After his seventh opera
Zoraida di Granata (LINK)
was premiered in Rome in January 1822,
Donizetti’s stock rose rapidly. Domenico
Barbaja, impresario of the Royal Theatres
of Naples, faced with the loss of Rossini
to Paris, contracted the young composer.
Fifteen of the twenty operas Donizetti
composed in the remainder of the decade
were premiered in Naples. But it was
in Milan rather than Naples that his
big breakthrough came.
In May 1830 the Duke
of Litta and two rich associates formed
a Society to sponsor opera at La Scala.
They were concerned to raise the musical
standards that had seen Rossini, Meyerbeer
and others decamp to Paris. They engaged
most of the famous singers of the time
including Giuditta Pasta and the tenor
Giovanni Battista Rubini. Donizetti
and Bellini, recognised as the two best
Italian composers of the day were each
contracted to write an opera for the
season to a libretto set by the renowned
Felice Romani. Litta and his associates
failed to secure La Scala for their
plans, which were realised at the Teatro
Carcano. It was in that theatre that
Anna Bolena was first heard on
December 26th 1830 and spread
Donizetti’s name around the world.
With his horizons widening
and constantly being frustrated by the
censors in Naples, who demanded happy
endings, Donizetti cancelled his contract
in 1832 and left the city. Two years
later he returned as musical director
of the Royal Theatres and a contract
to write one opera seria for the San
Carlo each year. The first of these
was to have been Maria Stuarda,
but the censors interfered, again objecting
to the tragic ending. In little more
than two weeks Donizetti rearranged
the music to a new libretto, Buondelmonte.
Needless to say it was only a moderate
success. During a trip to Paris at Rossini’s
invitation he presented Marino Faliero
at the Théâtre Italien.
Following on after Bellini’s I Puritani
it made few waves. Donizetti however,
had seen the higher musical standards
and experienced the better remuneration
available in Paris and planned to return.
Back in Naples he presented Lucia
di Lamermoor. It was rapturously
received. With the premature death of
Bellini in the same year, and Rossini
no longer composing opera, Donizetti
could claim pre-eminence among Italian
opera composers. He fulfilled his contract
at the San Carlo with L’assedio di
Calais in 1836, Roberto Devereux
(LINK)
the following year and wrote Poliuto
for 1838. This story of Christian
martyrdom in Roman times worried the
censors. With the work complete Donizetti
was told that the King, a deeply religious
man, had personally forbidden its staging
in Naples and Pia de’ Tolomei (LINK
CD
and DVD)
was substituted.
The banning of Poliuto
was the final straw for Donizetti
who left Naples for Paris in October
1838. Once there he agreed to write
two operas in French. For the first
he turned to Poliuto and engaged
Eugène Scribe to produce a French
text based on Cammarano’s Italian libretto.
Whilst awaiting the ever dilatory Scribe
to complete the new libretto, Donizetti
presented a French version of Lucia
and wrote La Fille du Régiment
premiered at the Opéra Comique
on 11th February 1840. For
the revised Poliuto he rewrote
the recitatives, divided act one in
two and wrote a new finale. He also
added arias, trios and the de rigueur
ballet. The new four-act version
was premiered as Les Martyrs at
The Opéra on 10th
March 1840. Poliuto in its original
form was not performed until 1848.
As I wrote in my review
of Opera Rara’s Donizetti Pia de’
Tolomei, when coming to review a
work with which I am not intimately
familiar, I like to listen to the recording
complete and then follow it through
with the libretto. This enables me to
get a first impression of the quality
of the conducting and engineering as
well how the singers and the conductor
convey the drama of the work. This issue
presented me with major problems. The
accompanying leaflet comprises just
four sides, of which three are the track
listings, in French, and without any
indication of which character(s) is
singing. As to a simple synopsis, absolutely
nothing! My heart sank, at least until
I listened to the music and performance.
Given that it is a recording of a live
stage performance, and in mono, the
sound although a little over-resonant
is eminently acceptable. The singers
are set a little further back on the
sound-stage than in a studio recording
and there are frequent interruptions
for warm, but not excessive applause.
There are no audible intrusions of stage
noise. Above the qualities of the singers
and recording it was the maturity of
Donizetti’s musical creation that captivated
me. Arias extend into duets and trios
with an associated orchestral complexity
that marks a significant development
in his compositional style. With this
observation and stimulus I set out to
find a libretto. A search of the web
found one in French. The bad news is
that there is no translation and it
is spread over 44 pages at www.karador.com.
With the libretto to
hand, and despite my not being wholly
fluent in French, I was able to follow
the story and comment on the singers.
Of the singing cast Renato Bruson as
Severe is outstanding. At the time of
this recording he was arguably the finest
Donizetti baritone before the public.
His singing had a wide palette of vocal
colour, fine legato and the capacity
to characterise a role second to none.
In the 1980s and later, with the world
shortage of Verdi baritones he took
on more dramatic roles with some consequent
loosening in his vocal tone. In this
live performance his tonal colour and
overall characterisation are of the
highest order (CD 2 trs 2-6). Severe’s
act 3 confrontation with Pauline (CD
2 trs. 7-10) is a dramatic highlight
with two singers sparking off each other.
In such dramatic scenes Leyla Gencer’s
portrayal of Pauline is at its best.
Born in 1924 in Istanbul she had an
enviable reputation in Rossini, Donizetti
and early Verdi. Regrettably her dramatic
interpretations put too much pressure
on her voice and by the time of this
recording she had lost smoothness in
legato in exposed lines and a tendency
to occluded tone also caused her diction
to suffer (CD 1 trs. 4-5). Later on
she compensates for this poor start
with singing of dramatic intensity that
conveys Pauline’s situation and even
finishes one scene with some sotto
voce phrasing (CD 3 trs. 4-5). As
Felix the young Ferruccio Furlanetto
is in fine voice with smooth sonorous
tone, fine legato and excellent diction
(CD 1 trs. 8-10). If his characterisation
is not quite up to the standard set
by Bruson and Gencer, his vocal quality
is a big compensation. As Polyeucte,
Ottavio Garaventa is not in the same
class as his compatriots. His true tenor
voice has a pleasant lyric quality but
his contribution is marred by a tendency
to push his instrument and strain at
the end of phrases. (CD 1 tr. 3). Despite
lacking the ideal heft needed, and audibly
tiring towards the end of the opera,
his contribution does not spoil the
overall performance.
The Italian chorus
are vibrant and committed under Gianluigi
Gelmetti’s idiomatic baton. He phrases
the ballet music (CD 2 trs. 3-5) with
real affection whilst elsewhere supporting
his singers at the same time as giving
full measure to Donizetti’s music. Both
Richard Osborne (The Bel Canto Operas.
Methuen 1994) and the current Donizetti
Society Listing show this performance
as having previously been available
on LP. There are a couple of occasions
when I detected some pitch variation
on exposed strings which made me wonder
whether these CDs are derived from LP
pressings or a master tape. No matter,
unless the likes of Opera Rara show
interest, this performance and recording
is what Donizetti enthusiasts are likely
to be faced with for the foreseeable
future. I am glad to be able to be able
to write that overall the performance
and mono recording enable a good appreciation
of the composer’s considerable achievement
and one that should be heard by all
lovers of his music.
Robert J Farr
Chorus and Orchestra of the Teatro La Fenice Venice/Gianluigi
Gelmetti 
