In the spring of 1815,
at the age of 23 with the opera seria
Tancredi and the buffa work L’Italiana
in Algeri to his credit, Rossini
was summoned to Naples by Domenico Barbarja,
the impresario of the Royal Theatres
of that city, the Fondo and the mighty
San Carlo. Barbarja contracted Rossini
to be musical director of the two Royal
Theatres and to compose two operas each
year for Naples.
Barbarja’s proposals
appealed to Rossini for several reasons.
Not only was his annual fee generous
and guaranteed, but also the San Carlo
had a professional orchestra, unlike
the theatres of Rome and Venice. The
composer saw this as a considerable
advantage as he aspired to push the
boundaries of opera into more adventurous
directions. In Elisabetta Regina
d’Inghilterra, premiered to great
enthusiasm on October 4th
1815 and the first of what were to be
nine opera seria for Naples, he made
imaginative use of the professional
musicians with several innovations.
Not least he dispensed, for the first
time, with unaccompanied recitative,
making way for dramatic vigour. He also
wrote out in full, also for the first
time, the embellishments he expected
from his singers thus avoiding their
choosing to show off their vocal prowess
to the detriment of drama. Rossini continued
this process of innovation and evolution
throughout the nine opera seria he composed
for the San Carlo in his seven-year
stay in Naples. Musicologists note the
greater sophistication and complexity
of these Naples compositions compared
with the ten extra-curricular works
he presented elsewhere in Italy in the
same period, including the buffa operas
Il Barbiere di Siviglia (Rome
20 February 1816) and La Cenerentola
(Rome 25 January 1817). The Thieving
Magpie (Milan 31 May 1817) has many
more of the characteristics of the Naples
operas as would befit its presentation
at La Scala.
The Naples contract
allowed Rossini, supposedly occasionally,
to compose works for theatres in other
centres. It was a clause that Rossini
took much advantage of, certainly stretching
it beyond the limits impresario Barbarja
had intended when he brought the composer
to Naples. In the first two years of
this contract Rossini composed no fewer
than five operas for other cities, including
four for Rome. It was to The Eternal
City that Rossini went after the success
of Elisabetta. He presented Torvaldo
e Dorliski at the Teatro Valle (26th
December 1815), and after a hectic period
finding a libretto and of composition,
his great buffa Il Barbiere at
the Teatro de Torre Argentina (Naxos
issue and DVD).
On his return to Naples he found the
San Carlo had been destroyed by fire.
He composed a cantata to celebrate the
marriage of the daughter of the King
of Naples, for which he pillaged much
of the music from his own previous works,
following which he composed his only
buffa for Naples, La Gazetta,
premiered at the small Teatro dei Fiorentina
on 26th September 1816. This
premiere had been postponed because
Rossini was indulging his social life
to the full, as was his wont. Perhaps
the soprano Isabella Colbran, then the
mistress of Barbaja, was also distracting
him. It was she for whom he wrote the
lead soprano parts in all the nine Naples
opera seria. Colbran was to transfer
her affections to Rossini, eventually
in 1822 after inheriting property, becoming
his wife. Certainly Barbaja was getting
tetchy with the delays in the completion
of the scheduled Otello. He complained,
in writing, to the administrator of
the Royal Theatres about Rossini’s dilatoriness
in providing the finished work whilst
at the same time being active with his
social engagements. Otello should
have been premiered on October 10th.
It was first postponed for a
month before being eventually staged
on December 4th. As the San
Carlo was not yet rebuilt it was staged
at the smaller Royal Theatre, the Teatro
del Fondo.
While in 1816 there
had been musical adaptations of some
of Shakespeare’s non-tragic plays, Rossini’s
choice of Otello was distinctly
adventurous. How far the cultured well-read
aristocrat, Marchese Berio di Salsa
who was to write the libretto influenced
him in this choice, is not known. Stendhal
(‘Life of Rossini’, 1824) and a friend
of di Salsa was highly critical of his
verses whilst Byron was excoriating
in his criticism of the treatment of
Shakespeare’s play. Both critics assumed
the libretto to be based directly on
the English play. However, around the
late 1970s, evidence was presented to
the Centre for Rossini Studies that
the source of di Salsa’s libretto was
likely to have been the play ‘Otello’
by Baron Carlo Cozena - a drama that
had been staged in Naples in 1813. Jeremy
Commons in his usual scholarly booklet
essay maintains this possibility. What
is certain is that only in the third
act of Rossini’s Otello is there
much relationship with Shakespeare’s
play. It certainly elicited the composer’s
most inspired music with a richly scored
introductory prelude and the interpolation
of The Gondoliers Song (CD 3
tr 2), a brilliant inspiration and creation.
There is also a duet for Otello and
Desdemona, the only one they have in
the opera. It is set against a growing
storm as the mood moves towards the
work’s dramatic climax. The greatness
and sophistication of Rossini’s music
in the third act often blinds critics
to the virtues of that in the first
two and where the story diverts so much
from Shakespeare. In di Salsa’s libretto
the location is Venice. Desdemona is
secretly pledged to Otello who has been
greeted by the Doge and lauded after
his victory over the Turks in Cyprus.
The Doge’s son Rodrigo, together with
Iago, plots against Otello. Desdemona’s
father Elmiro arranges her marriage
to Rodrigo but Otello halts this and
a fight ensues. Iago shows Otello a
letter of affection from Desdemona purporting
it to be to Rodrigo although it was
intended for him. This fuels Otello’s
doubts, which lead to the conclusion
of the third act.
Once Rossini was cajoled
from the cuisine of Naples and whatever
other extra-mural activities were filling
his time, he composed with speed and
felicity. Despite its bloody and tragic
ending the opera was enthusiastically
received by the press and public alike.
Also despite the demand for three outstanding
tenor voices, five tenors in all, Otello
initially spread throughout the Italian
peninsular in its original form. For
a production during Rome’s carnival
in the season of 1819-20 Rossini provided
the ‘lieto fine’ (happy ending). This
is included as an appendix to this issue
(CD 3 trs 9-14). Also included, as an
appendix, is an entrance aria for Desdemona.
In the original composition she is introduced
via a duet with Emelia (CD 1 trs 8-9).
The divas of the day, being as ever
hedonistic and egocentric, often introduced
their own entrance aria, sometimes of
another composer’s work, to show off
their skills to the audience. One of
many such arias, and by Rossini, was
an adaptation of Malcolm’s aria from
La Donna del Lago (Naples 1819).
This was used by the great Giuditta
Pasta, the creator of Norma and
an admired Tancredi, when she assumed
the role (CD 3 tr. 15). The final appendix
has Otello sung by a mezzo (CD 3 trs
17-18). In other productions elsewhere
in Italy the problem created by the
need for three tenors was overcome with
the role of Iago being transposed for
baritone.
In this issue, Opera
Rara juxtaposes their regular tenors
Bruce Ford and William Matteuzzi as
Otello and Rodrigo respectively. Ford
is in appropriately regal voice. His
dramatic declamation of the text is
exemplary throughout and his characterisation
of the role from victorious soldier
(CD 1 tr. 3) through Otello’s uncertainties
and ultimate destruction of his wife
(CD 3 tr. 7) is superb. Ford’s strong
heroic tone is well contrasted with
that of Matteuzzi in their act 2 duet
Che ascolto! Ah come mai senta (CD
2 trs 2-3) and in the later Ah! vieni
nel tuo sangue (CD 2 tr. 9) where
there is a battle of high Cs as well
as swords. Regrettably, William Matteuzzi
is in poor voice with his tenor sounding
thin, strained and squeezed (1.49 min.
of CD 2 tr. 3 and 1.03 of tr.9). The
tenor voice of Juan José Lopera
as Iago is also clearly differentiated
in tone from his colleagues. His voice
is more a strong tenore di grazia
with metal in his tone as well as honey
in the passaggio. His duet with Otello
as he spreads his evil (CD 2 trs 5-6)
is distinguished by fine characterisation.
As indicated earlier,
Desdemona has no entrance aria. She
has no main solo until her Assisa
a pie d’un salice (willow song)
to her own harp accompaniment, one of
Rossini’s most consummate creations
(CD 3 tr. 3). The role was originally
written, as were the lead soprano roles
in all of Rossini’s Naples operas, for
Colbran. She had a mezzo’s tonal colouring
and a vocal range from G below the stave
to E flat in alt. In this performance
the role is well sung by the American
soprano Elizabeth Futral. She has a
strong free top to her voice and a wide
palette of colours lower down the range.
She also characterises the varying moods
and plight of Desdemona very well. She
is particularly plaintive and appealing,
in context and vocally, in Desdemona’s
final confrontation with Otello (CD
3 tr. 7). Elizabeth Futral’s voice clearly
contrasts with that of Enchilada Shkosa
as Emelia, whilst the two blend exceptionally
well in their duets (CD 1 trs 8-9 and
CD 3 tr.1). Each is also heard to good
effect in the appendices particularly
where Shkosa sings the ‘Malibran’ version
of Otello to the Iago of Juan Jose Lopera.
Without the appendices
this recording of Otello comes into
direct competition with the 1978 Philips
recording with José Carreras
as Otello and the American lyric mezzo
Frederica von Stade as Desdemona. There
are minor textual differences but only
a couple of minutes of music - the timing
given for act 2 of 77.51 minutes on
page 8 of the booklet is an error. It
should read 47.34. Carreras is in best
voice and whilst having an innately
better tone than Bruce Ford he is not
a natural Rossinian. Nor are the tonal
differences with his Iago sufficiently
differentiated to my ears. Von Stade’s
lovely, slightly creamy voice is beautifully
displayed as Desdemona. Elsewhere the
Rodrigo is easier on the ear than Matteuzzi
here and Sam Ramey is a sonorous and
serious Elmiro. On two mid-price discs
it is considerably cheaper than this
better recorded Opera Rara issue. Preference
may be determined by the wish to hear
the alternative happy ending and owning
the luxurious packaging and informative
and scholarly booklet contents that
are part and parcel of Opera Rara’s
issues. While both rival recordings
are well conducted and recorded, Opera
Rara’s more natural aural ambience tells
in its favour as does the liveliness
and vibrancy of the chorus.
Verdi’s Otello swept
Rossini’s from the stage for over sixty
years, as did his other operas with
so much of the bel-canto repertoire.
For those who can put such echoes aside
this recording may open a new chapter
in appreciation of Italian tragic opera
as Rossini’s Otello did for audiences
in Naples, and elsewhere, in the first
fifty years of its life.
Robert J Farr
Well conducted and recorded, Opera Rara’s
more natural aural ambience tells in
its favour as does the liveliness and
vibrancy of the chorus. ... see Full
Review
The Geoffrey Mitchell Choir 
