Rossini’s first staged opera, La
Cambiale di Matrimonio, (see review
of CD and also on DVD)
was premiered at Venice’s Teatro San
Moisè in November 1810. It was a full
year later before his next opera
L'equivoco stravagante, was staged,
in his home town of Bologna. It was
musically sound, innovative and well
received, but its plot offended the
local censors and it was quickly withdrawn
(see review).
Meanwhile the impresario of the Teatro
San Moisè had been impressed by Rossini’s
first effort for his theatre and was
eager for another Rossini farsa. L’Inganno
Felice (The Happy Stratagem) was
premiered there to acclaim on 8
January 1812 during the important carnival
season. Within a year it had been staged
in Bologna, Florence, Verona and Trieste
as well as at the Teatro San Benedetto,
second only to La Fenice in Venice.
The innate quality of the music also
enabled Rossini to use the opera as
a calling card when he settled in Naples
in 1815 and then in Paris in 1824, although
it had already been heard there in 1819.
It was the third most performed of Rossini’s
operas in his lifetime. As the opera
travelled, modifications and additions
were made to meet the skills and requirements
of particular singers and theatres.
The Edition performed here is the revision
by Florian Bauer and includes
the alternative aria for Isabella written
for La Scala, Milan
in 1816 (CD 2 tr.4).
In
many ways L’Inganno Felice is
not a true farsa or comic opera, but
can be seen as an early Rossini effort
at semi seria. This genre Rossini
brought to full flower much later in
his career with Torvaldo e Dorliska
(1815, see review
on Naxos and also on Dynamic
DVD), most notably in La gazza
ladra (1817, see review)
and also with Matilde du Shabran
(1822, see review).
All three are also, as here, variants
of the rescue opera, usually,
but not always as in Beethoven’s Fidelio,
involving a woman faced with an unspeakable
fate. In L’Inganno Felice, the
story concern Isabella who was banished
and abandoned at sea by her husband
Duke Bertrando at the instigation of
his villainous confidant Ormondo whose
advances she had spurned and aided by
a reluctant Batone. She was found half
dead on the seashore by Tarabotto, a
mineworker’s leader, and has since lived
with him as his niece. Ten years later
Bertrando arrives with his two henchmen
seeking his wife who he really loves
but also believes dead. Although Batone
has regretted his actions Ormondo does
not. Batone having seen her, suspects
that Nisa is the Duke’s wife. While
Ormondo plots to abduct and kill Nisa,
Tarabotto reveals a stratagem to the
Duke to foil him. In the finale (CD
2 tr.6) the plot is foiled and husband
and wife are reconciled. The guilty
are punished and the innocent triumphant.
It is rescue opera, semi seria and romantic
opera with a touch of comedy wrapped
into one. No wonder Rossini used it
as a calling card.
This
edition of L’Inganno Felice was
prepared for concert performances in
July 2005 to celebrate the re-opening
of the Königliches Kurtheater at Bas
Wildbad, Germany, the base for the annual
Rossini In Wildbad Festival.
The acoustic of the new theatre is far
better than that of the old, being leaner
and more analytical. This enables the
listener fully to appreciate the work
itself in its many felicitous moments
and also the detail brought out by Alberto
Zedda. Scholar as well as conductor
Zedda has been instrumental as no other
in the Rossini renaissance of the past
thirty years. He brings zest and brio
to his conducting of Rossini as can
be heard here as early as the overture
(CD 1 tr.1). His skill does much to
explain why this work was held in such
high esteem by the composer as well
as the impresario of the Teatro San
Moisè who, after the first performance
wrote to the composer’s mother in eulogistic
terms about it and about her son’s future.
Alongside
the conducting of Zedda in the enjoyment
of this performance is the quality of
the singing of all the soloists. It
must have been difficult to choose three
bass voices each of distinct timbre
and vocal character. Lorenzo Regazzo
as Tarabotto, the rescuer of Isabella,
is strong, sonorous and sings with good
characterisation (CD 1 trs.2-3). He
affects a darker timbre than I would
have expected from a singer who appeared
as Guglielmo at Covent Garden in 2007
and as Leporello in René Jacobs recent
recording of Don Giovanni (Harmonia
Mundi 901964.66). I was impressed by
his singing and acting as Maometto in
the DVD recording of Maometto II
from La Fenice in 2005 (see review).
His contribution here confirms my favourable
view. Regazzo’s
voice is well contrasted with
the softer grained Marco Vinco’s as
Batone. Vinco is something of a Rossini
specialist these days, appearing regularly
at the Pesaro Festival. His imposing
stage presence and acting can be seen
as well as heard in performances of
La Cenerentola, (see review),
La pietra del paragone (see review)
and L’Italiana in Algeri (see
review)
and elsewhere. His vocal acting and
characterisation are used to good effect
in this performance (CD 1 tr.6). In
the smallest of the bass roles, that
of the unrepentant Ormondo, British-born
and trained Simon Bailey, now based
in Germany, is again vocally well contrasted.
His singing is a little less even than
that of his colleagues but it’s expressive
and well characterised (CD 1 tr.10).
Corinna
Mologni, as Isabella-cum-Nisa, is light-toned
and flexible with a touch of cream to
her voice. Her coloratura runs are not
perfect, but as befits a singer who
has essayed Elvira in I Puritani
they are accomplished with expression
and vocal freedom. She is well up to
the varied challenges of the Milan aria
(CD 2 tr.4) and elsewhere sings with
good expression. The booklet gives a
special note to Kenneth Tarver who undertook
the role of Duke Bertrando at short
notice and learned it in five days,
thus saving the Festival. He is an accomplished
light lyric tenor with a touch of metal
in his tone. He sings Don Ottavio in
the recording of Don Giovanni under
René Jacobs referred to above. I admired
his free, elegant and mellifluous singing
in Opera Rara’s recording of La Donna
del Lago from the 2006 Edinburgh
Festival (see review)
and am equally impressed here. He can
and does caress a phrase as well as
also clearly expressing what he is singing
about. Overall, and without making allowances
whatsoever for the circumstances, his
singing is all I could have hoped for
and a strength to this fine performance.
Naxos does not provide a libretto
or translation. There is a full track-listing
including characters involved, an excellent
track-related synopsis and artist profiles,
all in English. There is also an excellent
informative background essay in English
and German. The Claves recording of
February 1992 made in Rosslyn Hill Chapel,
London
is included in a bargain price Brilliant
set (see review)
as well as a separate disc (Claves 50-9211).
Neither the singing nor the recording
is a match for this Naxos
issue.
Robert J Farr
Isabella, known as Nisa - Corinna Mologni
(soprano); Duke Bertrando - Kenneth Tarver
(tenor); Tarabotto - Lorenzo Regazzo (bass);
Batone - Marco Vinco (bass); Ormondo -
Somon Bailey (bass)
