For those opera enthusiasts who have seen the NVC Arts DVD titled
Verdi,
The pursuit of Success and The Burden of Success - subtitled ‘A
Major Film on the Life and Work of Giuseppe Verdi’ - (D4226),
this issue should come with a health warning. The Verdi film
was derived from two 1994 BBC documentary broadcast programmes
presented by Mark Elder. The extracts are complete and presented
as acted performances albeit, with rudimentary scenery, and with
Elder conducting the orchestra of English National Opera of which
he was Musical Director. The story is told in between these sung
and acted excerpts.
This DVD presentation focuses on a narrative of Rossini’s
life, which is true to the title. Actor Brian Blessed, as the
composer, speaks this narrative with Timothy Bateson as the voice
of Stendhal, Rossini’s biographer. That’s fine. What
is less so is that the cover also claims that it features Joan
Sutherland and Cecilia Bartoli. It might escape the attentions
of Trading Standards in so far as the
voices of those
two eminent singers are present. But this is a DVD and some purchasers
might just assume that they appear in the visual excerpts listed.
In fact, while most of the excerpts are illustrated by live performances,
others are only by the music and singing with vaguely relevant
scenes of the locality or of a supposedly relevant theatre. In
the case of the religious pieces these are more often of what
might loosely be described as spiritual connotations. The spoken
narrative overlays some of the visual excerpts to varying degrees.
I have listed all the Chapter titles above and marked with an
asterisk those with a live visual staged performance. Of these
both
Il Barbiere di Siviglia and
La Cenerentola are
derived from performances at Glyndebourne and feature as two
of the three operas from that source on
Warner Entertainment, Three
DVDs 50-514422-7848-2-4 (see
review).
These are adequate rather than inspired staged productions, but
the extracts suit their purpose. In terms of singing, the extract
from
Tancredi with Bernadette Manca Di Nissa’s creamy
tone in the wonderful catchy
Di tanti palpiti is a marked
improvement. Rossini’s somewhat deliberately chaotic finale
of act one of
L'Italiana in Algeri, in very ornate and
colourful costumes, is adequate rather than inspired. The narrative
puts these and the earlier opera extracts into the perspective
of Rossini’s life and rise to fame, particularly after
Tancredi and
L'Italiana
in Algeri. This was the critical stage of his career when,
in 1815 at the young age of twenty-three, he was summoned by
impresario Barbaja to be Musical Director of the Royal Theatres
of Naples. His first opera for the San Carlo was
Elisabetta,
Regina d'Inghilterra premiered on 4 October 1815. This subject
was particularly appropriate as it also welcomed the return of
the King from exile after the overthrow of Napoleon, which had
been achieved largely by the English. In this extract, Cecilia
Bartoli sings Elisabetta’s Act One aria whilst pictures
of the Bay of Naples and the interior of the San Carlo theatre
are shown. The narrative diverts to mention Colbran and her place
as the diva at the San Carlo and her relationship with Rossini.
There are also references to his - later their - travels to Venice,
Rome and Milan to present the composer’s works and fulfil
new commissions.
It is mentioned that Rossini’s contract at Naples allowed
him to work elsewhere. Whilst mentioning
Otello,
Moses and
Lady
of the Lake there is no mention of the other Naples opera
seria, nine in all. The narrative does state that during his
time at Naples Rossini composed fifteen operas. As a matter of
detailed accuracy it was nineteen. The narrative and musical
extracts move on to
Il Barbiere and
La Cenerentola, these
being operas composed for Rome and
each being with visuals
from the abovementioned Glyndebourne performances. In between
there is singing from the
Messa di Gloria as an example
of another work Rossini was required to compose for Naples under
his contract. The brief pictorial extract from the
Messa di
Gloria has some fine singing from Francesco Araiza as well
as an excellent choral contribution.
The focus of the narrative moves swiftly to Venice where Rossini
presented
Semiramide in 1823. The story of Babylonian
goings-on was the basis for the last opera he composed for presentation
in his native country. The voice is that of Joan Sutherland from
the Decca recording conducted by Bonynge. The views of the Grand
Canal, St Mark’s Square and the Doge’s Palace from
across the lagoon are a magnificent backdrop, as are pictures
of La Fenice, interior and outside, before it was destroyed by
fire in the mid-1990s. Semiramide was the last role Colbran sang
on stage as she and Rossini, now man and wife, travelled to Paris
and London where the composer was presented to the King and earned
vast amounts of money before his return to the French capital.
In Paris, the narrative recounts his appointment and his first
operas in French with a woolly picture of an Italian language
version of
William Tell featuring Chris Merritt. This,
at age 37, was Rossini’s last opera. The narrative asks
why and offers explanations as well as recounting his fight for
the French pension he had been promised, taking six years to
sort it out. Years of depression and pain from the urethritis
consequent on his gonorrhoea were to follow. He worked in his
native Bologna and composed his
Stabat Mater for the university
of that city. Donizetti conducted the premiere. The performance
extract shown was recorded in the venue of the premiere. With
the revolution of 1848 Rossini and his wife left Italy never
to return. They set up home in France, eventually building a
villa at Passé.
With his new wife’s care Rossini started to compose again,
The
sins of old age, songs with piano performed at the regular
soirées at their home.
The Aragonese and
Adieux à la
vie are sung wonderfully by mezzo-soprano Della Jones with
Malcolm Martineau at the piano. Both of these are given without
overlay of narrative.
The story concludes with sound extracts from the Erato recording
of Rossini’s
Petite Messe Solennelle in a performance
in the original form with accompaniment by two pianos. Rossini
later orchestrated it. The original was written for the consecration
of the Chapel at the home of his friend Countess Pillet-Will
in 1863. The word ‘petite’ does not refer to the
work’s size, but rather the composer’s self-evaluation
of its importance.
As the narrative notes, Rossini died in 1868 at the age of seventy-seven.
There were four thousand mourners at his funeral in Paris. He
had been showered with honours in France and Italy. Garrulous
as George Bernard Shaw may have dubbed him,
Old Rococo was
his self-deprecatory description. He was the first of a sequence
of truly great operatic composers born in and fostered by Italy
in the nineteenth century.
Those interested in more detail about the composer and his operas
will find it in
part
one and
part
two of my
Rossini Conspectus on this site.
Robert J Farr
Chapter list
Chapter 1 Il Barbiere di Siviglia *
Chapter 2 Sonata a quattro
Chapter 3 La Cambiale di Matrimonio*
Chapter 4 Il Signor Bruschino*
Chapter 5 Tancredi*
Chapter 6 L'Italiana in Algeri*
Chapter 7 Elisabetta, Regina d'Inghilterra
Chapter 8 Il Barbiere di Siviglia*
Chapter 9 Messa di Gloria*
Chapter 10 La Cenerentola*
Chapter 11 Semiramide
Chapter 12 Guillaume Tell*
Chapter 13 Stabat Mater*
Chapter 14 Aragonese*
Chapter 15 Adieux à la vie*
Chapter 16 Petite Messe Solennelle
Chapter 17 La Cenerentola*
Excerpts illustrated by performance pictures* OR sound only with picture backgrounds.
Various recording
dates and venues. Original issue 1992 
[83:00] 
