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2 CDs Also available: MAYR L’amor coniugale Rizzone • Bille • Charalgina • Machej • Bellavia • Trammell Württemberg Philharmonic Orchestra Christopher Franklin

8.660203-04

8.660220-21

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Simon MAYR (1763-1845) Also available: L’amor coniugale (1805) sentimentale in one act by (1774-1855) after Jean Nicolas Bouilly

Zeliska/Malvino ...... Cinzia Rizzone, Soprano Amorveno ...... Francescantonio Bille, Tenor Floreska ...... Tatjana Charalgina, Soprano Peters ...... Dariusz Machej, Moroski ...... Giovanni Bellavia, Bass-baritone Ardelao ...... Bradley Trammell, Tenor

Württemberg Philharmonic Orchestra

Christopher Franklin 8.660037-38

Assistant: Marco Bellei

Edition by Florian Bauer for performance at the ROSSINI IN WILDBAD festival, after the revised score of Arrigo Gazzaniga

8.660183-84

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Württemberg Philharmonic Orchestra Reutlingen CD 1 43:49 CD 2 39:08

The Württemberg Philharmonic Orchestra Reutlingen was established in 1 Sinfonia 7:42 1 Scena: Qual notte eterna (Amorveno) 5:35 1945, developing into one of the leading orchestras in South . It has worked under the direction of, among others, Samuel Friedman, Salvador 2 Gira gira non ti stare attortigliar 2 Aria: Cara immagine adorata (Amorveno) 4:09 Mas Conde and Roberto Paternostro and, since September 2001, Norichika (Floreska, Peters) 4:29 Iimori, who led a highly successful concert tour to Japan in 2006. In addition 3 Animo... ma... cos’hai paura? (Peters, Zeliska) 1:33 to concert series in Reutlingen the orchestra broadcasts regularly with 3 Südwestrundfunk and appears in various cities of South Germany, with tours Sono qua (Zeliska, Peters, Floreska) 4:33 to Austria, Switzerland, Italy, Spain and The Netherlands, often with very 4 Romanza: Una moglie sventurata distinguished soloists. Recordings by the orchestra include the Naxos release 4 Terzetto: Io sono allegro (Zeliska, Peters, Amorveno) 3:56 from ROSSINI IN WILDBAD of Meyerbeer’s (8.660205-06). (Zeliska, Peters, Floreska) 2:10 5 Terzetto: Ah! Qual voce 5 Sì, Malvino sta allegro (Zeliska, Amorveno, Peters) 4:06 (Peters, Floreska, Zeliska) 2:34 Christopher Franklin 6 Nell’orror 6 Non so cosa sia (Floreska) 2:13 (Moroski, Peters, Zeliska, Amorveno) 3:09 Born in San Francisco, the conductor Christopher Franklin studied at the University of Illinois and then, on a Fulbright Scholarship, at the Saarbrücken Conservatory, and at the Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore. As a prize-winner in the Treviso La Bottega 7 Siate pronti miei (Moroski) 1:05 7 Quartetto Cantabile: Ah voi International Conductors Competition he served as assistant to Peter Maag in Treviso. (Moroski, Peters, Zeliska, Amorveno) 5:39 He later worked with Seiji Ozawa, Bernard Haitink and Gustav Meier at the 8 Ciel! Che lessi! (Moroski, Peters) 3:19 Tanglewood Music Festival, and with Charles Bruck at the Pierre Monteux School of 8 Duetto: Ah, sì stringo (Zeliska, Amorveno) 5:37 Music in the United States. His interest in brought him to the Rossini Opera 9 E sempre ti tormenti (Floreska, Zeliska) 2:41 Festival in Pesaro, where he conducted Rossini’s Il viaggio a Reims with the Orquesta 9 Scena ultima: Vendetta Sinfónica de Galicia. At the Teatro dell’Opera in he conducted the first 0 Aria: L’oro ha un colore (Peters) 4:08 (Moroski, Peters, Ardelao, Zeliska, Amorveno) 3:52 performance of Cilea’s Gina (recorded for Bongiovanni) and a production of Franz Lehár’s Die lustige Witwe. Other engagements followed at the Spontini Festival in Jesi, ! 0 in Turin and, with a Mozart cycle, in Genoa. He is the regular conductor for solo Rec., Scena: Tieni quando suonan le quattro Finale: Coniugal celeste amore (Tutti) 1:32 concerts by the tenor Juan Diego Flórez and has, among other orchestras, conducted the (Peters, Zeliska) 2:39 South West German Radio Orchestra Kaiserslauten in a tour of Germany. His repertoire ranges from Spontini (the modern première of Lalla Rukh), Mozart, Rossini and Verdi to Britten and Tutino. In @ Aria: Rendi il consorte amato (Zeliska) 6:16 addition to conducting L’amor coniugale in Bad Wildbad he has also conducted Rossini’s farce La cambiale di matrimonio and the première of the revival of La gazzetta in its complete form, including a new quintetto.

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Simon Mayr (1763-1845) Dariusz Machej L’amor coniugale The Polish bass Dariusz Machej completed his studies with distinction under Włodzimierz Zalewski at the Fryderyk Simon Mayr’s L’amor coniugale in context He was born on 14th June 1763 in Mendorf; this Chopin Music Academy in Warsaw. Since 1994 he has attended regular master-classes with Ryszard first period extends from 1763 till 1789 and covers Karczykowski. As first soloist of the state song and dance ensemble Slask and Mazowze he has sung on tour Interest began in Johann Simon Mayr at an early date, Mayr’s youth in Bavaria until his arrival in Italy. throughout Europe, in Asia and in America. In 1996 he became a soloist with the Warsaw and in the particularly in German-language music history. The Included within this period are his training and studies same year made his début at the Warsaw National Opera. He has appeared with the Warsaw and Vienna Chamber native of Bavaria, who later elected to become a lifelong in Ingolstadt, and his acquaintance with Baron Thomas , at Koblenz Civic Theatre and at the Wuppertal Opera House, as well as in . He has participated in Bergamese, was an important forerunner of nineteenth- von Bassus who took him to Italy and as his mentor international festivals, including the Pesaro Rossini Opera Festival and the Strasbourg Music Festival, working with century ; but it was as a disciple of introduced him to a world of secret lodges and the so- distinguished conductors including Alberto Zedda, Carlo Rizzi and Alessandro de Marchi. At ROSSINI IN Viennese classicism acting as an agent between two called ‘’. The second period covers his early WILDBAD he sang in La pietra del paragone and Pezzi Sacri Lughesi, among other works. worlds that has earned him special significance. Ludwig years in Italy from 1789 until 1802, centred in Schiedermair’s articles from the beginning of the where he composed small-scale pieces, church music twentieth century are as substantial a testimony to this and oratorios initially before his eventual promotion to as Heinrich Bauer’s practical efforts made in putting opera composer in 1794. Giovanni Bellavia forward the performance of Mayr’s operatic output for The third period from 1802 to 1813 marks the discussion during the 1960s and 70s. John Allitt should central Bergamese years when he was exceedingly Born in Palermo in 1971, the bass-baritone Giovanni Bellavia studied with the tenor R. Lo Cicero and the soprano also be mentioned here as the author of two books - one active as a composer and founded his own music school E. Smith. After success in international competitions he made his début in 1998 in Scontrino’s opera Gringoire at in English, the other in Italian – in which he tackled in , the “Lezioni Caritatevoli”, in 1805; the Teatro Politeama Garibaldi in Palermo. He has appeared in operas by Henze, Cimarosa and Kurt Weill and won Mayr’s biography set against cultural history and its Donizetti was one of his first pupils and is said to have great success as Sharpless in Puccini’s Madama Butterfly, and as Leporello in Mozart’s Don Giovanni. In addition social context; he also presented an impressive list of remained grateful to Mayr as his teacher and maintained to regular engagements at the Palermo Teatro Massimo and the Malta Teatre Manuel, where his rôles have included 1510 opus numbers. It was Allitt’s initiative that led to his friendship for the rest of his life. The fourth period Leporello, he has also made guest appearances at the Michigan Opera Theatre and the Venice Teatro La Feria, the first modern performance of L’amor coniugale in from 1813 to 1824 is marked by key operatic successes among others. His appearances for ROSSINI IN WILDBAD include the rôle of Ormondo in , London during the 1970s, albeit in a concert version; it as well as increasing pedagogical activity and Daniele in Ciro in Babilonia and Fiorello in Il barbiere di Siviglia. had been edited for performance by Arrigo Gazzaniga as composition of church music; during this period, Mayr part of the Monumenta Bergomensia in 1967. Then, in gradually bowed out of opera. The fifth and final period, the 1990s, there was a veritable upsurge of interest in from 1825 to 1845, were Mayr’s ‘elder statesman Mayr: The International Simon Mayr Society, with its years’, to quote Allitt’s phrase; increasing difficulties Bradley Trammell headquarters in Ingolstadt, an Italian organization in with eyesight and an unsuccessful cataract operation Bergamo, as well as numerous conferences and hindered his practical work. These years were highly The American tenor Bradley Trammell studied at the Chicago College of Performing Arts with Richard Stilwell and conference reports bear witness to a stirring of interest productive nonetheless: Mayr composed many religious Michael Best. He participated in courses with Janice Harsanyi, Daniel Ferro, Mark Oswald, Stanford Olsen, David in research, and to the detailed, systematic reappraisal of works, wrote treatises on the history and theory of music Holloway and Michael Koch. He has made guest appearances at the Opera Festival in Rome and at the Grandin Mayr’s œuvre that yielded remarkable results and fresh and brought about the Italian premières of several Music Festival in Cincinnati. insights. Good introductions to Mayr’s life and works models of Viennese classicism. The celebrity had long can be found in Allitt’s books as well as music been an institution of Bergamese musical life, although encyclopaedias such as The New Grove Dictionary, he was also considered classical and hence antiquated Piper and MGG. PierAngelo Pelucchi’s edition of next to the romanticism of the 1830s and 1840s; as a Girolamo Calvi’s nineteenth-century biography of Mayr consequence, he was steadily being superseded. During with extensive footnotes also deserves to be mentioned. his final years, Mayr became completely blind. He died Following Allitt, Mayr’s life can be divided into the on 2nd December 1845 in Bergamo. following five main periods: A few titles of important operas that enjoyed great success should be mentioned before turning to the

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Cinzia Rizzone subject of musical development. His first two operas, treatment of the orchestra, instrumentation and (1794) and Lodoiska (1796), were written for harmony, drawing on his background knowledge of Cinzia Rizzone studied cello at the San Pietro a Majella Conservatory and singing at the Verdi Conservatory Venice, followed by a number of opere buffe or farse, German music and Viennese classicism in particular. He in Turin. After prizes in national and international competitions she made her début in Verdi’s Falstaff at the Arena from the same period : Avviso ai maritati (1798), Che did as much to create a school through his own in . She has since sung in a number of opera houses, in Naples, Geneva, Bergamo, Novara, , Turin, originali (1798), L’avaro (1799); the “dramma serio- compositions as through his teaching in Bergamo. , Wiesbaden and Budapest. She specialises in the operas of Donizetti and Bellini, but has also appeared as eroico per musica” (Trieste, 1801) – too exerted an influence on Mayr and his Lauretta in Gianni Schicchi, Liù in Turandot and Micaela in Carmen. Cinzia Rizzone has collaborated with the opera said to have been Mayr’s first ‘worldwide contemporaries in this field, especially in the form of the distinguished conductors, including Zubin Mehta, Maurizio Arena, Renato Palumbo, Plácido Domingo, Gabriele success’; Alonso e Cora (, 1803); L’amor opéra-comique, and the farsa sentimentale, which it Ferro and Bruno Bartoletti. Her concert repertoire ranges from the baroque to the contemporary. coniugale (, 1805); Adelasia ed Aleramo (Milan, strongly influenced. During the first decade of the 1806); and La rosa bianca e la rosa rossa (Genoa, nineteenth century, this complete transformation was 1813); in Corinto (Naples, 1813) is really his effected peaceably and with restraint and took hold at an best-known work, to be followed by Alfredo il grande irregular pace according to the musical taste of a city or, Francescantonio Bille (Rome, 1818) and (Milan, 1820). more precisely, its theatre; the somewhat conservative Towards the end of the eighteenth century Italian North stood in contrast to the more progressive, French- The tenor Francescantonio Bille completed his studies with distinction with Antonio Bevacqua at the Francesco opera was still very much being written along the same influenced Naples in the South; the names of composers Cilea Conservatory in Messina. Since then he has undertaken various rôles in well known opera houses, including lines defined by a late rococo style that lent itself to the such as Paër, Pucitta, Nicolini, Pavesi, Generali and the appearances in Bastien et Bastienne in Reggio, Pagliacci in Montalto Uffugo, Die lustige Witwe in Catania, Don reciprocal inspiration to be found in dramatic works by two Moscas should be mentioned in this connection Pasquale in Rieti and L’elisir d’amore at the Rovigo Teatro Sociale, Falstaff in Nice and Il barbiere di Siviglia at Paisiello, Cimarosa, Salieri, Righini, and Zingarelli as along with Mayr’s. the Fondazione Petruzzelli in Bari. His repertoire includes Rossini (L’italiana in Algeri), Verdi (Falstaff) and well as Mozart’s Italian operas. During the second half Thus a musical style was able to form that would Cimarosa (Il matrimonio segreto). Concert performances include Carmina Burana, Rossini’s Petite Messe of the settecento, the more flexible, plot-driven opera become an essential ingredient of opera, so to speak, for Solennelle and Mozart’s Requiem. In 1998 he won with particular distinction the Francesco Cilea International buffa, with its delight in ensembles, began to exert a the next couple of decades: it was the same style that Competition and in 2003 the Rieti M. Battistini Competition. strong influence on the formally ossified, Metastasian resulted from the distillation of various personal styles , with its regimented deployment of of the time, which prescribed and recitative and da capo aria. This resulted in a significant made his own as a budding composer around 1810. By expansion of the formal language of opera seria. The way of illustration, we may take the crescendo, thought Tatjana Charalgina one-act farsa sentimentale, with its prevailing maudlin of as typically Rossinian, but is already present in the tone, was increasingly taken up during the 1790s - as early operas of Mayr; the rhythmic patterns so Born in Russia, the soprano Tatjana Charalgina studied under Judith Beckmann at the Musikhochschule. was - by dint of the . characteristic of Rossini’s opera in the form of simple She was awarded scholarships including Live Music Now from the Yehudi Menuhin Foundation and from the This prevailing tone is one to which L’amor coniugale repeated chords with a certain ‘spring’ to the melodic Alfred Töpfer Foundation. Her talent is witnessed by a number of prizes, including first prize in the Elisabeth Meyer also adheres. The form likewise encouraged the line, are already quite clearly present in the genre before Singing Competition and in the 2002 Maritim Competition. She has participated in master-classes with Helmuth hybridisation of the two main genres, opera seria and Rossini, just as nineteenth-century stylistics were being Rilling, J. Wagner, J. Kaufmann and others. Her many-faceted opera repertoire includes rôles by Mozart, Weber, , through their mutual synthesis, so that by formed. Works belonging to the opera seria genre, such Britten, Toch and Rossini. At ROSSINI IN WILDBAD she has sung Berta in Il barbiere di Siviglia. She is at the time of Mayr’s first stage successes, the ground had as Ginevra di Scozia and Adelasia ed Aleramo, or present a singer at the Mainz State Theatre. been prepared for an expanded recasting of the Italian L’avaro or L’amor coniugale in the buffa/farsa/ opera mould with a more colourful vocabulary. semiseria genre, already exhibit all the characteristics It was Simon Mayr then who was responsible for commonly associated with Rossini, but at the time just the cautious conversion of late eighteenth-century opera prior to Rossini’s making a name for himself as a to that of the early nineteenth century at a time when composer of operas. Nonetheless, the bestowing of a opera seria had been reduced to a simple formula: in valid form that was both spontaneous and enduring on a acting as mediator between the opera seria of the musical language that developed gradually, whilst eighteenth century and the of the vacillating between the old and new, should remain to nineteenth, he promoted new tone colours through his Rossini’s credit.

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This pre-Rossinian style glistens throughout L’amor lyrical - as soon as the prison scene begins, there is a younger generation what ‘good’ music was, which he in love with the handsome young man and wants to coniugale too. Gaetano Rossi wrote the libretto of this series of thrilling ensembles. Notice how Zeliska throws described as ‘reforming’ Italian music, from which marry him. Peters himself is not against this marriage, archetypal pièce de sauvetage () following herself in front of her husband to save him from the Rossini, Bellini, Donizetti and others were able to learn. as Malvino is competent and careful. Malvino, however, the libretto for Jean Nicolas Bouilly’s opéra-comique, shot! The scene is modelled on Mozart’s suicide scene This renaissance is an important aspect of our puts things off. For him it seems more important to be Léonore, ou L’Amour conjugal, set by Pierre Gaveaux, from Così fan tutte (…) Mayr orchestrates the spinning revaluation of Mayr, as it signifies the consummation of able to accompany Peters on a visit to the prisoners. and originally performed in in 1798. Mayr’s opera process with the simplest of means as Floreska sings a his early Venetian period.” Peters is willing to ask the Governor’s permission, but based on the story of Leonora takes its place between catchy tune whilst seated at her spinning-wheel. As it iridesces between external drama and inner refuses the plea of Malvino to be allowed to see the two other operas on the same subject, after Paër’s Floreska’s father, Peters, assumes the buffo aspect of sentiment, Mayr’s music is very nearly the archetypal imprisoned Amorveno, as the latter is condemned to Leonora ossia L’amor coniugale (Dresden, 1804) and the entertainment described as ‘farsa sentimentale’ or semiseria or sentimental farsa of the period around death. The prison Governor Moroski loves Amorveno’s shortly before Beethoven’s Leonore (Vienna, 1805), the ‘opera semiseria’, and in this way negotiates the 1800; but, while it certainly adopts characteristics of its wife, Zeliska. To accomplish his ends he has had the first version of his . Admittedly, the librettist seriousness of the prison scene. His humour is that of an French model to some extent, it does, however, retain innocent Amorveno thrown into prison where he will transposed the plot - presumably based on real events ordinary man who simply fulfils his duty. This is in Italian traditions of drama and structure by and large, starve to death. When Moroski arrives, he learns that during the turmoil of the French Revolution - to the still stark contrast to Zeliska’s dutiful seriousness in the and so reflects the different criteria necessary for its Amorveno’s brother Ardelao is on his way to the prison, exotic setting of seventeenth-century Poland according beautiful cantabile ‘Caro oggetto d’un affetto’ that assessment. In this connection, attention should be intent on uncovering this crime. Moroski sees only one to the fashion of the time for things Polish: settings of follows, which then develops into an equally beautiful drawn to the grand scale of the introduzione, as well as way out: Amorveno must die immediately, yet for this the Lodoiska story, by Cherubini and Mayr respectively, trio. Note here how Mayr takes the earnest Floreska into the finale in particular, both of which demonstrate the deed he himself lacks the courage. He therefore counts served as models here; he also changed the names of the the aria in which she expresses her feelings for Zeliska innovations of Rossi’s libretto regarding the more on Peters. When he tells him what he plans and asks him protagonists. Thus the soprano rôle of Leonore/Fidelio convinced that she is a man. Her love is simple, like a complex organization of the scene blocking. for his help, Peters is dismayed. He justifies his decision became Zeliska/Malvino; her imprisoned husband first awakening (…). To prevent Peters’ buffo aria being It is the almost simultaneous but probably to him and to Floreska on the grounds that one must do Florestan mutated into a singing Amorveno (tenor), perceived as an anti-climax to the scene, it should be independent appearance in particular of operatic settings anything for money: money rules the world. Rocco the jailer is now called Peters (bass); in addition, borne in mind that the opera belongs to the category of based on the story of Leonora by Paër, Mayr and In the prison Amorveno languishes, realising that he we find Floreska (formerly Marzellina), Peter’s farsa, and as such requires a counterbalance to the Beethoven that has provided musicology with the will stay in his cell until he starves to death. He only daughter (soprano), Moroski (formerly Piz(z)arro), the previous dramatic outbursts of emotion. In conclusion, I incentive to analyse them comparatively. But on all wants to see his wife Zeliska for one last time. Peters governor (bass) and Amorveno’s brother, Ardelao would like to direct the reader’s attention to one last accounts, it is Mayr and Rossi’s L’amor coniugale that and Zeliska (still disguised as Malvino) enter the cell. (tenor). Particularly noticeable from the point of view of detail, as this is a work that encourages us to engage and represents the most self-contained adaptation of While Peters prepares Amorveno for a quick death, dramaturgy are: the condensing of the original French make our own discoveries as active listeners. Surely Bouilly’s original Leonora. Zeliska struggles with her tears, when she sees her drama into a single act; the cutting of the rôle of everyone will find that he has already heard the ballad husband again. Moroski appears to see how Peters is Jaquino/Giachino; the rewriting of the rôle of the Zeliska sings in Scene 14 before. The theme is famous Thomas Lindner carrying out his task. As Peters cannot bring himself to minister, Don Fernando, to become Amorveno’s brother as Rossini’s aria from Cenerentola, sung as she wipes kill Amorveno, Moroski must do it himself. Zeliska tries Ardelao required by the censors; and also the efforts the floor, forlorn of hope. Why did Rossini borrow English version by Neil Coleman to stop him and reveals her true identity. She tells made by the librettist, Rossi, to make a shift in emphasis Mayr’s melody? Perhaps because she is similarly Moroski that he can only kill Amorveno if he kills her from the revolutionary plot focussing on the theme of trapped and calls for her beloved to hear her lament and too. At this Moroski breaks down: he cannot and will liberation and the concept of freedom that dominates at set her free. At that time, composers frequently quoted Synopsis not kill the woman he loves. While Amorveno and least Fidelio, Beethoven’s final version, to one of from each other, but always for one particular reason: if, Zeliska are overjoyed at meeting again, Ardelao personal conflict and inter-personal relationships. for example, Moroski climbs down into the dungeon, a The scene is a prison somewhere in Poland. The gaoler appears. As a deus ex machina he rescues the couple and Having given L’amor coniugale resounding corresponding quotation will remind us of Don Peters has recently taken a young man, Malvino, into his condemns Moroski. acclaim, the eminent Mayr expert, John Stewart Allitt Giovanni. This is exactly what poets such as T.S. Eliot house as assistant. This is, however, the disguised who died recently, wrote in the programme for the 2004 did from time to time. The music is therefore imbued Zeliska, who wants to free her husband, unjustly English version by Keith Anderson Wildbad performance of L’amor coniugale: “Mayr was with a certain quality of sound, and Mayr does quote imprisoned. Floreska, the daughter of Peters, has fallen working in the theatrical tradition of Galuppi, Goldoni from the best music of his time, and from his models and others. His music, however, stands within a Haydn and Mozart in particular. He elaborated this to different frame of reference: it is both dramatic and become a demonstration of quality in order to show the

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This pre-Rossinian style glistens throughout L’amor lyrical - as soon as the prison scene begins, there is a younger generation what ‘good’ music was, which he in love with the handsome young man and wants to coniugale too. Gaetano Rossi wrote the libretto of this series of thrilling ensembles. Notice how Zeliska throws described as ‘reforming’ Italian music, from which marry him. Peters himself is not against this marriage, archetypal pièce de sauvetage (rescue opera) following herself in front of her husband to save him from the Rossini, Bellini, Donizetti and others were able to learn. as Malvino is competent and careful. Malvino, however, the libretto for Jean Nicolas Bouilly’s opéra-comique, shot! The scene is modelled on Mozart’s suicide scene This renaissance is an important aspect of our puts things off. For him it seems more important to be Léonore, ou L’Amour conjugal, set by Pierre Gaveaux, from Così fan tutte (…) Mayr orchestrates the spinning revaluation of Mayr, as it signifies the consummation of able to accompany Peters on a visit to the prisoners. and originally performed in Paris in 1798. Mayr’s opera process with the simplest of means as Floreska sings a his early Venetian period.” Peters is willing to ask the Governor’s permission, but based on the story of Leonora takes its place between catchy tune whilst seated at her spinning-wheel. As it iridesces between external drama and inner refuses the plea of Malvino to be allowed to see the two other operas on the same subject, after Paër’s Floreska’s father, Peters, assumes the buffo aspect of sentiment, Mayr’s music is very nearly the archetypal imprisoned Amorveno, as the latter is condemned to Leonora ossia L’amor coniugale (Dresden, 1804) and the entertainment described as ‘farsa sentimentale’ or semiseria or sentimental farsa of the period around death. The prison Governor Moroski loves Amorveno’s shortly before Beethoven’s Leonore (Vienna, 1805), the ‘opera semiseria’, and in this way negotiates the 1800; but, while it certainly adopts characteristics of its wife, Zeliska. To accomplish his ends he has had the first version of his Fidelio. Admittedly, the librettist seriousness of the prison scene. His humour is that of an French model to some extent, it does, however, retain innocent Amorveno thrown into prison where he will transposed the plot - presumably based on real events ordinary man who simply fulfils his duty. This is in Italian traditions of drama and structure by and large, starve to death. When Moroski arrives, he learns that during the turmoil of the French Revolution - to the still stark contrast to Zeliska’s dutiful seriousness in the and so reflects the different criteria necessary for its Amorveno’s brother Ardelao is on his way to the prison, exotic setting of seventeenth-century Poland according beautiful cantabile ‘Caro oggetto d’un affetto’ that assessment. In this connection, attention should be intent on uncovering this crime. Moroski sees only one to the fashion of the time for things Polish: settings of follows, which then develops into an equally beautiful drawn to the grand scale of the introduzione, as well as way out: Amorveno must die immediately, yet for this the Lodoiska story, by Cherubini and Mayr respectively, trio. Note here how Mayr takes the earnest Floreska into the finale in particular, both of which demonstrate the deed he himself lacks the courage. He therefore counts served as models here; he also changed the names of the the aria in which she expresses her feelings for Zeliska innovations of Rossi’s libretto regarding the more on Peters. When he tells him what he plans and asks him protagonists. Thus the soprano rôle of Leonore/Fidelio convinced that she is a man. Her love is simple, like a complex organization of the scene blocking. for his help, Peters is dismayed. He justifies his decision became Zeliska/Malvino; her imprisoned husband first awakening (…). To prevent Peters’ buffo aria being It is the almost simultaneous but probably to him and to Floreska on the grounds that one must do Florestan mutated into a singing Amorveno (tenor), perceived as an anti-climax to the scene, it should be independent appearance in particular of operatic settings anything for money: money rules the world. Rocco the jailer is now called Peters (bass); in addition, borne in mind that the opera belongs to the category of based on the story of Leonora by Paër, Mayr and In the prison Amorveno languishes, realising that he we find Floreska (formerly Marzellina), Peter’s farsa, and as such requires a counterbalance to the Beethoven that has provided musicology with the will stay in his cell until he starves to death. He only daughter (soprano), Moroski (formerly Piz(z)arro), the previous dramatic outbursts of emotion. In conclusion, I incentive to analyse them comparatively. But on all wants to see his wife Zeliska for one last time. Peters governor (bass) and Amorveno’s brother, Ardelao would like to direct the reader’s attention to one last accounts, it is Mayr and Rossi’s L’amor coniugale that and Zeliska (still disguised as Malvino) enter the cell. (tenor). Particularly noticeable from the point of view of detail, as this is a work that encourages us to engage and represents the most self-contained adaptation of While Peters prepares Amorveno for a quick death, dramaturgy are: the condensing of the original French make our own discoveries as active listeners. Surely Bouilly’s original Leonora. Zeliska struggles with her tears, when she sees her drama into a single act; the cutting of the rôle of everyone will find that he has already heard the ballad husband again. Moroski appears to see how Peters is Jaquino/Giachino; the rewriting of the rôle of the Zeliska sings in Scene 14 before. The theme is famous Thomas Lindner carrying out his task. As Peters cannot bring himself to minister, Don Fernando, to become Amorveno’s brother as Rossini’s aria from Cenerentola, sung as she wipes kill Amorveno, Moroski must do it himself. Zeliska tries Ardelao required by the censors; and also the efforts the floor, forlorn of hope. Why did Rossini borrow English version by Neil Coleman to stop him and reveals her true identity. She tells made by the librettist, Rossi, to make a shift in emphasis Mayr’s melody? Perhaps because she is similarly Moroski that he can only kill Amorveno if he kills her from the revolutionary plot focussing on the theme of trapped and calls for her beloved to hear her lament and too. At this Moroski breaks down: he cannot and will liberation and the concept of freedom that dominates at set her free. At that time, composers frequently quoted Synopsis not kill the woman he loves. While Amorveno and least Fidelio, Beethoven’s final version, to one of from each other, but always for one particular reason: if, Zeliska are overjoyed at meeting again, Ardelao personal conflict and inter-personal relationships. for example, Moroski climbs down into the dungeon, a The scene is a prison somewhere in Poland. The gaoler appears. As a deus ex machina he rescues the couple and Having given L’amor coniugale resounding corresponding quotation will remind us of Don Peters has recently taken a young man, Malvino, into his condemns Moroski. acclaim, the eminent Mayr expert, John Stewart Allitt Giovanni. This is exactly what poets such as T.S. Eliot house as assistant. This is, however, the disguised who died recently, wrote in the programme for the 2004 did from time to time. The music is therefore imbued Zeliska, who wants to free her husband, unjustly English version by Keith Anderson Wildbad performance of L’amor coniugale: “Mayr was with a certain quality of sound, and Mayr does quote imprisoned. Floreska, the daughter of Peters, has fallen working in the theatrical tradition of Galuppi, Goldoni from the best music of his time, and from his models and others. His music, however, stands within a Haydn and Mozart in particular. He elaborated this to different frame of reference: it is both dramatic and become a demonstration of quality in order to show the

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Cinzia Rizzone subject of musical development. His first two operas, treatment of the orchestra, instrumentation and Saffo (1794) and Lodoiska (1796), were written for harmony, drawing on his background knowledge of Cinzia Rizzone studied cello at the Naples San Pietro a Majella Conservatory and singing at the Verdi Conservatory Venice, followed by a number of opere buffe or farse, German music and Viennese classicism in particular. He in Turin. After prizes in national and international competitions she made her début in Verdi’s Falstaff at the Arena from the same period : Avviso ai maritati (1798), Che did as much to create a school through his own in Verona. She has since sung in a number of opera houses, in Naples, Geneva, Bergamo, Novara, Trieste, Turin, originali (1798), L’avaro (1799); the “dramma serio- compositions as through his teaching in Bergamo. Cologne, Wiesbaden and Budapest. She specialises in the operas of Donizetti and Bellini, but has also appeared as eroico per musica” Ginevra di Scozia (Trieste, 1801) – French opera too exerted an influence on Mayr and his Lauretta in Gianni Schicchi, Liù in Turandot and Micaela in Carmen. Cinzia Rizzone has collaborated with the opera said to have been Mayr’s first ‘worldwide contemporaries in this field, especially in the form of the distinguished conductors, including Zubin Mehta, Maurizio Arena, Renato Palumbo, Plácido Domingo, Gabriele success’; Alonso e Cora (Milan, 1803); L’amor opéra-comique, and the farsa sentimentale, which it Ferro and Bruno Bartoletti. Her concert repertoire ranges from the baroque to the contemporary. coniugale (Padua, 1805); Adelasia ed Aleramo (Milan, strongly influenced. During the first decade of the 1806); and La rosa bianca e la rosa rossa (Genoa, nineteenth century, this complete transformation was 1813); (Naples, 1813) is really his effected peaceably and with restraint and took hold at an best-known work, to be followed by Alfredo il grande irregular pace according to the musical taste of a city or, Francescantonio Bille (Rome, 1818) and Fedra (Milan, 1820). more precisely, its theatre; the somewhat conservative Towards the end of the eighteenth century Italian North stood in contrast to the more progressive, French- The tenor Francescantonio Bille completed his studies with distinction with Antonio Bevacqua at the Francesco opera was still very much being written along the same influenced Naples in the South; the names of composers Cilea Conservatory in Messina. Since then he has undertaken various rôles in well known opera houses, including lines defined by a late rococo style that lent itself to the such as Paër, Pucitta, Nicolini, Pavesi, Generali and the appearances in Bastien et Bastienne in Reggio, Pagliacci in Montalto Uffugo, Die lustige Witwe in Catania, Don reciprocal inspiration to be found in dramatic works by two Moscas should be mentioned in this connection Pasquale in Rieti and L’elisir d’amore at the Rovigo Teatro Sociale, Falstaff in Nice and Il barbiere di Siviglia at Paisiello, Cimarosa, Salieri, Righini, and Zingarelli as along with Mayr’s. the Fondazione Petruzzelli in Bari. His repertoire includes Rossini (L’italiana in Algeri), Verdi (Falstaff) and well as Mozart’s Italian operas. During the second half Thus a musical style was able to form that would Cimarosa (Il matrimonio segreto). Concert performances include Carmina Burana, Rossini’s Petite Messe of the settecento, the more flexible, plot-driven opera become an essential ingredient of opera, so to speak, for Solennelle and Mozart’s Requiem. In 1998 he won with particular distinction the Francesco Cilea International buffa, with its delight in ensembles, began to exert a the next couple of decades: it was the same style that Competition and in 2003 the Rieti M. Battistini Competition. strong influence on the formally ossified, Metastasian resulted from the distillation of various personal styles opera seria, with its regimented deployment of of the time, which Gioachino Rossini prescribed and recitative and da capo aria. This resulted in a significant made his own as a budding composer around 1810. By expansion of the formal language of opera seria. The way of illustration, we may take the crescendo, thought Tatjana Charalgina one-act farsa sentimentale, with its prevailing maudlin of as typically Rossinian, but is already present in the tone, was increasingly taken up during the 1790s - as early operas of Mayr; the rhythmic patterns so Born in Russia, the soprano Tatjana Charalgina studied under Judith Beckmann at the Hamburg Musikhochschule. was opera semiseria - by dint of the French Revolution. characteristic of Rossini’s opera in the form of simple She was awarded scholarships including Live Music Now from the Yehudi Menuhin Foundation and from the This prevailing tone is one to which L’amor coniugale repeated chords with a certain ‘spring’ to the melodic Alfred Töpfer Foundation. Her talent is witnessed by a number of prizes, including first prize in the Elisabeth Meyer also adheres. The form likewise encouraged the line, are already quite clearly present in the genre before Singing Competition and in the 2002 Maritim Competition. She has participated in master-classes with Helmuth hybridisation of the two main genres, opera seria and Rossini, just as nineteenth-century stylistics were being Rilling, J. Wagner, J. Kaufmann and others. Her many-faceted opera repertoire includes rôles by Mozart, Weber, opera buffa, through their mutual synthesis, so that by formed. Works belonging to the opera seria genre, such Britten, Toch and Rossini. At ROSSINI IN WILDBAD she has sung Berta in Il barbiere di Siviglia. She is at the time of Mayr’s first stage successes, the ground had as Ginevra di Scozia and Adelasia ed Aleramo, or present a singer at the Mainz State Theatre. been prepared for an expanded recasting of the Italian L’avaro or L’amor coniugale in the buffa/farsa/ opera mould with a more colourful vocabulary. semiseria genre, already exhibit all the characteristics It was Simon Mayr then who was responsible for commonly associated with Rossini, but at the time just the cautious conversion of late eighteenth-century opera prior to Rossini’s making a name for himself as a to that of the early nineteenth century at a time when composer of operas. Nonetheless, the bestowing of a opera seria had been reduced to a simple formula: in valid form that was both spontaneous and enduring on a acting as mediator between the opera seria of the musical language that developed gradually, whilst eighteenth century and the melodramma of the vacillating between the old and new, should remain to nineteenth, he promoted new tone colours through his Rossini’s credit.

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Simon Mayr (1763-1845) Dariusz Machej L’amor coniugale The Polish bass Dariusz Machej completed his studies with distinction under Włodzimierz Zalewski at the Fryderyk Simon Mayr’s L’amor coniugale in context He was born on 14th June 1763 in Mendorf; this Chopin Music Academy in Warsaw. Since 1994 he has attended regular master-classes with Ryszard first period extends from 1763 till 1789 and covers Karczykowski. As first soloist of the state song and dance ensemble Slask and Mazowze he has sung on tour Interest began in Johann Simon Mayr at an early date, Mayr’s youth in Bavaria until his arrival in Italy. throughout Europe, in Asia and in America. In 1996 he became a soloist with the Warsaw Chamber Opera and in the particularly in German-language music history. The Included within this period are his training and studies same year made his début at the Warsaw National Opera. He has appeared with the Warsaw and Vienna Chamber native of Bavaria, who later elected to become a lifelong in Ingolstadt, and his acquaintance with Baron Thomas Operas, at Koblenz Civic Theatre and at the Wuppertal Opera House, as well as in France. He has participated in Bergamese, was an important forerunner of nineteenth- von Bassus who took him to Italy and as his mentor international festivals, including the Pesaro Rossini Opera Festival and the Strasbourg Music Festival, working with century Italian opera; but it was as a disciple of introduced him to a world of secret lodges and the so- distinguished conductors including Alberto Zedda, Carlo Rizzi and Alessandro de Marchi. At ROSSINI IN Viennese classicism acting as an agent between two called ‘illuminati’. The second period covers his early WILDBAD he sang in La pietra del paragone and Pezzi Sacri Lughesi, among other works. worlds that has earned him special significance. Ludwig years in Italy from 1789 until 1802, centred in Venice Schiedermair’s articles from the beginning of the where he composed small-scale pieces, church music twentieth century are as substantial a testimony to this and oratorios initially before his eventual promotion to as Heinrich Bauer’s practical efforts made in putting opera composer in 1794. Giovanni Bellavia forward the performance of Mayr’s operatic output for The third period from 1802 to 1813 marks the discussion during the 1960s and 70s. John Allitt should central Bergamese years when he was exceedingly Born in Palermo in 1971, the bass-baritone Giovanni Bellavia studied with the tenor R. Lo Cicero and the soprano also be mentioned here as the author of two books - one active as a composer and founded his own music school E. Smith. After success in international competitions he made his début in 1998 in Scontrino’s opera Gringoire at in English, the other in Italian – in which he tackled in Bergamo, the “Lezioni Caritatevoli”, in 1805; the Teatro Politeama Garibaldi in Palermo. He has appeared in operas by Henze, Cimarosa and Kurt Weill and won Mayr’s biography set against cultural history and its Donizetti was one of his first pupils and is said to have great success as Sharpless in Puccini’s Madama Butterfly, and as Leporello in Mozart’s Don Giovanni. In addition social context; he also presented an impressive list of remained grateful to Mayr as his teacher and maintained to regular engagements at the Palermo Teatro Massimo and the Malta Teatre Manuel, where his rôles have included 1510 opus numbers. It was Allitt’s initiative that led to his friendship for the rest of his life. The fourth period Leporello, he has also made guest appearances at the Michigan Opera Theatre and the Venice Teatro La Feria, the first modern performance of L’amor coniugale in from 1813 to 1824 is marked by key operatic successes among others. His appearances for ROSSINI IN WILDBAD include the rôle of Ormondo in Torvaldo e Dorliska, London during the 1970s, albeit in a concert version; it as well as increasing pedagogical activity and Daniele in Ciro in Babilonia and Fiorello in Il barbiere di Siviglia. had been edited for performance by Arrigo Gazzaniga as composition of church music; during this period, Mayr part of the Monumenta Bergomensia in 1967. Then, in gradually bowed out of opera. The fifth and final period, the 1990s, there was a veritable upsurge of interest in from 1825 to 1845, were Mayr’s ‘elder statesman Mayr: The International Simon Mayr Society, with its years’, to quote Allitt’s phrase; increasing difficulties Bradley Trammell headquarters in Ingolstadt, an Italian organization in with eyesight and an unsuccessful cataract operation Bergamo, as well as numerous conferences and hindered his practical work. These years were highly The American tenor Bradley Trammell studied at the Chicago College of Performing Arts with Richard Stilwell and conference reports bear witness to a stirring of interest productive nonetheless: Mayr composed many religious Michael Best. He participated in courses with Janice Harsanyi, Daniel Ferro, Mark Oswald, Stanford Olsen, David in research, and to the detailed, systematic reappraisal of works, wrote treatises on the history and theory of music Holloway and Michael Koch. He has made guest appearances at the Opera Festival in Rome and at the Grandin Mayr’s œuvre that yielded remarkable results and fresh and brought about the Italian premières of several Music Festival in Cincinnati. insights. Good introductions to Mayr’s life and works models of Viennese classicism. The celebrity had long can be found in Allitt’s books as well as music been an institution of Bergamese musical life, although encyclopaedias such as The New Grove Dictionary, he was also considered classical and hence antiquated Piper and MGG. PierAngelo Pelucchi’s edition of next to the romanticism of the 1830s and 1840s; as a Girolamo Calvi’s nineteenth-century biography of Mayr consequence, he was steadily being superseded. During with extensive footnotes also deserves to be mentioned. his final years, Mayr became completely blind. He died Following Allitt, Mayr’s life can be divided into the on 2nd December 1845 in Bergamo. following five main periods: A few titles of important operas that enjoyed great success should be mentioned before turning to the

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Württemberg Philharmonic Orchestra Reutlingen CD 1 43:49 CD 2 39:08

The Württemberg Philharmonic Orchestra Reutlingen was established in 1 Sinfonia 7:42 1 Scena: Qual notte eterna (Amorveno) 5:35 1945, developing into one of the leading orchestras in South Germany. It has worked under the direction of, among others, Samuel Friedman, Salvador 2 Gira gira non ti stare attortigliar 2 Aria: Cara immagine adorata (Amorveno) 4:09 Mas Conde and Roberto Paternostro and, since September 2001, Norichika (Floreska, Peters) 4:29 Iimori, who led a highly successful concert tour to Japan in 2006. In addition 3 Animo... ma... cos’hai paura? (Peters, Zeliska) 1:33 to concert series in Reutlingen the orchestra broadcasts regularly with 3 Südwestrundfunk and appears in various cities of South Germany, with tours Sono qua (Zeliska, Peters, Floreska) 4:33 to Austria, Switzerland, Italy, Spain and The Netherlands, often with very 4 Romanza: Una moglie sventurata distinguished soloists. Recordings by the orchestra include the Naxos release 4 Terzetto: Io sono allegro (Zeliska, Peters, Amorveno) 3:56 from ROSSINI IN WILDBAD of Meyerbeer’s Semiramide (8.660205-06). (Zeliska, Peters, Floreska) 2:10 5 Terzetto: Ah! Qual voce 5 Sì, Malvino sta allegro (Zeliska, Amorveno, Peters) 4:06 (Peters, Floreska, Zeliska) 2:34 Christopher Franklin 6 Nell’orror 6 Non so cosa sia (Floreska) 2:13 (Moroski, Peters, Zeliska, Amorveno) 3:09 Born in San Francisco, the conductor Christopher Franklin studied at the University of Illinois and then, on a Fulbright Scholarship, at the Saarbrücken Conservatory, and at the Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore. As a prize-winner in the Treviso La Bottega 7 Siate pronti miei (Moroski) 1:05 7 Quartetto Cantabile: Ah voi International Conductors Competition he served as assistant to Peter Maag in Treviso. (Moroski, Peters, Zeliska, Amorveno) 5:39 He later worked with Seiji Ozawa, Bernard Haitink and Gustav Meier at the 8 Ciel! Che lessi! (Moroski, Peters) 3:19 Tanglewood Music Festival, and with Charles Bruck at the Pierre Monteux School of 8 Duetto: Ah, sì stringo (Zeliska, Amorveno) 5:37 Music in the United States. His interest in opera brought him to the Rossini Opera 9 E sempre ti tormenti (Floreska, Zeliska) 2:41 Festival in Pesaro, where he conducted Rossini’s Il viaggio a Reims with the Orquesta 9 Scena ultima: Vendetta Sinfónica de Galicia. At the Teatro dell’Opera in Rome he conducted the first 0 Aria: L’oro ha un colore (Peters) 4:08 (Moroski, Peters, Ardelao, Zeliska, Amorveno) 3:52 performance of Cilea’s Gina (recorded for Bongiovanni) and a production of Franz Lehár’s Die lustige Witwe. Other engagements followed at the Spontini Festival in Jesi, ! 0 in Turin and, with a Mozart cycle, in Genoa. He is the regular conductor for solo Rec., Scena: Tieni quando suonan le quattro Finale: Coniugal celeste amore (Tutti) 1:32 concerts by the tenor Juan Diego Flórez and has, among other orchestras, conducted the (Peters, Zeliska) 2:39 South West German Radio Orchestra Kaiserslauten in a tour of Germany. His repertoire ranges from Spontini (the modern première of Lalla Rukh), Mozart, Rossini and Verdi to Britten and Tutino. In @ Aria: Rendi il consorte amato (Zeliska) 6:16 addition to conducting L’amor coniugale in Bad Wildbad he has also conducted Rossini’s farce La cambiale di matrimonio and the première of the revival of La gazzetta in its complete form, including a new quintetto.

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Simon MAYR (1763-1845) Also available: L’amor coniugale (1805) Farsa sentimentale in one act Libretto by Gaetano Rossi (1774-1855) after Jean Nicolas Bouilly

Zeliska/Malvino ...... Cinzia Rizzone, Soprano Amorveno ...... Francescantonio Bille, Tenor Floreska ...... Tatjana Charalgina, Soprano Peters ...... Dariusz Machej, Bass Moroski ...... Giovanni Bellavia, Bass-baritone Ardelao ...... Bradley Trammell, Tenor

Württemberg Philharmonic Orchestra

Christopher Franklin 8.660037-38

Assistant: Marco Bellei

Edition by Florian Bauer for performance at the ROSSINI IN WILDBAD festival, after the revised score of Arrigo Gazzaniga

8.660183-84

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2 CDs Also available: MAYR L’amor coniugale Rizzone • Bille • Charalgina • Machej • Bellavia • Trammell Württemberg Philharmonic Orchestra Christopher Franklin

8.660203-04

8.660220-21

8.660198-99 12 CMYK NAXOS NAXOS Based, like Beethoven’s opera Fidelio, on the original French libretto by Jean-Nicolas Bouilly, Mayr’s opera L’amor coniugale (Conjugal Love) won considerable success at its first performance in Padua in 1805. The story of the faithful wife seeking the release of her innocent husband from unjust imprisonment and imminent death, by disguising herself as a boy and

MAYR: serving as assistant to the gaoler, is transposed, in Mayr’s version, from real events during the DDD MAYR: French Revolution to personal conflict and inter-personal relationships in the exotic setting of seventeenth-century Poland. 8.660198-99 Simon Playing Time

’mrconiugale L’amor MAYR 1:22:57 coniugale L’amor (1763-1845) L’amor coniugale Zeliska/Malvino ...... Cinzia Rizzone, Soprano Amorveno ...... Francescantonio Bille, Tenor Floreska ...... Tatjana Charalgina, Soprano Peters ...... Dariusz Machej, Bass Moroski ...... Giovanni Bellavia, Bass-baritone Ardelao ...... Bradley Trammell, Tenor www.naxos.com Disc made in Canada. Printed and assembled USA. Booklet notes in English Naxos Rights International Ltd.

Württemberg Philharmonic Orchestra &

Christopher Franklin 2008 Assistant: Marco Bellei CD 1 43:49 CD 2 39:08 A full track list can be found on page 3 of the booklet The Italian libretto may be accessed at www.naxos.com/libretti/660198.htm Recorded live on 19th, 21st and 23rd July, 2004, in the Kursaal, Bad Wildbad, Germany, during the ROSSINI IN WILDBAD festival (Artistic director: Jochen Schönleber) • A co-production with SWR 8.660198-99 Producer: Siegbert Ernst • Editor: Dr Max Forster (SWR) 8.660198-99 Engineers: Norbert Vossen and Siggi Mehne • Booklet Notes: Thomas Lindner Cover image: The Destruction of the Bastille, 14th July 1789, by Jean-Pierre Houel (1735-1813) (Musée de la Ville de Paris, Musée Carnavalet, Paris, France, Lauros / Giraudon / The Bridgeman Art Library)