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Also available ROSSINI 2 CDs Mosè in Egitto Regazzo • Amou • Gierlach • Adami Bevacqua • Trucco • Bandelow • Fedeli San Pietro a Majella Chorus, Naples • Wildbad Wind Band Württemberg Philharmonic Orchestra • Antonino Fogliani
8.660191-92
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Gioachino San Pietro a Majella Chorus, Naples
ROSSINI The Chorus of the Naples San Pietro a Majella Conservatory is made up of singers from the Conservatory, whether (1792-1868) vocal students or instrumentalists, with a repertoire that ranges from the baroque to the contemporary. Important appearances have included the festival concert at the dedication of the Sala Scarlatti in the Conservatory and at the Mosè in Egitto Cologne Philharmonic. There was a notable performance of church music with works by Duke Ellington and in 2003 a (1819 Naples version) performance at the Vatican, televised internationally. The chorus director Elsa Evangelista studied music, composition and conducting in Naples and has at her command a rich repertoire, notably of polyphonic music. She has a special Libretto by Andrea Leone Tottola interest in ethnomusicology. Her considerable reputation has brought invitations to numerous singing festivals.
Lorenzo Regazzo, Bass ...... Mosè Württemberg Philharmonic Orchestra Reutlingen Akie Amou, Soprano ...... Elcìa The Württemberg Philharmonic Orchestra Reutlingen was established in 1945, developing into one of the leading Wojtek Gierlach, Bass ...... Faraone orchestras in South Germany. Norichika Iimori has been the artistic director since September 2001, following on from Samuel Friedman, Salvador Mas Conde and Roberto Paternostro. In addition to concert series in Reutlingen Filippo Adami, Tenor ...... Osiride the orchestra broadcasts regularly with Südwestrundfunk and appears in various cities of South Germany, with tours Rossella Bevacqua, Soprano ...... Amaltea to Austria, Switzerland, Italy, Spain, The Netherlands, and Japan, often with very distinguished choirs and soloists, including Ruggiero Raimondi, Edita Gruberova, José Carreras, Vesselina Kasarova, and Neil Shicoff. Recordings Giorgio Trucco, Tenor ...... Aronne by the orchestra include Naxos releases from Rossini in Wildbad with Rossini’s Ciro in Babilonia, Mayr’s L’amor coniugale, L’occasione fa il ladro, Meyerbeer’s Semiramide, and La cambiale di matrimonio. Karen Bandelow, Mezzo-soprano ...... Amenofi Giuseppe Fedeli, Tenor ...... Mambre Antonino Fogliani Coro del Conservatorio San Pietro a Majella, Naples Born in 1976, Antonino Fogliani made an early start in his international career as a conductor. He studied piano and Elsa Evangelista, Chorus-master composition in Bologna and conducting at the Verdi Conservatorio in Milan. He not only attended master-classes with Gianluigi Gelmetti, but worked with him in productions at major opera-houses in Rome, Venice, Turin, London and Wildbad Wind Band Munich. He also worked with Alberto Zedda at the Accademia Rossiniana in Pesaro. In his own country he has won a (Stadtkapelle Wildbad) number of important prizes. As an opera conductor his successes have included Rossini’s Le Comte Ory in Paris, Martin Koch, Band-leader Donizetti’s Don Pasquale in Rome, and Ugo, Conte di Parigi at the Donizetti Festival in Bergamo and at La Scala. He has conducted on several occasions at the Bergamo Festival and undertaken guest engagements in Korea. Other Wurttemberg Philharmonic Orchestra appearances as an opera conductor include Il turco in Italia in Naples, Rigoletto in Avignon, and Così fan tutte and Lucia (Württembergische Philharmonie Reutlingen) di Lammermoor in Liège, Bergamo and St Gallen. He conducted Mosè in Egitto in 2007 at the Rome Teatro dell’Opera. Antonino Fogliani
Critical Edition by Fondazione Rossini, in collaboration with BMG Ricordi, Milan, edited by Charles S. Brauner and Patricia B. Brauner
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Karen Bandelow CD 1 75:44 CD 2 60:54 Act I Act II (contd.) Born in Hamburg, Karen Bandelow studied singing with Julia Hamari and Dunja Vejzovic at the Stuttgart Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst, continuing her studies in the Lieder class of Konrad Richter and in 1 Introduction: Ah! Chi ne aita? Oh Ciel! 5:52 1 Recitative: Nuove sciagure, o mio german! 1:19 various master-classes, among others with Francisco Araiza. Taking her diploma in 2003, she trained at opera (Chorus, Osiride, Amaltea, Faraone) (Aronne, Mosè) school, taking rôles that included Pamina in Die Zauberflöte and the title rôle in Viardot’s Cendrillon. She sang 2 Recitative: Mano ultrice di un Dio! 3:33 2 Dove mi guidi? Il mio timor dilegua… 9:50 Servilia in Mozart’s La clemenza di Tito at the Pula National Theatre in Croatia, and at the Youth Opera of the (Faraone, Osiride, Amaltea, Mosè, Aronne, Chorus) (Elcìa, Osiride) Stuttgart State Theatre, Rosa in Svoboda’s Erwin, das Naturtalent, Treinsch in Haydn’s Die reisende Ceres, and 3 Eterno! Immenso! Incomprensibil Dio! 2:25 3 Ah mira!… Oh Ciel! 3:30 Lyusya in Shostakovich’s Moskva, Cheryomushki. (Mosè, Tutti) (Elcìa, Osiride, Amaltea, Aronne) 4 Quintet: Celeste man placata! 4:03 4 Mi manca la voce! 6:24 (Mosè, Aronne, Amaltea, Faraone, Osiride) (Elcìa, Amaltea, Osiride, Aronne, Chorus) 5 Egizi! - Faraone! 4:34 5 Recitative: Che potrai dir? 3:01 (Aronne, Mosè, Faraone, Osiride, Amaltea, Chorus) (Faraone, Mosè) 6 Recitative: E avete, avverse stelle 3:33 6 Aria: Dal Re de’ Regi 5:05 Giuseppe Fedeli (Osiride, Mambre, Elcìa) (Mosè) 7 Duet: Ah se puoi così lasciarmi 7:47 7 Recitative: Oh Nume Osiri! 1:30 Giuseppe Fedeli was born in Torre del Greco and took his singing diploma at the Naples San Pietro a Majella (Osiride, Elcìa) (Faraone, Mambre, Amaltea, Osiride) Conservatory. In 2003 he was a finalist in the F. Albanesi International Singing Competition. He has sung as a 8 Recitative: Ah! Dov’è Faraon? 3:22 8 Se a mitigar tue cure 6:45 soloist in sacred and chamber repertoire for various Italian concert organizations, with works by Rossini, Mozart (Amaltea, Mambre, Faraone, Osiride) (Chorus, Faraone, Osiride, Mambre, Mosè, and contemporary composers. His special interest lies in Neapolitan opera of the eighteenth century and composers 9 Aria: A rispettarmi apprenda 6:17 Aronne, Elcìa) such as Cafaro, Leo, Scarlatti, Paisiello and Pergolesi. In 2005 he sang in Gioachino Rossini from Naples to Seville, (Faraone) 9 Aria: Porgi la destra amata 5:33 organized by Naples Conservatory, and in 2003 and 2004 undertook rôles in Il barbiere di Siviglia, La traviata, 0 Turandot, La Bohème and Cavalleria rusticana. All’etra, al Ciel, lieto Israel 3:10 (Elcìa, Osiride, Mosè, Aronne, Faraone, Amenofi) (Chorus, Aronne, Amenofi) 0 È spento il caro bene! 4:03 ! Tutto mi ride intorno! 4:27 (Elcìa, tutti) (Elcìa, Amenofi) @ Che narri? - Il ver 4:50 Act III (Mosè, Osiride, Mambre, Aronne, Chorus, Amaltea, ! Recitative: Eccone in salvo, o figli 2:58 Elcìa, Amenofi, Faraone) (Mosè, Elcìa, Amenofi, Aronne) # Padre… Signor… 3:28 @ Prayer: Dal tuo stellato soglio 6:38 (Osiride, Mosè, Faraone, Amaltea, Elcìa, Mambre, (Mosè, Amenofi, Chorus, Aronne, Elcìa) Aronne, Chorus) # Son fuggiti… Oh Ciel! 4:16 Act II (Faraone, Mambre, Amenofi) $ Recitative: Ecco in tua mano 2:36 (Faraone, Aronne, Osiride) % Duet: Parlar, spiegar non posso 6:09 (Osiride, Faraone) ^ Recitative: Gentil Regina, oh quanto 1:57 (Mosè, Amaltea) & Aria: La pace mia smarrita 7:41 (Amaltea, Chorus)
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Gioachino Rossini (1792-1868) Rosella Bevacqua Mosè in Egitto Rosella Bevacqua studied the piano and singing in Messina, completing her studies there with distinction. She has The reception of sacred works such as the Messa di the dramatic and musical high point of the opera, won prizes in a number of international competitions, twice, in 1999 and 2000, in the Giuseppe di Stefano Gloria and the Stabat Mater clearly shows that Rossini Belshazzar’s feast with the mysterious words Mene, Competition, and in the E. Cilea, N. Piccinni and Battistini contests. She made her début in 1999 as Elvira in has been one of the main casualties in the criticisms Mene, Tekel, Upharsin, was entirely omitted; oratorio- Rossini’s L’italiana in Algeri. Subsequent Rossini rôles have included Clorinda in La Cenerentola in Siena and made of the theatrical and operatic aspects of Italian like attributes remained in the opera, which was in fact Chieti, and Berta in Il barbiere di Siviglia in Pesaro and Bologna. In Pesaro she also sang Corinna in Il viaggio a church music. But the composer has not fared any better nothing more than an excuse for the staging of opera Reims and Alice in Le Comte Ory. She made her début at the Rome Teatro dell’Opera under Gianluigi Gelmetti in conversely in cases where various aspects of church during Lent. In Naples Rossini made a virtue of this Puccini’s Suor Angelica and Il tabarro. In Messina she sang Jenny in Aufstieg und Fall der Stadt Mahagonny and music appear within an operatic context. Goethe was pretext by consciously making Mosè in Egitto part of Carolina in Cimarosa’s Il matrimonio segreto. Her other rôles have included Frasquita in Bizet’s Carmen in Pisa, incensed with his well-disposed guests following the the local well-established tradition of Lenten opera and Rosina in Paisiello’s Il barbiere di Siviglia in Salerno and Garsenda in Zandonai’s Francesca da Rimini in Rome first performance of Moses in Weimar: “And you will also by a thorough renewal of the genre through the use under Renzetti, as well as in Macerata under Barbarcini. In Mantua she sang Norina in Donizetti’s Don Pasquale not deny that your ‘Moses’ really is too absurd. As the of innovative musical-dramatic techniques. and in Genoa Inez in La favorita. curtain rises, the people stand there praying! This is This is already apparent in the structure of the opera most unfitting. It is written that when you wish to pray, in which the biblical and interpersonal plots are clearly then you shall go into your room and shut the door separated. Personal conflicts are predominantly behind you. But in the theatre, one ought not to pray” confined to the arias and duets, while the biblical drama (Eckermann, Gespräche mit Goethe, 7th October 1828). is dealt with in the scenes with chorus and ensemble. The intrusion of the sacred into theatre has its origins in The introduction includes the scene set in darkness and Giorgio Trucco the social function of the theatre in Italy where social the ensuing return of light, while the finale - the other life was played out every evening in the boxes of the structural pillar of the first act – depicts the plague of Born in Voghera, the Italian tenor Giorgio Trucco studied at the Giuseppe Verdi Conservatory in Milan and opera houses after and also during Lent - the period of hailstones and lightning. Between these there is only thereafter with Franca Mattiucci and Roberto Coviello. His various prizes include success as a finalist in the 1999 fasting following carnival - when the public did not one duet and one aria in which the interpersonal subplot Caruso Competition and third prize in the Manio Basiola International Competition. In 1999 he made his début at want to abstain from this institution. The church, or to takes place, here specifically the love story of the young La Scala in Milan in Nina, o la Pazza per amore under Riccardo Muti. Engagements have taken him to Naples, be precise, the official regulations in line with its Hebrew woman, Elcìa, and the Pharaoh’s son, Osiride, Florence, Fermo, Busseto, Pesaro, St Gallen, Athens, Geneva, Toulouse, Avignon, Montpellier and Amsterdam, ordinances, forbade the performance of opera but did whose attempt to hinder the Jews’ departure from Egypt appearing under conductors of considerable international distinction. He appeared in Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte and allow the performance of biblical subjects during Lent. functions, in a manner of speaking, as the driving force Così fan tutte in Toulon and in Don Giovanni in Avignon. At the Rossini Opera Festival in Pesaro he has appeared For this biblical subjects mainly were combined with an for the entire plot. He is killed by divine vengeance from in Le siège de Corinthe, La Cenerentola and Pacini and Pavesi’s Il mondo delle farse, and at Rossini in Wildbad he additional secular plot to comply with operatic a thunderbolt – a replacement for the death of all the has sung Rossini’s Count Almaviva, and Arbace in Ciro in Babilonia. convention, so that the usual love story could take place first-born of Egypt, the last of the ten biblical plagues – within a biblical episode. As far back as the time of his which represents, along with Elcìa’s despairing aria, the stay in Naples, Goethe’s opinion of this practice was conclusion of the interpersonal subplot at the end of the withering: “They put on sacred operas here during Lent, second act. Unusually for Rossini there is a third act and which do not differ in any way from the secular other it is here that the dénouement of the biblical story finally than there being no intervening ballet between the acts; takes place with the flight of the Jews out of Egypt and otherwise they are as colourful as can be. At the St Carlo their passage through the divided Red Sea. Rossini did theatre they are performing: The Destruction of not succeed in improving the second act just here until a Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar.” (Italian Journey, 9th second attempt, in the form of a prayer, for the re- March 1787). Rossini himself had already made use of opening of the opera in Lent 1819 in accordance with a the form in his early years in the “dramma con cori” long-standing Neapolitan opera-oratorio tradition. Ciro in Babilonia, written in 1812 for the Lenten season A comparison with the model provided by the five- in Ferrara. In this instance the scene most suited to being act tragedy Osiride by Francesco Ringhieri (Padua,
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Wojtek Gierlach 1760) also shows clearly that Rossini wanted to exploit accompaniment in which dark woodwinds and brass the conceptual strengths found in opera - its (bassoons, trombones, ‘serpentone’, horns and only The Polish bass Wojtek Gierlach completed his studies at the Fryderyk Chopin Music Academy in Warsaw in 2001, opportunities for chorus and ensemble scenes - with the occasional piccolo, oboes and clarinets) give the music a and has won many international prizes, including the Caruso Prize in Milan. He has made guest appearances at tragic element concentrated first and foremost on the ‘divine halo’, to use Leopold Kantner’s term, which notable houses, including the Teatr Wielki and Warsaw Chamber Opera, and at theatres in Lisbon, Dublin, lovers’ inner conflict: Prince Osiride rebels against baroque composers had already made use of for oracles, Capetown, Klagenfurt, Bari, Oviedo, Pisa, Ravenna and Cremona. He has taken part in the festivals of Aix-en- every convention to be able to keep his beloved Hebrew mysterious voices and the like. Rossini’s trouble lay in Provence, Pesaro, La Coruña and Klosterneuburg. His operatic repertoire ranges widely from Handel’s Imeneo (the woman, while she finds herself under pressure from her finding the appropriate tone colour from the instruments title rôle and Argenio), to Mozart’s Don Giovanni, Carnicer’s Il dissoluto punito (Commendatore), Rimsky- own people (among them her own father, Gioele, who is available to him and imbuing them with majestic Korsakov’s Mozart and Salieri (Salieri) and Puccini’s La Bohème (Colline). His rôles in Rossini have included absent from the opera), but is still prepared to renounce harmony, which Paolo Isotta described as forward- Mustafà, Assur, Alidoro, Lord Sidney and Don Profondo. He is also known as an oratorio singer and recitalist. At all for love. Tottola borrowed this tale of conflict from looking and already approaching that of Wagner. the Rossini in Wildbad Festival he has appeared as Mustafà in Mosca’s L’italiana in Algeri, Don Basilio in Il Ringhieri (although the librettist claimed in his preface At this point, Mosè speaks directly to God using the barbiere di Siviglia and the Gouverneur in Le Comte Ory, with Zambri in Ciro in Babilonia and the rôle of Mirteo in to have created it himself), but, as might be expected, it informal “you” and Stendhal detected that his Meyerbeer’s Semiramide. is present to a greater degree in the dialogues and invocation “Eterno, immenso, incomprensibil Dio” “is monologues of the tragedy than in the opera, which is perhaps too reminiscent of the most sublime Haydn”: able to show its superiority with the large-scale there is in fact an almost identical invocation found in ensembles such as the darkness followed by light The Seasons at the words “God of life! God of love! breaking through it, the plague of hailstones, the prayer Infinite God!” from the finale to “Spring”. scene and the passage through the Red Sea. There is another more obvious association made by Filippo Adami That Rossini was conscious of the scale of this Rossini linking his “oratorium” with Haydn’s, which he major undertaking is shown by several of the letters had already conducted in Bologna in his youth: in old The tenor Filippo Adami was born in Fiesole and studied at the Cherubini Conservatorio in Florence, going on to written to his mother. On 13th February 1818 he age, he commented to his friend Hiller that a “certain appear in opera houses throughout Italy, with rôles that included Don Basilio in Le nozze di Figaro, and in Tutino’s declared his “oratorium” to be a “superior genre” and higher meaning” ran through The Creation. The effect Pinocchio, Salieri’s Piccola Arlecchinata, Mozart’s Bastien und Bastienne and Stravinsky’s Pulcinella. With that he did not know if “these macaroni guzzlers will of the fiat lux occurs at a single stroke in Haydn’s work Rolando Panerai he made his début as Rinuccio in Gianni Schicchi in 2003 and as Dorvil in La scala di seta. He understand it. I do, however, write for the sake of my at the words “And there was light” with a blow made his début as Cavaliere Belfiore in Il viaggio a Reims in Pesaro and at the Pesaro Rossini Opera Festival sang fame and do not care about anything else”. On 24th whereupon everything blazes at once with dazzling Don Narciso and in Coccia’s Arrighetto. For his performance as Nemorino in Donizetti’s L’elisir d’amore he was February he wrote to his mother: “I write little to you as sunlight, while in Rossini’s version the sunbeams, as it awarded the As.Li.Co. Prize. At the Pergolesi-Spontini Festival he sang Colin in Le devin du village and made guest I have too much to do. The oratorio is giving me a lot of were, pour in: at a sign from Moses, the light streams in appearances in 2005 at the Teatro La Fenice in La finta semplice and Bastien at the Lugo Teatro Rossini. Other trouble as it is not a genre with much popular effect, but with terrific force and into the hearts of the people; performances have included participation in Sartorio’s Orfeo in La Coruña under Alberto Zedda in Handel’s is quite sublime and calculated to raise my great chorus and orchestra explode in a long held resolution Sosarme, re di Media under Alan Curtis in Bilbao and in Handel’s Rodelinda. He sang in Scarlatti’s Giardino di reputation”. In a letter of 3rd March, probably while on C major. There is no melody at all, only a chord of C Rose with the Accademia di Santa Cecilia in Rome, and at Rossini in Wildbad sang Ircano in Meyerbeer’s under pressure of rehearsal only two days before the major that swells from piano to fortissimo, thus creating Semiramide under Richard Bonynge. première, he added: “I forgot to tell you that the music the wonderful effect of light pouring in. Both examples of my oratorio is divine”, while scarcely two weeks show how Rossini was drawing on tradition and his later, on 16th March, he noted with hindsight: predecessors, yet still achieved something entirely new. “Certainly I will not write anything more like it because The ensembles and the scenes from the biblical plot I will not again muster the patience that I did on this were of prime importance to Rossini. The commitment occasion”. that he dedicated to them is reflected in the fact that he The invocation Moses makes to God for the exerted no particular effort for the three solo arias, but restoration of daylight may be cited as an example of instead resorted to appropriate music that he had already Rossini’s efforts towards an oratorio-like style. The text composed or entrusted the composition to his assistants. that Tottola adopted, unaltered in places from Ringhieri, It is significant that he found one of Amaltea’s arias is largely set by Rossini with a homophonic (“La pace mia smarrita”) in his “conventional” oratorio
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Ciro in Babilonia, where it was originally sung by passage through the Red Sea as the Giornale del Regno Lorenzo Regazzo Amira during the first act as “Vorrei veder lo sposo” as delle Due Sicilie reported: “The scene at the Eritrean a virtuoso piece, it also suited the guest singer from the Sea would have met with general approval had the fitter Born in Venice, the bass Lorenzo Regazzo studied piano, composition and choral conducting, before starting his court theatre at Dresden, Frederike Funck, and allowed and stage-machinist not been so unfortunate as to have vocal training with Jone Bagagiolo and Sesto Bruscantini. His repertoire includes the principal works of Mozart and her to shine in the rôle of Pharaoh’s wife. Rossini taken their leave in order to bathe in it”. At the revival of Rossini, with Rameau, Handel and Bellini. He has made guest appearances at leading opera houses throughout accepted an indifferent aria for Mosè from an unknown the opera in the following year (7th March 1820), this Europe, with L’italiana in Algeri in Munich, Berlin and Lisbon, Rossini’s Zelmira in Lyon and Paris, La clemenza collaborator, “Tu di ceppi m’aggravi la mano”, to which defect was even vouched for in the newly printed di Tito, La Cenerentola, and I Capuleti ed i Montecchi at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, and Don the eponymous hero was entitled, mainly out of libretto: “Note: The text and music of the third act have Giovanni at La Scala, Milan, and the Vienna State Opera. He has also sung in Rome, Brussels, Bologna, the Royal deference to convention; it also acted as a been newly composed so that the fittings may be Albert Hall in London, and the Amsterdam Concertgebouw, appearing with Riccardo Muti, Claudio Abbado and counterbalance to Faraone’s first act aria: striking lead allowed more room, which, it is hoped, will prove a Simon Rattle, among others. As a regular guest at the Rossini Opera Festival in Pesaro he has appeared in L’inganno characters, such as Moses, were not supposed to sing at better solution and implementation”. The technical felice, L’occasione fa il ladro, La Cenerentola, La scala di seta and Adelaide di Borgogna. In Paris he has sung the all, for that matter, but were merely to fulfil their status problems had therefore been cited as the reason behind rôle of Figaro in Le nozze di Figaro and of Leporello in Don Giovanni. In 2006 he was awarded the Orphée d’Or for as exceptional characters in declamatory passages, such the artistic reworking of the third act. The stage his solo album of Vivaldi arias. At Rossini in Wildbad in 2005 he appeared at the opening of the Royal Spa Theatre as the invocation mentioned above. As a weak manager, however, required neither a new text nor new as Tarabotto in L’inganno felice under Alberto Zedda. personality, Pharaoh is swayed between the pleas of his music to solve a technical problem, and consequently son and wife, Mosè’s demands and reasons of state, but the structure of the third act remained practically does, however, require one aria and for this Rossini unaltered. What is more apparent is that Rossini was not entrusted the aria “A rispettarmi apprenda” to Michele yet satisfied with the musical effect: there was still Carafa, whom he had met and held in high esteem as the something missing that would give the whole a higher talented composer of Gabriella di Vergy. Carafa significance. In the announcement of the reopening of Akie Amou probably also wrote five of the recitatives in the second Mosè in Egitto on the first Sunday of Lent 1819 as early act, as various clues in the original score suggest. as December 1818, it was indicated that the third act The soprano Akie Amou studied at the Opera Institute of Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music with This was the form in which the opera was presented was to be newly composed by Rossini. There is no trace Toshiko Toda, Renato Bruson and Francis Simar. In 1993 she moved to Europe with a scholarship from the Japanese on 5th March 1818. Apart from Raniero Remorini whatsoever of the music for the 1818 version of the Government Overseas Study Programme for Artists, continuing her studies in Stuttgart and in Berlin. Awarded (Pharaoh, bass) and Frederike Funck (Amaltea, third act: only the libretto is extant, which does, several international prizes, she has worked with a number of notable conductors and orchestras, including the NHK soprano), the remaining singers all belonged to the however, allow several conclusions to be drawn Symphony Orchestra under Wolfgang Sawallisch, the Dresden Saxon Staatskapelle under James Conlon, and with permanent ensemble of the Teatro San Carlo: Andrea concerning the layout of the music. Mosè’s invocation the conductors Alberto Zedda, Daniel Oren, Gennady Rozhdestvensky, Daniel Barenboim and Seiji Ozawa. She sang Nozzari (Osiride, tenor), Isabella Colbran (Elcìa, to God, “Clemente Iddio”, followed a recitative that the Queen of the Night and Gepopo in Ligeti’s Le grand macabre at the Berlin Comic Opera, Strauss’s Arabella at soprano), Michele Benedetti (Mosè, bass), Gaetano leads into a scene with the chorus, which may have the Tokyo New National Theatre and Zerbinetta in Ariadne auf Naxos at the Dresden Semper Opera. She made her Chizzola (Mambre, tenor), Giuseppe Ciccimarra resembled his invocation during the scene of darkness début at Rossini in Wildbad in the title rôle of Matilde di Shabran in 1998, afterwards singing the rôle of Matilde in (Aronne, tenor) and Maria Manzi (Amenofi, mezzo- on grounds of style. After Mosè had touched the sea Elisabetta Regina d’Inghilterra, as well as Amenaide in Tancredi and Corinna in Il viaggio a Reims under Alberto soprano). There was considerable encouragement from with his staff, its waves receded and the Jews passed Zedda, a rôle that she also sang in Pesaro, Strasbourg and Royaumont. She lives in Berlin and Tokyo. press and public alike. The unaffected, tuneful and through the divided waters of the Red Sea singing the expressive singing, the dramatic and imaginative chorus “Dov’è quel cor”, the metre of which suggests a harmony, as well as the skilful, sublime and expressive repeat of the chorus at the beginning of the first act recitative were all praised. Rossini had underestimated finale inserted by Rossini as a leitmotiv for the the “macaroni guzzlers” and was able to report back to Hebrews. Following a brief recitative between Faraone home that “the oratorio fills the theatre every evening and Mambre, the opera obviously concluded with storm and Madame Colbran and the maestro are given that sort music to accompany the closing of the waves over the of spontaneous applause, such as one is deservedly glad pursuing Egyptians. to receive from the most educated public in all Italy.” According to the stage directions contained in the The only disappointment was the staging of the libretto of 1819, the new version begins with the
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him to carry out his royal duty and to let the Hebrews @ Moses kneels in prayer, seeking mercy for God’s procession of the Jews “advancing to the sound of thereby bringing it close to a symphonic poem in form, go. people, who join him in their petition. The sound of joyous instruments”. An instrumental introduction of and thus setting the seal on the sublime character of his arms and distant shouts are heard, as Pharaoh’s soldiers this sort is not found in the score of the new third act, oratorio-opera. 9 She goes on to tell him to marry his destined royal approach. The people are afraid, but Moses tells them to but the march music suggests itself as an obvious Amaltea’s aria borrowed from Ciro was also bride, but Osiris declares that she will be the queen of trust the power of God. He strikes the sea with his staff solution but without the chorus from the finale to Act omitted “in the interests of brevity”. Brevity may not his heart. Provoked, he draws his sword, to attack and the waters divide, allowing Moses to lead his people One (as suggested by the critical edition of the opera by actually have been the deciding factor here, but rather Moses, but is struck by lightning and falls down dead. to the far shore. the Fondazione Rossini (2004)), with the leitmotif that the fact that Frederike Funck was no longer available for Rossini had included, probably as early as 1818, in the the rôle of the queen. Maria Manzi, who now took over 0 Pharaoh falls on the body of his son, and Elcia # Pharaoh, Mambre and their men are amazed at the middle of the third act. After the march, a short the rôle, had sung mostly small parts in Naples and mourns the death of her beloved, ready herself to die. miracle. Resolved to follow, they are drowned, as the recitative quickly leads to the main section of the third Rossini had never written an aria for her; Amaltea’s stormy seas close over them. The storm abates and all is act, replacing Mosè’s invocation, which has epitomized virtuoso piece would probably have overtaxed her. Act III calm, with the Hebrew people on the opposite bank the opera ever since, retaining its popularity to this day Since Rossini left the aria in the original score, he may kneeling in thanks to the Lord of Hosts. challenged only by Verdi’s “Va pensiero” from have regarded it as more than just a concession to the ! The scene is set on the shores of the Red Sea. The Nabucco. The entire force of the religious element is virtuoso guest singer of 1818. The piece makes real people are led by Moses and Aaron, to the sound of concentrated in this section of the opera, which is given dramatic sense, as Amaltea has sufficient significance as cheerful music. Elcia is supported by Amenophis. Moses Keith Anderson epic and awe-inspiring expression in the moving prayer: a corrective to Osiride to warrant her own solo number; tells them that they are now safe. Elcia is reluctant to go “Dal tuo stellato soglio” (“From Thy starry throne”). and the musical-dramatic structure of the second act further and Amenophis doubts the possibility of crossing Mosè, Aronne and Elcìa sing one verse each, profits from an aria between the two ensembles i.e. the the sea. Moses and Aaron reassure them. accompanied by a harp and the refrain, which shows duet for Osiride and Faraone and the scena for Osiride extraordinary pathos by virtue of its simplicity, is taken and Elcìa and quartet for Osiride, Elcìa, Amaltea and up by the entire chorus and orchestra. At the end of the Mosè. third verse, the chorus shifts unexpectedly from major to A further adjustment occurred in 1820 when the minor: the emotional effect of this master-stroke is work reopened again at the Teatro San Carlo in Naples. genuinely moving. It is the second effect of this type in On this occasion neither Raniero Remorini (1818) nor the opera brought about by a change of key: just as Carlo Porta (1819) was engaged as the additional bass darkness suddenly had given way to light in the alongside Michele Benedetti (Mosè) in Barbaja’s introduction, so Moses’s prayer of supplication is ensemble, but it was Antonio Ambrosi who was given suddenly transformed into fervent hope. The prayer is the rôle of Faraone. On this occasion Rossini replaced given additional weight in the tutti section by the Carafa’s aria “A rispettarmi apprenda” with one of his addition of a ‘banda’, i.e. incidental music, which has own, “Cade dal ciglio il velo”, probably in order to do admittedly never yet been made use of in modern times justice to the new interpreter’s greater virtuosic potential for economic reasons. What is worth mentioning here is or requirements. In doing this, Rossini was not seeking not only the increased contrast between the solo verses to call Carafa’s abilities into question; otherwise he and the refrain for the chorus, but the fact that Rossini would already have found a replacement in 1819. He copied out all the parts himself (one piccolo, one did, however, take advantage of the opportunity to soprano clarinet, three clarinets, two horns, four remove the original aria from the score, returned it to its trumpets, two trombones, one serpent, one kettledrum), real owner and bound his own composition into the while in later pieces for ‘banda’, he wrote down no score. At the same time, five recitatives were also more than the main tune leaving the rest to be completed removed and replaced by copies of the same, hence the by the local banda conductor. Rossini finally topped-off suggestion that they had likewise been supplied by the grandeur of his opera with the addition of a Carafa. Rossini’s “occasional aria” hardly circulated at wonderful “Calm at Sea” in the instrumental finale all consequently, as copies that had been made when
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Carafa’s aria was still part of the score were already 5 Addressing the Egyptians and Pharaoh they proclaim Amenophis (Amenofi). They praise the God of 2 The scene changes to a dark underground chamber, circulating throughout Europe. Carafa’s contribution the power of God, and Pharaoh assents to the departure Abraham, of Isaac and of Noah. reached by a winding staircase. Osiris is seen above, has been withheld in modern times until now because of of the Hebrews. Osiris, however, urges reflection, but is carrying a torch and leading the timid Elcia. She asks the somewhat prejudiced argument that the quality of overruled. ! Elcia is divided in her heart, tearful at parting, on a Osiris where he is taking her, divided in her loyalties. Rossini’s later arias cannot be associated with him. In day of such rejoicing for her people. Amenophis tries to He tells her of the marriage arranged for him with the the present recording Carafa’s original aria is used for 6 Osiris is left alone, as the others go, appalled at the comfort her. Armenian queen and proposes that they should escape, the first time, while Mosè is allocated the aria that possible loss of his Elcia. He is joined by the High planning to live with her in secret as a shepherd. Rossini later wrote for Faraone, a solution chosen by Priest, Mambre, angry at the apparent triumph of Moses @ Moses receives the news from Osiris with Ferdinand Hérold for Paris as early as 1822; Amaltea’s and Aaron. Osiris urges him to use his influence to indignation and Aaron is aghast at this perfidy. Moses 3 A sound is heard above and Amaltea and Aaron aria can also be heard, and of course the third act of prevent the departure of the Hebrews by provoking threatens divine punishment, notions rejected by Osiris appear, with Egyptian guards. Amaltea reproaches her 1819, including the incidental music, which gives the discord. Mambre claims his powers greater than those of and Mambre, but the people rise up in anger. Following son, and Aaron rebukes Elcia, with the former turning work its “higher meaning”. Moses, ready now to rouse the people and satisfy Osiris. an argument with Moses, Pharaoh appears, calling a halt on Elcia, a seductress, and Aaron on Osiris for his rash As Mambre leaves, Osiris is joined by Elcia, come to to the dispute. behaviour. Reto Müller see her beloved Osiris for the last time, as her people prepare to leave. # Pharaoh declares his will, to the varied reactions of 4 There is general perturbation, with Osiris renouncing English version by Neil Coleman all. Moses strikes with his staff, and there is thunder, his country and Elcia her love. Aaron leads her away, 7 Osiris begs her not to leave him. As they sing of their hail and a storm of fire, to general consternation. while Amaltea takes Osiris away. sorrow and troubles, a distant trumpet is heard, the sign Synopsis of the Israelites gathering together, ready to go. Elcia Act II 5 Elsewhere Pharaoh is seen with Moses, explaining breaks away from Osiris, and they part. the danger Egypt is in of invasion by the Midianites, CD 1 $ Pharaoh gives Aaron his new decree with permission Moab, Ammon and the Philistines, if he were to let the 8 Pharaoh’s consort, Amaltea, asks Mambre where for the departure of the Israelites. As Aaron goes, Osiris Hebrews, a possible defence of the kingdom, go. Moses Act 1 Pharaoh is; she has heard that the order to let the enters. His father tells him he is to be married to an rejects this argument as specious. Israelites go has been revoked and is afraid that further Armenian princess, to his son’s secret dismay. 1 Darkness has fallen over Egypt. In the royal palace plagues will fall on Egypt; Pharaoh may easily be 6 He proclaims the death of the first-born and is led all is consternation and Pharaoh (Faraone) too regrets persuaded by his son. They are joined by Pharaoh and % Osiris is troubled, and his father wants to know why. away, a prisoner. his error, while Osiris (Osiride), his heir, has his own Osiris, the latter telling Amaltea that she should concern They leave. reservations, in view of his love for the Hebrew Elcia. herself with women’s business. She is appalled at the 7 Pharaoh prays to the god Osiris. He is joined by Pharaoh calls for Moses and all call on the God of Israel. change of decision, but Osiris points out the imprudence ^ Moses acknowledges Amaltea’s help and good Mambre, to whom he explains the threat Moses has of the planned departure, and Pharaoh declares the intentions, and she hopes that her husband will not made, bidding him summon the nobles. Amaltea enters, 2 Pharaoh recognises the vengeful hand of a god, divine punishment trickery. He bids Mambre and Osiris change his mind again, as inconstant, Moses says, as the ready to reveal what has happened, but they are joined realising too late his power and promising to let his tell Moses that none must leave, on pain of death. Osiris breeze or a leaf blown by the wind. by Osiris, greeted warmly by his father. people go. They are joined by Moses (Mosè) and Aaron is delighted, Amaltea horrified. Pharaoh tells her to be (Aronne) and Pharaoh asks Moses to remove the quiet; he has made his decision. & Amaltea hopes her prayers will be answered, uneasy 8 To the sound of a march the Egyptian grandees darkness, ready now to carry out his promise. in her heart, but comforted by the Israelites. arrive, with the royal guards. Pharaoh and Osiris are 9 Pharaoh must be obeyed, and must consider the good enthroned and Moses, in chains, is led in by Mambre, 3 Moses calls on God and, at the stroke of his staff light of his kingdom; for Osiris he has praise for his wise CD 2 followed by Aaron, with the terrified Elcia, Amenophis suddenly returns, to general joy. advice. He goes, leaving Amaltea to fear the future and and some Hebrew maidens. The nobles greet their king, Osiris and Mambre to carry out his orders. 1 Aaron tells Moses that Osiris has persuaded Elcia to who installs Osiris as his co-regent. Osiris secretly 4 Moses and Aaron praise God at this proof of his flee with him. Moses tells Aaron to seek the help of supposes that this change will solve his problem with goodness, while Pharaoh, his consort Amaltea and heir 0 The Israelites celebrate their imminent departure, Amaltea. Elcia. They accuse Moses, rebuked particularly by Osiris are amazed. Aaron urging gratitude to God, supported by his sister Osiris. Elcia reveals her relationship with Osiris, urging
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Carafa’s aria was still part of the score were already 5 Addressing the Egyptians and Pharaoh they proclaim Amenophis (Amenofi). They praise the God of 2 The scene changes to a dark underground chamber, circulating throughout Europe. Carafa’s contribution the power of God, and Pharaoh assents to the departure Abraham, of Isaac and of Noah. reached by a winding staircase. Osiris is seen above, has been withheld in modern times until now because of of the Hebrews. Osiris, however, urges reflection, but is carrying a torch and leading the timid Elcia. She asks the somewhat prejudiced argument that the quality of overruled. ! Elcia is divided in her heart, tearful at parting, on a Osiris where he is taking her, divided in her loyalties. Rossini’s later arias cannot be associated with him. In day of such rejoicing for her people. Amenophis tries to He tells her of the marriage arranged for him with the the present recording Carafa’s original aria is used for 6 Osiris is left alone, as the others go, appalled at the comfort her. Armenian queen and proposes that they should escape, the first time, while Mosè is allocated the aria that possible loss of his Elcia. He is joined by the High planning to live with her in secret as a shepherd. Rossini later wrote for Faraone, a solution chosen by Priest, Mambre, angry at the apparent triumph of Moses @ Moses receives the news from Osiris with Ferdinand Hérold for Paris as early as 1822; Amaltea’s and Aaron. Osiris urges him to use his influence to indignation and Aaron is aghast at this perfidy. Moses 3 A sound is heard above and Amaltea and Aaron aria can also be heard, and of course the third act of prevent the departure of the Hebrews by provoking threatens divine punishment, notions rejected by Osiris appear, with Egyptian guards. Amaltea reproaches her 1819, including the incidental music, which gives the discord. Mambre claims his powers greater than those of and Mambre, but the people rise up in anger. Following son, and Aaron rebukes Elcia, with the former turning work its “higher meaning”. Moses, ready now to rouse the people and satisfy Osiris. an argument with Moses, Pharaoh appears, calling a halt on Elcia, a seductress, and Aaron on Osiris for his rash As Mambre leaves, Osiris is joined by Elcia, come to to the dispute. behaviour. Reto Müller see her beloved Osiris for the last time, as her people prepare to leave. # Pharaoh declares his will, to the varied reactions of 4 There is general perturbation, with Osiris renouncing English version by Neil Coleman all. Moses strikes with his staff, and there is thunder, his country and Elcia her love. Aaron leads her away, 7 Osiris begs her not to leave him. As they sing of their hail and a storm of fire, to general consternation. while Amaltea takes Osiris away. sorrow and troubles, a distant trumpet is heard, the sign Synopsis of the Israelites gathering together, ready to go. Elcia Act II 5 Elsewhere Pharaoh is seen with Moses, explaining breaks away from Osiris, and they part. the danger Egypt is in of invasion by the Midianites, CD 1 $ Pharaoh gives Aaron his new decree with permission Moab, Ammon and the Philistines, if he were to let the 8 Pharaoh’s consort, Amaltea, asks Mambre where for the departure of the Israelites. As Aaron goes, Osiris Hebrews, a possible defence of the kingdom, go. Moses Act 1 Pharaoh is; she has heard that the order to let the enters. His father tells him he is to be married to an rejects this argument as specious. Israelites go has been revoked and is afraid that further Armenian princess, to his son’s secret dismay. 1 Darkness has fallen over Egypt. In the royal palace plagues will fall on Egypt; Pharaoh may easily be 6 He proclaims the death of the first-born and is led all is consternation and Pharaoh (Faraone) too regrets persuaded by his son. They are joined by Pharaoh and % Osiris is troubled, and his father wants to know why. away, a prisoner. his error, while Osiris (Osiride), his heir, has his own Osiris, the latter telling Amaltea that she should concern They leave. reservations, in view of his love for the Hebrew Elcia. herself with women’s business. She is appalled at the 7 Pharaoh prays to the god Osiris. He is joined by Pharaoh calls for Moses and all call on the God of Israel. change of decision, but Osiris points out the imprudence ^ Moses acknowledges Amaltea’s help and good Mambre, to whom he explains the threat Moses has of the planned departure, and Pharaoh declares the intentions, and she hopes that her husband will not made, bidding him summon the nobles. Amaltea enters, 2 Pharaoh recognises the vengeful hand of a god, divine punishment trickery. He bids Mambre and Osiris change his mind again, as inconstant, Moses says, as the ready to reveal what has happened, but they are joined realising too late his power and promising to let his tell Moses that none must leave, on pain of death. Osiris breeze or a leaf blown by the wind. by Osiris, greeted warmly by his father. people go. They are joined by Moses (Mosè) and Aaron is delighted, Amaltea horrified. Pharaoh tells her to be (Aronne) and Pharaoh asks Moses to remove the quiet; he has made his decision. & Amaltea hopes her prayers will be answered, uneasy 8 To the sound of a march the Egyptian grandees darkness, ready now to carry out his promise. in her heart, but comforted by the Israelites. arrive, with the royal guards. Pharaoh and Osiris are 9 Pharaoh must be obeyed, and must consider the good enthroned and Moses, in chains, is led in by Mambre, 3 Moses calls on God and, at the stroke of his staff light of his kingdom; for Osiris he has praise for his wise CD 2 followed by Aaron, with the terrified Elcia, Amenophis suddenly returns, to general joy. advice. He goes, leaving Amaltea to fear the future and and some Hebrew maidens. The nobles greet their king, Osiris and Mambre to carry out his orders. 1 Aaron tells Moses that Osiris has persuaded Elcia to who installs Osiris as his co-regent. Osiris secretly 4 Moses and Aaron praise God at this proof of his flee with him. Moses tells Aaron to seek the help of supposes that this change will solve his problem with goodness, while Pharaoh, his consort Amaltea and heir 0 The Israelites celebrate their imminent departure, Amaltea. Elcia. They accuse Moses, rebuked particularly by Osiris are amazed. Aaron urging gratitude to God, supported by his sister Osiris. Elcia reveals her relationship with Osiris, urging
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him to carry out his royal duty and to let the Hebrews @ Moses kneels in prayer, seeking mercy for God’s procession of the Jews “advancing to the sound of thereby bringing it close to a symphonic poem in form, go. people, who join him in their petition. The sound of joyous instruments”. An instrumental introduction of and thus setting the seal on the sublime character of his arms and distant shouts are heard, as Pharaoh’s soldiers this sort is not found in the score of the new third act, oratorio-opera. 9 She goes on to tell him to marry his destined royal approach. The people are afraid, but Moses tells them to but the march music suggests itself as an obvious Amaltea’s aria borrowed from Ciro was also bride, but Osiris declares that she will be the queen of trust the power of God. He strikes the sea with his staff solution but without the chorus from the finale to Act omitted “in the interests of brevity”. Brevity may not his heart. Provoked, he draws his sword, to attack and the waters divide, allowing Moses to lead his people One (as suggested by the critical edition of the opera by actually have been the deciding factor here, but rather Moses, but is struck by lightning and falls down dead. to the far shore. the Fondazione Rossini (2004)), with the leitmotif that the fact that Frederike Funck was no longer available for Rossini had included, probably as early as 1818, in the the rôle of the queen. Maria Manzi, who now took over 0 Pharaoh falls on the body of his son, and Elcia # Pharaoh, Mambre and their men are amazed at the middle of the third act. After the march, a short the rôle, had sung mostly small parts in Naples and mourns the death of her beloved, ready herself to die. miracle. Resolved to follow, they are drowned, as the recitative quickly leads to the main section of the third Rossini had never written an aria for her; Amaltea’s stormy seas close over them. The storm abates and all is act, replacing Mosè’s invocation, which has epitomized virtuoso piece would probably have overtaxed her. Act III calm, with the Hebrew people on the opposite bank the opera ever since, retaining its popularity to this day Since Rossini left the aria in the original score, he may kneeling in thanks to the Lord of Hosts. challenged only by Verdi’s “Va pensiero” from have regarded it as more than just a concession to the ! The scene is set on the shores of the Red Sea. The Nabucco. The entire force of the religious element is virtuoso guest singer of 1818. The piece makes real people are led by Moses and Aaron, to the sound of concentrated in this section of the opera, which is given dramatic sense, as Amaltea has sufficient significance as cheerful music. Elcia is supported by Amenophis. Moses Keith Anderson epic and awe-inspiring expression in the moving prayer: a corrective to Osiride to warrant her own solo number; tells them that they are now safe. Elcia is reluctant to go “Dal tuo stellato soglio” (“From Thy starry throne”). and the musical-dramatic structure of the second act further and Amenophis doubts the possibility of crossing Mosè, Aronne and Elcìa sing one verse each, profits from an aria between the two ensembles i.e. the the sea. Moses and Aaron reassure them. accompanied by a harp and the refrain, which shows duet for Osiride and Faraone and the scena for Osiride extraordinary pathos by virtue of its simplicity, is taken and Elcìa and quartet for Osiride, Elcìa, Amaltea and up by the entire chorus and orchestra. At the end of the Mosè. third verse, the chorus shifts unexpectedly from major to A further adjustment occurred in 1820 when the minor: the emotional effect of this master-stroke is work reopened again at the Teatro San Carlo in Naples. genuinely moving. It is the second effect of this type in On this occasion neither Raniero Remorini (1818) nor the opera brought about by a change of key: just as Carlo Porta (1819) was engaged as the additional bass darkness suddenly had given way to light in the alongside Michele Benedetti (Mosè) in Barbaja’s introduction, so Moses’s prayer of supplication is ensemble, but it was Antonio Ambrosi who was given suddenly transformed into fervent hope. The prayer is the rôle of Faraone. On this occasion Rossini replaced given additional weight in the tutti section by the Carafa’s aria “A rispettarmi apprenda” with one of his addition of a ‘banda’, i.e. incidental music, which has own, “Cade dal ciglio il velo”, probably in order to do admittedly never yet been made use of in modern times justice to the new interpreter’s greater virtuosic potential for economic reasons. What is worth mentioning here is or requirements. In doing this, Rossini was not seeking not only the increased contrast between the solo verses to call Carafa’s abilities into question; otherwise he and the refrain for the chorus, but the fact that Rossini would already have found a replacement in 1819. He copied out all the parts himself (one piccolo, one did, however, take advantage of the opportunity to soprano clarinet, three clarinets, two horns, four remove the original aria from the score, returned it to its trumpets, two trombones, one serpent, one kettledrum), real owner and bound his own composition into the while in later pieces for ‘banda’, he wrote down no score. At the same time, five recitatives were also more than the main tune leaving the rest to be completed removed and replaced by copies of the same, hence the by the local banda conductor. Rossini finally topped-off suggestion that they had likewise been supplied by the grandeur of his opera with the addition of a Carafa. Rossini’s “occasional aria” hardly circulated at wonderful “Calm at Sea” in the instrumental finale all consequently, as copies that had been made when
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Ciro in Babilonia, where it was originally sung by passage through the Red Sea as the Giornale del Regno Lorenzo Regazzo Amira during the first act as “Vorrei veder lo sposo” as delle Due Sicilie reported: “The scene at the Eritrean a virtuoso piece, it also suited the guest singer from the Sea would have met with general approval had the fitter Born in Venice, the bass Lorenzo Regazzo studied piano, composition and choral conducting, before starting his court theatre at Dresden, Frederike Funck, and allowed and stage-machinist not been so unfortunate as to have vocal training with Jone Bagagiolo and Sesto Bruscantini. His repertoire includes the principal works of Mozart and her to shine in the rôle of Pharaoh’s wife. Rossini taken their leave in order to bathe in it”. At the revival of Rossini, with Rameau, Handel and Bellini. He has made guest appearances at leading opera houses throughout accepted an indifferent aria for Mosè from an unknown the opera in the following year (7th March 1820), this Europe, with L’italiana in Algeri in Munich, Berlin and Lisbon, Rossini’s Zelmira in Lyon and Paris, La clemenza collaborator, “Tu di ceppi m’aggravi la mano”, to which defect was even vouched for in the newly printed di Tito, La Cenerentola, and I Capuleti ed i Montecchi at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, and Don the eponymous hero was entitled, mainly out of libretto: “Note: The text and music of the third act have Giovanni at La Scala, Milan, and the Vienna State Opera. He has also sung in Rome, Brussels, Bologna, the Royal deference to convention; it also acted as a been newly composed so that the fittings may be Albert Hall in London, and the Amsterdam Concertgebouw, appearing with Riccardo Muti, Claudio Abbado and counterbalance to Faraone’s first act aria: striking lead allowed more room, which, it is hoped, will prove a Simon Rattle, among others. As a regular guest at the Rossini Opera Festival in Pesaro he has appeared in L’inganno characters, such as Moses, were not supposed to sing at better solution and implementation”. The technical felice, L’occasione fa il ladro, La Cenerentola, La scala di seta and Adelaide di Borgogna. In Paris he has sung the all, for that matter, but were merely to fulfil their status problems had therefore been cited as the reason behind rôle of Figaro in Le nozze di Figaro and of Leporello in Don Giovanni. In 2006 he was awarded the Orphée d’Or for as exceptional characters in declamatory passages, such the artistic reworking of the third act. The stage his solo album of Vivaldi arias. At Rossini in Wildbad in 2005 he appeared at the opening of the Royal Spa Theatre as the invocation mentioned above. As a weak manager, however, required neither a new text nor new as Tarabotto in L’inganno felice under Alberto Zedda. personality, Pharaoh is swayed between the pleas of his music to solve a technical problem, and consequently son and wife, Mosè’s demands and reasons of state, but the structure of the third act remained practically does, however, require one aria and for this Rossini unaltered. What is more apparent is that Rossini was not entrusted the aria “A rispettarmi apprenda” to Michele yet satisfied with the musical effect: there was still Carafa, whom he had met and held in high esteem as the something missing that would give the whole a higher talented composer of Gabriella di Vergy. Carafa significance. In the announcement of the reopening of Akie Amou probably also wrote five of the recitatives in the second Mosè in Egitto on the first Sunday of Lent 1819 as early act, as various clues in the original score suggest. as December 1818, it was indicated that the third act The soprano Akie Amou studied at the Opera Institute of Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music with This was the form in which the opera was presented was to be newly composed by Rossini. There is no trace Toshiko Toda, Renato Bruson and Francis Simar. In 1993 she moved to Europe with a scholarship from the Japanese on 5th March 1818. Apart from Raniero Remorini whatsoever of the music for the 1818 version of the Government Overseas Study Programme for Artists, continuing her studies in Stuttgart and in Berlin. Awarded (Pharaoh, bass) and Frederike Funck (Amaltea, third act: only the libretto is extant, which does, several international prizes, she has worked with a number of notable conductors and orchestras, including the NHK soprano), the remaining singers all belonged to the however, allow several conclusions to be drawn Symphony Orchestra under Wolfgang Sawallisch, the Dresden Saxon Staatskapelle under James Conlon, and with permanent ensemble of the Teatro San Carlo: Andrea concerning the layout of the music. Mosè’s invocation the conductors Alberto Zedda, Daniel Oren, Gennady Rozhdestvensky, Daniel Barenboim and Seiji Ozawa. She sang Nozzari (Osiride, tenor), Isabella Colbran (Elcìa, to God, “Clemente Iddio”, followed a recitative that the Queen of the Night and Gepopo in Ligeti’s Le grand macabre at the Berlin Comic Opera, Strauss’s Arabella at soprano), Michele Benedetti (Mosè, bass), Gaetano leads into a scene with the chorus, which may have the Tokyo New National Theatre and Zerbinetta in Ariadne auf Naxos at the Dresden Semper Opera. She made her Chizzola (Mambre, tenor), Giuseppe Ciccimarra resembled his invocation during the scene of darkness début at Rossini in Wildbad in the title rôle of Matilde di Shabran in 1998, afterwards singing the rôle of Matilde in (Aronne, tenor) and Maria Manzi (Amenofi, mezzo- on grounds of style. After Mosè had touched the sea Elisabetta Regina d’Inghilterra, as well as Amenaide in Tancredi and Corinna in Il viaggio a Reims under Alberto soprano). There was considerable encouragement from with his staff, its waves receded and the Jews passed Zedda, a rôle that she also sang in Pesaro, Strasbourg and Royaumont. She lives in Berlin and Tokyo. press and public alike. The unaffected, tuneful and through the divided waters of the Red Sea singing the expressive singing, the dramatic and imaginative chorus “Dov’è quel cor”, the metre of which suggests a harmony, as well as the skilful, sublime and expressive repeat of the chorus at the beginning of the first act recitative were all praised. Rossini had underestimated finale inserted by Rossini as a leitmotiv for the the “macaroni guzzlers” and was able to report back to Hebrews. Following a brief recitative between Faraone home that “the oratorio fills the theatre every evening and Mambre, the opera obviously concluded with storm and Madame Colbran and the maestro are given that sort music to accompany the closing of the waves over the of spontaneous applause, such as one is deservedly glad pursuing Egyptians. to receive from the most educated public in all Italy.” According to the stage directions contained in the The only disappointment was the staging of the libretto of 1819, the new version begins with the
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Wojtek Gierlach 1760) also shows clearly that Rossini wanted to exploit accompaniment in which dark woodwinds and brass the conceptual strengths found in opera - its (bassoons, trombones, ‘serpentone’, horns and only The Polish bass Wojtek Gierlach completed his studies at the Fryderyk Chopin Music Academy in Warsaw in 2001, opportunities for chorus and ensemble scenes - with the occasional piccolo, oboes and clarinets) give the music a and has won many international prizes, including the Caruso Prize in Milan. He has made guest appearances at tragic element concentrated first and foremost on the ‘divine halo’, to use Leopold Kantner’s term, which notable houses, including the Teatr Wielki and Warsaw Chamber Opera, and at theatres in Lisbon, Dublin, lovers’ inner conflict: Prince Osiride rebels against baroque composers had already made use of for oracles, Capetown, Klagenfurt, Bari, Oviedo, Pisa, Ravenna and Cremona. He has taken part in the festivals of Aix-en- every convention to be able to keep his beloved Hebrew mysterious voices and the like. Rossini’s trouble lay in Provence, Pesaro, La Coruña and Klosterneuburg. His operatic repertoire ranges widely from Handel’s Imeneo (the woman, while she finds herself under pressure from her finding the appropriate tone colour from the instruments title rôle and Argenio), to Mozart’s Don Giovanni, Carnicer’s Il dissoluto punito (Commendatore), Rimsky- own people (among them her own father, Gioele, who is available to him and imbuing them with majestic Korsakov’s Mozart and Salieri (Salieri) and Puccini’s La Bohème (Colline). His rôles in Rossini have included absent from the opera), but is still prepared to renounce harmony, which Paolo Isotta described as forward- Mustafà, Assur, Alidoro, Lord Sidney and Don Profondo. He is also known as an oratorio singer and recitalist. At all for love. Tottola borrowed this tale of conflict from looking and already approaching that of Wagner. the Rossini in Wildbad Festival he has appeared as Mustafà in Mosca’s L’italiana in Algeri, Don Basilio in Il Ringhieri (although the librettist claimed in his preface At this point, Mosè speaks directly to God using the barbiere di Siviglia and the Gouverneur in Le Comte Ory, with Zambri in Ciro in Babilonia and the rôle of Mirteo in to have created it himself), but, as might be expected, it informal “you” and Stendhal detected that his Meyerbeer’s Semiramide. is present to a greater degree in the dialogues and invocation “Eterno, immenso, incomprensibil Dio” “is monologues of the tragedy than in the opera, which is perhaps too reminiscent of the most sublime Haydn”: able to show its superiority with the large-scale there is in fact an almost identical invocation found in ensembles such as the darkness followed by light The Seasons at the words “God of life! God of love! breaking through it, the plague of hailstones, the prayer Infinite God!” from the finale to “Spring”. scene and the passage through the Red Sea. There is another more obvious association made by Filippo Adami That Rossini was conscious of the scale of this Rossini linking his “oratorium” with Haydn’s, which he major undertaking is shown by several of the letters had already conducted in Bologna in his youth: in old The tenor Filippo Adami was born in Fiesole and studied at the Cherubini Conservatorio in Florence, going on to written to his mother. On 13th February 1818 he age, he commented to his friend Hiller that a “certain appear in opera houses throughout Italy, with rôles that included Don Basilio in Le nozze di Figaro, and in Tutino’s declared his “oratorium” to be a “superior genre” and higher meaning” ran through The Creation. The effect Pinocchio, Salieri’s Piccola Arlecchinata, Mozart’s Bastien und Bastienne and Stravinsky’s Pulcinella. With that he did not know if “these macaroni guzzlers will of the fiat lux occurs at a single stroke in Haydn’s work Rolando Panerai he made his début as Rinuccio in Gianni Schicchi in 2003 and as Dorvil in La scala di seta. He understand it. I do, however, write for the sake of my at the words “And there was light” with a blow made his début as Cavaliere Belfiore in Il viaggio a Reims in Pesaro and at the Pesaro Rossini Opera Festival sang fame and do not care about anything else”. On 24th whereupon everything blazes at once with dazzling Don Narciso and in Coccia’s Arrighetto. For his performance as Nemorino in Donizetti’s L’elisir d’amore he was February he wrote to his mother: “I write little to you as sunlight, while in Rossini’s version the sunbeams, as it awarded the As.Li.Co. Prize. At the Pergolesi-Spontini Festival he sang Colin in Le devin du village and made guest I have too much to do. The oratorio is giving me a lot of were, pour in: at a sign from Moses, the light streams in appearances in 2005 at the Teatro La Fenice in La finta semplice and Bastien at the Lugo Teatro Rossini. Other trouble as it is not a genre with much popular effect, but with terrific force and into the hearts of the people; performances have included participation in Sartorio’s Orfeo in La Coruña under Alberto Zedda in Handel’s is quite sublime and calculated to raise my great chorus and orchestra explode in a long held resolution Sosarme, re di Media under Alan Curtis in Bilbao and in Handel’s Rodelinda. He sang in Scarlatti’s Giardino di reputation”. In a letter of 3rd March, probably while on C major. There is no melody at all, only a chord of C Rose with the Accademia di Santa Cecilia in Rome, and at Rossini in Wildbad sang Ircano in Meyerbeer’s under pressure of rehearsal only two days before the major that swells from piano to fortissimo, thus creating Semiramide under Richard Bonynge. première, he added: “I forgot to tell you that the music the wonderful effect of light pouring in. Both examples of my oratorio is divine”, while scarcely two weeks show how Rossini was drawing on tradition and his later, on 16th March, he noted with hindsight: predecessors, yet still achieved something entirely new. “Certainly I will not write anything more like it because The ensembles and the scenes from the biblical plot I will not again muster the patience that I did on this were of prime importance to Rossini. The commitment occasion”. that he dedicated to them is reflected in the fact that he The invocation Moses makes to God for the exerted no particular effort for the three solo arias, but restoration of daylight may be cited as an example of instead resorted to appropriate music that he had already Rossini’s efforts towards an oratorio-like style. The text composed or entrusted the composition to his assistants. that Tottola adopted, unaltered in places from Ringhieri, It is significant that he found one of Amaltea’s arias is largely set by Rossini with a homophonic (“La pace mia smarrita”) in his “conventional” oratorio
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Gioachino Rossini (1792-1868) Rosella Bevacqua Mosè in Egitto Rosella Bevacqua studied the piano and singing in Messina, completing her studies there with distinction. She has The reception of sacred works such as the Messa di the dramatic and musical high point of the opera, won prizes in a number of international competitions, twice, in 1999 and 2000, in the Giuseppe di Stefano Gloria and the Stabat Mater clearly shows that Rossini Belshazzar’s feast with the mysterious words Mene, Competition, and in the E. Cilea, N. Piccinni and Battistini contests. She made her début in 1999 as Elvira in has been one of the main casualties in the criticisms Mene, Tekel, Upharsin, was entirely omitted; oratorio- Rossini’s L’italiana in Algeri. Subsequent Rossini rôles have included Clorinda in La Cenerentola in Siena and made of the theatrical and operatic aspects of Italian like attributes remained in the opera, which was in fact Chieti, and Berta in Il barbiere di Siviglia in Pesaro and Bologna. In Pesaro she also sang Corinna in Il viaggio a church music. But the composer has not fared any better nothing more than an excuse for the staging of opera Reims and Alice in Le Comte Ory. She made her début at the Rome Teatro dell’Opera under Gianluigi Gelmetti in conversely in cases where various aspects of church during Lent. In Naples Rossini made a virtue of this Puccini’s Suor Angelica and Il tabarro. In Messina she sang Jenny in Aufstieg und Fall der Stadt Mahagonny and music appear within an operatic context. Goethe was pretext by consciously making Mosè in Egitto part of Carolina in Cimarosa’s Il matrimonio segreto. Her other rôles have included Frasquita in Bizet’s Carmen in Pisa, incensed with his well-disposed guests following the the local well-established tradition of Lenten opera and Rosina in Paisiello’s Il barbiere di Siviglia in Salerno and Garsenda in Zandonai’s Francesca da Rimini in Rome first performance of Moses in Weimar: “And you will also by a thorough renewal of the genre through the use under Renzetti, as well as in Macerata under Barbarcini. In Mantua she sang Norina in Donizetti’s Don Pasquale not deny that your ‘Moses’ really is too absurd. As the of innovative musical-dramatic techniques. and in Genoa Inez in La favorita. curtain rises, the people stand there praying! This is This is already apparent in the structure of the opera most unfitting. It is written that when you wish to pray, in which the biblical and interpersonal plots are clearly then you shall go into your room and shut the door separated. Personal conflicts are predominantly behind you. But in the theatre, one ought not to pray” confined to the arias and duets, while the biblical drama (Eckermann, Gespräche mit Goethe, 7th October 1828). is dealt with in the scenes with chorus and ensemble. The intrusion of the sacred into theatre has its origins in The introduction includes the scene set in darkness and Giorgio Trucco the social function of the theatre in Italy where social the ensuing return of light, while the finale - the other life was played out every evening in the boxes of the structural pillar of the first act – depicts the plague of Born in Voghera, the Italian tenor Giorgio Trucco studied at the Giuseppe Verdi Conservatory in Milan and opera houses after and also during Lent - the period of hailstones and lightning. Between these there is only thereafter with Franca Mattiucci and Roberto Coviello. His various prizes include success as a finalist in the 1999 fasting following carnival - when the public did not one duet and one aria in which the interpersonal subplot Caruso Competition and third prize in the Manio Basiola International Competition. In 1999 he made his début at want to abstain from this institution. The church, or to takes place, here specifically the love story of the young La Scala in Milan in Nina, o la Pazza per amore under Riccardo Muti. Engagements have taken him to Naples, be precise, the official regulations in line with its Hebrew woman, Elcìa, and the Pharaoh’s son, Osiride, Florence, Fermo, Busseto, Pesaro, St Gallen, Athens, Geneva, Toulouse, Avignon, Montpellier and Amsterdam, ordinances, forbade the performance of opera but did whose attempt to hinder the Jews’ departure from Egypt appearing under conductors of considerable international distinction. He appeared in Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte and allow the performance of biblical subjects during Lent. functions, in a manner of speaking, as the driving force Così fan tutte in Toulon and in Don Giovanni in Avignon. At the Rossini Opera Festival in Pesaro he has appeared For this biblical subjects mainly were combined with an for the entire plot. He is killed by divine vengeance from in Le siège de Corinthe, La Cenerentola and Pacini and Pavesi’s Il mondo delle farse, and at Rossini in Wildbad he additional secular plot to comply with operatic a thunderbolt – a replacement for the death of all the has sung Rossini’s Count Almaviva, and Arbace in Ciro in Babilonia. convention, so that the usual love story could take place first-born of Egypt, the last of the ten biblical plagues – within a biblical episode. As far back as the time of his which represents, along with Elcìa’s despairing aria, the stay in Naples, Goethe’s opinion of this practice was conclusion of the interpersonal subplot at the end of the withering: “They put on sacred operas here during Lent, second act. Unusually for Rossini there is a third act and which do not differ in any way from the secular other it is here that the dénouement of the biblical story finally than there being no intervening ballet between the acts; takes place with the flight of the Jews out of Egypt and otherwise they are as colourful as can be. At the St Carlo their passage through the divided Red Sea. Rossini did theatre they are performing: The Destruction of not succeed in improving the second act just here until a Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar.” (Italian Journey, 9th second attempt, in the form of a prayer, for the re- March 1787). Rossini himself had already made use of opening of the opera in Lent 1819 in accordance with a the form in his early years in the “dramma con cori” long-standing Neapolitan opera-oratorio tradition. Ciro in Babilonia, written in 1812 for the Lenten season A comparison with the model provided by the five- in Ferrara. In this instance the scene most suited to being act tragedy Osiride by Francesco Ringhieri (Padua,
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Karen Bandelow CD 1 75:44 CD 2 60:54 Act I Act II (contd.) Born in Hamburg, Karen Bandelow studied singing with Julia Hamari and Dunja Vejzovic at the Stuttgart Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst, continuing her studies in the Lieder class of Konrad Richter and in 1 Introduction: Ah! Chi ne aita? Oh Ciel! 5:52 1 Recitative: Nuove sciagure, o mio german! 1:19 various master-classes, among others with Francisco Araiza. Taking her diploma in 2003, she trained at opera (Chorus, Osiride, Amaltea, Faraone) (Aronne, Mosè) school, taking rôles that included Pamina in Die Zauberflöte and the title rôle in Viardot’s Cendrillon. She sang 2 Recitative: Mano ultrice di un Dio! 3:33 2 Dove mi guidi? Il mio timor dilegua… 9:50 Servilia in Mozart’s La clemenza di Tito at the Pula National Theatre in Croatia, and at the Youth Opera of the (Faraone, Osiride, Amaltea, Mosè, Aronne, Chorus) (Elcìa, Osiride) Stuttgart State Theatre, Rosa in Svoboda’s Erwin, das Naturtalent, Treinsch in Haydn’s Die reisende Ceres, and 3 Eterno! Immenso! Incomprensibil Dio! 2:25 3 Ah mira!… Oh Ciel! 3:30 Lyusya in Shostakovich’s Moskva, Cheryomushki. (Mosè, Tutti) (Elcìa, Osiride, Amaltea, Aronne) 4 Quintet: Celeste man placata! 4:03 4 Mi manca la voce! 6:24 (Mosè, Aronne, Amaltea, Faraone, Osiride) (Elcìa, Amaltea, Osiride, Aronne, Chorus) 5 Egizi! - Faraone! 4:34 5 Recitative: Che potrai dir? 3:01 (Aronne, Mosè, Faraone, Osiride, Amaltea, Chorus) (Faraone, Mosè) 6 Recitative: E avete, avverse stelle 3:33 6 Aria: Dal Re de’ Regi 5:05 Giuseppe Fedeli (Osiride, Mambre, Elcìa) (Mosè) 7 Duet: Ah se puoi così lasciarmi 7:47 7 Recitative: Oh Nume Osiri! 1:30 Giuseppe Fedeli was born in Torre del Greco and took his singing diploma at the Naples San Pietro a Majella (Osiride, Elcìa) (Faraone, Mambre, Amaltea, Osiride) Conservatory. In 2003 he was a finalist in the F. Albanesi International Singing Competition. He has sung as a 8 Recitative: Ah! Dov’è Faraon? 3:22 8 Se a mitigar tue cure 6:45 soloist in sacred and chamber repertoire for various Italian concert organizations, with works by Rossini, Mozart (Amaltea, Mambre, Faraone, Osiride) (Chorus, Faraone, Osiride, Mambre, Mosè, and contemporary composers. His special interest lies in Neapolitan opera of the eighteenth century and composers 9 Aria: A rispettarmi apprenda 6:17 Aronne, Elcìa) such as Cafaro, Leo, Scarlatti, Paisiello and Pergolesi. In 2005 he sang in Gioachino Rossini from Naples to Seville, (Faraone) 9 Aria: Porgi la destra amata 5:33 organized by Naples Conservatory, and in 2003 and 2004 undertook rôles in Il barbiere di Siviglia, La traviata, 0 Turandot, La Bohème and Cavalleria rusticana. All’etra, al Ciel, lieto Israel 3:10 (Elcìa, Osiride, Mosè, Aronne, Faraone, Amenofi) (Chorus, Aronne, Amenofi) 0 È spento il caro bene! 4:03 ! Tutto mi ride intorno! 4:27 (Elcìa, tutti) (Elcìa, Amenofi) @ Che narri? - Il ver 4:50 Act III (Mosè, Osiride, Mambre, Aronne, Chorus, Amaltea, ! Recitative: Eccone in salvo, o figli 2:58 Elcìa, Amenofi, Faraone) (Mosè, Elcìa, Amenofi, Aronne) # Padre… Signor… 3:28 @ Prayer: Dal tuo stellato soglio 6:38 (Osiride, Mosè, Faraone, Amaltea, Elcìa, Mambre, (Mosè, Amenofi, Chorus, Aronne, Elcìa) Aronne, Chorus) # Son fuggiti… Oh Ciel! 4:16 Act II (Faraone, Mambre, Amenofi) $ Recitative: Ecco in tua mano 2:36 (Faraone, Aronne, Osiride) % Duet: Parlar, spiegar non posso 6:09 (Osiride, Faraone) ^ Recitative: Gentil Regina, oh quanto 1:57 (Mosè, Amaltea) & Aria: La pace mia smarrita 7:41 (Amaltea, Chorus)
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Gioachino San Pietro a Majella Chorus, Naples
ROSSINI The Chorus of the Naples San Pietro a Majella Conservatory is made up of singers from the Conservatory, whether (1792-1868) vocal students or instrumentalists, with a repertoire that ranges from the baroque to the contemporary. Important appearances have included the festival concert at the dedication of the Sala Scarlatti in the Conservatory and at the Mosè in Egitto Cologne Philharmonic. There was a notable performance of church music with works by Duke Ellington and in 2003 a (1819 Naples version) performance at the Vatican, televised internationally. The chorus director Elsa Evangelista studied music, composition and conducting in Naples and has at her command a rich repertoire, notably of polyphonic music. She has a special Libretto by Andrea Leone Tottola interest in ethnomusicology. Her considerable reputation has brought invitations to numerous singing festivals.
Lorenzo Regazzo, Bass ...... Mosè Württemberg Philharmonic Orchestra Reutlingen Akie Amou, Soprano ...... Elcìa The Württemberg Philharmonic Orchestra Reutlingen was established in 1945, developing into one of the leading Wojtek Gierlach, Bass ...... Faraone orchestras in South Germany. Norichika Iimori has been the artistic director since September 2001, following on from Samuel Friedman, Salvador Mas Conde and Roberto Paternostro. In addition to concert series in Reutlingen Filippo Adami, Tenor ...... Osiride the orchestra broadcasts regularly with Südwestrundfunk and appears in various cities of South Germany, with tours Rossella Bevacqua, Soprano ...... Amaltea to Austria, Switzerland, Italy, Spain, The Netherlands, and Japan, often with very distinguished choirs and soloists, including Ruggiero Raimondi, Edita Gruberova, José Carreras, Vesselina Kasarova, and Neil Shicoff. Recordings Giorgio Trucco, Tenor ...... Aronne by the orchestra include Naxos releases from Rossini in Wildbad with Rossini’s Ciro in Babilonia, Mayr’s L’amor coniugale, L’occasione fa il ladro, Meyerbeer’s Semiramide, and La cambiale di matrimonio. Karen Bandelow, Mezzo-soprano ...... Amenofi Giuseppe Fedeli, Tenor ...... Mambre Antonino Fogliani Coro del Conservatorio San Pietro a Majella, Naples Born in 1976, Antonino Fogliani made an early start in his international career as a conductor. He studied piano and Elsa Evangelista, Chorus-master composition in Bologna and conducting at the Verdi Conservatorio in Milan. He not only attended master-classes with Gianluigi Gelmetti, but worked with him in productions at major opera-houses in Rome, Venice, Turin, London and Wildbad Wind Band Munich. He also worked with Alberto Zedda at the Accademia Rossiniana in Pesaro. In his own country he has won a (Stadtkapelle Wildbad) number of important prizes. As an opera conductor his successes have included Rossini’s Le Comte Ory in Paris, Martin Koch, Band-leader Donizetti’s Don Pasquale in Rome, and Ugo, Conte di Parigi at the Donizetti Festival in Bergamo and at La Scala. He has conducted on several occasions at the Bergamo Festival and undertaken guest engagements in Korea. Other Wurttemberg Philharmonic Orchestra appearances as an opera conductor include Il turco in Italia in Naples, Rigoletto in Avignon, and Così fan tutte and Lucia (Württembergische Philharmonie Reutlingen) di Lammermoor in Liège, Bergamo and St Gallen. He conducted Mosè in Egitto in 2007 at the Rome Teatro dell’Opera. Antonino Fogliani
Critical Edition by Fondazione Rossini, in collaboration with BMG Ricordi, Milan, edited by Charles S. Brauner and Patricia B. Brauner
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Also available ROSSINI 2 CDs Mosè in Egitto Regazzo • Amou • Gierlach • Adami Bevacqua • Trucco • Bandelow • Fedeli San Pietro a Majella Chorus, Naples • Wildbad Wind Band Württemberg Philharmonic Orchestra • Antonino Fogliani
8.660191-92
8.660220-21 16 CMYK NAXOS NAXOS Rossini’s Mosè in Egitto, described as an azione tragico-sacra, combines the biblical narrative of the release of Moses and the Israelites from Egypt, and a more characteristically operatic element in the love of Pharaoh’s son Osiride for the Hebrew girl Elcìa, making this also a typical conflict between love and duty. The piece was reworked in 1822 for Paris with new arias, but is given here in the slightly revised Italian version of 1819, which includes the famous Act 3 Preghiera of Moses. DDD ROSSINI: ROSSINI: Gioachino 8.660220-21 ROSSINI (1792-1868) Playing Time Mosè in Egitto 2:16:38
Mosè in Egitto (1819 Naples version) Mosè in Egitto Lorenzo Regazzo, Bass ...... Mosè Akie Amou, Soprano ...... Elcìa Wojtek Gierlach, Bass ...... Faraone Filippo Adami, Tenor ...... Osiride Rossella Bevacqua, Soprano ...... Amaltea Giorgio Trucco, Tenor ...... Aronne Karen Bandelow, Mezzo-soprano ...... Amenofi Giuseppe Fedeli, Tenor ...... Mambre www.naxos.com Made in Canada Booklet notes and synopsis in English (Elsa Evangelista, Chorus-master)
San Pietro a Majella Chorus, Naples &
Wildbad Wind Band (Martin Koch, Band-leader)
Württemberg Philharmonic Orchestra • Antonino Fogliani 2007 Naxos Rights International Ltd. CD 1 75:44 CD 2 60:54 1-# Act I 57:21 1-0 Act II (contd.) 47:01 $-& Act II 18:23 !-# Act III 13:53 A full track list can be found on page 3 of the booklet The Italian libretto may be accessed at www.naxos.com/libretti/660220.htm Recorded live on 1st, 7th and 12th July, 2006, in the Kursaal, Bad Wildbad, Germany, during the ROSSINI IN WILDBAD festival (Artistic director: Jochen Schönleber) • A co-production with SWR 8.660220-21 8.660220-21 Producer: Siegbert Ernst • Editor: Dr Anette Sidhu-Ingenhoff • Engineers: Wolfgang Rein and Siggi Mehne Booklet Notes: Reto Müller and Keith Anderson Cover: Stage design by Auguste Caron for the second act of the French version of Moise et Pharaon (4 acts) by Rossini, Paris, 1827