FRANCO FAGIOLI ARMONIA ATENEA GEORGE PETROU ROSSINI FRANCO FAGIOLI ROSSINI ARMONIA ATENEA GEORGE PETROU GIOACHINO ROSSINI (1792–1868) Adelaide di Borgogna 10 “Salve, Italia” (coro) 1:44 Demetrio e Polibio Libretto: Vincenzina Viganò-Mombelli 11 “O sacra alla virtù” (Ottone) 1:53 First performance: Rome, Teatro Valle, 18 May 1812 12 “Soffri la tua sventura … Amica speme” (Ottone) 5:36 1 “Pien di contento in seno” (Siveno) 4:12 Dimitris Vamvas solo English horn (12) Matilde di Shabran Semiramide Libretto: Jacopo Ferretti Libretto: Gaetano Rossi First performance: Rome, Teatro Apollo, 24 February 1821 First performance: Venice, Teatro La Fenice, 3 February 1823 Naples version 13 “Eccomi alfine in Babilonia” (Arsace) 5:59 2 “Sazia tu fossi alfine” (Edoardo) 2:09 14 “Ah, quel giorno ognor rammento … 6:28 3 “Ah, perché, perché la morte” (Edoardo, Raimondo) 9:30 Oh, come da quel dì” (Arsace) Petros Magoulas bass (Raimondo) Eduardo e Cristina Costas Siskos solo horn (3) Libretto: Giovanni Schmidt; rev. Andrea Leone Tottola & Gherardo Bevilacqua-Aldobrandini Adelaide di Borgogna First performance: Venice, Teatro San Benedetto, 24 April 1819 Libretto: Giovanni Schmidt First performance: Rome, Teatro Argentina, 27 December 1817 15 “Nel misero tuo stato” (coro) 4:04 4 “Serti intrecciar le vergini” (coro) 2:23 16 “Ah! Chi sa dirmi se la sposa” (Eduardo, coro) 2:04 5 “Questi che a me presenta” (Ottone) 0:53 17 “La pietà che in sen serbate … 9:57 Come rinascere vi sento in core” (coro, Eduardo, Atlei) 6 “Vieni, tuo sposo e amante” (Ottone, coro) 3:01 Christos Kechris tenor (Atlei) 7 “Al trono tuo primiero” (Ottone, coro) 3:44 Tancredi FRANCO FAGIOLI countertenor Libretto: Gaetano Rossi First performance: Venice, Teatro La Fenice, 6 February 1813 Armonia Atenea Choir 8 “O sospirato lido” (Tancredi) 5:26 Chorus Master: Agathangelos Georgakatos 9 “Dolci d’amor parole” (Tancredi) 6:20 Armonia Atenea Sergiu Nastasa solo violin GEORGE PETROU Armonia Atenea (on period instruments) Armonia Atenea Choir Violin I Oboe Chorus Master Sergiu Nastasa (solo) Dimitris Vamvas Agathangelos Georgakatos Nontas Filippas (solo English horn) George Panagiotopoulos Stella Nikolaidou Soprano Angie Kasdas Xristina Alexiou Joanna Gaitani Clarinet Peni Deligianni Ilias Livieratos Spiros Mourikis Marilena Xrisohoidi Lycia Gialdi Niki Haziraki Violin II Kayo Nishida Otilia Alitei Alto Dimitra Triantafyllou Bassoon Vagia Kofou Nassos Martzoukos Alexandros Economou Fotini Athanasaki Angela Fanarioti Ioannis Evangelatos Ioanna Kokovika Louise Stahl Martha Sotiriou Horn Viola Costas Siskos (solo) Tenor Laurentiu Matasaru Spiros Kakos Panagiotis Priftis Iannis Stratakis Hristos Delizonas Trumpet Liz Schaefer Alexandros Louziotis Dimitris Gongas Stamatis Pakakis Violoncello Spiros Arkoudis Giannis Filias Chris Humphreys Trombone Vagelis Agelakis Iason Ioannou Andreas Theodorou Hristos Kehris Ilias Sakalak Spiros Farougias Bass Vangelis Karambas Double bass Theodoros Aivaliotis George Petrou Dimitris Tigkas Timpani Theodoros Moraitis Angelos Repapis Dimitris Desyllas Timos Sirlatzis Sotiris Triantis Flute Percussion Zacharias Tarpagkos Andreas Farmakis Nikos Dimitratos home in the bel canto tradition, the Teatro let us say de-corporation. As a child, I had a In the beginning was astonishment Colón having traditionally taken its cue from lovely voice and my parents used it to have La Scala in Milan. me earn a few paoli by singing in churches.” When Fagioli gave an acclaimed recital at An uncle of his, a barber by trade, apparently the 2014 Salzburg Whitsun Festival and per- tried to convince Rossini’s father to have the formed a programme of arias by Rossini and boy castrated in order to preserve his beauti- When, shortly after the Second World War, Such was the astonishment at the mere Meyerbeer, it was reported in the press that ful, bright voice, and it was only his mother’s the English countertenor Alfred Deller revived fact that men could sing such high notes that after singing Baroque oratorios and operas, determined intervention that saved him from the lost tradition of male singers using head- the question as to how they produced such a he was now conquering the Italian bel canto such a barbaric operation. voice in the treble register, audiences found the sound was initially overlooked, resulting in a repertory and, more especially, its mezzo- Interestingly, Rossini composed only result strangely fascinating. And just as listen- certain terminological confusion that contin- soprano roles. But the truth of the matter is two roles for a castrato: the part of Alceo ers’ horizons were broadened, so there was a ues to this day. Alongside the word “counter- that this was something of a homecoming in the cantata Il vero omaggio and the role delightful sense of bewilderment at the way in tenor”, which generally means a male voice for Fagioli after he had come to international of Arsace in Aureliano in Palmira were both which roles traditionally associated with a par- higher than a tenor, the more accurate term attention in Baroque works. He had begun his written for Giambattista Velluti, the last ticular gender could be subverted by a different “alto” has also gained acceptance. All the training in Argentina with Rossini and Doni- operatic castrato of international standing. voice type. Long before such great artists from greater was the amazement when a number zetti, with the result that he comes to this Franco Fagioli has deliberately chosen not the world of pop as David Bowie, Michael Jack- of countertenors successfully took on mezzo- repertory from a very different background to include these parts in his Rossini album. son and Prince perfected ambivalence as a play- soprano and soprano roles. from the one associated with his fellow coun- Instead, he concentrates on the trouser ful resource, whether in terms of their dress Franco Fagioli, too, was a pioneer in his ter tenors, who, trained in the English and roles that approach the delightful confusion or their ability to switch between falsetto and native Argentina, where he was the first German traditions, have been more influ- between voice and gender from a rather dif- chest-voice, the early music scene had discov- countertenor to complete his training at the enced by sacred music. ferent standpoint. More especially in Ros- ered the irresistible delights of the high male prestigious Instituto Superior de Arte at the Throughout his life Rossini was fascinated sini’s serious operas, which are still rarely voice. The phenomenon of the countertenor Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires. At that date in by high male voices, but, unlike today’s audi- performed today, there are many male char- not only changed people’s listening habits – his country’s history, Baroque music was still ences, he was familiar with the last great acters whose substantial roles were written it also fired their imagination. Legion are the largely neglected, and it was almost as hard operatic castratos. And if we may believe his for women. Even during the Baroque, the anecdotes that tell of the way in which Deller, to track down decent scores as it was to find early biographers, he himself narrowly avoid- role of primo uomo was sometimes entrusted the “godfather of the countertenor”, was forced singing teachers who specialized in the coun- ed the same fate. He is quoted as telling a to a female singer if no suitable castrato to reply to embarrassed questions as to how tertenor voice. And so Fagioli was trained by visitor to one of his famous Saturday soirées: could be found. By the early years of the he managed to achieve such a sound by gently a baritone and a soprano in the Italian school “I came within a hair’s breadth of belong- nineteenth century, when castration was pointing to his three fine children. of singing. Musically speaking, Fagioli is at ing to that famous corporation – or, rather going out of fashion (Napoleon even banned it during his brief rule of Italy), mezzo- figures of Adelaide of Burgundy and the Ger- sopranos finally came into their own and man emperor Otto I. It proved a failure at its Am Anfang stand das Staunen successfully filled the resultant gap in the first performance in Rome in 1817, allowing casting of travesty roles. Rossini to recycle large sections of the score But for Fagioli there is a special appeal to in Eduardo e Cristina, a dramma per musica restoring these roles to the “purity and won- written for Venice. By skilfully rearranging derful flexibility” that Rossini, by his own his own music and adding a few new num- Als der britische Countertenor Alfred Deller Hinter dem Staunen, dass Männer so hoch admission, loved about the castrato voice. bers, Rossini was able to turn his fortunes kurz nach dem Zweiten Weltkrieg die ver- singen können, trat die Frage, wie sie das What a singer like Velluti may have sounded round and enjoy a great success – not that schüttete Tradition der hohen, im Kopfregis- machen, zunächst in den Hintergrund. Das like, we can only speculate. And so Fagioli’s this alters the fact that Eduardo e Cristina and ter singenden Männerstimme wieder zum begünstigte eine gewisse Begriffsverwirrung, engagement with Rossini is an imaginary the opera semiseria Matilde di Shabran are rarely Leben erweckte, klang das in den Ohren des die im Grunde bis heute fortbesteht. Neben journey through time, a journey inspired by performed today. Publikums zunächst faszinierend fremdar- dem Wort »Countertenor« (gemeint ist damit astonishment, pure and simple. With his large, warm and at the same time tig. Zur musikalischen Horizonterweiterung meist generell eine Männerstimme, die höher It was for the Italian contralto Adelaide incredibly agile mezzo-soprano voice, Franco gesellte sich die reizvolle Irritation festge- liegt als ein Tenor) bürgerte sich der etwas Malanotte that Rossini wrote the title role in Fagioli paints a series of fascinating portraits legter Geschlechterrollen. Lange bevor gro- präzisere Begriff »Altus« ein.