Giuseppe VERDI (1813-1901)
Un Giorno di Regno - Melodramma giocoso in two acts (1840) [101:16]
Cavaliere di Belfiore - Renato Capecchi (baritone); Barone di Kelbar
- Sesto Bruscantini (baritone); Marchesa del Poggio - Lina Pagliughi
(soprano); Giuletta di Kelbar - Laura Cozzi (soprano); Tesoriere La Rocca -
Christiano Dalamangas (bass); Edoardo - Juan Oncina (tenor); Conte Ivrea -
Mario Carlin (tenor); Delmonte - Ottavia Plenizio (baritone)
Orchestra and Chorus of Radio Italiana/Alfredo Simonetto
rec. 1951
DYNAMIC HISTORICAL SERIES CDS 736/1-2 [58:19 + 42:57]
Despite its reputation as one of Verdi’s least convincing
scores, Un Giorno di Regno can work surprisingly well on disc and in
the theatre. Perhaps this is not surprising as although it is usually
described as Verdi’s only comic opera apart from Falstaff there
are plenty of passages in his other operas that, if not wholly comic, have a
lighter character than the main thrust of those operas.They stand out in
greater relief as a consequence.
Un Giorno di Regno is very obviously a descendant of the
comic operas of Rossini and Donizetti but has a character of its own, less
relaxed and more steely, frenzied even, than those comparators. The driving
rhythms and melodic lines could come from any of Verdi’s earlier
operas but all the usual requirements of comic opera of this period are
present including extended buffo duets for the Barone and the
Tesoriere.
This recording is rightly marketed as being “historical”
as it was the first commercial recording of the opera. It was however by no
means complete as almost every number is brutally cut, excising not merely
second verses but large and small chunks within numbers, often for no
obvious purpose. The result is briefer and even less relaxed in character,
but the harm done to the form of each number is drastic. The first genuinely
complete version was recorded by Philips with Jessye Norman and Jose
Carreras, conducted by Lamberto Gardelli. That appears not currently to be
available but I would be surprised if it were restored during next
year’s Verdi anniversary. If that is the case, for anyone with a
serious interest in Verdi or this opera in particular, it will be an
essential purchase if they do not have it already.
The present account is nonetheless somewhat more than a stopgap,
although the vicious cuts and dim recording will always count against it,
and the lack of text, translation or even synopsis do little to commend the
present reissue; it is also available from other sources. It is for the
singing, or more particularly for certain singers, that this is worth
hearing. The way in which the three baritones or basses relish and put
across their (many) words, in ensembles in particular, and the sweetness of
the singing of Lina Pagliughi and Juan Oncina are sources of great delight.
This sort of idiomatic performance helps prevent the opera seeming merely
coarse or routine as it can in unsympathetic hands or throats. It is hard
when listening to it to remember that Verdi wrote it during a period of
great personal unhappiness, unless it is in the almost fierce gaiety that
results at times. If this recording helps to convince more people of its
merits it can be welcomed albeit without enormous enthusiasm.
John Sheppard
If this recording helps to convince more people of its merits it can be welcomed albeit without enormous enthusiasm.
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