Editorial Board
MusicWeb International
Founding Editor Rob Barnett Editor in Chief
John Quinn Contributing Editor Ralph Moore Webmaster
David Barker Postmaster
Jonathan Woolf MusicWeb Founder Len Mullenger
Gaetano DONIZETTI (1797-1848) Adelia - opera seria in three acts
(1841)
Adelia,
a young girl - Michela Sburlati (soprano); Arnoldo, her
father and a commoner – Andrea Silvestrelli (bass);
Count Oliviero, a nobleman in love with Adelia – Davis
Sotgiu (tenor); Duke Carlo, the local ruler – Giulio Mastrototaro
(baritone)
Haydn Choir; Haydn Orchestra von Bozen und Trient/Gustav
Kuhn
rec. 11-16 December 2006, Auditorium, Bozen
Sung in Italian. Libretto and translation as PDF (CD 2). BMG-RCA
RED SEAL 86697 10813 2 [54.25 + 67.03]
After
his seventh opera, Zoraida di Granata (see
review)
was premiered in Rome in 1822, Donizetti’s stock rose rapidly.
Domenico Barbaja, impresario of the Royal Theatres of Naples,
faced with the loss of Rossini to Paris, contracted the young
composer. Fifteen of the twenty operas Donizetti composed
in the remainder of the decade were premiered in Naples.
But it was in Milan rather than Naples that his big breakthrough
came. There in 1830 the Duke of Litta and two rich associates
formed a Society to sponsor opera at La Scala. They were
concerned to raise the musical standards that had seen Rossini,
Meyerbeer and others decamp to Paris. They engaged most of
the famous singers of the time including Giuditta Pasta and
the tenor Giovanni Battista Rubini. Donizetti and Bellini,
recognised as the two best Italian composers of the day were
each contracted to write an opera for the season to a libretto
set by the renowned Felice Romani. Litta and his associates
failed to secure La Scala for their plans, which were realised
at the Teatro Carcano. It was in that theatre that Anna
Bolena was first heard on 26 December 1830. It spread
Donizetti’s name around the world.
With
his horizons widening and constantly being frustrated by
the censors in Naples, who demanded happy endings, Donizetti
cancelled his contract in 1832 and left the city. Two years
later he returned as musical director of the Royal Theatres
and a contract to write one opera seria for the San Carlo
each year. The first of these was to have been Maria Stuarda,
but the censors interfered, again objecting to the tragic
ending. In little more than two weeks Donizetti rearranged
the music to a new libretto, Buondelmonte. Needless
to say it was only a moderate success, but Rossini invited
Donizetti to Paris where he presented Marino Faliero at
the Théâtre Italien. Donizetti, seeing
the higher musical standards and also enjoying the better
remuneration
available in Paris, planned to return. Back in Naples he
presented Lucia di Lamermoor. It was rapturously received.
With the premature death of Bellini in the same year, and
Rossini no longer composing opera, Donizetti could claim
pre-eminence among Italian opera composers. He fulfilled
his contract at the San Carlo with L’assedio di Calais in
1836, Roberto Devereux (see review)
the following year and wrote Poliuto for 1838. This
story of Christian martyrdom in Roman times worried the censors.
With the work complete Donizetti was told that the King,
a deeply religious man, had personally forbidden its staging
in Naples and Pia de’ Tolomei (see reviews of the CD and DVD)
was substituted in its place.
The
banning of Poliuto was the final straw for Donizetti
who left Naples for Paris in October 1838. Once there he
agreed to write two operas in French. For the first he turned
to Poliuto and engaged Eugene Scribe to produce a
French text based on Cammarano’s Italian libretto. Whilst
awaiting the ever dilatory Scribe to complete the new libretto,
Donizetti presented a French version of Lucia and
wrote La Fille du Régiment premiered at the Opéra
Comique on 11 February 1840. For the revised Poliuto he
rewrote the recitatives, divided act one in two and wrote
a new finale. He also added arias, trios and the de rigueur ballet.
The new four-act version was premiered as Les Martyrs at
The Opéra on 10 March 1840 (see review). Poliuto in
its original form was not performed until 1848.
Now
firmly resident in Paris Donizetti did not turn his back
wholly on his native Italy and whilst completing La Favorite for
the Paris Opéra he concluded an agreement with the Apollo
Theatre Rome. The product was an opera to an existing libretto
by Felice Romani. This had originally been written for Michele
Carafa in 1817 and had later been
used in Naples in 1834 by Carlo Coccia. The Papal censors
were not happy with Romani’s ending with Adelia’s suicide.
The management of the Apollo called in another librettist
to provide a new act three with a happy ending. Interference
from censors was a situation with which Donizetti was all
too familiar in Naples. The composer found the new ending
unsatisfactory but accepted it and the opera was staged on
11 February 1841. It was a stormy occasion as the impresario
had contrived to sell more tickets than there were seats
in the theatre! He was arrested and had to be bailed out
by the leading lady, one Giuseppina Strepponi, later to be
the wife of Verdi, the following day. The opera was given
a further eight times that season before being performed
in other Italian towns and travelling to Lisbon, Malta, Madrid
and London. Despite this Donizetti considered the work a
failure, blaming himself for accepting a libretto lacking
in passion or verses capable of inspiring him. It is only
in recent years that revivals have reached the stage with
productions in Bergamo (1997), at the Teatro Carlo Felice,
Genoa (1998, recording available), and in a concert performance
at Carnegie Hall, New York in 1999.
The
plot of Adelia concerns her and Arnoldo her father, a captain
in the Duke’s army but also a commoner. He resolves to kill
the man seen climbing from his daughter’s window considering
her virtue compromised. However, this man turns out to be
Oliviero, a nobleman, whom Arnoldo as a mere commoner is
unable to challenge. Knowing that any nobleman marrying a
commoner will be beheaded, Arnoldo persuades the Duke to
allow the marriage of Adelia and Oliviero. Adelia attempts
to postpone the wedding, but her father insists on its continuing.
The wedding takes place and in the revised last act the Duke
spares Oliviero’s life by elevating Arnoldo to the nobility.
Whatever
the circumstances of the genesis of Adelia it is a
composition of Donizetti’s maturity, being the fifty-ninth
of his sixty-six completed operas. He might not have been
fully inspired by the libretto but the music has plenty of
melody as well as dramatic situations in the first two acts
in particular. The allegro vivace finale of act 1(CD
1 tr. 20) as performed here could easily pass as Risorgimento
Verdi for rhythmic verve and vitality. Donizetti is less
than inspired in the dénouement of the third act when the
soldiery are summoned with the mission of helping in the
execution of Oliviero who at that stage is then married to
Adelia (CD 2 trs. 14-15). There are, however, inspiring moments
in the father-daughter duets (CD 1 trs 13-14 and CD 2 trs.
9-10) and in the long love duet between Adelia and Oliviero
(CD 2 trs 4-6). Like all bel canto operas of this
period much depends on the quality of the singing. In this
performance it is never less than adequate without rising
to the best international standard. Although it is not made
clear in the booklet, applause at the end of each act seems
to indicate either a concert or staged performance, the overall
acoustic balance pointing to the former. As Adelia, Michela
Sburlati sings with good lyric tone and variety of colour,
although her diction is variable. She phrases well in her
larghetto Fui presaga (CD 1 tr. 11) but sounds rather
tired by the final larghetto Ah le nostr’anime (CD
2 tr 19) and the climactic duet (tr. 21). Tiredness also
afflicts the tonal lightness of David Sotgiu’s Oliviero.
With an innately pleasing lyric tenor voice he lacks some
capacity for elegance of phrase but he hits the money note
at the end of the love duet (CD 2 tr. 6). With tiredness
his tone audibly tightens and by the time we get to his act
three aria Che fia de me! (CD 2 tr. 16) he has lost
vocal colour and legato. Andrea Silvestrelli as Arnoldo,
the implacable father, is cavernously voiced in his lower
ranges but lacks flexibility in the higher tessitura. His
is more a Sarastro bass than a flexible bel cantoist,
but his contribution never flags and he characterises well.
I
have not heard the alternative live recording from the Teatro
Carlo Felice at Genoa, with Mariella Devia, Octavio Arevalo,
Stefano Antonucci and Boris Martinovic conducted by John
Neschling (BMG Ricordi). My American bel canto friend
and expert Lew Schneider, who owns the recording, finds Devia
below her best and the tenor not to his liking. He also questions
aspects of the sound on the live recording. In this performance
the recording is more than adequate with only the odd moment
of questionable balance. Importantly there is no disturbance
of the dramatic flow of the music by unwelcome applause after
arias, even when it is deserved by the quality of singing.
Applause is restricted to the end of each the act. Gustav
Kuhn, a few slow tempos apart, finds both the drama and the
lyricism inherent in Donizetti’s creation. The Haydn Choir
are first rate.
Reviews
from previous months Join the mailing list and receive a hyperlinked weekly update on the
discs reviewed. details We welcome feedback on our reviews. Please use the Bulletin
Board
Please paste in the first line of your comments the URL of the review to
which you refer.