Hidden treasures - Vincenzo Bellini - Draft for "Ernani" (1830) - Selected highlights

"La sonnambula" was one of Bellini's finer triumphs. The premiere at the Teatro Carcano of Milan on March 6, 1831 was very well received by critics and public alike, and the work helped to cement Bellini's reputation as one of the compositional stars of nineteenth century belcanto opera. But, surprisingly, it was not the work that Bellini and Romani had planned for the 1830-31 season. Early in 1830 they had been scheduled to collaborate on an operatic treatment of Victor Hugo's "Hernani" which at that time had caused a furor in revolutionary France, but the Hugo story did not get past the conservative Milanese censors. The city was at that time controlled by Austria, and the government in power was in no mood to encourage rebellion or revolution. So Bellini and Romani had to chose a less controversial subject. The prima donna, Giuditta Pasta, had already been hired to sing the title role in the "Ernani" project, and it was a simple matter to convince her to take the lead role of "La sonnambula". It was left for Giuseppe Verdi to set his own "Ernani" in 1844. But before "Ernani" was set aside, Bellini went so far as to compose a few of the verses Romani had set which survive in fragmentary form and have been recorded several years ago by "Bongiovanni".

Though Romani seems to have never completed the libretto, one can be reasonably certain that the main conflict remains parallel to that in Verdi's opera, though the cast is somewhat different: Ernani is cast as a mezzo-soprano, Don Carlo - as a tenor. Silva is completely absent from the drafted numbers, though it seems impossible that his pivotal role could have been exercised from the opera.

It is difficult to properly assess Bellini's music for "Ernani", as the composer had actually barely begun writing it: only several accompanied recitatives, two duets, a small number of preludes and what I gather to be a draft of the overture (which seems to be rather unsubtle, at any rate) remain for our critique. Moreover, some of these have not even been properly orchestrated: for example, a large-scale tenor-soprano duet (exceeding eleven minutes) is almost completely unaccompanied, save for a few beginning orchestral lines, hinting at how beautiful the piece just could have been (I am talking about the strangely attractive six note flute introduction (7:19) to the duet's cantabile). From the first few hearings there is actually quite a bit to admire: the previously mentioned duet (for Elvira and Don Carlo) is very much proof of the famed Bellinian grace, even though one is somewhat destined to complain about the lack of accompaniment; the presented brief prelude includes some wonderful interplay between the bassoon and the strings; the love duet between Ernani and Elvira is one of those lovely scored notturnos, only lacking a memorable melody for it to truly take off. One is bound to ask the inevitable question: what could have been, if Bellini had written "Ernani"? A question the answer of which will elude us forever (though one might argue (a strong point, no doubt about it) that we would not have had the opportunity to listen and enjoy "La sonnambula"). In addition, the recording presents a terzet, "Ombre pacifiche", an integral part of an 1824 cantata "Ismene" written by Bellini for the wedding of friends, the joyful cabaletta of which I use in this instance.

The cast is made up of young, well-meaning singers who, perhaps, lack only the necessary finesse to exceed one's expectations. Still, when one has the opportunity to hear such rare material, it seems almost unreasonable to complain.

Ernani - Patrizia Morandini,
Elvira - Rosanna Savoia*,
Don Carlo - Paolo Pellegrini*,
Don Sancio - Patrizio Saudelli*,
Ines - Nina Batatunashvili.

(* - appear in the terzet from "Ismene").

Hope you'll enjoy :).

P.S. I am sorry about the low quality of the CD front that I had to use, I could not find a better one :P.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Ernani
• belcanto
• classical
• romantic
• coloratura
• Bellini

[Lirico96]

Si sente Norma!

Questo è davvero un gioiello sconosciuto. Grazie Lindoro!

[septethe]

very beautiful!