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BONGIOVANNI NEW RELEASES JULY 2015 FILIPPO MARCHETTI (1831-1902) RUY BLAS Four acts drama by Carlo d’Ormevillefrom Victor Hugo DIMITRA THEODOSSIOU ALBERTO GAZALE MARIO MALAGNINI SYLVIA MARINI STEFANO CONSOLINIROBERTO NENCINI GABRIELE MONICI ELENA MARINANGELI ALFIO ROSATI GIOVANNI BRECCIAROLI ORCHESTRA FILARMONICA MARCHIGIANA CORO LIRICO MARCHIGIANO “VINCENZO BELLINI” Conductor: DANIEL LIPTON Recorded live at the Teatro Pergolesi, Jesi (Ancona) on September 1998 CAT. NO. GB 2237/38-2 FIRST RECORDING 2 CDs x 1 RUY BLAS RUY BLAS F F F I I L L I I P P P P O O M M A A R R C C H H E E T T T T I I 2 CDs x 1 Filippo Marchetti was born on 28 February 1831 in Bolognola, a small town in the Marche Apennine mountains. After having learned the fun- damentals of music in his hometown, Marchetti enrolled as a “paying pupil” at the Real Collegio di San Pietro a Majella in Naples. After leav- ing the Neapolitan conservatory in 1854, the young man immediately set to work composing for the theater. After Gentile da Varano, and La demente, (both successfully performed in 1856) Marchetti after some years set to music Romeo e Giulietta: the work was a critical success. Yet in 1869, Marchetti’s success was finally assured by the collaboration with Carlo D’Ormeville (1840 - 1924), the young but experienced librettist, theatrical agent, founder and director of the widely read Gazzetta dei Teatri. D’Ormeville proposed that Marchetti condense into a libretto Victor Hugo’s play, Ruy Blas, which in 1838 had equaled if not surpassed the memorable and contro- versial triumph of Hernani. Hugo had designed his play around the polemical confrontation between the courage and moral superiority of a young, intelligent and able commoner and the baseness of an arrogant and wicked nobleman. The tragedy, often performed then as now, had also interested Verdi in 1844, who very nearly proposed it twice—in 1857 at the Teatro San Carlo in Naples and again in 1861 at St. Petersburg. The score was accepted by the commission of the Teatro alla Scala and inserted as an “obligatory opera” for the 1868-69 season. The first per- formance was very favorably reviewed in the 7 April issue of Il Trovatore. It claimed, among other things, that “this opera is an exceedingly praiseworthy work, in which good overcomes mediocre; it is a work in which the composer gives promise of great things to come and reveals a studious young man, inventive and passionate, an artist, not a craftsman; not one of those who scribbles notes currenti calamo, but a com- poser who thinks and knows. The music of Ruy Blas belongs to a genre which is sentimental, romantic[ ...] the dialogue is elegant, simple, the proportions are minute, the colors pale [..] Marchetti has not resorted to trivial means to assure success; in his music there is no conventional- ism nor vulgar effects of timbre, exaggerated chiaroscuro, cunning cadences. Nothing. Because of the demands of the drama, the composer attempted to be true; his opera is in step with the poetry, the dialogue is always simple, the musical numbers follow one after another with admirable unity...” The extraordinary success of the opera began with the Florentine edition of the same year, 1869. It was performed in all the large and small theaters of Italy, returning year after year to the same venues. In the last thirty years of the nineteenth century, it reached the most distant shores of five continents where there was an opera house or where an Italian opera company happened to tour. Ruy Blas was translated into Czech, German, Serbo-Croatian and, naturally, English, and thus became popular in Great Britain and especially in the United States. Countless cel- ebrated singers were more than willing to play the part of Marchetti’s characters. It may suffice to list only the most noted singers at the turn of the century: the sopranos Marcella Sembrich, Teresa Stolz, Celestina Boninsegna, Angelo Masini, Julian Gayarre, Bernardo De Muro, Giovanni Martinelli, Victor Maurel, Mattia Battistini, Titta Ruffo, Conchita Supervia. In the 20th century, there have been at least forty productions. Yet is an uncontested fact that the advent of the French opéra lyrique and, later, the “Young Italian School” marked an inevitable change in tastes and tendencies, and Ruy Blas and his Queen began the slow decline towards oblivion. NOTES AND LIBRETTO WITH ENGLISH TRANSLATION AVAILABLE FREE AT WWW.BONGIOVANNI70.COM CD 1 T. T.: 56’50” CD 2 T. T.: 54’22”” Original language ITALIAN
Transcript of BONGIOVANNI NEW RELEASES JULY 2015 - Sterling Music · BONGIOVANNI NEW RELEASES JULY 2015 FILIPPO...
BONGIOVANNI NEW RELEASES JULY 2015
FILIPPO MARCHETTI (1831-1902)
RUY BLASFour acts drama by Carlo d’Ormevillefrom Victor Hugo
DIMITRA THEODOSSIOUALBERTO GAZALE
MARIO MALAGNINISYLVIA MARINI
STEFANO CONSOLINIROBERTO NENCINIGABRIELE MONICI
ELENA MARINANGELIALFIO ROSATI
GIOVANNI BRECCIAROLIORCHESTRA FILARMONICA MARCHIGIANA
CORO LIRICO MARCHIGIANO“VINCENZO BELLINI”
Conductor: DANIEL LIPTON
Recorded live at the Teatro Pergolesi, Jesi (Ancona) on September 1998
CAT. NO. GB 2237/38-2FIRST RECORDING
2 CDs x 1
RUY BLASRUY BLAS
FFF II LL II PP PP OO MMAARRCCHH EE TT TT II2 CDs x
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Filippo Marchetti was born on 28 February 1831 in Bolognola, a small town in the Marche Apennine mountains. After having learned the fun-damentals of music in his hometown, Marchetti enrolled as a “paying pupil” at the Real Collegio di San Pietro a Majella in Naples. After leav-ing the Neapolitan conservatory in 1854, the young man immediately set to work composing for the theater. After Gentile da Varano, and La demente, (both successfully performed in 1856) Marchetti after some years set to music Romeo e Giulietta:the work was a critical success. Yet in 1869, Marchetti’s success was finally assured by the collaboration with Carlo D’Ormeville (1840 -1924), the young but experienced librettist, theatrical agent, founder and director of the widely read Gazzetta dei Teatri. D’Ormeville proposedthat Marchetti condense into a libretto Victor Hugo’s play, Ruy Blas, which in 1838 had equaled if not surpassed the memorable and contro-versial triumph of Hernani. Hugo had designed his play around the polemical confrontation between the courage and moral superiority of ayoung, intelligent and able commoner and the baseness of an arrogant and wicked nobleman. The tragedy, often performed then as now, hadalso interested Verdi in 1844, who very nearly proposed it twice—in 1857 at the Teatro San Carlo in Naples and again in 1861 at St. Petersburg. The score was accepted by the commission of the Teatro alla Scala and inserted as an “obligatory opera” for the 1868-69 season. The first per-formance was very favorably reviewed in the 7 April issue of Il Trovatore. It claimed, among other things, that “this opera is an exceedinglypraiseworthy work, in which good overcomes mediocre; it is a work in which the composer gives promise of great things to come and revealsa studious young man, inventive and passionate, an artist, not a craftsman; not one of those who scribbles notes currenti calamo, but a com-poser who thinks and knows. The music of Ruy Blas belongs to a genre which is sentimental, romantic[ ...] the dialogue is elegant, simple, theproportions are minute, the colors pale [..] Marchetti has not resorted to trivial means to assure success; in his music there is no conventional-ism nor vulgar effects of timbre, exaggerated chiaroscuro, cunning cadences. Nothing. Because of the demands of the drama, the composerattempted to be true; his opera is in step with the poetry, the dialogue is always simple, the musical numbers follow one after another withadmirable unity...”The extraordinary success of the opera began with the Florentine edition of the same year, 1869. It was performed in all the large and smalltheaters of Italy, returning year after year to the same venues. In the last thirty years of the nineteenth century, it reached the most distant shoresof five continents where there was an opera house or where an Italian opera company happened to tour. Ruy Blas was translated into Czech,German, Serbo-Croatian and, naturally, English, and thus became popular in Great Britain and especially in the United States. Countless cel-ebrated singers were more than willing to play the part of Marchetti’s characters. It may suffice to list only the most noted singers at the turnof the century: the sopranos Marcella Sembrich, Teresa Stolz, Celestina Boninsegna, Angelo Masini, Julian Gayarre, Bernardo De Muro,Giovanni Martinelli, Victor Maurel, Mattia Battistini, Titta Ruffo, Conchita Supervia.In the 20th century, there have been at least forty productions. Yet is an uncontested fact that the advent of the French opéra lyrique and, later,the “Young Italian School” marked an inevitable change in tastes and tendencies, and Ruy Blas and his Queen began the slow decline towardsoblivion.
NOTES AND LIBRETTO WITH ENGLISH TRANSLATION AVAILABLE FREE AT
WWW.BONGIOVANNI70.COM
CD 1 T. T.:
56’50”
CD 2 T. T.:
54’22””Original language
ITALIAN
