Review By Penguin Guide,January 2009
The farsa sentimental, an amalgamation of opera buffa and opera seria into what might be described as opera semiseria, arrived in the 1790s, and it is into this category that Mayr’s L’amor coniugale slips neatly. More remarkable is its plot, derived from the same source as Beethoven’s Fidelio, which it pre-dates, arriving in Dresden in 1804, shortly before Beethoven’s Leonora. However, Mayr’s libretto places the action in 17th-century Poland. The characters are much the same as in Beethoven’s opera, only with different names. The soprano role of Leonora is exchanged for Zeliska; her imprisoned husband Florestan becomes the tenor role, Amorveno. Rocco the gaoler is now Peters; his daughter is now Floreska and the governor is Moroski. The narrative however is sentimentalized. Amorveno is in prison and left to starve to death, as the governor wants to seduce his wife who, although in disguise, is no longer the heroic rescuer, and the plot is resolved (after a modest brass fanfare) by the appearance of Ardelao (the hero’s brother) who arrives after neither gaoler nor governor is willing to kill their prisoner. However weak the plot, the music itself has much charm, and it is most enjoyably sung by all concerned, with Cinzia Rizzone a delightful Zeliska. The style of the writing is pre-Rossini and the engaging quartet, ‘Ah voi’, which celebrates the resolution of the story, might almost be by Donizetti. Christopher Franklin directs the piece with plenty of life and sparkle, and the Württemberg Philharmonic Orchestra play stylishly. The recording is excellent and the only reservation (and it is a big one) is that the accompanying notes, while allotting more than three pages to the background to the opera and its composer, give just over half a page to a synopsis which is not cued to the individual numbers. Even so, this is easy to enjoy.
more....
|
Review By John Warrack, Gramophone,July 2008
Léonore No 3 – no, not the Beethoven – makes a fascinating discovery
Beethoven was the fourth composer to set Bouilly's play Léonore, after Gaveaux (1798), Paer (1804) and Mayr (1805). This first recording of Mayr joins Peter Maag's 1979 Decca of Paer; only Gaveaux now remains unrecorded. Greater interest is beginning to attach to these "pre-Fidelio" works: Paer's dramma semiserio is being revived by Bampton Opera this summer, and this recording is taken from a performance in the 2004 Wildbad Rossini festival.
Librettist Gaetano Rossi moved the action to 17th-century Poland. Otherwise the story is similar to the version used by Beethoven, the chief difference being that Moroski (the "Pizarro" figure) has imprisoned Amorveno ("Florestan") so as to pursue his wife Zeliska ("Leonore"). Unable to bring himself to shoot Zeliska at the crisis, Moroski is then left in the finale with a vengeance aria that comes dramatically too late in the opera, though Giovanni Bellavia goes at it with a will. He makes rather more of his music than Dariusz Machej, the "Rocco" figure, whose Gold aria is relocated to a cynical outburst in the dungeon. There is much dungeon singing, even a charming Romance for Zeliska improbably inserted to see if Amorveno recognises her voice. Cinzia Rizzone sings this winningly; she has previously done well with the finest aria in the opera, an extended number mourning the absence of her husband that takes her up to some effective top Cs. Amorveno himself is a little strained, with his solo aria, an attractive piece strikingly scored with two cors anglais and a violin obbligato.
There is some fluent and imaginative music here, even if fluency sometimes overtakes imagination. Christopher Franklin, using a version of the handsome score loyally published by Mayr's adopted city of Bergamo, draws lively playing from his orchestra (there is no chorus). A long booklet essay by Thomas Lindner (no text or translation) makes out the best case for the work, an attractive one and certainly of more than curiosity interest. more....
|
