Bianca
e Falliero is the thirtieth in the
39 titles in the Rossini operatic oeuvre. It was the composer’s
fourth opera of 1819 and was written to a commission from La
Scala, Milan to open the Festival Season on December 26th of that year.
Despite that pace of composition, which the composer was never
to repeat, there are few self-borrowings in the opera. The first
night audience were enthusiastic about some numbers and indifferent
to others. The critics were also less than enthusiastic. Nonetheless
the work was given a further 39 performances that season, the
largest run ever for any Rossini opera seria at La Scala. The
work was staged later throughout Italy and in Vienna and
Lisbon, both in 1825, and Barcelona in 1826. It was revived at La Scala
in 1831 in a badly butchered form and after performances in
Sardinia in 1846 it disappeared. Bianca
e Falliero was restored to the stage at the Pesaro Rossini
Festival in 1986 in a new edition by Gabrielle Dotto based
on the autograph full score of 1819. That’s the version used
here. A recording from that 1986 series of semi-staged performances
featuring Katia Ricciarelli as Bianca, Marilyn Horne as Falliero
and Chris Merritt as Contareno was issued by Fonit Cetra but
had only a short life in the catalogue. This Opera Rara issue
is the first, and only, studio recording of the work. It is
in far more vivid and reliable sound than the earlier issue
and enjoys an excellent balance between soloists, chorus and
orchestra. David Parry’s conducting is nicely balanced between
the vivaciously lyrical and the dramatic.
The
libretto for Bianca e Falliero was provided by Felice
Romani. He had earlier written the verses for Rossini’s Il
turco in Italia premiered at La Scala in August 1914. Originally
trained as a lawyer, Romani (1788-1865) became the leading librettist
at La Scala and provided verses for over 100 operas including
the works of Bellini, Donizetti, Meyerbeer and Mercadante among
others. He based Bianca e Falliero on the French melodrama
Blanch et Montcasin by Arnault. However, mindful of the
Milan censors and in contrast to Arnault’s play, Romani provided a happy
ending. The story is set in 17th century Venice in a period of conflict with Spain. Contareno (ten) a Senator, and the harsh and unbending parent of
Bianca (sop), arranges her marriage to another Senator Capellio
(bass). By doing so he hopes to restore his family finances
and splendour. Bianca is in love with Falliero (mezzo) the Venetian
general who has helped defeat the Spanish. She also knows that
her father might not approve their marriage, as Falliero is
not wealthy. This is proved to be correct as her father warns
her that she will forfeit his love if she ever uses Falliero’s
name. Unhappily, Bianca submits to his threats. In the conclusion
to the first act Falliero returns to Contareno’s house to declare
his love for Bianca while her intended husband, Capellio, looks
on at her plight as her father berates her. Both men order Falliero
from the house.
In
act 2 Falliero does return to Contareno’s house to meet Bianca
and pleads with her to elope with him. On Contareno’s return
he is forced to flee over the wall into the garden of the adjacent
villa of the Spanish Ambassador where he is caught and accused
of treason. Falliero is put on trial before The Council of Three
that includes both Bianca’s father and her intended husband.
He considers himself lost but Bianca comes before the Coiuncil
to explain his presence in the Ambassador’s house. In the famous
quartet that outlived the demise of the opera in the 19th
century, Bianca pleads for Falliero. Contareno demands the death
penalty whilst the compassionate Capellio insists the matter
be referred the full Senate where Falliero is acquitted. At
the insistence of Capellio, Bianca’s father accedes to her marriage
to Falliero.
Charles
Osborne, in the chapter on Rossini’s operas in his book ‘The
Bel Canto Operas’ (Methuen 1994), asserts that it is in the
music of act 2 that Bianca e Falliero shows itself worthy
of revival. He repeats that statement in his booklet essay (p.35).
I disagree. Some commentators have suggested that the music
of Rossini’s Naples
opera seria works is superior, and more adventurous, than that
which he wrote contemporaneously for the more conservative audiences
in Milan, Rome or Venice. I cannot
say that the music here is of any less quality, diversity or
dramatic nuance than that found in Rossini’s Otello (1816),
Armida (1817) or Mosé (1818) - all written for
Naples. The
music conveys the moods of the dramatic situations Romani penned
and moves the drama along with conviction. Rossini certainly
made considerable technical demands on three of his principal
singers not least on the role of Falliero, sung here by Jennifer
Larmore. She is building a welcome discography for Opera Rara
who will issue a recital disc from her in May 2005. Her mezzo
voice has not the declamatory chest register of Marilyn Horne
at the time of her Pesaro performances. To compensate, Miss
Larmore’s tonal evenness and accuracy across her wide vocal
range in the demanding runs and tessitura of Se per l’Adria
and Il ciel custode, as Falliero greets the Doge,
are a joy (CD 1 trs. 8-9). As well as these hurdles Falliero
has the florid duets with Bianca in both acts (CD 2 trs 2-5
and CD 3 trs 6-10) and the involvements in the extended scenes
of his trial when he at first refuses to plead his case (CD
3 trs. 12, 13 and 15-17). Jennifer Larmore conveys these situations
with intensity and subtle variations of vocal colour whilst
encompassing, with seeming ease, the coloratura demands. Her
performance as Falliero is outstanding and is central to the
success of this recording. As Bianca, Majella Cullagh is equally
agile in the high tessitura of her solo, the cavatina Come
sereno il di (CD 1 tr. 12). Only having the one solo does
not indicate that Rossini was letting his soprano off lightly,
the audience would expect more vocal fireworks from the soprano
diva than that! These come in her duets with Falliero and in
the dramatic confrontations with her domineering father Contareno
(CD 1 trs. 16-19 and CD 3 trs 6-10). The scenes between Bianca
and her father demand not only vocal agility but also the expression
of a wide variety of emotions. Majella Cullagh has the agility
but lacks something in vocal colouring and emotional intensity.
In 2004 I heard her in two staged productions and was mightily
impressed by her vocal strength and agility. On both occasions
she coloured her tone and brought greater vocal intensity than
here. She is a considerable singer who is still developing.
I would rather have her singing, as here, when she is making
positive progress rather than hearing a diva in decline.
The
role of Contareno is one of those fiendishly high tenor roles
that Rossini seemed to take a delight in writing in his Naples period. Barry Banks sings it here. I first heard him in 1982 as a
mellifluous Tamino when a student at Manchester’s Royal Northern College of Music. This was in a production by his
teacher Joseph Ward that included Jane Eaglen as one of The
Ladies, Joan Rodgers as Pamina and Linda Kitchen as Papagena;
future stars all. In the 1984 College production of Rossini’s
Il Barbiere his Almaviva was praised for superb control
of the extended lines that make the composer’s music so difficult
to communicate. The role of Contareno is even more demanding
than Almaviva, at both ends of the register. Banks’ skills have
taken him to Paris, the Met and many other distinguished
venues. Listening to him here, unencumbered by his small stature,
we can hear why. Contareno is a nasty piece of work and with
a metallic edge to his tone Banks manages to convey that strongly
at the bottom of his range. In the fiendishly florid high tessitura
his open-toned singing shows why he can stand alongside the
North Americans who have dominated this fach for the last twenty
five years of the Rossini revival (CD 1 trs 15-19). As Capellio
the bass Ildebrando D'Arcangelo is sonorous and steady. He manages,
by vocal means alone, to convey his greater humanity than that
possessed by his fellow Senator, Bianca’s father. All the smaller
parts are well cast whilst the ever-reliable Geoffrey
Mitchell Choir are vigorous and accurate.
The
Opera Rara packaging is as luxurious as we have come to expect,
but the booklet left me frustrated. There were no track timings
and instead of the usual informative essay that by Charles Osborne’s
seems to be a précis, even to the same phrases, of the chapter
in his book covering the works of Rossini. His synopsis of the
plot is good but would have been better track-related. Also,
in the synopsis he divides each act into three scenes, whilst
the libretto, with English translation, marks thirteen plus
a finale. I do not wish to appear unduly pedantic, but to really
get a feeling for any new work or performance, I want to dip
in and out easily as well as listening straight through. All
means possible in the presentation should facilitate this.
Niggles
about the booklet should not detract from the many positive
virtues of this issue. From overture to finish this recording
has been, for me, a most enjoyable voyage of discovery of an
opera that, until twenty years ago, had not been heard for over
140 years. Rossini’s music fully deserves the outstanding quality
of performance it gets from orchestra, chorus, singers and conductor
on this Opera Rara recording. Whilst the company has a record
of maintaining its recordings in the catalogue, I recommend
all lovers of Rossini’s operatic oeuvre to go out and buy it
as soon as funds or circumstances allow. It will provide musical
pleasure and a feast of good singing.
Robert J Farr
