The 1830s were ten years of intense
activity for Donizetti. During the decade
he presented no fewer than twenty-seven
operas and wrote another, Poliuto, which
because of censorship in Naples was
not staged until 1848. Of these operas
only five were in lighter vein, the
overwhelming majority being designated
‘seria’. The works of the decade were
predominantly premiered in Naples and
Milan with the odd sortie to Venice
and Florence. Whilst Donizetti was in
Naples for the premiere of L’assedio
di Calais at the San Carlo on 19th
November 1836, fourteen months after
the premiere of his 47th
opera Lucia di Lamermoor in the same
theatre, the composer wrote Pia de’
Tolomei. This was to fulfil a commission
from the impresario of the Teatro La
Fenice in Venice. It is his 52nd
operatic title. With the writing complete
he left Naples, by boat, on the first
stage of his journey to Florence. Because
Naples was in the grip of a cholera
epidemic Donizetti was quarantined in
Genoa for eighteen days. Whilst in Genoa
he learned that La Fenice, the premier
theatre in Venice, had been destroyed
by fire on the night of December 12th,
1836. The La Fenice season was transferred
to the smaller Teatro Apollo. Reluctantly,
the composer whose fee was already less
than he would have received in Naples
or Milan, agreed to a reduction. The
opera reached the stage on 18th
February 1837.
Fanny Tachinard-Persarni,
the wife of a rival composer, who had
also created the title roles in Lucia
di Lamermoor and Rosmondo D’Inghilterra
, sang the eponymous tragic heroine.
Like the earlier roles it is for a coloratura
soprano with capacity for dramatic colour
so as to portray the various, often
fraught or tragic, circumstances in
which Pia finds herself. Although the
story of Cammarano’s libretto can be
traced back to Dante’s Purgatorio, it
more likely derives from contemporary
plays performed in Naples and which
involved something of the true-life
story of Pia. In the opera Pia, wife
of the Ghibelline leader, Nello (bar),
has been propositioned by Ghino (ten)
her husband’s cousin and whose advances
she had rejected. Her husband sends
Pia to safety from battles with the
opposing Guelphs. Whilst there Ghino
learns that Pia has had a letter indicating
a male visitor and believing this to
be a lover reveals the facts to her
husband who in despair orders her to
be poisoned. In fact the male visitor
is her brother Rodrigo (mezzo) who fights
for the Guelphs and who she has assisted
in escaping from prison. Her husband
further imprisones her in Maremma, a
place of damp and fever and Ghino arrives
and offers to help her in exchange for
love. When Ghino learns that Pia’s supposed
lover was in fact her brother she persuades
him to tell the truth. On the way he
is wounded by Guelphs and by the time
Nello learns the truth and rushes to
Pia he arrives too late to stop the
poison being administered and Pia dies.
At its premiere the
opera was modestly received with disapproval
expressed about the finale to act 1.
Donizetti rewrote this finale with revised
stretta during the Venice Carnival (CD
3 trs.1-6). He made more radical alterations
for performances at the Adriatic resort
of Siningaglia in July 1837 (CD 3 trs.
7-12). For Naples in September 1838
he was also forced by the censors to
write a happy ending to the whole work
(CD 3 trs. 18-21). William Ashbrook,
author of the definitive book on Donizetti
and his works, is dismissive of Pia
de’Tolomei. I find myself in agreement
with Dr Jeremy Commons’ more favourable
view as expressed in his comprehensive,
if rather diffuse, booklet essay (pp.
10-60). Whilst not having the quality
of musical invention of Lucia, there
are echoes of that opera in the duets
between Nello and Ghino (CD 1 trs 11-13).
There are also Bellinian moments in
the aria between Pia and her brother
Rodrigo that occurs during the act 1
finale (CD 1 tr. 19, and its revisions).
As is my habit with
a work I do not know intimately, I first
played the performance through complete,
in order to get a feel for the music
in relation to the story. This also
enables me to get a first impression
of the quality of the conducting and
engineering as well as how the solo
singers characterise their roles. Concurrently
with my learning process with this Opera
Rara studio recording, along came the
serendipitous issue of the Dynamic DVD
of performance in April 2005 at the
newly rebuilt (after yet another fire)
La Fenice. This live La Fenice performance
is also available on CD. It never rains
but it pours! It is not my intention
to make detailed comparisons between
the two issues. I am of the opinion
that the DVD and this Opera Rara audio
studio recording are wholly and ideally
complementary. Both are based on the
critical edition prepared by Giorgio
Pagannone for the Donizetti Foundation,
Bergamo although there are differences
in the presentation of the act 1 finale.
As I implied, I find
Pia de’Tolomei, as exemplified in this
performance, to be a dramatically convincing
and musically cohesive bel canto opera.
The performers and the recording engineers
for Opera Rara enhance the innate virtues
of Donizetti’s composition. On the podium
David Parry draws refined playing from
the London Philharmonic Orchestra whilst
the Geoffrey Mitchell Choir, in their
various guises, are as idiomatic and
vibrant as any Italian chorus. As the
jealous husband Nello, Roberto Servile
sings with sensitivity to dynamics and
good tonal colour. His portrayal is
well characterised and vocally convincing
(CD 2 trs. 11,12 and 16). These qualities
and outcome are also to be found in
Bruce Ford’s portrayal of the bad guy
and would be seducer Ghino, who comes
to a sticky but untimely end. As so
often, one wishes that his tone were
a little more mellifluous and touched
with Italianata. Perhaps, but he sings
evenly across a wide range, always on
the note and in style; the listener
can sense from his nuance and expression
what is happening in the plot. These
are qualities not to be undervalued.
His portrayal of Ghino on this recording
is an impressive addition to his extensive
discography of bel canto roles for Opera
Rara and elsewhere. The light-voiced
bass-baritones of Marco Vinca (CD 2
trs. 1-2) and Mirco Palazzi in the inconsequential
role of the hermit Pierro (CD 2 tr.
10) are convincing as is the bright
toned tenor of Mark Wilde as Ubaldo,
Nello’s servant (CD 1 trs. 2-3).
In respect of the principal
female singers I am a little more equivocal.
I found Majella Cullagh’s singing a
curious mixture. In Pia’s more florid
passages she sings fluently, securely
and with good tone (CD 1 tr. 8). She
is less convincing in the critical scene
in Maremma when repulsing Ghino’s further
advances (CD 2 tr. 4) she affirms her
chastity and pleads with him to tell
Nello the truth about the identity of
her nocturnal visitor (CD 2 tr. 5).
Here she lightens her tone rather than
adding colour and intensity as Patrizia
Ciofi does in the live Dynamic performance
from La Fenice. The same is true of
her portrayal of Pia in her death scene
(CD 2 trs. 16-17). Similarly my pleasure
at Manuela Custer’s singing of Rodrigo
was mixed. She has a lovely creamy tone
and good diction but tends to overdo
the vibrato in the interests of the
drama but to the detriment of legato
(CD 1 trs 15-16 and CD 2 trs. 2-3).
Laura Polverelli at La Fenice manages
to convey Rodrigo’s situation and feelings
with smoother legato and greater vocal
intensity. In the minor role of Bice,
Pia’s attendant, Patrizia Biccire sings
strongly and with good tone.
The more I have listened
to this performance the more convinced
I have become of the work’s structural
cohesion, and compositional strengths.
This recording of Pia de’Tolomei is
a very welcome addition to Opera Rara’s
unrivalled list of well recorded and
performed Donizetti operas. Highly recommended
to all lovers of Donizetti’s works and
the bel canto period.
Robert J Farr
see also DVD
Gaetano
DONIZETTI
(1797-1848) Pia
de’ Tolomei - Tragedia lyrica
in two acts (1837) Libretto by Salvatore
Cammarano based on the 5th
canto of Dante’s Purgatory.
First performed at the Teatro Apollo,
Venice, 18th February 1837
Pia, wife of Nello, Patrizia Ciofi (sop);
Rodrigo, Pia’s brother, Laura Polverelli
(mezzo); Ghino, cousin of Nello, Dario
Schmunck (ten); Nello, Andrew Schroeder
(bar); Ubaldo, Nello’s servant, Francesco
Meli (ten); Pierro, a hermit, Daniel
Borowski (bass); Bice, Pia’s waiting
woman, Clara Polito (sop) 
Orchestra and chorus of the Teatro
La Fenice, Venice/Paola Arrivabeni Performed
in the Critical Edition prepared by
Giorgio Pagannone for the Donizetti
Foundation, Bergamo Artistic director,
Sergio Segalini. Sets by Thierry Leproust.
Costumes by Claude Masson. Lighting
by Marc Delaméziere
Video Director Tiziano Mancini Recorded
in High Definition. Presented in dts
digital surround sound, Dolby, PCM 2.0
Menu language English. Subtitles in
Italian (original language), English,
German, French, Spanish and Chinese.
Notes and synopsis in Italian, English,
German and French
DYNAMIC DVD 33488 [2 DVDs: 137:00]
