of the art of the bel canto Puritan heroine Elvira. The work implies—among style of singing, with its elegant, long-breathed other things— that the facade of sanity is fragile melodies and brilliant musical embellishments. and can fall apart at any moment. Many consider I Puritani to be Bellini’s loveliest and most enterprising work, and with good rea- While I Puritani became a smash hit across Eu- son. Sadly, it turned out to be the composer’s rope after its January 1835 premiere at Paris’s fnal oera. e to oeror and te riors o Theatre-Italien, it was subsequently subjected to a cold Venetian winter, he contracted an amoe- many cuts and other alterations to both the li- bic infection that killed him six weeks short of his bretto and the music, due mainly to its inordinate 34th birthday, just as he was assured of broad length and often awkward plot. Our research for international success as a composer. As with Mo- this release revealed several different versions of zart and Schubert, Bellini’s outrageously early the libretto.