After the premiere
of Semiramide in Venice on 3 February 1823 Rossini and
his wife travelled to London via Paris. They stayed in London
for six months. There the composer presented eight of his operas
at the King’s Theatre, Haymarket, and also met and sang duets
with the King. The stay in London was reputed to have brought
Rossini many tens of thousand of pounds. On his return to Paris,
Rossini was offered the post of Musical Director of the Théâtre
Italien. His contract provided an excellent income and a guaranteed
pension. It also demanded new operas from him in French. Before
embarking on any such opera he had the unavoidable duty of a
work to celebrate the coronation of Charles X in Reims Cathedral
in June 1825. Called Il viaggio a Reims (A Journey
to Reims) it was composed to an Italian libretto and presented
at the Théatre Italien on 19 June. It was hugely successful
in three sold-out performances after which Rossini withdrew
it considering it purely a pièce d’occasion.
Rossini’s first
compositions to French texts for The Opéra were revisions of
earlier works with new libretti, settings and additional music.
The first, Le Siège de Corinth was premiered in October
1826 and was a resounding success. Moïse et Pharon, a
revision of the Italian Mosè in Egitto followed in March
1827 to even greater acclaim. During the composition of Moïse
et Pharon, Rossini agreed to write Guillaume Tell.
Before doing so he wrote Le Comte Ory, making use of
five of the nine numbers from Il viaggio a Reims.
Le Comte Ory is not a comic opera in the Italian tradition,
where secco recitative was to last another decade or so, but
more in the French manner of opéra-comique. There are no buffoon
characters and no buffa type patter arias. The work is one of
charm and wit in the best Gallic tradition and a link towards
Offenbach. The plot concerns the Countess Adele and her ladies
who swear chastity and retreat into the countess’s castle when
their men go off to the crusades. Comte Ory, a young licentious
and libidinous aristocrat is determined to gain entrance to
the castle in pursuit of carnal activity. He first does so as
a travelling hermit seeking shelter and charity. When this fails
he returns disguised as the Mother Superior of a group of nuns
- really his own men in disguise - who also fancy their chances
with the pent-up ladies. His young page Isolier, a trousers
role, who is in love with the countess himself thwarts Ory’s
plans. The timely return of the crusaders does likewise for
the intentions of Ory’s fellow ‘nuns’. Love remains ever pure
and chastity unsullied!
The annual Bad Wildbad
Festival, held in the small Black Forest spa where Rossini stopped
over, has become known as the Pesaro of the North. It not only
makes a speciality of Rossini’s works but also presents those
often long forgotten Italian Operas by German composers of similar
vintage. Naxos engineers have been present at the Festival for
a number of years and the consequences have filled a number of
important gaps Rossini catalogue. From the 2001 Festival comes
a world premiere recording of L'equivoco
stravagante and also La
pietra del paragone. The year 2002 juxtaposed Rossini’s
Maometto
II, in the 1820 Naples edition, alongside Peter Von Winter’s
Maometo,
which had lain unperformed for 150 years. The two works are derived
from totally different literary sources and the plot and characters
are in no way related. This was issued on the Marco Polo label.
From 2003 came a recording of Torvaldo
e Dorliska that filled an important gap in the catalogue
but was quickly usurped by a Dynamic
release with a superior cast from Pesaro itself. In 2004 Bad Wildbad
presented Rossini’s rare Ciro
in Babilonia, his Lenten offering of 1811 for Ferrara.
Among this formidable list of recordings, I had missed the fact
that Naxos had not until now issued a recording of Le
Comte Ory from the 2002 Festival. Maybe with a strong
rival in the form of John
Eliot Gardiner’s recording in the Philips Classic Opera series
it was not considered as urgent in the schedule.
Whatever the background,
the arrival of this recording of Rossini’s French comedy is
welcome. Brad Cohen whose conducting I admired in the Maometto
keeps the music moving and full of verve. Of the singers
Linda Gerard as the countess particularly impressed me. She
had been off my radar since leaving Manchester’s Royal Northern
College in the early 1990s since when she has built a career
in Europe including this performance at Bad Wildbad. She has
a warm centre to her voice allied to a flexible and secure coloratura
technique (CD 1 tr. 19 and CD 2 trs. 3-5) to give a very appealing
and satisfying characterisation. Her fellow coloratura, Luisa
Islam-Ali-Zade who has appeared in several Bad Wildbad productions
is equally impressive as Isolier although I would have liked
a little more distinction in timbre between her and Linda Gerrard
(CD 2 tr. 11). At the other end of the mezzo extreme Gloria
Montanari’s Ragonde is a little thick-toned. As the libidinous
Count, Huw Rhys-Evans sometimes strives a little too hard with
a coarsening of his tone. He is good in this repertoire, but
lacks the mellifluous head voice necessary to make him outstanding.
Nonetheless his singing is never less then well phrased and
characterised 9CD 1 tr. 3 and CD 2 trs. 3 and 11). As Raimbad,
the count’s partner in would be seduction, Luca Salsi sings
strongly and evenly whilst Wojtek Gierlach as his tutor is steady
and sonorous in the air Veiller sans cesse (CD 1 tr.
5).
The recording is
well balanced and there are no obtrusive stage noises. The audience
show their warm appreciation after some ensembles and individual
arias, but they do so judiciously and without disturbing Brad
Cohen’s fluid interpretation. The leaflet has a full track-listing
with roles and timings indicated, an informative introductory
essay, artist profiles and a track-related synopsis, all in
English. There is an alternative essay in German as well as
a translation of the track-related synopsis in that language.
Robert J Farr
Count Ory,
a young and licentious nobleman - Huw Rhys-Evans (tenor); Countess
Adele - Linda Gerrard (soprano); Isolier, page to Count Ory and
in love with the Countess Adele - Luisa Islam-Ali-Zade (mezzo);
Raimbaud, friend to Count Ory - Luca Salsi (bass-baritone); Governor,
tutor to Count Ory - Wojtek Gierlach (bass); Ragonde, companion
to Countess Adele - Gloria Montanari (mezzo); Alice, a young peasant
- Sofia Soloviy (soprano)
