The Bad Wildbad Festival
has become known as the ‘Pesaro of the
North’, not only making a speciality
of the operas of Rossini but also of
‘italian operas’ written by German composers
of a similar vintage. In 2002 it featured
the great rarity Maometto by
the German-born Peter Von Winter -a
work that had lain unperformed for 150
years. Although Von Winter studied with
Vogler and, the booklet essay claims,
with Salieri in Vienna, he was largely
self-taught. Trained first as a violinist
he was Music Director at Mannheim from
1787 before moving with the Court to
Munich as assistant and then, in 1798,
as Kappellmeister, a position he held
until his death. He spent time in Italy
(1791-94) writing operas for Venice
and Naples. His operatic works were
eclectic, drawing from ‘opera seria’,
‘opera buffa’, ‘Singspiel’ and ‘opéra
comique’. Scholars designate his ‘Das
unterbrochene Opferfest’ (1796) as being
the most successful German operatic
work between Mozart’s ‘Die Zauberflöte’,
(1792) and Weber’s ‘Der Freischütz’
(1821). However, the return of the Italian
provinces of Lombardy and the Veneto
to Austrian sovereignty in the spring
of 1814 provided a favourable opportunity
in Milan for composers of Austro-German
origin. Von Winter capitalised on this,
as did Meyerbeer and others. ‘Maometto’
was premiered at La Scala, then as now
the premier opera house in Italy, on
January 28th 1817 and was
such a success as to run for 45 performances
featuring some of the finest singers
of the day. At that time Italy, and
Milan in particular, was greatly enamoured
of the works of Rossini who had achieved
international recognition with his masterpieces
‘Tancredi’ and ‘L’italiana in Algeri’
(both 1813) and ‘Il barbiere di Siviglia’
(1816). There is evidence that Rossini
saw Von Winter’s ‘Maometto’ at La Scala
and greatly admired the seriousness
and complexity of the music with its
Germanic origins, synthesis of the various
genres referred to, and his handling
of the chorus.
The inclusion of Peter
von Winter’s ‘Maometto’ in concert performances
at Bad Wildbad also enabled ‘The Festival’
to juxtapose it and Rossini’s ‘Maometto
II’, premiered in Naples in 1820, in
concert performances either side of
those from which this recording derives.
Although Von Winter’s ‘Maometto’ is
often confused with that by Rossini,
the two operas are in fact completely
different in character, period and setting,
being derived from separate literary
sources. Von Winter wrote to a libretto
by Felice Romani based on a verse tragedy
by Voltaire which concerns the prophet
Mohammed, founder of Islam, here portrayed
as a villain. The booklet suggests that
Voltaire’s tragedy, by bringing such
matters to the stage, was using them
as a vehicle for his known anti-clericism
and antipathy to the Catholic Church.
The serious character
of the plot, and the overall complexity
of Von Winter’s music, is quickly apparent
in the overture. The work contains no
frivolous easily whistled tunes and
reminds me more of ‘La Clemenza di Tito’
than ‘Die Zauberflöte’, in that
respect. What is particularly interesting
is the integration of the chorus as
protagonist and the need for dramatic
conviction and characterisation from
them and the singers, with the former
particularly well tuned and dynamically
involved. As Zopiro, the ‘goody’ in
the story, the big-voiced Antonia de
Gobbi is particularly impressive. Although
not always perfectly steady, his sonorous
bass has extension at both ends of the
voice and his diction is good (CD 1
trs. 2-5); most importantly he conveys
the various emotions of the role. As
Maometto, and villain of the piece,
the Korean tenor Sebastian Na has a
true tenor voice with plenty of expression
although the metal in the tone can make
for certain harshness (CD 1 tr. 9).
As his henchman Omar, Luca Salsi, is
strong voiced with a slight throatiness
(CD 1 trs. 6. 12) and is rather unvarying
in modulation and tonal colour. Gloria
Montanari sings the ‘trousers’ role
of Saide with strong, even and flexible,
if rather nasal tone. Maometto tricks
Saide into stabbing Zopiro who reveals
that both Saide and Palmira, who are
in love, are actually his children.
Montanari conveys the varying emotions
of this situation, and death by poisoning,
with conviction (CD 2 trs. 3-5 and 11).
The Palmira of Maria Luigia Borsi is
initially, in Act I, less convincing
with a rather light and wavery tone.
However, in the Act II terzetto (CD
2 tr. 6) and following quintetto (tr.
7) she is suitably dramatic and goes
on to express her hatred of Maometto,
and anguish at the death of her brother
(tr. 11), with pleasing depth of feeling
and expression.
The recording is clear,
slightly warm and with plenty of air
round the soloists, choir and orchestra.
The direction of the Australian Gabrielle
Bellini, widely recognised to be the
up-and-coming Rossinian, allows the
drama and nuances of the work to emerge
to maximum effect. The downside is the
frequency of applause at the end of
numbers, or even in the middle as when
Zopiro enters (1.11min of CD 1 tr. 2).
Given that the Festival schedule carded
both the Von Winter and the Rossini
Mamoettos as concert performances, I
wonder if there was an effort at semi-staging
and the applause denoted an entrance
from the wings of a singer? The booklet
essay is interesting and the track-related
synopsis good; they and the brief artist
profiles are given in English and German.
There is a full libretto but no translation.
This is a very enjoyable
and well-conducted performance of an
opera by a considerable composer who
has, thus far, had far too little exposure
on record. It is a perfect complement
to the recordings by ‘Opera Rara’ of
neglected works and composers from the
same period of great operatic creativity
and which preceded, and laid the foundations
for, the works of Donizetti and Verdi
in Italy and Wagner in Germany.
Robert J Farr
Czech Philharmonic Choir. Czech Chamber Soloists,
Brno/Gabrielle Bellini 