Donizetti * Élisabeth _ Act 3 trio / I. Tsirakidis * J. Osborn * Y. Manachurian _ Crutchfield, cond.

Élisabeth, ou La Fille de l'exilé - Act 3 trio - Élisabeth-Potoski-Michel (new for Paris)
World Premiere***LIVE - Caramoor Festival 07.17.2003
www.donizettis...
Élisabeth ou La Fille de l'exilé
Opera in Three Acts
Irini Tsirakidis as Élisabeth
Daniel Mobbs as Ivan
John Osborn as Michel
Yegische Manuchuryan as Count Potoski
Douglas Jabara as Alterkan
Victoria Avetisyan as Fedora
Madeleine Gray as Marie
Will Crutchfield, cond.
*****A Donizetti Discovery, Reinterpreted
By ANTHONY TOMMASINI
KATONAH, N.Y., July 17 2003- During a career of less than 30 years, Donizetti composed nearly 70 operas. From that statistic, you might surmise that it was not syphilis that caused his death at 50, but sheer exhaustion. You have to take his hyper-productivity in context, though. Donizetti was a consummate professional at a time when the public was mad for opera. He produced music tailored to specific houses, singers and situations. In the process, he wrote, rewrote and recycled existing materials. His craft had ingenious aspects, but also makeshift compromises, much like the work of the Gershwin brothers, as they churned out scores-to-order for Broadway shows during the 1920's. It's hard to argue that there is a definitive version of any Donizetti opera, something to keep in mind when considering the significance of tonight's semistaged performance of Donizetti's ''Élisabeth,'' conducted by Will Crutchfield as part of his interesting Bel Canto at Caramoor series here. The performance, which will be repeated on Saturday, was billed as a world premiere. Because quite a bit of music played tonight had never been performed, it was a premiere of sorts. But the genesis of the work, which involved some tireless sleuthing on Mr. Crutchfield's part, is more complicated.
In 1984, while going through some archival materials in the basement of the Covent Garden Opera House in London, Mr. Crutchfield chanced upon an incomplete score that he eventually determined was a Donizetti opera from the late 1830's titled ''Elisabetta.'' This turned out to be an extensively reworked Italian version of ''Élisabeth,'' his earlier French-text work, itself a reworking of an even earlier Italian opera semiseria, composed in 1827 but never performed. Over the years, a suitable edition of ''Elisabetta'' was assembled, and it was performed in London in 1997. The Caramoor performance tonight was the premiere of Mr. Crutchfield's performing edition of that unknown French ''Élisabeth.'' But it is not quite correct to call this Donizetti's French version of the opera. Like a latter-day Donizetti, Mr. Crutchfield has assembled this score from various sources.
The element that required the most tinkering was the recitative. As intended for the Paris premiere that never took place, ''Élisabeth'' was composed in the opéra-comique style of the day, which required spoken dialogue instead of sung recitative....more @ www.nytimes.com...
Related article: www.nytimes.co...

[@claudioalbanese427]

Grazie

[@innamoratopazzo1792]

👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻