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Italian Opera Choruses |
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Composer: |
Giacomo Puccini, Giuseppe Verdi, Ruggero Leoncavallo, Pietro Mascagni, Gaetano Donizetti, Gioachino Rossini |
Artist: |
Giacomo Aragall, Jussi Bjorling, Francesco Ellero d' Artegna, Maria Dragoni, Miroslav Dvorsky, Stefka Evstatieva, Maurizio Frusoni, Miriam Gauci, Thomas Harper, Raoul Jobin, Kristjan Johannson, Monika Krause, Giorgio Lamberti, Herbert Lippert, Daniela Longhi, Janez Lotric, Nicola Martinucci, Anna di Mauro, Lauritz Melchior, Anna Maria di Micco, Jozsef Mukk, Ewa Podles, Lily Pons, Rosa Ponselle, Yordy Ramiro, Bidu Sayao, Roberto Servile, Renata Tebaldi, Georg Tichy, Eduard Tumagian, Luba Orgonasova, John McCormack, Alida Ferrarini, Louise Homer, Nellie Melba, Antonio Scotti, Giuseppe Valdengo, Salvatore Baccaloni, Lina Bruna-Rasa, Carlo Galeffi, Ferruccio Tagliavini, Mercedes Capsir, Lionello Cecil, Igor Morozov, Pia Tassinari, Licia Albanese, Beniamino Gigli, Frida Leider, Richard Tauber, Elisabeth Rethberg, Leonard Warren, Erna Berger, Jan Peerce, Nan Merriman, Nathaniel Sprinzena, Thomas Motto, Gino Bechi, Maria Marcucci, Ebe Stignani, Eleanor Steber, Giuseppe Di Stefano, Frederic Jagel, Iva Pacetti, Mario Basiola, Giuseppe Nessi, Leone Paci, Maria Caniglia, Italo Tajo, Lucrezia Bori, Ida Conti, Aristide Baracchi, Natale Villa, Lina Pagliughi, Bo Skovhus, Bianca Scacciati, Enrico Molinari, Giuseppina Zinetti, Francesco Merli, Frances Alda, Luisa Tetrazzini, Pasquale Amato, Ernestine Schumann-Heink, Josephine Jacoby, Mirella Freni, Karita Mattila, Margaret Price, Fedora Barbieri, Riccardo Stracciari, Francis Lapitino, Reinald Werrenrath, Titta Ruffo, Joan Sutherland, Ernesto Dominici, Toti Dal Monte, Vittoria Palombini, Tito Schipa, Giovanni Martinelli, Roberto Frontali, Landon Ronald, Zsuzsa Csonka, Franco de Grandis, Hjordis Schymberg, Boje Skovhus, Alzbeta Michalkova, Carlo Forti, Irina Tchistjakova, Barbara Dever, Mark Rucker, Sumi Jo, Stanford Olsen, Pietro Spagnoli, Lucretia Lendi, Alessandra Ruffini, Simone Alaimo, Mariangela Spotorno, Maria Zamboni, Grace Moore, Richard Wright, Zinka Milanov, Nicola Moscona, Margaret Roggero, Paul Franke, George Cehanovsky, Giuseppe de Luca, Giovanni Inghilleri, Fernando Corena, Piero De Palma, Melchiorre Luise, Studio pianist, Alan Opie, Yaroslava Poberezhna, Ruslan Tansky, Dusolina Giannini, Joseph Schmidt, Claramae Turner, Vladimir Kubovcik, Marian Vach, Vittore Veneziani, Ladislav Neshyba, Jan Rozehnal, Alma Gluck, Robert Merrill, Hillevi Martinpelto, Guiseppe Campora, Nell Rankin, Amelita Galli-Curci, Flora Perini, Ana Maria Martinez, Jozef Spacek, Nelly Boschkowa, Robert Szucs, Jozef Abel, Rannveig Braga, Ivica Neshybova, Peter Oswald, Pavol Maurery, Peter Subert, Jitka Saparova, Sandor Pasztor, Janos Tandari, Riccardo Ferrari, Antonio Marceno, Monica Trini, Ana Tomkovicova, Maria Stahelova, Helena Hanzelova, Maria Huder, Adelio Zagonara, Gino Conti, Ingvar Wixell, Mario Del Monaco, Aldo Protti, Dario Caselli, Victoria De los Angeles, Marcello Giordani, Maria Arghiracopulos, Martha Lipton, Thelma Votipka, Thelma Altman, Leslie Chabay, Salvatore Cottone, Stefano Secco, Maria Callas, Rolando Panerai, Tito Gobbi, Franco Calabrese, Boris Christoff, Nicolai Gedda, Vincenzo La Scola, Renato Bruson, Carol Brice, Indra Thomas, Kristine Jepson, Matthew Polenzani, Mariusz Kwiecien, Mario Sammarco, Diana Soviero, Soile Isokoski, Anna Maria Canali, Ede Gandolfo Marietti, Ines Marietti, Francesco Albanese, Ugo Savarese, Mariano Caruso, Mario Zorgniotti, Alberto Albertini, Gino Bianchi, Franco Rossi, Giulio Mogliotti, Hermann Prey, Yvonne Naef, Elizabeth Campbell, Edna Thornton, Nicholas Massue, Giovanni Paltrinieri, Cloe Elmo, Johanna Gadski, Birgit Nordin, Norman Cordon, Rina Gigli, Matteo Peirone, Ebe Ticozzi, Nicola Monti, Lucia Danieli, Mario Borriello, Renato Ercolani, Luisa Villa, Mario Carlin, Plinio Clabassi, Enrico Campi, Norberto Mola, Kitty Wilson, Anna Maria Rota, Giuseppe Conca, Kenneth Collins, Donald Shanks, Hao Jiang Tian, Bruna Rizzoli, Roberta Peters, Lawrence Tibbett, Enrico Caruso, Patrick Peire, Colin Mawby, Antonietta Stella, Lucy Isabelle Marsh, Elvira Galassi, Luisa Mandelli, Adriana Lazzarini, Giuse Gerbino, Lauris Elms, Giorgio Casciarri, Vittorio Tatozzi, Matti Hirvonen, Nicola Zaccaria, William Dickie, Marjorie Heyward, Franco Ricciardi, Richard Tucker, Giuseppe Modesti, Giorgio Tozzi, Lado Ataneli, Jonathan Summers, Cynthia Johnston, Robin Donald, Elsie Baker, Silvio Maionica, Giuseppe Zampieri, Ramon Vinay, Arturo la Porta, Tommaso Frascati, Leonardo Monreale, Lidia Grandi, Silvana Celli, Santa Chissari, Andrea Mineo, Herva Nelli, Virginio Assandri, Arthur Newman, Ben Grauer, Max Saal, Giuseppe Altomare, Giulio Mauri, Rubens Pelizzari, Luca Dall'Amico, Hui He, Bruno Sbalchiero, Dermot Troy, Simone Kermes, Rosanna Carteri, Teresa Berganza, Cesare Valletti, Mario Zanasi, Marie Collier, Lea Roberts, Forbes Robinson, Miljenko Turk, Olha Zhuravel, Pavel Kudinov, Marco Voleri, William Corro, Andrea Pistolesi, Josef Wagner, Sarah M'Punga, Simone del Savio, Sonia Zaramella, David Kelly, Ronald Lewis, Sebastian Bollacher, Camilla De Falleiro, Daniel Martinez-Corvera |
Conductor: |
Landon Ronald, Sten Frykberg, Cesare Sodero, Josef A. Pasternack, Richard Bonynge, Oliviero De Fabritiis, Gabriele Santini, Lawrence Collingwood, Will Humburg, Gaetano Merola, Pietro Mascagni, Arturo Toscanini, Herbert von Karajan, Michael Halasz, Antonello Gotta, Stanford Robinson, Argeo Quadri, Enrico Sivieri, Michael Hofstetter, Otto Dobrindt, Clemens Schmalstich, Alberto Erede, Victor Trucco, Giulio Setti, Carlo Sabajno, Steven Mercurio, John Barbirolli, Lorenzo Molajoli, Giuseppe Antonicelli, Walter B. Rogers, Rosario Bourdon, Umberto Berrettoni, Dino Olivieri, Renato Cellini, Sixten Ehrling, Selmar Meyrowitz, Franco Ghione, Oliver Dohnanyi, Bjarte Engeset, Nils Grevillius, Ondrej Lenard, Pier Giorgio Morandi, Ettore Panizza, Alexander Rahbari, Ricco Saccani, Tullio Serafin, Johannes Wildner, Leopold Hager, Joseph Rescigno, Charles Rosekrans, Jukka-Pekka Saraste, Gianandrea Gavazzeni, Daniele Callegari, Jonel Perlea, Long Yu, Alberto Zedda, Leo Blech, Bruno Seidler-Winkler, Vincenzo Bellezza, Hans Schmidt-Isserstedt, Roberto Paternostro, Giacomo Spadoni, James Robertson, Ivan Anguelov, Wolfgang Grohs, Mikko Franck, Heinz Wallberg, Antonio Tonini, Heinz Fricke, Nicola Rescigno, Vladimir Ghiaurov, Giovanni Reggioli |
Choir: |
Capella Brugensis, Budapest Festival Chorus, Hungarian State Opera Chorus, Kiev Chamber Choir, New York Metropolitan Opera Chorus, RTE Chamber Choir, RTE Philharmonic Choir, Slovak Philharmonic Chorus, Robert Shaw Chorale, Milan La Scala Chorus, Rome Opera House Chorus, Stockholm Royal Opera Chorus , Opera Australia Chorus, Studio chorus, Metropolitan Opera Chorus, Santa Cecilia Academy Chorus, Rome, CETRA Chorus, Columbus Boychoir, Catania Teatro Massimo Bellini Chorus, Culwick Choral Society, Bray Choral Society, Dublin County Choir, Dun Laoghaire Choral Society, Cantabile Singers, Goethe Institut Choir, Musica Sacra, Phoenix Singers, RAI Chorus, Turin, Philharmonia Chorus, NBC Chorus, Ludwigsburger Festspiele Choir, Bratislava National Opera Choir, Coro Lirico Marchigiano 'V. Bellini', Compagnia d'Opera Italiana Chorus, Covent Garden Opera Chorus |
Orchestra: |
San Francisco Symphony Orchestra, Collegium Instrumentale Brugense, Victor Orchestra, Milan Symphony Orchestra, Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, MGM Studio Orchestra, Elizabethan Sydney Orchestra, Rosario Bourdon Orchestra, Royal Opera House Orchestra, Covent Garden, Ukrainian National Opera Symphony Orchestra, Marchigiana Philharmonic Orchestra, Prussian State Orchestra, Stockholm Symphony Orchestra, Stockholm Royal Opera Orchestra , New Symphony Orchestra, Munich Radio Orchestra, Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra, RCA Victor Orchestra, Belgian Radio and Television Philharmonic Orchestra, RAI Symphony Orchestra, Turin, Slovak Philharmonic Orchestra, New York Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, Ireland National Symphony Orchestra, Swedish Radio Orchestra, Razumovsky Symphony Orchestra, Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra, Prague Philharmonia, NBC Symphony Orchestra, Catania Teatro Massimo Bellini Orchestra, Rome Opera House Orchestra, Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Nils Grevillius Orchestra, Montreal Opera Orchestra, CSR Symphony Orchestra, Bratislava, Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, John Barbirolli Orchestra, Hungarian State Opera Orchestra, Philharmonia Orchestra, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra, Irish Army No. 1 Band, Australian Opera and Ballet Orchestra, Berlin State Opera Orchestra, San Francisco Opera Orchestra, Milan La Scala Orchestra , Studio orchestra, Santa Cecilia Academy Orchestra, Rome, Ludwigsburger Festspiele Orchestra, Europa Symphony, Czecho-Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra, Bratislava, Compagnia d'Opera Italiana Orchestra, Dalasinfoniettan, Covent Garden Orchestra |
Lyricist: |
Giuseppe Giacosa, Francesco Maria Piave, Giovanni Targioni-Tozzetti, Guido Menasci, Antonio Ghislanzoni, Felice Romani, Andrea Maffei, Gaetano Rossi, Ruggero Leoncavallo, Salvadore Cammarano, Luigi Illica, Arrigo Boito, Temistocle Solera |
Label: |
Naxos |
Catalogue No.: |
8.553963 |
Format: |
CD |
Barcode: |
0730099496322 |
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Italian Opera Choruses
The leading figure in Italian opera from the 1840s for much of the rest
of the nineteenth century, Giuseppe Verdi won his first great success with the
opera Nabucco, staged at La Scala, Milan, in 1842. The libretto, by
Temistocle Solera, had already been rejected by Otto Nicolai, now remembered
primarily for his opera The Merry Wives of Windsor, or at least for its
overture. The story of Nebuchadnezzar (Nabucco) has its derivation in the
Bible, notably in the Book of Jeremiah. It deals with the Babylonian attack on
Jerusalem and the destruction of the Temple, followed by the captivity of the
Jews in Babylon. Complications ensue with the rivalry of Nebuchadnezzar's
daughter Fenena and the supposed elder daughter of the king, Abigaille, ending
in the defeat of the latter, the restoration of Nebuchadnezzar's wits, after a
bout of madness, and his conversion to Judaism. The Chorus of Hebrew Slaves, Va,
pensiero, in which the Jews lament their captivity in Babylon, by the
waters of the Euphrates, struck an echo in Italian audiences of the 1840s, a
time when Italian independence from foreign domination was of profound
importance.
Pietro Mascagni's opera Cavalleria Rusticana (‘Rustic Chivalry’),
first staged in Rome in 1890, is an example of verismo, the new realism
that became fashionable in the later years of the century. Set in Sicily, it is
a story of love and jealousy. Santuzza, slighted by Turiddu, who is involved
with Lola, the wife of Alfio, the village carter, provokes the latter's jealousy,
leading to Turiddu's death in a duel with his rival. The opening scene is
cheerful enough, as villagers celebrate the joys of spring, singing of the
burgeoning orange-trees in the chorus Gli aranci olezzano.
Verdi's opera Il trovatore was first staged in Rome in 1853. It
deals with the complications of fraternal rivalry in love and war, with the
troubadour of the title, Manrico, the supposed son of the gypsy Azucena but in
fact the long lost son of the old Count di Luna, imprisoned and put to death by
the young Count, ignorant of the relationship, while Leonora, who had promised
herself to the Count in return for Manrico's freedom, poisons herself. The soldiers, in
Or co'dadi, prepare for battle, to capture the castle that Manrico
vainly tries to defend.
Rigoletto had been staged in Venice in 1851. Based on Victor Hugo's Le roi
s'amuse, its action safely shifted to sixteenth century Mantua, to avoid
problems with the censors, Verdi's opera treats the tragedy of the cynical
court jester of the title, who helps his master, the Duke, in his unscrupulous
amorous adventures, only to have his own daughter, Gilda, abducted and seduced
by the Duke. He plans the murder of his master, but to his final horror
discovers that it is Gilda who has been killed, not the Duke. The chorus Zitti,
zitti finds the courtiers, seeking revenge on Rigoletto, intent on the
abduction of his precious daughter.
Giacomo Puccini represents a later generation of Italian composers, a
leading figure at the turn of the century. Madama Butterfly, first
staged at La Scala, Milan, in 1904, is set in Japan and deals with the marriage
and betrayal of Cio-Cio-San, the innocent young Japanese bride of the title,
deserted by the selfish American naval Lieutenant Pinkerton, whose child she
bears, in his absence. She kills herself, after his return with his new
American wife. The Humming Chorus marks the beginning of Cio-Cio-San's
long night of watching, as she awaits Pinkerton's return to her, after his ship
has reached Nagasaki once more.
Verdi' s first Shakespearean opera, Macbeth, staged in Florence
in 1847, is an effective transposition of the original play, with the three
witches that provoke Macbeth to his acts of regicide and usurpation represented
by a tripartite chorus of witches. Scottish exiles gather, under Malcolm, son
of the murdered King Duncan, to march against the tyrant, their chorus Patria
oppressa a clear reflection of contemporary Italian grievances and
aspirations.
Gaetano Donizetti won his first significant operatic success in 1822.
The comic opera L'elisir d'amore (‘The Elixir of Love’), first performed
in Milan in 1832, centres on the love of the simple-minded Nemorino for the
rather cleverer young landowner Adina. Nemorino imagines himself materially
assisted by a potion sold him by the peripatetic quack Dulcamara, but is more
effectively helped by an unexpected legacy and his own obvious sincerity. In Cantiamo,
cantiam, cantiam Adina, Dulcamara, Nemorino's rival Sergeant Belcore and
others celebrate the planned wedding of Adina and Belcore.
The Easter Hymn in Cavalleria rusticana is in marked
contrast to the dramatic events outside the church, where the villagers
celebrate the Easter festival. The sound of the Regina coeli is heard
and the villagers outside join in the hymn, a prelude to Santuzza's confession
to the mother of her former lover Turiddu, Lucia, of Turiddu's treatment of
her.
Verdi was particularly fascinated by the possibilities of further operas
based on Shakespeare, after the success in Florence of his opera Macbeth. His
opera Otello, with a libretto derived from Shakespeare by Boito, was
first staged at La Scala, Milan, in 1887, when Verdi was in his seventies. In
the first act, which opens with the triumphant return of the victorious Otello
to Cyprus, Iago first reveals his villainy, his jealousy of Cassio and his
willingness to make use of Roderigo, besotted with Desdemona, the Moor Otello's
young Venetian wife. In Fuoco di gioia, soldiers and their companions
enjoy the warmth of the fire, which crackles as they sing.
Ruggero Leoncavallo's I Pagliacci, first staged at the Teatro Dal
Verme in Milan in 1892, is a further example of operatic realism. Based on a
court case investigated by the composer's father in Calabria, it deals with the
love and jealousy of the player Canio, a deceived husband in the drama he
presents as well as in real life. It leads to his murder of his wife, faithless
in the play and in reality, and her lover. The Bell Chorus provides a
more cheerful moment, as Canio, followed by the villagers, sets out for the
tavern, leaving his wife Nedda with a chance to meet her lover and to
antagonize still further the clown Tonio, who observes the meeting, with his
own advances indignantly and contemptuously rejected.
The Anvil Chorus in
Verdi's Il trovatore provides an opportunity for additional percussive
effects. Here the gypsies, with whom Manrico has been brought up, start their work, as dawn breaks in the mountains of Biscay, soon to break
off to hear the old gypsy
Azucena's account of the death at the stake of her mother and her attempt to
throw the old Count di Luna's baby boy into the flames. By an unfortunate
confusion of mind she had thrown her own baby into the fire, as far as she can
remember, but evident doubt is now cast on her supposed son Manrico's true
parentage.
Gioachino Rossini won remarkable early success and enjoyed along
retirement from operatic composition, from 1830 until his death in 1868. His
opera Tancredi, based on Voltaire's play Tancrède, was first
performed at La Fenice in Venice in 1813. Here the exiled Tancredi, returns to
Syracuse, hoping to see again his beloved Amenaide, daughter of the restored
Syracusan leader Argirio, and to help the city against the attacks of the
Saracens, with whose leader Amenaide is accused of complicity, now doubted too
by Tancredi. The first version of the opera ends in victory and reconciliation.
A second version allowed the intervention of tragedy, with Tancredi mortally
wounded in battle, but still reconciled with Amenaide, as he dies. The chorus Amori
scendete anticipates the wedding arranged for Amenaide with her father's
enemy Orbazzano, a union that is intended to bring to an end the feud between
the rival Syracusan families.
In La traviata, based on La dame aux camélias by Alexandre
Dumas, Verdi treats the story of the fashionable and successful courtesan
Violetta and her young lover Alfredo, whom she leaves, at the request of his
father. Alfredo eventually understands the sacrifice she has made for him, as
she dies of consumption. The Gypsy Chorus entertains guests at the house
of Violetta's friend, Flora Bervoix, after her break with Alfredo and a new
liaison, which excites his bitter jealousy and resentment.
Aida, written for the new Cairo Opera House, which
opened in 1871, provides Verdi with an appropriately Egyptian subject. The hero
Radames, commander of the Egyptian armies, is tricked into betraying his
military plans, when his conversation with his beloved Aida, an Ethiopian
captive, is overheard by her father Amonasro, the captured Ethiopian king. The
first great victory of Radames against the Ethiopians is celebrated with
triumphant splendour, an opportunity for theatrical ostentation and
extravagance. He is later to die, with Aida, immured in a tomb, his death
lamented by the rival for his love, Amneris, daughter of the Egyptian king.
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