Opera Rara has issued
this Francesca di Foix alongside,
as distinct from together with, Donizetti’s
earlier Elvida.
Both are one-act works and were recorded
at the same series of sessions and at
the same venue in March 2004. They also
share the same conductor, orchestra,
choral forces and four principal singers.
Francesca di Foix
is described as a ‘Melodramma giocoso’
or jocular melodrama. For 1831 it was
an unusual choice of subject. The plot
concerns a jealous Count (bass) who
keeps his beautiful wife Francesca (sop)
away from the court, fostering the rumour
of her ugliness. At the instigation
of the King (bass-bar) a certain Duke
(ten) together with his Page (mezzo),
a cousin of the wife, plot to entice
her to the court where she is admired
and presented under an assumed name.
Her husband is at first reluctant to
acknowledge the beautiful woman as his
wife. However, when the King offers
her in marriage to the winner of a tournament,
and she describes her previous husband
as jealous but deceased, he can keep
silent no longer. He confesses his lies
and jealousy and is rebuked. The Page
explains how Francesca was enticed to
the court. Everybody celebrates and
hopes the Count has learnt his lesson.
At the time of the
composition of Elvida, his 16th
opera premiered in July 1826, Donizetti
was in the foothills of operatic composition.
By the time of the premiere of Francesca
di Foix, his 33rd opera
five years later, he was basking in
the recognition brought by the success
of Anna Bolena premiered in Milan
on December 26th 1830. Anna
Bolena quickly spread throughout
the theatres of Italy and was heard
in London’s Haymarket Theatre on July
8th 1831. It became the first
Donizetti opera to be presented in Paris
in September that year. Anna Bolena
was the culmination of Donizetti’s
earlier works and the impetus for the
highly productive period that saw a
series of great romantic tragedies.
With a libretto by Romani, but without
a contract or theatre for its presentation,
Donizetti embarked on the composition
of ‘Gianni di Parigio’. This
work was to be a vehicle for the tenor
Rubini who had created the role of Percy
in Anna Bolena and who sang the
role in London and Paris. In the event
Gianni di Parigio was not staged
until 1839. It is relevant here because
it seems to have been composed contemporaneously
with Francesca di Foix and to
share at least some musical themes with
it. In a scholarly booklet essay Jeremy
Commons notes some examples where Donizetti
re-used music from earlier operas and
later was to do likewise with music
from Francesca.
Back in Naples after
the success of Anna Bolena, Donizetti
had to fulfil contractual obligations
to the impresario Domenico Barbaia (often
spelt Barbaja). William Ashcroft, in
the only readily available biography
of Donizetti in English that I know
of, suggests both Francesca di Foix
and the one act farsa ‘La romanzesca
a l’uomo nero’ (Opera Rara ORC 19) premiered
three weeks after Francesca,
were Donizetti’s attempts to fulfil
that contract in the quickest and easiest
manner. In the event, Francesca di
Foix was presented on the name day
of the new King Fernando II in the inappropriately
large Teatro San Carlo, the great royal
theatre of Naples. It was politely rather
than enthusiastically received. Deemed
too small a work for the theatre it
was transferred for two performances
to the smaller Teatro Fondo. In all
the work only received seven performances
before being forgotten. Opera Rara revived
it for performances in English in London
in 1982. Donizetti certainly admired
the music sufficiently to re-use parts
of it in other, later, operas. It has
much greater musical cohesion and compositional
sophistication than the earlier Elvida,
as one would hope and expect given Donizetti’s
greater experience. Donizetti moves
the plot along with brief ariettas,
duets and ensembles. Major solos are
restricted to Francesca’s entrance Ah!
Ti ottenni alfin and its cabaletta
Donzelle, se vi stimula (trs.
8-9), Edmondo’s É una giovane
straniera, part of a canzonetta
(trs. 16-17) and the Dukes recitative
and romanza Ve’ come… Dorme che ognor
(trs. 21-22) where Bruce Ford’s tone,
diction and expression are exemplary.
Annick Massis matches him for variety
of tone and expression and encompasses
the florid demands of the role with
security and ease. She uses a lighter
tone than as Elvida, varying it between
her uncertainty at the enticement and
her flirtatiousness as she teases her
husband as they depart for the tournament
(tr. 20). Pietro Spagnoli and Alfonso
Antoniozzi in the lower voiced roles
of the King and Count are well differentiated
in timbre (tr. 27). Both sing with fluency,
smooth legato, clear diction and convey
a good sense of characterisation. As
the Page Edmondo, Jennifer Larmore makes
what she can of the brief canzonetta
and ditty É una giovane straniera
referred to. She sings throughout with
creamy tone and good legato avoiding
any plumminess in the lower part of
her voice; a good travesti characterisation.
The chorus are major protagonists and
sing with verve as the conductor, Antonello
Allemandi, moves the plot along in what
seems to my ears to be a wholly idiomatic
manner.
In addition to his
erudite essay on the opera, Jeremy Commons
provides an excellent synopsis that
is also translated into French, German
and Italian. For perfection the synopsis
would have been track related. The libretto
is given in full with English translation.
Francesca di Foix gives few hints
of the great romantic operas that were
to flow from Donizetti’s pen over the
next few years. None the less, this
world premiere recording, made possible
by the support of the Peter Moores Foundation,
is to be commended for the quality of
its performance and recording. All lovers
of Donizetti’s operas, and of the bel
canto genre, will want to add this
well packaged and presented performance
to their collection.
Robert J. Farr
London Philharmonic Orchestra/Antonello
Allemandi 
