Hidden treasures - Gioacchino Rossini - Il viaggio a Reims (1825) - "Arpa gentil"

Painting: "Venice" by Ivan Aivazovsky.

History (based on materials from the Grove Dictionary of Music): By the 1st of August, 1824, Rossini had settled in Paris. According to the composer's contract with the French government, he was to remain in France for a year, writing new operas for the Theatre Italien and the Opera, as well as readapting and producing his older works. While in the latter capacity Rossini proved immediately to be a distinct asset, producing his own "Zelmira" and Meyerbeer's "Il crociato in Egitto", the first theatrical composed by the composer expressly for Paris came a bit later, in 1825, and, indeed, was not even an opera, but rather an elaborate scenic cantata to commemorate the coronation of Charles X in Reims on the 16th of May, 1825. Rossini's "opera di circostanza" turned out to be perhaps even more elaborate than perhaps the composer himself had originally intended, and the score charmed its audience during the premiere run. However, Rossini withdrew the opera only after a few performances, possibly because, in the words of the original Libenskof, "the opera given on the occasion of the coronation is not a work that can be given very often, considering its subject". Ultimately Rossini re-used much of its music in what was to become his first original French work, "Le comte Ory". It was assumed for a century and a half that the opera was lost, before its first modern premiere in 1984 brought the work back to popular favor.

Narrative: The libretto, by Luigi Balocchi, is certainly one of the silliest but definitely also one of the wittiest Rossini ever set: the plot concerns a group of various European aristocrats, including a fashion-crazy French Countess, a gentle Greek poetess, a jealous Russian Count, a blustering German major, a sentimental English Lord and a passionate Polish Marquise, on the way to the coronation in Rheims who get stranded in a hotel because of a lack of horses to transport them. Naturally, various romantic attractions and jealousies arise among the multi-national travelers. These are sorted out peacefully, as all, at a final grand banquet, celebrate the coronation and hail the new monarch. Nothing particularly dramatic can be found in the story, though its good-natured humor and distinctive array of characters are rarely encountered even in the best comedic works.

Music: Considering the fact that "Il viaggio" has been staged with unusual frequency in the last ten years and the fact that much of the music is shared between two separate operas, one can be reasonably certain of the public's familiarity with the work's many showpieces, including the Countess' coloratura-laden "lament" over the loss of a favorite hat and the "tour-de-force" of the work, the gran pezzo concertato for no less than fourteen singers. However, out of all of the opera's numbers, it seems that one piece has been mysteriously overlooked, considering, at the very least, its absence on YouTube: Corinna's enchantingly warm cavatina. It appears as a prolonged tempo di mezzo between the two halves of the fiery sextet during which a confrontation between various suitors for the Polish Marquise's hand occurs. Just as Libernskof and Don Alvaro prepare to duel for the hand of Melibea, a gentle harp cadenza is heard, effectively suspending the action. Corinna then begins to sing a strikingly sincere hymn for peace, appealing to the better qualities of humanity. The idiom of the aria is unusually simple, considering the beauty of the music, and, indeed, this style was already used by Rossini to great effect numerous times, in particular, one is reminded of Desdemona's enchanting Willow Song: a romantic solo harp serves as an accompaniment for a lovely vocal melody which is repeated several times, becoming more and more involved both in emotion and in ornamentation. One unusual feature is the fact that while the first verse of the cavatina is presented complete, as an ABA aria of charming modulations to major and minor, the two subsequent reprises only repeat, respectively, the BA and the A sections of Corinna's initial statement, precluding any kind of repetitiveness, though still allowing the singer room for ornamentation. All in all, a charming soprano cavatina of the utmost sensitivity.

Recording: The live 1993 Sony recording of the work under the direction of Claudio Abbado, leading the delightful Berliner Philharmoniker and the Rundfunkchor Berlin, was actually the maestro's second version of the score. While some singers return from the earlier issue, a dramatic improvement is made by the replacement of Cecilia Gasdia by the extremely lovely Sylvia McNair.

Corinna - Sylvia McNair,
Trombonok (bass) - Enzo Dara,
Don Alvaro (bass) - Lucio Gallo,
Don Profondo (bass) - Ruggero Raimondi,
Melibea (contralto) - Lucia Valentini-Terrani,
Libenskof (tenor) - William Matteuzzi,
Madama Cortese (soprano) - Cheryl Stuber.

Hope you'll enjoy :).

Category:

Music

Tags:

• rossini
• coloratura
• classical
• belcanto
• classic
• opera

[vanderpuch1]

The NY production of Le Voyage à Rheims was made into a celebration of the European Union.

I don't think that "I Dreamed I Dwelt in Marble Halls" was a folk song. Even "Home, Sweet Home" was not a folk song.

[OperaTonna]

Heavenly...

[lehar]

For some odd reason, probably, this aria reminds me of "I dreamed I dwelled in Marble Halls" from Balfe's "Bohemian Girl"! But isn't the latter a folks tune...?

[USoeyadi]

wonderful

[MrLupo23]

@Firuzens I prefer Gasdia, even if Sylvia McNair's tecnique is better.

[vanderpuch]

This opera is full of highlights!  The is perhaps a light and beautiful change of pace in this energetic ensemble opera.

[blichilde]

@MastersoftheOpera  Sylvia McNair

[MastersoftheOpera]

This is gorgeous. Who is the soprano ? I love this aria. It has a heavenly, angelic quality - enhanced by the harp music, a gifted lyric soprano can make this sound so beautiful, angelic, and even melancholy. It sounds almost like the off-stage soprano in the role of the angel singing at the end of the Auto Di Fe from Verdi's Don Carlo

[77Opera]

Merci à vous LindoroRossini, vos vidéos sont toujours un véritable plaisir!

[Madrabran]

Beautyfilled .

Thank You so much .