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GREAT OPERATIC ARIAS GREAT OPERATIC ARIAS CHAN 3093 CHANDOS

O PERA IN

IN MONTAGUE DIANA ENGLISH 2

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Diana Montague at the recording sessions Cooper Bill

Great Operatic Arias with Diana Montague

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Time Page Time Page Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756–1791) from Atalanta from The Marriage of Figaro Meleagro’s aria (Care selve) Cherubino’s Aria (Non so più) 6 ‘Noble forests, sombre and shady’ 2:05 [p. 46] Alastair Young harpsichord • Susanne Beer cello 1 ‘Is it pain, is it pleasure that fills me’ 3:07 [p. 44] from The Clemency of Titus Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Sextus’s Aria (Parto, parto) from Così fan tutte 2 6:39 [p. 44] ‘Send me, but, my beloved’ Fiordiligi, Dorabella and Don Alfonso’s Trio (Soave sia il vento) Christoph Willibald von Gluck (1714–1787) 7 ‘Blow gently, you breezes’ 3:33 [p. 46] with Orla Boylan soprano • Alan Opie baritone from Iphigenia in Tauris Priestesses’ Chorus and Iphigenia’s Aria (O malheureuse Iphigénie!) Dorabella’s Recitative and Aria (Smanie implacabili) 3 ‘Farewell, beloved homeland’ – 8 ‘Ah! Leave me now’ – ‘No hope remains in my affliction’ 4:56 [p. 45] ‘Torture and agony’ 3:39 [p. 46] with Geoffrey Mitchell Choir Dorabella and Fiordiligi’s Duet (Prenderò quel brunettino) Iphigenia’s Aria (Je t’implore et je tremble) 9 ‘I will take the handsome, dark one’ 3:07 [p. 46] 4 ‘I implore thee and tremble’ 3:36 [p. 45] with Orla Boylan soprano

George Frideric Handel (1685–1759) Concert Arias from Alcina 10 ‘Banished, rejected, God save me!’ 4:50 [p. 47] Ruggiero’s aria (Verdi prati) (Vado, ma dove?) 5 ‘Verdant pastures, leafy woodlands’ 4:18 [p. 45] 11 ‘Who knows what feeling’ 3:16 [p. 47] (Chi sa qual sia)

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Time Page Time Page from Così fan tutte Charles Gounod (1818–1893) Guglielmo and Dorabella’s Duet (Il core vi dono) from Faust 12 ‘My heart here I give you’ 4:39 [p. 47] Siébel’s Romance (Si le bonheur à sourire t’invite) with Alan Opie baritone 16 ‘When happy days’ 2:49 [p. 51] Philharmonia Orchestra • David Parry Richard Heuberger (1850–1914) from The Opera Ball from The Merry Widow Henri and Hortense’s Duet (Gehen wir ins Chambre séparée) Valencienne and Camille’s Duet (Wie eine Rosenknospe) 17 ‘Calm down, my friend!’ – 13 ‘This is the clock’ – ‘In a cosy chambre séparée’ 5:46 [p. 48] ‘Just as the sun awakens’ 6:55 [p. 52] with Bruce Ford tenor with Helen Williams soprano Gottfried Heinrich Stölzel (1690–1749) (1833–1887) Alexander Borodin (formerly attrib. J.S. Bach) from Prince Igor (Bist du bei mir) Song of the Polovtsian Maiden 18 ‘If you are near’ 2:54 [p. 53] 14 ‘Tender flower, starved of water’ 5:57 [p. 50] Alastair Young harpsichord • Susanne Beer cello with Geoffrey Mitchell Choir TT 75:01

Johann Strauss II (1825–1899) Diana Montague mezzo-soprano from Die Fledermaus (The Bat) Geoffrey Mitchell Choir Orlofsky’s Aria (Chacun à son goût) London Philharmonic Orchestra 15 ‘Three score and ten’ 2:46 [p. 51] Peter Schoeman leader Walter Weller

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Its seemingly simple melody clothes his progression unique to Gluck. In the later Great Operatic Arias ambivalent feelings. ‘I implore thee and tremble’ (track 4 ) from It was often Handel’s custom to open an Act IV she deplores her fate at being forced to The term Zwischenfach (between types) is used For much of this recital she displays her opera with a reflective arioso (vide ‘Ombra mai make a blood sacrifice in tones that capture in a in Germany and elsewhere graphically to exceptional gifts as an interpreter of Handel, fu’ in Xerxes). The same happens in Atalanta, peculiarly Gluckian way the horror of her describe the kind of voice possessed by Diana Gluck and Mozart. Their operas cover the where the hero Meleagro sings the simple, situation. In both pieces Gluck evinces deep Montague. For voices such as hers the period when at first the castrato was in the elegiac ‘Noble forests’ (track 6 ), in which he compassion for his heroine, an emotion possibilities are almost limitless as this varied ascendant, taking many of the leading male greets the beauties of nature. As a pendant to reflected in Montague’s singing of them. and eclectic recital confirms. She possesses a roles in Handel’s operas. Later when that these Handel pieces, we have the simple, In Mozart’s time, the castrato was high mezzo able, as was that of a distant artificially created breed was being phased out sincere song ‘If you are near’ (track 18 ), once (mercifully) a dying breed, although the nineteenth-century predecessor, Pauline it became common for the roles of young men thought to be by J.S. Bach, now assigned to his composer still cast roles in his opera seria for Viardot, and others since, to encompass roles to be taken by women, again with voices of contemporary Stölzel. Whoever may be the that voice (see below). In any case, it would intended for a normal mezzo, but also many Montague’s type. It is a tradition that carried composer, the piece is a delight. have seemed odd to cast the priapic youth others usually the province of sopranos. These on into the nineteenth and twentieth Gluck’s Iphigenia in Tauris is perhaps the Cherubino (The Marriage of Figaro) with possibilities extend right from roles in Baroque centuries, eg Octavian and the Composer in most telling and dramatically consistent operas such a singer. Instead, Mozart chose a soprano, opera to those in operetta – as this disc vividly respectively Richard Strauss’s Der Rosenkavalier of his mature period, the last and greatest of the but the lighter singers in that category can and satisfactorily illustrates, as does the progress and Ariadne on Naxos, and is demonstrated in serious works he wrote for Paris. Its eponymous sound too girlish. Montague’s high mezzo, on of her career. this recital by Orlofsky in the other Strauss’s heroine is a truly tragic figure whose fate is the other hand, is entirely appropriate for the As was the case in the first volume of arias she Die Fledermaus and by Siébel in Faust. expressed – such is Gluck’s genius – at once palpitating youth, whose realisation of his recorded for Chandos (CHAN 3010), Montague The earliest among the choices here are two with classical restraint and emotional depth. burgeoning manhood is perfectly encapsulated is also a most convincing advocate of opera in well-known and affecting arias from Handel’s Diana Montague has already recorded the opera in his Act I aria, ‘Is it pain, is it pleasure that English. She deploys her trim, appealing voice to operas, both originally sung by castratos. complete in French under John Eliot Gardiner. fills me’ (track 1 ). Mozart here exploits the make the most of a text in the vernacular, ‘Verdant pastures’ (track 5 ) is sung in Alcina, Here, singing in her native tongue, she is, if ability of the middle range of the voice to inflecting every word and phrase with a specific by Ruggiero, originally taken by the castrato possible, even more moving and urgent in her project the warmth and immediacy of meaning. She also has the inestimable advantage Carestini. He has been enchanted by the portrayal of the daughter of Agamemnon, now Cherubino’s feelings. This was one of of being born with and developed a timbre that sorceress Alcina and fallen in love with her. a Priestess of Diana on the island of Tauris. Montague’s earliest roles in her successful palpitates with the music in hand. That gives The spell is removed in Act II, but Ruggiero is Her Act II lament, ‘No hope remains in my career at Covent Garden. She looked and sang everything she sings a peculiarly eloquent or, rather reluctant to leave the glorious pastures affliction’ (track 3 ), is an outpouring of despair the role to near-perfection, so this souvenir of where appropriate, witty accent. which he hymns in this justly famous aria. and loneliness with a melodic cut and harmonic that performance is most welcome.

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Although Dorabella in Così fan tutte is a choice, ‘I will take the handsome, dark one’ In addition to his operas, Mozart wrote era, is much more urbane and Western in its very different kind of character from (track 9 ). Its intertwining of the two voices is extensively for the solo voice in arias with musical character, as is shown in Siébel’s Cherubino, the voice range for the two is truly sisterly in character. orchestra of which we have two excellent charming song ‘When happy days’ (track 16 ). much the same and, in the same way, it has In the duet, ‘My heart here I give you’ examples here. They are particularly Faust’s rival for Marguerite’s hand, he is been cast over the years with both sopranos (track 12 ), as in the trio above, Dorabella’s appropriate to Montague as both were written doomed to failure. and mezzos. In any case in Mozart’s times, fresh love is genuinely expressed, yet we also for Louise Villeneuve, the first Dorabella, for Meanwhile in Vienna much had changed in these stark differences between types hardly feel that Guglielmo, in spite of himself, is insertion in Vicente Martin’s Il burbero di buon terms of ethos and musical character since existed. Once again, Montague’s voice seems falling in love with the ‘wrong’ woman, the cuore, an opera to a text by Da Ponte, based Mozart’s time. Operetta was now all the rage. the ideal answer, poised between the two. music is so seductively beguiling. That is on a Goldoni play. They stand side by side in In his highly successful 1874 operetta, Die We hear her first in the mock-heroics of Mozart’s genius. Alan Opie, who has sung the Köchel catalogue as K. 582 and 583. The Fledermaus (The Bat), Johann Strauss was ‘Torture and agony’ (track 8 ) in which both Guglielmo and Alfonso for English latter and much more substantial is ‘Banished, not-so-gently mocking the bourgeois society of Mozart makes one of his impressionable National Opera, easily encompasses both roles rejected’ (track 10 ), written in Mozart’s most the day in the Austrian capital. At the heart of heroines rail against the fate that has in these excerpts and Orla Boylan has just the high-flown, deeply felt manner. The other, the piece is the party given at the palace of supposedly taken her loved one from her. right voice for Fiordiligi. ‘Who knows what feeling’ (track 11 ), is a Prince Orlofsky, a blasé youth who is bored Indeed this outburst of seemingly sincere In his final opera, The Clemency of Titus, slight but charming piece. with life and seeking to be amused. In his passion is almost Gluckian in its force. Mozart again wrote, as I have already inferred, A hundred years or so later we find couplets near the start of Act II he declares his Next we catch Dorabella, with her sister a role for a castrato, the part of Sextus, where ourselves in an entirely different world, that of philosophy -- he wants everyone to drink with Fiordiligi, singing the matchless trio of farewell the vulnerable young man is entirely in thrall native Russian opera as represented by him and entertain him (‘Chacun à son goût’, in the company of cynical old Don Alfonso, to Vitellia. Peaked that Emperor Titus has not Borodin’s Prince Igor. In the opening scene of track 15 ). Strauss caught his character ‘Blow gently, you breezes’ (track 7 ). As is chosen her as his Empress, she persuades Act II, a group of Polovtsian maidens sings a perfectly in a song that marries nonchalance Mozart’s way, especially in this work, he makes Sextus to go and murder his best friend, Titus. langourous song, ‘Tender flower, starved of and cynicism with a degree of gaucherie. a moment of repose and thought timelessly All Sextus’s contrary feelings are expounded in water’ (track 14 ), before their mistress, Written for a mezzo it isn’t easy to sing. Much beautiful, even though a character, such as the extended, two-part aria, ‘Send me, but, my Konchakovna, daughter of Khan Konchak, the of it lies in a low register, but it also has Alfonso here, may be having very different beloved, never reject me in anger’ (track 2 ). benevolent ruler who has taken Igor prisoner. repeated A flats. The kind of voice possessed thoughts. In it Mozart gives us the character of the The music, with its quasi-Oriental colour and by Montague is ideal for overcoming its In Act II, Fiordiligi, the more steadfast of upright, perplexed young man. Again this is feeling, provides a moment of repose in a tense difficulties. the sisters, and Dorabella – having decided to a role that can be distributed to either a drama. Borodin was skilled in marrying what Richard Heuberger proved one of Strauss’s have a fling with their ‘new’ men – sing a soprano or mezzo, its tessitura lying between he had learnt from Western music with more more successful followers with his Opera Ball delightful duet in which each makes her the two. local influences. Faust, a work from the same first given in Vienna in 1898. Far and away

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its most successful number is ‘In a cosy Diana Montague Andromaca in Rossini’s Ermione at of the Allgemeine chambre séparée’, (track 13 ), where the lovers was born in Glyndebourne; Proserpina in Monteverdi’s Musikgesellschaft Henri and Hortense meet for the first time in Winchester and Orfeo in Amsterdam; Il ritorno d’Ulisse in Basel, General Music a theatre. He leads her into the chambre studied at the patria in Amsterdam and Sydney; Sesto in Director of the Basel séparée, one of the theatre’s boxes set aside Royal Northern Madrid; the Composer (Ariadne auf Naxos) for Theatre and Chief as a private room. He woos her in one of College of Music. Scottish Opera and in Lisbon; Meg Page Conductor of the the most delectably seductive songs in all Since her debut as (Falstaff ) for the reopening of the Royal Opera Basel Symphony operetta. Zerlina with House Covent Garden; Octavian (Der Orchestra from Even more successful in 1905 was Lehár’s Glyndebourne Rosenkavalier) in Naples, Bilbao and at The September 1994 Merry Widow. Its lyrical high point is the Touring Opera Teatro Real in Madrid, and Marguerite in until July 1997, duet in Act II between the French aristocrat she has appeared Vienna. Principal Conductor Camille de Rosillon and Valencienne, who is in venues such as Diana Montague’s many recordings include of the Royal in fact wife of Baron Mirko, the Pontevedrin the Royal Opera Monteverdi’s Orfeo, I Capuleti e i Montecchi, Philharmonic Orchestra from 1980 to 1985, envoy in Paris. The illicit affair culminates in House, Covent Garden, the Metropolitan Norma, Lucia di Lammermoor, Iphigénie en and Music Director and Artistic Director to this piece, ‘Just as the sun awakens’ (track 17 ). Opera in New York, the Théâtre de la Tauride, for Opera Rara Rosmonda the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic from 1977 Valencienne begs Camille to desist from his Monnaie in Brussels, the Opéra national de d’Inghilterra, Zoraida di Granata and Il crociato to 1980. At the age of twenty-one he was ardent advances, but finally, to the kind of Paris-Bastille, Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires in Egitto, and, for Chandos/Peter Moores appointed leader of the Vienna Philharmonic perfumed, erotically suggestive music of and the Bayreuth and Salzburg Festivals. Foundation, Cavalleria rusticana, Octavian in Orchestra, an orchestra he went on to which the composer was pastmaster (‘See Her repertoire includes the major roles for Der Rosenkavalier (highlights), Faust, and a conduct. where the summer-house awaits’), she agrees mezzo-soprano in operas by Mozart, Gluck, previous disc of Great Operatic Arias He is regularly invited as guest conductor to one last kiss in the summerhouse, which Strauss, Rossini, Bellini and Berlioz, and her (CHAN 3010). by major orchestras throughout the world and leads to all sorts of plot complications. frequent concert engagements include has worked with the London Symphony Valencienne is another of those roles that lies performances under Sir Georg Solti, James Walter Weller was Music Director and Orchestra, London Philharmonic, between voice types, having been taken by Levine, Riccardo Muti, Sir John Eliot Principal Conductor of the Royal Scottish Philharmonia Orchestra, Dresden both sopranos and high mezzos. Montague is Gardiner, Seiji Ozawa, Jeffrey Tate and Sir National Orchestra between January 1992 and Staatskapelle, RSO Berlin, Leipzig here partnered by Bruce Ford’s elegantly Andrew Davis. Engagements have included July 1997 and is now Conductor Emeritus. Gewandhaus, Philharmonie Hamburg, Israel persuasive tenor. Iphigénie en Tauride in Buenos Aires, Madrid He also holds the title of Artistic Advisor and Philharmonic Orchestra, Orchestre de Paris, and with Welsh National Opera; Le Comte Ory Principal Guest Conductor of the National Orchestre national de France, Orchestra del © 2003 Alan Blyth in Lausanne, Rome and Glyndebourne; Orchestra of Spain. He was Artistic Director Teatro alla Scala Milan, Royal Concertgebouw

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Orchestra, Radio Philharmonic Orchestra concert performances at the Tivoli Festival. In Holland, Tonhalle Zürich, Orchestre de la his opening season with Basel, he conducted a Suisse Romande, Swedish Radio, Stockholm highly successful production of Die Frau ohne Philharmonic, Oslo Philharmonic and Schatten. Other operas in concert have del Real Javier Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestras. In North included Fidelio with the City of Birmingham America, he has worked with such orchestras Symphony Orchestra, Elektra and Der fliegende as the New York Philharmonic, Minnesota, Holländer with the Royal Scottish National San Francisco, Houston, Pittsburgh, Detroit, Orchestra, and Eugene Onegin in Copenhagen. Cincinnati and Toronto Symphony Recordings include cycles of the Prokofiev Orchestras, and the National Arts Centre and Rachmaninov Symphonies, Bartók’s Orchestra, Ottawa. Concerto for Orchestra, Janácˇek’s Lachian Operatic engagements have included Der Dances, Rachmaninov’s Symphony No. 1 fliegende Holländer at La Scala, Ariadne on Bruckner’s Symphony No. 4, for Chandos the Naxos and The Flying Dutchman for English Beethoven Symphonies and piano concertos National Opera, Der Freischütz at Teatro (with John Lill) and the Mendelssohn Comunale, Bologna, Prince Igor for Berlin symphonies, and for Chandos/Peter Moores Staatskapelle, and Fidelio and Der Rosenkavalier Foundation a disc of Viennese Operetta with for Scottish Opera. He has also undertaken Bruce Ford.

Diana Montague as Octavian in the Teatro Real production of Strauss’s Der Rosenkavalier

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Diana Montague (right) as Diana Montague as Cherubino Dorabella in San Francisco Opera’s in The Royal Opera’s production of Mozart’s production of Mozart’s The Così fan tutte Marriage of Figaro CHAN 3093 BOOK.qxd 11/4/07 3:31 pm Page 18

SIR PETER MOORES, CBE, DL youth, social and environmental projects. To date, because of his initiatives and life-long Sir Peter Moores was born in Lancashire and educated at Eton College commitment to these causes, he has disbursed more than £85 million of his own money through and Christ Church, Oxford, where he studied Italian and German. He the Foundation and the Peter Moores Charitable Trust – ‘to get things done and to open doors’.

Bill Cooper/PMF Bill had a ‘gap year’ at Glyndebourne working as a behind-the-scenes Projects to help the young have ranged from a scheme to encourage young Afro-Caribbeans to administrator before going to Oxford, then studied for three years at the stay on at school to the endowment of a Faculty Directorship and Chair of Management Studies at Vienna Academy of Music, where he produced the Austrian premiere of Oxford University (providing the lead donation in 1991 for the new School of Management Benjamin Britten's The Rape of Lucretia and was a production assistant Studies). In 1994 a permanent Transatlantic Slave Trade Gallery, initiated by Peter Moores, opened with the Vienna State Opera working as assistant producer of at the Merseyside Maritime Museum, with the aim of fostering discussion about the heritage and performances by Viennese artists at the San Carlo Opera House, Naples, true history of the slave trade. Substantial help was given to the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic at the Geneva Festival and at the Rome Opera. Development Trust, whilst through annual PMF Scholarships established in 1971 well over two In 1957 he joined his father’s business, Littlewoods, becoming hundred young singers have received practical support at the outset of their careers, enabling a Vice-Chairman in 1976, Chairman from 1977 to 1980 and remaining a significant number to become international opera stars. director until 1993. His public appointments include from 1981 to 1983 Governor of the BBC, In 1993 the Foundation acquired Compton Verney, an eighteenth-century mansion, and Trustee of the Tate Gallery from 1978 to 1985 and from 1988 to 1992 a Director of Scottish established the Compton Verney House Trust, an independent charity which it funded in order to Opera. He received the Gold Medal of the Italian Republic in 1974, an Honorary MA from transform the mansion into an art gallery designed especially to encourage newcomers to the visual Christ Church, Oxford in 1975, and was made an Honorary Member of the Royal Northern arts. Alongside major international touring exhibitions, it will house permanent collections of College of Music in 1985. In 1992 he was appointed Deputy Lieutenant (DL) of Lancashire by North European art, Neapolitan paintings and one of the finest collections of archaic oriental HM Queen Elizabeth II. He was appointed a Commander of the British Empire (CBE) in 1991 bronzes in the UK, as well as a British Portrait Collection and a British Folk Art Collection. The and received a Knighthood in the New Year’s Honours List for 2003 in recognition of his gallery is scheduled to open in Spring 2004. charitable services to the arts. Opera has given the Foundation its most public ‘face’. Since Peter Moores initiated the live recording of the ‘Goodall Ring’ at the London Coliseum in the 1970s, the Foundation has enabled PETER MOORES FOUNDATION some eighty recordings to be produced: Chandos Records’ Opera in English series – ‘Opera that Peter Moores’ philanthropic work began with his passion for opera: in his twenties he identified speaks your language’ – is now the largest recorded collection of operas sung in English whilst and helped a number of young artists in the crucial, early stages of their careers, several of whom Opera Rara’s recordings of rare bel canto operas have opened up an immensely rich repertory – Dame Joan Sutherland, Sir Colin Davis and the late Sir Geraint Evans amongst them – became previously only accessible to scholars. In live performance, the Foundation has encouraged the world-famous. He set up his eponymous Foundation in 1964 when he was thirty-two, in order to creation of new work and schemes to attract new audiences, financing the publication of scores develop his charitable aims, not only in music and the visual arts, but also in education, health, and enabling rarely heard works to be staged by British opera companies and festivals.

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Opern, die ursprünglich für Kastraten gesetzt bereits eine Gesamtaufnahme in der Große Opernarien waren. Die Rolle des Ruggiero in Alcina war Originalsprache unter John Eliot Gardiner für den Kastraten Carestini geschrieben. Die eingespielt. In ihrer Muttersprache ist die Der Begriff Zwischenfach bezieht sich auf angeborenen Timbre gesegnet, an dem sie Zauberin Alcina hat ihn verhext und in ihm Verkörperung der Tochter Agamemnons, eine Stimmen wie die der englischen Sängerin gearbeitet hat, bis es mit der Musik atmet und die Liebe erweckt. Im zweiten Akt ist er Priesterin der Göttin Diana auf der Insel Diana Montague. Dass Organen dieser Art allen Stücken, die sie singt, eine eigene wieder bei Sinnen, verläßt aber nur ungern die Tauris, womöglich noch eindringlicher und beinahe keine Grenzen gesetzt sind, beweist Beredsamkeit und gegebenfalls humorvolle herrliche Landschaft, die er in der berühmten ergreifender. Die Verzweiflung und das vorliegende abwechslungsreiche Recital. Ausdrucksweise verleiht. Arie “Verdant pastures” (Band 5 ) besingt. Die Verlassenheit ihrer Klage im zweiten Akt Diana Montague ist eine hohe Den Löwenanteil dieses Recitals nehmen scheinbar einfache Melodie entspricht seinen “No hope remains in my affliction” Mezzosopranistin, die, wie ihre Vorgängerin Arien von Händel, Mozart und Gluck ein – zwiespältigen Gefühlen. (Band 3 ) enthält melodische Wendungen Pauline Viardot im 19. Jahrhundert und alles Komponisten, die der Sängerin besonders Händel eröffnete seinen Opern häufig mit und harmonische Progressionen, wie man sie andere Sängerinnen, nicht nur die Rollen des liegen. Ihre Opern spannen die Epoche des einem kontemplativen Arioso (z.B. “Ombra nur bei Gluck findet. Im vierten Akt beklagt üblichen Mezzofachs beherrscht, sondern auch Aufstiegs und Untergangs der Kastraten. mai fu” in Xerxes). Das ist auch der Fall in sie das Geschick, das sie zwingt, ein viele Partien singt, die eigentlich in den Zunächst übernahmen sie zahlreiche Atalanta: der Held Meleager besingt mit furchtbares Blutopfer zu vollziehen: “I implore Sopranbereich fallen. Dabei handelt es sich Hauptrollen in Händels Opern; als die dem schlichten, elegischen “Noble forests” thee and tremble” (Band 4 ); echt Glucksche um ein Repertoire, das sich von der künstliche Züchtung dieses “Fachs” allmählich (Band 6 ) die Herrlichkeit der Natur. Als Töne bringen das Grauen ihrer Zwangslage Barockoper bis zur Operette erstreckt; diese abgeschafft wurde, entstanden viele Gegenstück zu diesen Arien von Händel dient zur Geltung. Das warme Mitgefühl, das der CD sowie Diana Montagues Karriere Hosenrollen für Sängerinnen, also für das ungekünstelte “If you are near” (Band 18 ), Komponist für seine Heldin empfand, ist in gewähren einen lebhaften, aufschlussreichen Stimmen wie die der Montague. Diese das seinerzeit Johann Sebastian Bach beiden Stücken unverkennbar und Diana Überblick über das Fach. Tradition wurde auch im 19. und 20. zugeschrieben wurde, heute aber als das Werk Montagues Interpretation trägt seinen Wie in der ersten Kompilation der Jahrhundert aufrechterhalten, z.B. in den seines Zeitgenossen Stölzel gilt. Wie dem auch Emotionen Rechnung. Opernarien, die sie für Chandos einspielte Richard Strauss-Partien des Octavian und des sei, ist es bezaubernd. In Mozarts Zeit war das Geschlecht der (CHAN 3010), ist Diana Montague eine Komponisten in Der Rosenkavalier und Iphigenia in Tauris ist vielleicht die Kastraten (gottlob) im Aussterben, obwohl der hervorragende Verfechterin der Oper in ihrer Ariadne auf Naxos; in diesem Recital dient die dramaturgisch überzeugendste Oper aus Komponist bei seinen Opere serie noch immer Landessprache, d.h. auf Englisch. Die Rolle des Orlowsky in Die Fledermaus, dem Glucks Reifezeit; sie war sein letztes, größtes Partien für dieses Fach schrieb (siehe unten). schlanke, ansprechende Stimme bringt den Meisterwerk des anderen Strauss, und des Werk für Paris. Die Titelheldin ist eine Für den Schürzenjäger Cherubino in The Text großartig zur Geltung und verleiht jedem Siébel in Faust, als Beleg. wahrhaft tragische Figur, in der Glucks Marriage of Figaro wäre ein Kastrat natürlich Wort, jeder Phrase eine ganz besondere Die ältesten Beispiele sind zwei genialer Satz klassische Beherrschung mit ganz falsch am Platz gewesen. Mozart Bedeutung. Sie ist auch mit einem wohlbekannte, ergreifende Arien aus Händel- echter Gefühlstiefe paart. Diana Montague hat entschied sich für die Stimmlage Sopran;

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allerdings läuft ein leichtes Organ dabei Schwestern beklagt das grausame Geschick, Opie, der als Guglielmo sowie Alfonso an der von Lorenzo da Ponte, KV 582 und KV 583 Gefahr, zu mädchenhaft zu wirken. Hingegen dass ihr angeblich den Geliebten entrissen hat. English National Opera aufgetreten ist, im Köchelverzeichnis. KV 582, “Who knows ist der hohe Mezzo der Montague wie Dieser Ausbruch echter Leidenschaft ist so beherrscht beide Partien mühelos, und Orla what feeling” (Band 11 ) ist entzückend, aber maßgeschneidert für diesen überschwänglichen emphatisch, dass er geradezu an Gluck Boylan ist die ideale Fiordiligi. nicht besonders seriös; KV 583, “Banished, Knaben an der Schwelle des Mannesalters, den anklingt Wie schon erwähnt, schrieb auch Mozart rejected” (Band 10 ) ist in Mozarts die Arie im ersten Akt “Is it pain, is it pleasure Die nächste Spur bringt Dorabella mit ihrer für Kastraten. In seiner letzten Oper, der Seria überschwänglichstem, gefühlvollsten Stil that fills me” (Band 1 ) so wunderbar Schwester Fiordiligi und dem zynischen alten The Clemency of Titus, handelt es sich um geschrieben. beschreibt. Hier wertete Mozart die Mittellage Don Alfonso im wunderbaren Abschiedsterzett die Partie des Sextus, eines jungen, Ein Jahrhundert später befinden wir uns in aus, um hemmungslose Gefühlswärme “Blow gently, you breezes” (Band 7 ). In empfindsamen Römers, der Vitellia, der einer ganz anderen Welt, nämlich der auszudrücken. Cherubino war eine der ersten diesem Werk gibt sich Mozarts Duktus Tochter des enthronten Kaisers, hörig ist. russischen Oper mit Fürst Igor von Borodin. Partien, mit denen Diana Montague am herrlicher ruhender Punkte in der Vitellia ist erbost, dass Kaiser Titus sie nicht zu Den zweiten Akt eröffnet ein Chor Polowetzer Opernhaus Covent Garden ihre erfolgreiche Erscheinungen Flucht besonders deutlich zu seiner Gattin erwählt hat, und drängt Sextus, Mädchen, die der Kontschakowna ein Karriere anbahnte. Sie war schauspielerisch erkennen; freilich meint es eine Person, seinen besten Freund zu ermorden. Der schmachtendes Lied vorsingen: “Tender und stimmlich ideal, daher ist dieses diesmal Alfonso, wohl nicht ganz ernst. unglückliche Sextus besingt all seine flower, starved of water” (Band 14 ). Fürst Igor Andenken an ihre Interpretation besonders Im zweiten Akt entschließen sich die etwas Gewissensqualen in der langen zweiteiligen ist der Gefangene ihres Vaters, des glücklich gewählt. seriösere Fiordiligi und die leichtfertige Arie “Send me, but, my beloved, never reject warmherzigen Khan Kontschak. Das quasi- Obwohl Dorabella in Così fan tutte ein Dorabella, mit den “neuen” Verehrern Kontakt me in anger” (Band 2 ), in der Mozart den orientale Kolorit und Ambiente der Musik ganz anderes Naturell hat, liegt die Partie im aufzunehmen; sie singen ein entzückendes Charakter des rechtschaffenen, innerlich bietet im dramatischen Geschehen gleichen Stimmumfang wie die des Cherubino Duett, in dem sie über die beiden Männer zerrissenen Jünglings wunderbar ausdrückt. vorübergehend etws Entspannung. Borodin und wird denn auch im Lauf der Jahre von disponieren: “I will take the handsome, dark Auch bei dieser Partie liegt die Tessitura vermochte sehr geschickt die Musik des Sopranistinnen wie Mezzosopranistinnen one” (Band 9 ). Die Stimmen verflechten sich zwischen Sopran und Mezzosopran und kann Westens mit lokalen Einflüssen zu verbinden. gesungen. Übrigens fielen zu Mozarts Zeit auf echt schwesterliche Weise. von beiden Stimmen interpretiert werden. Viel urbaner und mehr nach diese Unterschiede kaum ins Gewicht. Auch Das Duett “My heart here I give you” Es folgen zwei Musterbeispiele der vielen westeuropäischem Geschmack ist Gounods hier ist die Montague, die sich in beiden (Band 12 ) drückt Dorabellas neu erwachte Mozartarien für Solostimme mit Orchester. Sie Faust, eine Oper aus derselben Epoche, wie die Lagen gleich wohlfühlt, die ideale Besetzung. Liebe ganz aufrichtig aus; indes ist die Musik sind Diana Montague wie auf den Leib reizende Arie des Siébel “When happy days” Zunächst hören wir, wie sie ihre so betörend, dass man sich des Eindrucks geschrieben, denn sie entstanden für Louise (Band 16 ) beweist. Er liebt Margarete, kann Verzweiflung mit übertriebenen Worten nicht erwehren kann, auch Guglielmo sei im Villeneuve, die erste Dorabella, als Einlagen in sich aber nicht gegen Faust behaupten. ausdrückt: “Torture and agony” (Band 8 ). Begriff, sich in das “falsche” Mädchen zu Vicente Martins Oper Il burbero di buon cuore Mittlerweile hatte in Wien seit Mozarts Zeit Eine der beiden leicht beeinflussbaren verlieben. Mozart war eben ein Genie. Alan nach einem Schauspiel von Goldoni, Libretto eine grundlegende Änderung im Zugang zur

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Musik stattgefunden. Nun war die Operette Noch erfolgreicher war Lehárs Operette New York, Théâtre de la Monnaie in Brüssel, di Lammermoor, Iphigénie en Tauride, für die die große Mode. Mit seinem Bombenerfolg The Merry Widow, die 1905 zum ersten Mal Opéra national de Paris-Bastille, Teatro Colón Opera Rara Rosmonda d’Inghilterra, Zoraida di des Jahres 1874, Die Fledermaus, machte sich über die Bühne ging. Der lyrische Höhepunkt in Buenos Aires – sowie bei den Bayreuther Granata und Il crociato in Egitto sowie für Johann Strauß etwas maliziös über die ist das Duett im zweiten Akt. Der französische und Salzburger Festspielen aufgetreten. Chandos/Peter Moores Foundation Cavalleria damalige bürgerliche Gesellschaft der k. und k. Aristokrat Camille de Rosillon ist in Ihr Repertoire umfasst die wichtigen Rollen rusticana, Oktavian in Der Rosenkavalier Hauptstadt lustig. Mittelpunkt des Valencienne, die Gattin des pontevedrinischen für Mezzosopran in Opern von Mozart, Gluck, (Auszüge), Faust und eine frühere Sammlung Geschehens ist ein Fest im Palais des jungen, Gesandten in Paris, Baron Mirko Zeta, Strauss, Rossini, Bellini und Berlioz, und im großer Opernarien (CHAN 3010). blasierten Prinzen Orlowsky; zu Beginn des verliebt. Ihre Beziehung gipfelt in dem Stück Rahmen regelmäßiger Konzertverpflichtungen zweiten Aktes verkündet er die Philosophie “Just as the sun awakens” (Band 17 ). ist sie unter der Leitung von Sir Georg Solti, Walter Weller war von Januar 1992 bis Juli seines Lebens in einem Couplet “Chacun à Valencienne beschwört Camille, sie nicht James Levine, Riccardo Muti, Sir John Eliot 1997 Musikdirektor und Chefdirigent des son goût” (Band 15 ). Dieses Lied, in dem weiter zu verfolgen, willigt aber schließlich zu Gardiner, Seiji Ozawa, Jeffrey Tate und Royal Scottish National Orchestra, von dem er Nonchalance und Zynismus mit einer einem letzten Kuss im Pavillon ein (“See where Sir Andrew Davis aufgetreten. Ihre zum “Conductor Emeritus” ernannt wurde. gewissen Taktlosigkeit verbunden sind, fängt the summer-house awaits”). Keiner konnte wie Opernengagements haben sie in alle Welt Außerdem ist er Künstlerischer Berater und den Charakter des Prinzen großartig ein. Es ist Lehár so berückende, erotisch suggestive geführt: Iphigénie en Tauride in Buenos Aires, Chefgastdirigent des Orquesta Nacional de für eine Mezzostimme gesetzt und folglich Musik komponieren. Auch Valencienne ist Madrid und an der Welsh National Opera; España. Er war bei der Allgemeinen nicht einfach zu singen, denn es liegt zumeist eine Zwischenfach-Partie, die der Le Comte Ory in Lausanne, Rom und Musikgesellschaft Basel Generalmusikdirektor recht tief, verlangt aber auch mehrmals das Sopranstimme sowie dem hohen Mezzo liegt. Glyndebourne; Andromaca in Rossinis Ermione an der Oper und Musikddirektor des hohe As. Diana Montagues Stimme ist wie Diana Montagues Partner ist der elegante, in Glyndebourne; Proserpina in Monteverdis Orchesters (September 1994 bis Juli 1997), geschaffen, um diese Probleme zu überwinden. eindringliche Tenor Bruce Ford. Orfeo in Amsterdam; Il ritorno d’Ulisse in patria Chefdirigent des Royal Philharmonic Orchestra Mit seinem 1898 in Wien uraufgeführten in Amsterdam und Sydney; Sesto in Madrid; (1980–1985) sowie Musikdirektor und Opernball erwies sich Richard Heuberger als © 2003 Alan Blyth Der Komponist (Ariadne auf Naxos) an der Künstlerischer Leiter beim Royal Liverpool einer der erfolgreicheren Nachkommen des Übersetzung: Gery Bramall Scottish Opera und in Lissabon; Meg Page Philharmonic Orchestra (1977–1980). Bereits Walzerkönigs. Bei weitem die populärste (Falstaff ) zur Wiedereröffnung der Royal Opera mit 21 Jahren wurde er zum 1. Konzertmeister Nummer ist “In a cosy chambre séparée” Diana Montague wurde in Winchester Covent Garden; Octavian (Der Rosenkavalier) in der Wiener Philharmoniker ernannt, die er (Band 13 ). Henri und Hortense begegnen geboren und studierte am Royal Northern Neapel, Bilbao und am Teatro Real in Madrid; später auch dirigierte. einander im Foyer der Pariser Oper und er College of Music. Seit ihrem Debüt als Zerlina sowie Marguerite (Faust) in Wien. Walter Weller tritt regelmäßig als lockt sie mit Hilfe eines verführerisch- mit der Glyndebourne Touring Opera ist sie Diana Montague hat zahlreiche Gastdirigent mit den großen Orchestern der kantablen Walzers in eine Loge, die für an vielen namhaften Opernhäusern – Royal Schallplatten aufgenommen, u.a. Monteverdis Welt auf und hat zahlreiche Orchester geleitet: ungestörte Zusammenkünfte reserviert ist. Opera Covent Garden, Metropolitan Opera in Orfeo, I Capuleti e i Montecchi, Norma, Lucia London Symphony Orchestra, London

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Philharmonic Orchestra, Philharmonia Comunale, Bologna), Prince Igor (Berliner Orchestra, Staatskapelle Dresden, RSO Berlin, Staatskapelle) sowie Fidelio und Der

Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, Philharmonie Rosenkavalier (Scottish Opera). Außerdem hat Gravett Guy Hamburg, Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, er Konzertaufführungen beim Tivoli Festival Orchestre de Paris, Orchestre National de geleitet. In seiner Eröffnungssaison in Basel France, Orchestra del Teatro alla Scala Milan, dirigierte er eine hocherfolgreiche Inszenierung Concertgebouw Orkest, Radio Filharmonisch von Die Frau ohne Schatten. Andere Orkest, Tonhalle Zürich, Orchestre de la konzertante Opernaufführungen waren Fidelio Suisse Romande, Sveriges Radios mit dem City of Birmingham Symphony Symfoniorkester, Kungliga Orchestra, Elektra und Der fliegende Holländer Filharmonikerna, Stockholm sowie die mit dem Royal Scottish National Orchestra Philharmoniker von Oslo und von Helsinki. sowie Eugene Onegin in Kopenhagen. In Nordamerika hat er mit Orchestern wie den Neben Gesamtaufnahmen der Sinfonien von New York Philharmonikern, den Prokofjew und Rachmaninow hat Walter Weller Sinfonieorchestern von Minnesota, San Bartóks Konzert für Orchester, die Lachischen Francisco, Houston, Pittsburgh, Detroit, Tänze von Janácˇek’s, Bruckners Sinfonie Nr. 4 Cincinnati und Toronto sowie dem National und für Chandos die zehn Sinfonien Arts Centre Orchestra von Ottawa gearbeitet. Beethovens und dessen Klavierkonzerte (mit Zu seinen Opernverpflichtungen gehörten John Lill) sowie die Mendelssohn-Sinfonien Der fliegende Holländer (Scala), Ariadne on eingespielt. Für Chandos/Peter Moores Naxos und The Flying Dutchman (English Foundation hat er eine CD Großen National Opera), Der Freischütz (Teatro Operettenarien mit Bruce Ford dirigiert.

Diana Montague as Sesto in Glyndebourne Festival Opera’s production of Mozart’s The Clemency of Titus

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par la magicienne Alcina et est tombé amoureux elle chante dans sa langue maternelle et elle est, Grands airs d’opéra d’elle. Il est libéré de ce sortilège dans l’Acte II, s’il est possible, plus émouvante et expressive mais se montre assez réticent à l’idée de quitter encore dans l’interprétation de son rôle, la fille Le terme Zwischenfach (types intermédiaires) qu’elle interprète. Ceci pare tout ce qu’elle les merveilleux pâturages qu’il chante dans cet d’Agamemnon, prêtresse de Diane sur l’île de est utilisé en Allemagne et ailleurs, dans la chante d’une éloquence particulière, ou d’esprit aria à juste titre célèbre. Sa mélodie d’apparence Tauride. Dans la lamentation de l’Acte II “No littérature, pour décrire le type de voix que là où il sied. simple voile ses sentiments ambivalents. hope remains in my affliction” (plage 3 ), elle possède Diana Montague. Les possibilités pour Dans une importante partie de ce récital, Haendel avait souvent pour habitude de épanche son désespoir et son esseulement dans les voix comme la sienne sont presque Diana Montague déploie ses dons débuter un opéra par un arioso (voir “Ombra un genre unique à Gluck, à la fois par les illimitées, et le récital varié, éclectique exceptionnels comme interprète de Haendel, mai fu” dans Xerxes). C’est le cas dans Atalanta contours mélodiques et la progression enregistré ici le confirme. Sa voix de mezzo Gluck et Mozart. Leurs opéras couvrent où le héros Meleagro chante cet air élégiaque et harmonique. Plus tard, dans l’Acte IV, elle aiguë lui permet, comme Pauline Viardot l’époque de la vogue du castrat. Plus tard, tout en simplicité “Noble forests” (plage 6 ) dans déplore dans “I implore thee and tremble” longtemps avant elle au dix-neuvième siècle, et quand ce type de voix créé artificiellement fut lequel il célèbre la magnificence de la nature. (plage 4 ) que son destin l’oblige à un sacrifice d’autres depuis, d’interpréter des rôles destinés progressivement écarté, des femmes, avec des Le pendant de ces pièces de Haendel dans cet sanglant et exprime en un style spécifiquement à des mezzos ordinaires et bien d’autres encore voix du type de celle de Diana Montague enregistrement est la mélodie candide, sincère, gluckien l’horreur de la situation. Dans les deux revenant habituellement aux sopranos. encore, reprirent souvent les rôles de ces jeunes “If you are near” (plage 18 ) qui fut à une certaine airs, Gluck témoigne d’une profonde compassion L’éventail est large et s’étend de l’opéra baroque chanteurs. Cette tradition se poursuivit aux époque attribuée à J.S. Bach et qui l’est pour son héroïne, des sentiments que reflètent à l’opérette – comme l’illustrent brillamment ce dix-neuvième et vingtième siècles. Citons à maintenant à son contemporain Stölzel. Qui que l’interprétation de Diana Montague. disque ainsi que l’évolution de sa carrière. titre d’exemple, les rôles d’Octavian et du soit le compositeur, la pièce est un délice. A l’époque de Mozart, le castrat était, Comme dans le premier volume d’arias Compositeur, respectivement dans Der Iphigenia in Tauris de Gluck est peut-être heureusement, un type de voix appelé à qu’elle enregistra pour Chandos (CHAN 3010), Rosenkavalier et Ariadne auf Naxos de Richard l’opéra le plus éloquent et explicite du point de disparaître, bien que le compositeur ait encore Diana Montague défend aussi, de manière très Strauss. Dans ce récital, ceci est illustré par vue dramatique de sa période de maturité. C’est écrit des rôles pour celui-ci (voir ci-dessous) convaincante, la cause de l’opéra chanté en Orlofsky dans Die Fledermaus de Johann la dernière et la plus grandiose des œuvres dans son opera seria. De toute manière, il anglais. Elle déploie sa voix délicate et plaisante Strauss et par Siébel dans Faust de Gounod. sérieuses écrite par le compositeur pour Paris. aurait paru étrange de faire appel à un castrat pour tirer le meilleur parti d’un texte dans la Les extraits les plus anciens repris sur ce Son héroïne éponyme est une figure pour chanter le rôle du juvénile Cherubino langue vernaculaire, donnant à chaque terme et disque sont deux arias célèbres et émouvants de véritablement tragique dont le destin est exprimé (The Marriage of Figaro). Mozart porta plutôt à chaque phrase une inflexion d’une expressivité Haendel, chantés tous deux par des castrats. d’emblée – tel est le génie de Gluck – avec une son choix sur une soprano, mais les voix spécifique. Elle a aussi l’inestimable avantage de “Verdant pastures” (plage 5 ) dans Alcina est sobriété classique et une émotion profonde. légères dans ce registre peuvent sembler trop posséder naturellement, mais d’avoir développé chanté par Ruggiero et fut interprété à l’origine Diana Montague a déjà enregistré l’opéra féminines. Le mezzo aigu de Diana Montague, aussi, un timbre qui palpite avec la musique par le castrat Carestini. Ruggiero a été ensorcelé complet en français avec John Eliot Gardiner. Ici, par contre, convient tout à fait pour restituer

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la jeunesse palpitante de Cherubino qui prend Ensuite, nous entendons Dorabella et sa facilement les deux dans ces extraits et Orla se trouvent côte à côte dans le catalogue conscience de sa virilité naissante, ce que sœur Fiordiligi chanter l’incomparable trio Boylan a juste la voix qui convient pour Köchel et portent les références K.582 et 583. résume parfaitement l’aria de l’Acte I “Is it d’adieu en compagnie du cynique vieillard Fiordiligi. Le second qui est beaucoup plus substantiel pain, is it pleasure that fills me” (plage 1 ). Ici, Don Alfonso dans “Blow gently, you breezes” Dans son dernier opéra, The Clemency of est “Banished, rejected” (plage 10 ), composé Mozart exploite les possibilités qu’offre le (plage 7 ). Mozart, comme de coutume, mais Titus, Mozart écrit, une fois encore, comme je dans une style mozartien d’une exceptionnelle registre intermédiaire de la voix pour diffuser la dans cette oeuvre tout particulièrement, l’ai noté précédemment, un rôle qu’il destine à éloquence et profondeur de sentiment. chaleur et l’acuité des sentiments de marque un moment de repos et de réflexion un castrat, celui de Sextus, jeune homme L’autre “Who knows what feeling” (plage 11 ) Cherubino. Ce fut l’un des premiers rôles de la d’une beauté intemporelle, en dépit du fait vulnérable esclave de Vitellia. Désespérée car est une pièce sans prétention, mais glorieuse carrière de Diana Montague à Covent qu’un personnage, tel Alfonso ici, puisse avoir l’empereur Titus ne l’a pas choisie comme charmante. Garden. Elle incarnait et chantait le rôle des pensées très différentes. impératrice, elle persuade Sextus d’aller Environ cent ans plus tard, nous nous presque à la perfection, et ce souvenir de cette Dans l’Acte II, Fiordiligi, la plus résolue des assassiner son meilleur ami, Titus. Toute la retrouvons dans un univers tout à fait exécution est donc particulièrement bienvenu. deux sœurs, et Dorabella – ayant décidé de contradiction des sentiments de Sextus est différent, celui de l’opéra de souche russe Bien que Dorabella dans Così fan tutte soit tenter leur chance avec leurs “nouveaux” exposée dans le long aria en deux parties “Send représenté par le Prince Igor de Borodine. un caractère très différent de Cherubino, le hommes – chantent un merveilleux duo me, but, my beloved, never reject me in Dans la scène introductive de l’Acte II, un registre vocal des deux rôles est très semblable, dans lequel chacune fait son choix, “I will anger”) (plage 2 ). Mozart y dépeint le groupe de jeunes filles polovtsiennes chantent et tous deux ont été interprétés au cours des ans take the handsome, dark one” (plage 9 ). caractère du jeune homme, honnête et une mélodie langoureuse “Tender flower, par des sopranos et des mezzos. De toute L’entrelacement de leurs deux voix est perplexe. Une fois encore, il s’agit d’un rôle qui starved of water” (plage 14 ) devant leur manière, à l’époque de Mozart, les démarcations véritablement fraternel. de par sa tessiture moyenne peut être interprété maîtresse, Kontchakovna, la fille du khan rigides entre les types de voix étaient pour ainsi Dans le duo “My heart here I give you” soit par une soprano, soit par une mezzo. Kontchak, le souverain bienfaisant dont Igor dire inexistantes. Une fois encore, la voix de (plage 12 ), tout comme dans le trio évoqué ci- En plus de ses opéras, Mozart a composé de est prisonnier. La musique de cet épisode qui Diana Montague, à mi-chemin entre l’une et dessus, l’amour naissant de Dorabella est nombreuses pièces pour voix solo qui sont des évoque l’Orient par sa coloration et les l’autre, semble être la réponse idéale. exprimé dans toute son authenticité, mais arias avec accompagnement orchestral; nous en sentiments qui l’imprègnent marque un temps Nous l’entendons tout d’abord dans le nous sentons aussi que Guglielmo, malgré lui, avons deux excellents exemples ici. Ils de repos dans ce drame intense. Borodine était burlesque “Torture and agony” (plage 8 ) dans est en train de tomber amoureux en se conviennent particulièrement bien à Diana maître dans l’art de marier ce que lui avait lequel une des vulnérables héroïnes de Mozart trompant de femme; la musique exprime Montague, car tous deux furent écrits pour enseigné la musique occidentale aux influences maudit le destin qui lui a soi-disant ravi son l’équivoque avec une étonnante séduction. Louise Villeneuve, la première Dorabella, afin plus locales. Faust, une œuvre datant de la bien-aimé. Cette explosion de passion, C’est le génie de Mozart. Alan Opie qui a d’être insérés dans Il burbero di buon cuore de même époque, est musicalement beaucoup apparemment sincère, évoque la manière de interprété les rôles de Guglielmo et d’Alfonso Vicente Martin, un opéra d’après un livret de plus courtoise et occidentale comme le montre Gluck par sa force. pour le English National Opera maîtrise Da Ponte, inspiré d’une pièce de Goldoni. Ils la charmante mélodie chantée par Siébel

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“When happy days” (plage 16 ). Le rival de Strauss que le succès récompensa. L’air de très ici comme partenaire Bruce Ford, ténor Glyndebourne; Proserpina dans Orfeo de Faust pour la main de Marguerite est loin le plus célèbre dans cette oeuvre est “In a élégant, convaincant. Monteverdi à Amsterdam; Il ritorno d’Ulisse in condamné à l’insuccès. cosy chambre séparée” (plage 13 ) qui évoque la patria à Amsterdam et à Sydney; Sesto à Entre temps, à Vienne, la situation avait première rencontre des amants Henri et © 2003 Alan Blyth Madrid; le Compositeur (Ariadne auf Naxos) beaucoup évolué en termes de génie et de Hortense dans un théâtre. Henri mène Traduction: Marie-Françoise de Meeûs au Scottish Opera et à Lisbonne; Meg Page caractère musical depuis l’époque de Mozart. Hortense dans la “chambre séparée”, l’une des (Falstaff ) pour la réouverture du Royal Opera L’opérette faisait fureur. Johann Strauss, loges du théâtre gardée comme chambre Diana Montague est née à Winchester, et a de Covent Garden à Londres; Octavian (Der dans ce grand succès que fut son opérette particulière. Il lui fait la cour en chantant un fait ses études au Royal Northern College of Rosenkavalier) à Naples, Bilbao et au Teatro Die Fledermaus en 1874, ridiculisait avec une air qui compte parmi les plus délicieusement Music de Manchester. Depuis ses débuts dans Real de Madrid; Marguerite à Vienne. tendresse mitigée la société bourgeoise du séduisants de tout le répertoire de l’opérette. le rôle de Zerlina avec le Glyndebourne La riche discographie de Diana Montague moment dans la capitale autrichienne. La pièce The Merry Widow de Lehár obtint un Touring Opera, elle s’est produite dans des inclut Orfeo de Monteverdi, I Capuleti e i se joue autour de la réception offerte au palais succès plus prodigieux encore en 1905. Le salles telles que le Royal Opera de Covent Montecchi, Norma, Lucia di Lammermoor, et du prince Orlofsky, un jeune homme blasé sommet lyrique de l’œuvre est le duo de Garden à Londres, le Metropolitan Opera de Iphigénie en Tauride. Pour Opera Rara, elle a que la vie ennuie et qui cherche à être distrait. l’Acte II mettant en scène l’aristocrate français New York, le Théâtre de la Monnaie à enregistré Rosmonda d’Inghilterra, Zoraida di Dans les couplets qu’il chante peu après le Camille de Rosillon et Valencienne qui est en Bruxelles, l’Opéra national de Paris-Bastille, le Granata, Il crociato in Egitto, et pour Chandos début de l’Acte II, il énonce sa philosophie – il réalité l’épouse du baron Mirko, représentant Teatro Colon de Buenos Aires, et dans les et la Peter Moores Foundation, Cavalleria veut que tout le monde boive avec lui et le du Pontevedrin à Paris. La relation illicite festivals de Bayreuth et Salzbourg. rusticana, Octavian dans Der Rosenkavalier divertisse (“Chacun à son goût”, plage 15 ). culmine dans l’air “Just as the sun awakens” Son répertoire compte les grands roles de (extraits), Faust en un disque précédent dans la Strauss esquisse son caractère à la perfection (plage 17 ). Valencienne supplie Camille de mezzo-sopranos dans des opéras de Mozart, collection Great Operatic Arias (CHAN 3010). dans un air qui allie nonchalance et cynisme, mettre un terme à ses ardentes avances, mais Gluck, Strauss, Rossini, Bellini et Berlioz. Très avec une touche de gaucherie. Ecrit pour une finalement, au son d’une musique fragrante, demandée en concert, elle a chanté sous la Après avoir été directeur musical et chef voix de mezzo, il n’est pas facile à chanter. Il se très érotique, celle dans laquelle le compositeur direction de chefs tels que Sir Georg Solti, principal du Royal Scottish National Orchestra situe pour une grande partie dans le registre excelle (“See where the summer-house awaits”, James Levine, Riccardo Muti, Sir John Eliot de janvier 1992 à juillet 1997, Walter Weller grave, mais il y a aussi une répétition du la elle consent à un dernier baiser dans le Gardiner, Seiji Ozawa, Jeffrey Tate et Sir est aujourd’hui chef honoraire de cet ensemble. bémol. Une voix comme celle de Diana pavillon qui conduit à toutes sortes d’intrigues Andrew Davis. Parmi ses prestations à la scène, Il est également conseiller artistique et chef Montague convient parfaitement pour compliquées. Valencienne est encore un de ces on citera Iphigénie en Tauride à Buenos Aires, à invité principal de l’Orchestre National surmonter ses difficultés. rôles situés à mi-chemin entre deux types de Madrid et au Welsh National Opera; Le Comte d’Espagne. Il fut directeur artistique de Avec son Opera Ball créé à Vienne en 1898, voix qui ont été chantés à la fois par des Ory à Lausanne, Rome et Glyndebourne; l’Allgemeine Musikgesellschaft de Bâle, Richard Heuberger fut l’un des disciples de sopranos et par des mezzos. Diana Montague a Andromaca dans Ermione de Rossini à directeur musical de l’Opéra de Bâle et chef

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principal de l’Orchestre symphonique de Bâle de Toronto ainsi qu’avec le National Arts Centre septembre 1994 à juillet 1997, chef principal du Orchestra à Ottawa. Royal Philharmonic Orchestra de 1980 à 1985 Sur la scène lyrique, il a dirigé entre autres ainsi que directeur musical et artistique du Royal Der fliegende Holländer à La Scala, Ariadne on Liverpool Philharmonic de 1977 à 1980. A l’âge Naxos et The Flying Dutchman pour l’English de vingt et un ans, il fut nommé premier violon National Opera, Der Freischütz au Teatro de l’Orchestre Philharmonique de Vienne, une Comunale de Bologne, Prince Igor pour le formation qu’il dirigea par la suite. Staatskapelle de Berlin et Fidelio ainsi que Der Falsini Corrado Maria Il est invité régulièrement à diriger les plus Rosenkavalier pour Scottish Opera. Il s’est grands orchestres du monde et a travaillé avec le également produit en concert dans le cadre du London Symphony Orchestra, le London Festival de Tivoli. Durant sa première saison à Philharmonic Orchestra, le Philharmonia Bâle, il a dirigé une version extrêmement réussie Orchestra, le Staatskapelle de Dresde, de Die Frau ohne Schatten. Parmi les autres l’Orchestre Symphonique de Berlin, le opéras qu’il donna en concert, notons Fidelio Gewandhaus de Leipzig, la Philharmonie de avec le City of Birmingham Symphony Hambourg, l’Orchestre Philharmonique Orchestra, Elektra et Der fliegende Holländer d’Israël, l’Orchestre de Paris, l’Orchestre avec le Royal Scottish National Orchestra ainsi National de France, l’Orchestre du Théâtre de qu’Eugen Onegin à Copenhague. La Scala à Milan, l’Orchestre Royal du Sa discographie comprend des cycles des Concertgebouw, l’Orchestre Philharmonique de Symphonies de Prokofiev et de Rachmaninov, la Radio Néerlandaise, l’Orchestre de la le Concert pour orchestre de Bartók, les Tonhalle de Zürich, l’Orchestre de la Suisse Danses valaques de Janácˇek, la Symphonie Romande, l’Orchestre de la Radio Suédoise, No 1 de Rachmaninov, la Symphonie No 4 de l’Orchestre Philharmonique de Stockholm, ceux Bruckner et, pour Chandos, les Symphonies et d’Oslo et d’Helsinki. En Amérique du Nord, il les Concertos pour piano (avec John Lill) de a collaboré avec des ensembles tels le New York Beethoven ainsi que les Symphonies de Philharmonic Orchestra, les Orchestres Mendelssohn. Pour Chandos/Peter Moores Diana Montague as Isolier in Rome Opera’s production of Rossini’s Le Comte Ory Symphoniques du Minnesota, de San Francisco, Foundation il a dirigé une enregistrement de Houston, Pittsburgh, Detroit, Cincinnati et Grands airs d’opérette avec Bruce Ford.

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vittima di un incantesimo della maga Alcina, lingua, e l’interpretazione della figlia di Grandi arie operistiche si è innamorato di lei. L’incantesimo viene Agamennone, ormai sacerdotessa di Diana spezzato nell’Atto II, ma l’eroe non riesce ad nella Tauride, forse è ancora più commovente. Zwischenfach (tra un registro e l’altro) è un un accento particolarmente eloquente e, a abbandonare i meravigliosi pascoli a cui Il suo lamento nell’Atto II, “No hope remains termine tedesco che può aiutarci a descrivere la volte, spiritoso. inneggia in quest’aria giustamente famosa. La in my affliction” (traccia 3 ), è uno sfogo di voce di Diana Montague. Le cantanti come lei Questo recital esalta in gran parte le sue melodia apparentemente semplice esprime i disperazione e solitudine con un taglio hanno possibilità quasi infinite, come eccezionali doti di interprete di Handel, Gluck suoi sentimenti contrastanti. melodico e una progressione armonica conferma questo vario ed eclettico recital. Pur e Mozart, compositori legati al periodo Spesso Handel aveva l’abitudine di aprire esclusiva di Gluck. Nel brano successivo, essendo un mezzosoprano, Diana Montague è inizialmente dominato dal castrato, che un’opera con un arioso meditativo (come “I implore thee and tremble” (traccia 4 ) capace, come Pauline Viardot nel lontano assumeva molti dei principali ruoli maschili “Ombra mai fu” in Serse). Lo stesso accade in dall’Atto IV, Ifigenia lamenta il proprio fato Ottocento e altre cantanti delle epoche delle opere di Handel. In seguito, quando i Atalanta dove l’eroe, Meleagro, esegue un che l’ha costretta a compiere un sacrificio successive, di affrontare anche molti altri brani soprani “artificiali” cominciarono a scomparire, brano semplice ed elegiaco, “Noble forests” sanguinoso con toni che descrivono l’orrore normalmente appartenenti al repertorio del si diffuse maggiormente l’abitudine di affidare i (traccia 6 ), in cui rende omaggio alle bellezze della situazione nella maniera caratteristica di soprano. Le sue possibilità abbracciano ruoli personaggi dei giovani uomini a donne, sempre della natura. Fanno da contrappunto a questi Gluck. In entrambi i brani, il compositore che vanno dall’opera barocca all’operetta, con voci affini a quella della Montague. La brani di Handel il semplice, sincero motivo “If guarda alla propria eroina con profonda come testimoniano questo straordinario disco tradizione proseguiva nell’Ottocento e nel you are near” (traccia 18 ), un tempo attribuito compassione, un’emozione che si rispecchia e il progresso della sua carriera. Novecento, per esempio con i ruoli di Ottavio a J.S. Bach e oggi al suo contemporaneo nell’interpretazione della Montague. Abbiamo già visto nel primo volume di arie e del Compositore in Der Rosenkavalier e Stölzel, un brano comunque delizioso. All’epoca di Mozart, quella del castrato era da lei registrate per Chandos (CHAN 3010) Ariadne auf Naxos di Richard Strauss e viene Dal punto di vista drammatico, Iphigenia (per fortuna) una razza in via di estinzione, che Diana Montague è una strenua paladina ricordata in questo recital dal ruolo di Orlofsky in Tauris è probabilmente l’opera più anche se il compositore creò altri ruoli per dell’opera in lingua inglese. La sua bella voce in Die Fledermaus, di un altro Strauss, e dal rivelatrice e coerente della maturità di Gluck, questa voce nelle sue opere serie. Comunque, curata diventa uno strumento per sfruttare al ruolo di Siébel in Faust di Gounod. l’ultima e la più grande delle opere serie sarebbe sembrato strano affidare a un cantante massimo un testo nella propria lingua, Le arie più antiche tra quelle presenti nella composte per Parigi. L’omonima eroina è una del genere il ruolo del giovane Cherubino modellando ciascuna parola e frase in base al registrazione sono due brani famosi e figura veramente tragica, il cui destino viene (The Marriage of Figaro). Mozart scelse un suo particolare significato. A questo si commoventi tratti dalle opere di Handel, genialmente espresso allo stesso tempo con soprano, ma le voci più leggere di questo aggiunge la preziosissima qualità innata di un entrambe affidate originariamente ai castrati. autocontrollo classico e profondità registro possono sembrare troppo giovanili. Il timbro in grado di palpitare di pari passo con “Verdant pastures” (traccia 5 ) dall’Alcina, emotiva. Diana Montague ha già registrato la mezzosoprano alto della Montague, invece, è la musica, un dono da lei curato e sviluppato. viene eseguita da Ruggero e fu originariamente versione integrale dell’opera in francese con ideale per il ritratto del paggio appassionato, Ecco perché tutte le sue interpretazioni hanno interpretata dal castrato Carestini. Ruggero, John Eliot Gardiner. Qui canta nella propria che manifesta perfettamente la consapevolezza

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della propria virilità incipiente nell’aria “Blow gently, you breezes” (traccia 7 ). Come assassinare Tito, il suo migliore amico. Sesto Nella scena iniziale dell’Atto II, un gruppo di dell’Atto I, “Is it pain, is it pleasure that fills è sua abitudine, specialmente in quest’opera, esprime i suoi sentimenti contrari nella lunga fanciulle polovesi canta una canzone me” (traccia 1 ). Mozart qui sfrutta l’abilità Mozart crea un momento eterno di riposo e aria in due parti, ‘Send me, but, my beloved, languida, “Tender flower, starved of water” del registro medio della voce per proiettare il riflessione, anche se un personaggio, in questo never reject me in anger’ (traccia 2 ), con cui (traccia 14 ), davanti alla padrona calore e l’immediatezza dei sentimenti di caso quello di don Alfonso, nutre sentimenti Mozart presenta il personaggio di questo Konciakovna, figlia del Khan Konciak, Cherubino. Questo è stato uno dei primi ruoli molto diversi. giovane retto e tormentato. Anche in questo governante benevolo che tiene prigioniero della fortunata carriera della Montague al Nell’Atto II, la risoluta Fiordiligi e Dorabella, caso il ruolo può essere affidato a un soprano o Igor. La musica, di colore e ispirazione quasi Covent Garden. La cantane era perfetta per avendo deciso di lasciarsi convincere dai “nuovi” mezzosoprano, per la sua tessitura intermedia orientale, crea un momento di distensione in aspetto e per interpretazione e il ricordo della uomini, cantano un delizioso duetto in cui tra i due registri. un dramma carico di tensione. Borodin aveva sua interpretazione è graditissimo. ciascuna fa la propria scelta, “I will take the Mozart compose anche molto brani l’abilità di abbinare quanto aveva imparato Sebbene Dorabella in Così fan tutte sia un handsome, dark one” (traccia 9 ). Anche le due indipendenti per voce solista di cui qui dalla musica occidentale ad influenze più personaggio molto diverso da Cherubino, la voci sono sorelle, nel loro intrecciarsi. vengono presentati due ottimi esempi con locali. Faust, un’opera dello stesso periodo, gamma vocale di entrambi è quasi la stessa e, Nel duetto, “My heart here I give you” l’accompagnamento dell’orchestra. Le arie rivela un carattere musicale molto più cortese e quindi, è stata affidata negli anni sia a soprani (traccia 12 ), come nel trio precedente, il nuovo sono particolarmente adatte a Diana occidentale, come dimostra il delizioso brano sia a mezzosoprani. Comunque ai tempi di amore di Dorabella è espresso con sincerità, Montague in quanto furono entrambe di Siebel “When happy days” (traccia 16 ). Mozart le rigide differenze tra registri non mentre Guglielmo, suo malgrado, è sul punto composte per Louise Villeneuve, la prima Il rivale di Faust alla mano di Margherita è esistevano. Ancora una volta, la voce della di innamorarsi della donna “sbagliata”, tale è la Dorabella, per essere inserite in Il burbero di destinato al fallimento. Montague sembra la risposta ideale, in forza seducente e ingannatrice della musica buon cuore, di Vicente Martin, un’opera su A fine Ottocento, molte cose erano equilibrio tra i due generi. geniale di Mozart. Alan Opie, cha ha libretto di Da Ponte, basata su una commedia cambiate a Vienna rispetto ai tempi di Mozart La sentiamo prima nell’imitazione della interpretato i ruoli di Guglielmo e Alfonso per di Goldoni. Si trovano affiancate nel catalogo per quanto riguarda i costumi e la musica. retorica di “Torture and agony” (traccia 8 ) in la English National Opera, li padroneggia Köchel con i numeri K. 582 and 583. La Adesso era di gran moda l’operetta. Nel suo cui Mozart spinge la sua sensibile eroina a entrambi con facilità in questi brani e Orla seconda e più impegnativa è “Banished, grande successo del 1874, Die Fledermaus, inveire contro il destino che avrebbe Boylan ha la voce giusta per Fiordiligi. rejected”, (traccia 10 ) composta nella maniera Johann Strauss si prese gioco senza tanti allontanato da lei l’innamorato. L’esplosione di Nella sua ultima opera, The Clemency of più sentita, altisonante di Mozart. L’altra, complimenti della società borghese dell’epoca questa passione apparentemente sincera ha una Titus, Mozart compose ancora una volta un “Who knows what feeling” (traccia 11 ), è un nella capitale austriaca. Al centro della vicenda forza che ricorda la musica di Gluck. ruolo per castrato: la parte di Sesto, un brano più leggero, ma incantevole. è il ballo organizzato al palazzo del principe Poi è la volta di Dorabella e di sua sorella giovane vulnerabile, completamente schiavo di Circa un secolo dopo, ci ritroviamo in un Orlofsky, un giovane blasé annoiato della vita, Fiordiligi, in un impareggiabile trio d’addio in Vitellia. Offesa di non essere stata scelta come mondo completamente diverso, quello in cerca di divertimento. Nei suoi versi compagnia del vecchio cinico Don Alfonso: imperatrice, Vitellia convince Sesto ad dell’opera russa, con Prince Igor di Borodin. all’inizio dell’Atto II dichiara la propria

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filosofia. Esorta tutti a bere con lui e a farlo musica raffinata, piena di richiami erotici di Gardiner, Seiji Ozawa, Jeffrey Tate e Sir è Consulente artistico e Direttore ospite divertire (“Chacun à son goût”, traccia 15 ). cui il compositore era maestro (“See where the Andrew Davis. I suoi impegni hanno dell’Orchestra nazionale di Spagna. È stato Strauss definisce perfettamente la sua summer-house awaits”), accetta un ultimo compreso Iphigénie en Tauride a Buenos Aires, Direttore artistico della Allgemeine personalità in un brano che abbina noncuranza bacio nella serra, che porterà a una serie di Madrid e con la Welsh National Opera; Le Musikgesellschaft di Basilea, Direttore e cinismo con un pizzico di goffaggine. complicazioni nella vicenda. Valencienne è un Comte Ory a Losanna, Roma e Glyndebourne; musicale del Teatro di Basilea e Direttore Composta per un mezzosoprano, l’aria non è altro ruolo “intermedio”, eseguito da soprani e Andromaca nell’Ermione di Rossini a principale dell’Orchestra sinfonica di Basilea facile da cantare. Per lo più è in un registro mezzosoprani alti. Diana Montague qui è Glyndebourne; Proserpina nell’Orfeo di dal settembre 1994 fino al luglio 1997, basso, ma contiene anche alcuni la bemolle accompagnata dall’elegante, persuasivo tenore Monteverdi ad Amsterdam; Il ritorno d’Ulisse Direttore stabile della Royal Philharmonic ripetuti. Una voce come quella della Montague Bruce Ford. in patria ad Amsterdam e Sydney; i ruoli di Orchestra dal 1980 al 1985 e Direttore è ideale per superare le sue difficoltà.. Sesto a Madrid; il Compositore (Ariadne auf Musicale e artistico della Royal Liverpool Richard Heuberger fu uno dei seguaci di © 2003 Alan Blyth Naxos) per Scottish Opera e a Lisbona; Meg Philharmonic dal 1977 al 1980. All’età di Strauss di maggior successo, con il suo Opera Traduzione: Emanuela Guastella Page (Falstaff ) per la riapertura della Royal ventuno anni è stato nominato primo violino Ball eseguito per la prima volta a Vienna nel Opera House, Covent Garden; Ottavio (Der dell’Orchestra filarmonica di Vienna, di cui in 1898. Il brano più riuscito è “In a cosy Diana Montague è nata a Winchester e ha Rosenkavalier) a Napoli, Bilbao e al Teatro Real seguito sarebbe diventato direttore. chambre séparée”, (traccia 13 ), in cui gli studiato presso il Royal Northern College of di Madrid, e Marguerite a Vienna. Walter Weller viene regolarmente invitato innamorati Henri e Hortense si incontrano per Music. Dopo il suo esordio nel ruolo di La ricca discografia di Diana Montague come direttore ospite da importanti orchestre la prima volta in un teatro. L’uomo guida la Zerlina con la Glyndebourne Touring Opera si comprende Orfeo di Monteverdi, I Capuleti e i di tutto il mondo e ha lavorato con la London donna nella chambre séparée, uno dei palchi del è esibita in teatri quali la Royal Opera House Montecchi, Norma, Lucia di Lammermoor, Symphony Orchestra, la London teatro adibito a camera privata, e la corteggia di Covent Garden, la Metropolitan Opera di Iphigénie en Tauride; per Opera Rara Rosmonda Philharmonic, la Philharmonia Orchestra, la con uno dei più seducenti brani operettistici. New York, il Théâtre de la Monnaie di d’Inghilterra, Zoraida di Granata e Il crociato in Staatskapelle di Dresda, la RSO di Berlino, The Merry Widow di Lehár riscosse ancora Bruxelles, l’Opéra national de Paris-Bastille, il Egitto; per Chandos/Peter Moores l’orchestra del Gewandhaus di Lipsia, la più successo nel 1905. La sua vetta lirica è il Teatro Colón di Buenos Aires e ha partecipato Foundation, Cavalleria rusticana, Ottoavio in Philharmonie di Amburgo, la Israel duetto dell’Atto II tra Camillo de Rosillon, ai festival di Bayreuth e Salisburgo. Der Rosenkavalier (momenti salienti), Faust, e Philharmonic Orchestra, l’Orchestre de Paris, aristocratico francese, e Valencienne, moglie Il suo repertorio include i principali ruoli il disco Great Operatic Arias (CHAN 3010). l’Orchestre National de France, l’Orchestra del del barone Mirko, inviato di Pontevedrin a per mezzosoprano delle opere di Mozart, Teatro alla Scala di Milano, l’Orchestra del Parigi. La relazione culmina in questo brano, Gluck, Strauss, Rossini, Bellini e Berlioz. La Walter Weller è stato Direttore musicale e Concertgebouw, l’Orchestra filarmonica della “Just as the sun awakens” (traccia 17 ). sua ricca attività concertistica l’ha vista Direttore stabile della Royal Scottish National radio olandese, la Tonhalle-Orchester di Valencienne supplica Camillo di desistere dalle comparire a fianco di Sir Georg Solti, James Orchestra tra il gennaio del 1992 e il luglio del Zurigo, l’Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, sue focose avances ma alla fine, al suono della Levine, Riccardo Muti, Sir John Eliot 1997 e oggi è il suo Direttore Emerito. Inoltre l’orchestra della radio svedese, la Filarmonica

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di Stoccolma e le Filarmoniche di Oslo e di di grande successo della Frau ohne Schatten. Helsinki. Nell’America del nord ha lavorato Altre opere in concerto comprendono Fidelio

con la New York Philharmonic, le orchestre con la City of Birmingham Symphony Cooper Bill sinfoniche del Minnesota, di San Francisco, Orchestra, Elektra e Der fliegende Holländer Houston, Pittsburgh, Detroit, Cincinnati e con la Royal Scottish National Orchestra ed Toronto e l’Orchestra del National Arts Centre Eugenio Onieghin a Copenaghen. di Ottawa. La discografia comprende le sinfonie di In teatro Walter Weller ha diretto tra l’altro Prokof’ev e Rachmaninov, il Concerto per Der fliegende Holländer alla Scala, Ariadne on Orchestra di Bartók, le Danze di Lachi di Naxos e The Flying Dutchman per la English Janácˇek, la Sinfonia n. 1 di Rachmaninov, a National Opera, Der Freischütz al Teatro Sinfonia n. 4 di Bruckner e, per Chandos, le Comunale di Bologna, Il principe Igor per la Sinfonie e i concerti per pianoforte di Staatskapelle di Berlino, Fidelio e Der Beethoven (con John Lill) e le sinfonie di Rosenkavalier per la Scottish Opera. Ha diretto Mendelssohn. Per Chandos/Peter Moores concerti al festival di Tivoli. Nella sua prima Foundation ha diretto una registrazione di stagione a Basilea, ha diretto un allestimento Grandi arie da operetta con Bruce Ford.

Diana Montague as Romeo in a scene from Bellini’s The Capuleti and the Montecchi at The Royal Opera House, Covent Garden 42 CHAN 3093 BOOK.qxd 11/4/07 3:31 pm Page 44

from The Marriage of Figaro And yet, if no one hear me, from Iphigenia in Tauris Once we hoped that Orestes would come! no, ne’er a soul to hear me, But he is dead: Cherubino’s Aria Priestesses’ Chorus and Iphigenia’s Aria I talk of love alone. Now ev’ry hope has fled, Cherubino English version by Edward J. Dent, Chorus of Priestesses endless grief lies before us! 1 Is it pain, is it pleasure that fills me, reproduced by permission of Oxford University Press 3 Farewell, beloved homeland, N.F. Guillard and Du Roullet, and with feverish ecstasy thrills me? ah, from this alien shore translation by Andrew Porter At the sight of a woman I tremble, from The Clemency of Titus we longed to return to Mycenae, and my heart seems to burst into flame. but we’ve lost you for evermore! from Iphigenia in Tauris Love! That word sets me hoping and fearing. Sextus’s Aria Iphigenia’s Aria Iphigenia Love! That word that I always am hearing! Sextus No hope remains in my affliction, Iphigenia Love! Ah, love! How can I dissemble 2 Send me, but, my beloved my dear fatherland lost now forever, 4 I implore thee and tremble, those desires that I hardly dare name? never reject me in anger. lost, ah, lost forever! O relentless Diana! Is it pain, is it pleasure that fills me, For you I shall be stronger: (to the Priestesses) Now inspire in my heart and with feverish ecstasy thrills me? I shall do all you ask. Your mighty King is dead, furious desire to kill. At the sight of a woman I tremble, Look at me once, I beg you: those I love are all slain; Extinguish every tender sigh, and my heart seems to burst into flame. I go as your avenger. so raise your plaintive cries the plaintive voice of human nature! and share my grief and pain: Alas! No crueller fate All day for love I languish, That glance so sweet and tender your mighty King is dead, could the gods have in store: dream of delicious anguish! will ease the fateful hour. those I loved have been slain! as a priestess of bloodshed, To ev’ry vale and mountain, Send me, but, my beloved Ah, no hope remains, a sad, unwilling victim, to stream, to lake, and fountain, never reject me in anger. ah, no hope in my affliction! I obey! for love, for love I’m sighing; For you I shall be stronger: Land and kindred lost forever! Tho’ my heart will be torn by remorse, and Nature’s voice replying… I shall do all you ask. Your mighty King is dead, but my heart will be torn by remorse. echoes my tender moan. Look at me, look at me! those I love have been slain! N.F. Guillard and Du Roullet, All day for love I languish, That glance so sweet and tender So raise your plaintive cries, translation by Andrew Porter dream of delicious anguish! will ease the fateful hour. share all my grief and pain! To ev’ry vale and mountain, Look at me once, I beg you: Your mighty King lies died, from Alcina to stream, to lake, and fountain, I go as your avenger. those I love all are slain. Ruggiero’s Aria wherever I wander Heaven must treasure beauty for love, for love I’m sighing; to grant so great a pow’r. Chorus of Priestesses Ruggiero and Nature’s voice replying… Mazzolà after Metastasio, We raise out plaintive cries 5 Verdant pastures, leafy woodlands, echoes my tender moan. translation by David Parry to share your grief and pain! all your beauty will decay.

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Perfumed flowers, clear flowing rivers from Così fan tutte Dorabella He’s angry, or he’s jealous, though you invite me, and delight me, If he writes me ardent verses afraid, suspicious, in love. Dorabella’s Recitative and Aria ’tis your fate to fade away. I will tease him with a smile. You know, you gods who hear this, Verdant pastures, leafy woodlands, Dorabella Fiordiligi how pure the love I bear is; 8 all your beauty will decay: Ah! Leave me now, beware the dangerous I shall imitate his sighing wipe from my soul, I beg you, what I loved and longed to cherish madness of a desperate woman! and his tragic lover’s style. the agony of doubt. is as dust, destined to perish Go and close the shutters. I hate the daylight. Wipe from my soul, I beg you, and return to barren clay. I hate the air that I’m breathing… I hate Dorabella the agony of love. translation by Amanda Holden myself ! He will say ‘For you I languish.’ ?Da Ponte translation by David Parry Who makes fun of my despair? Fiordiligi from Così fan tutte Who dares console me? He will say ‘Ah, soothe my anguish.’ from Atalanta Now go, for pity’s sake, leave me. Guglielmo and Dorabella’s Duet Ah, for pity’s sake, leave me to suffer. Dorabella and Fiordiligi Meleagro’s Aria Guglielmo This adventure will be risky, 12 My heart here I give you, Torture and agony, fiercely tormenting, but I know we’ll have some fun! Meleagro now do your worst to me, without relenting, a pledge and a token. 6 Da Ponte, translation by Anne Ridler Noble forests, sombre and shady, As mine you have taken, until your tyranny has brought my death. reproduced by permission of ENO Benevolent Fund burning passion fills my heart! You fatal Destinies who scourge and punish, give yours in return. translation by David Parry take what is left of me when life has vanished, Concert Aria Dorabella when my despairing cries cease with my breath. 10 Banished, rejected, God save me! You gave it, I take it, Da Ponte, translation by Anne Ridler Where will my torment guide me, but mine, I’ll not give it; reproduced by permission of ENO Benevolent Fund from Così fan tutte where will my weeping find me I cannot command it, if heav’nly mercy fails? my heart is not mine. Fiordiligi, Dorabella and Don Alfonso’s Trio from Così fan tutte Love, deep and strange within me, Guglielmo Fiordiligi, Dorabella and Don Alfonso Dorabella and Fiordiligi’s Duet show me the way to follow; But a heart here is beating; 7 Blow gently, you breezes, Dorabella soothe all the pain and sorrow now how can that be? lie quietly, great ocean, 9 I will take the handsome, dark one, which fills my heart with doubt. Dorabella for Heaven surely pleases ?Da Ponte, translation by David Parry for he has a wicked mind. How can your heart be beating? to grant them protection You gave it to me? and guide them to shore Fiordiligi Concert Aria Da Ponte, translation by Anne Ridler Well, in that case I’ll take the fair one, 11 Who knows what feeling Guglielmo reproduced by permission of ENO Benevolent Fund for his wit is so refined. my lover is concealing? What is beating, beating here?

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Dorabella Guglielmo No, no, no I’ll go exploring high and low Henri What is beating, beating here? Look closely, look closely, till I find my lady fair. Thank heaven, we meet at last! rejoice in the sight. So let’s start over there! Oh! Tell me quickly, who you are! Dorabella and Guglielmo What is beating, beating here? Dorabella and Guglielmo Hortense (entering, wearing a mask) Hortense It’s my heart that’s beating, How happy these changes This is the clock, no sign of Henri, No, no! Not quite so fast! it’s with me no longer, of hearts and affections, but he’ll come… without a doubt, In a cosy chambre séparée, it’s living with you now, what strange new sensations, though it could be a tricky problem come, let’s enjoy a tender tête à tête. it beats there for you. what painful delight. if his cash has all run out! While we sip champagne Da Ponte, translation by Anne Ridler I’m pretty sure he has no notion Guglielmo our cares will melt away, reproduced by permission of ENO Benevolent Fund who wrote the billet-doux. And here let me place it. and who knows what pleasures await. And if I know our young lothario from The Opera Ball Dorabella he’s ripe for a rendezvous! Henri (nervously) It must not stay here. Henri and Hortense’s Duet (looking at the clock) In a cosy chambre séparée… Where can he be? Guglielmo Henri Hortense 13 I can’t wait all night! Oh, come now, don’t tease me. This is the clock, she’s not arrived yet, Come, let’s enjoy a tender tête à tête… if she’s delayed, what shall I do? (looking at the clock again) Dorabella The trouble is I’ve no experience There he is! Five minutes late, Henri What’s happ’ning? with a secret rendezvous! let’s give him a fright! While we sip champagne… My first attempt to woo a lady, (She steps back a bit so she can’t be seen by Henri, Guglielmo Hortense Do not look. I hope she won’t be long. and is able stand behind him.) Oh! How I wonder if she will like me! Our cares will melt away… Dorabella Henri What will happen if it all goes wrong? Hortense and Henri I feel such confusion, but love is to blame. No sign at all, (looking at the clock) And who knows what pleasures await! Where can she be? and I’m at my wits end. Guglielmo Should I stand and wait? (Forgive me, Ferrando, Hortense Hortense (looking at the clock again) this cannot be true.) Why not turn around, my gallant friend? You’ll follow me? Oh! I’m on tenterhooks, Guglielmo how could she be late? Henri Henri And now turn and face me. Madame… Yes, anywhere! Who, who, who can advise me what to do? Dorabella Where on earth should I search? Hortense Hortense What is it? Has she left me in the lurch? Monsieur! Shh! Quiet, or all the world will hear!

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Henri Hortense and Henri Soon our lovers will come to join us, All friends to come and go are free, I’m so in love I may expire! Our chambre séparée! and our sorrows all will pass. and all I’ll entertain, translation by Nigel Douglas In the cool and fragrant evening but those who will not drink with me Hortense we will quench our thirst at last. shall never come again. Come let’s enjoy… from Prince Igor One kind of man I can’t endure, Chorus the kind that’s simply crass. Henri Song of the Polovtsian Maiden Sunlight dying, night falls fast. The chronic pestilential bore A tête à tête? Soon we all will quench our thirst at last. Polovtsian Maiden who will not drain his glass, Borodin, translation by David Lloyd Jones Hortense 14 Tender flower, starved of water, and very soon I let him know And after supper… drooping, wilting, in the sunlight burning. that my last word is said, Ah. All her leaves are dry and fading, I take the glass and throw it so, Henri from Die Fledermaus and her rosy petals wither. directly at his head! What joys await! Orlofsky’s Aria Polovtsian Maiden and Chorus When people say ‘That’s surely Hortense Ah. But the sunlight now is dying, a curious thing to do.’ Hush! Orlofsky and the dew is falling fast. 15 Three score and ten the years we men I answer them quite simply Henri Soon the earth will bathe in moisture, must suffer here on earth, Chacun à son goût. I’m burning with such desire, and the flower’s sorrow pass. but I shall try and try again Na zdarovye. my blood’s on fire, In the cool and fragrant evening to pass the time in mirth. C. Haffner & R. Genée after Meilhac and Halévy, but here’s a cosy chambre séparée! she will quench her thirst at last. I ask my friends to join me here, translation by Leonard Hancock and David Pountney to while away a night. Hortense Chorus But one thing I make very clear Where we’ll enjoy a tender tête à tête! Sunlight dying, night falls fast. to those whom I invite. from Faust Dew will fall, and the flower drink at last. Henri I can’t abide the dreary lout As the flower thirsts for water Siébel’s Romance While we sip champagne… who makes himself a bore, so a maiden yearns for her lover. Siébel and very soon I throw him out, Hortense 16 When happy days bring you gladness and laughter, Polovtsian Maiden straight thro’ the nearest door. Our cares will melt away seeing your joy my sadness disappears. She will pine and she will languish, When people say ‘That’s surely But if the pain and sorrow follow after, Hortense and Henri and desire her lover’s caresses. a curious thing to do.’ oh, Marguerite, oh, Marguerite, Who knows what pleasures await! Polovtsian Maiden and Chorus I answer them quite simply I shed a tear to mingle with your tears! Henri Ah. But the sunlight now is dying, Chacun à son goût. We are two flowers that bloom beside each other; It’s perfect for a tête à tête! and the night is falling fast. Vodka! destiny guides us on a single course.

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I share your grief as if I were a brother, Camille Valencienne Camille oh, Marguerite, oh, Marguerite, I’ll do my best, I really will! My darling, no! There, where the summer-house awaits blameless and chaste, my selfless love endures! Valencienne O sweetheart, why can’t you let me go? we shall whisper words of tender love. Jules Barbier and Michel Carré, translaton by Christopher Cowell I know, my love, I don’t mean to tease. Camille Valencienne Camille Then grant me, my angel, No one to hear us? My dearest love! just one parting kiss. Then let me kiss you… Camille and Valencienne from The Merry Widow Valencienne Valencienne There in the dark of night Valencienne and Camille’s Duet Now don’t make me angry. Not out here. we can share love’s delight. There, where the summer-house awaits Valencienne Camille Camille Forgive, forgive me please! we shall kiss the whole night through, we two! 17 Calm down, my friend! See where the summer-house awaits, Léon & Stein after Meilhac, Just as the sun awakens so suggestive of a rendezvous. translation by Nigel Douglas, © Josef Weinberger Ltd Camille the sleepy buds of May There, where that summer-house awaits Always so distant! so does your beauty inspire me we could be divinely entre nous! Stölzel and drive my fears away. There in the dark of night we could Valencienne 18 This seed that you have sown If you are near I shall go gladly No ifs and buts, I’m quite insistent! share love’s delight. within my slumb’ring breast, to Death’s eternal peace and rest. You’ll simply have to get engaged to Hanna! There, where the summer-house awaits into a flow’r has grown, we could kiss the whole night through, we two! Ah, with what joy my end shall fill me, Camille a flow’r forever blest. if your sweet hands are there to still me All right, I will. Can hearts so newly woken Valencienne and close my trusting eyes at last. But why maltreat me in this manner? return to sleep again? Love calls me… How can I not surrender? translation by David Parry Should words that spring has spoken Valencienne dissolve in autumn rain? Believe me, love, I find it hard. This flow’r we both must cherish, I don’t enjoy these endless quarrels. to beautify our lives. I’d yield to you with no holds barred, Tho’ all around may perish if there were no such thing as morals. the pow’r of love survives. Camille Valencienne So does this mean goodbye forever? O Camille! Valencienne Camille It means at least a serious endeavour. Valencienne!

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Opera in English on Chandos Steinway Concert Grand provided and maintained by Steinway & Sons, London Harpsichord supplied by McCartney Music Harmonium supplied by Cambridge Reed Organs

Artistic consultant to the Peter Moores Foundation: Patric Schmid Staging consultant and repetiteur: Charles Kilpatrick Language and vocal consultant: Ludmilla Andrew Repertoire consultant: Nigel Douglas

Recording producer Brian Couzens Sound engineer Ralph Couzens Assistant engineers Christopher Brooke and Michael Common, and Richard Smoker (track 16) Editors Rachel Smith, and Jonathan Cooper (track 16) CHAN 3091(2) Operas administrator Sue Shortridge Recording venue Blackheath Halls, London; 3–10 February 2002; & 27–31 July 1998 (track 16) Front cover Diana Montague in Glyndebourne Festival Opera’s production of The Marriage of Figaro (© Mike Hoban/ArenaPAL) CHAN 3072 Back cover Session photograph of Walter Weller by Bill Cooper Design Sean Coleman Booklet typeset by Dave Partridge Booklet editor Kara Reed Copyright OUP (track 1), English National Opera (track 2), English National Opera/Anne Ridler Estate (tracks 7–9, & 12), tracks 10 & 11 published by Alkor-Edition-Kassel, Bosworth and Co. Ltd (track 13), Scottish Opera (track 15), Josef Weinberger Ltd (track 17) p 1999, 2003 Chandos Records Ltd c 2003 Chandos Records Ltd Chandos Records Ltd, Colchester, Essex, England Printed in the EU

71 CHAN 3093 Inlay.qxd 11/4/07 3:21 pm Page 1 RA PRTCAIS in otge2- Weller GREAT OPERATIC ARIAS: Diana Montague 2 - Weller GREAT OPERATIC ARIAS: Diana Montague 2 GREAT OPERATIC ARIAS CHANDOS DIGITAL CHAN 3093

Diana MONTAGUE 2 from Così fan tutte 12 ‘My heart here I give you’ 4:39 Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart with Alan Opie baritone from The Marriage of Figaro 1 ‘Is it pain, is it pleasure that fills me’ 3:07 Richard Heuberger from The Opera Ball from The Clemency of Titus 13 2 ‘In a cosy chambre séparée’ 5:46 ‘Send me, but, my beloved’ 6:39 with Helen Williams soprano Christoph Willibald von Gluck Alexander Borodin from Iphigenia in Tauris from Prince Igor 3 ‘No hope remains in my affliction’ 4:56 14 ‘Tender flower, starved of water’ 5:57 with Geoffrey Mitchell Choir with Geoffrey Mitchell Choir 4 ‘I implore thee and tremble’ 3:36 Johann Strauss II from Die Fledermaus (The Bat) George Frideric Handel 15 from Alcina ‘Three score and ten’ 2:46 5 ‘Verdant pastures, leafy woodlands ’ 4:18 Charles Gounod from Atalanta 6 from Faust ‘Noble forests, sombre and shady ’ 2:05 16 ‘When happy days’ 2:49 Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart with Philharmonia Orchestra • David Parry (20-bit recording) 7 from Così fan tutte Franz Lehár ‘Blow gently, you breezes’ 3:33 17 from The Merry Widow with Orla Boylan soprano • Alan Opie baritone ‘Just as the sun awakens’ 6:55 8 ‘Torture and agony’ 3:39 with Bruce Ford tenor 9 Gottfried Heinrich Stölzel ‘I will take the handsome, dark one’ 3:07 18 with Orla Boylan soprano ‘If you are near’ 2:54 TT 75:01 Concert Arias HN3093 CHAN HN3093 CHAN CHANDOS CHANDOS 10 Diana Montague mezzo-soprano ‘Banished, rejected, God save me!’ 4:50 London Philharmonic Orchestra 11 ‘Who knows what feeling’ 3:16 Walter Weller

CHANDOS RECORDS LTD LC 7038 DDD p 1999, 2003 Chandos Records Ltd c 2003 Chandos Records Ltd Colchester . Essex . England Printed in the EU