Armida abbandonata
Ewa Malas-Godlewska, Claire Brua, Gilles Ragon, Véronique Gens, Laura Polverelli, Patricia Petibon, Cécile Perrin
Les Talens Lyriques
Christophe Rousset
Fnac Music 592326 (1994). MIMIC edition: see details below
[flac, cue, log, scans]
The review included here found the following flaws in the existing releases of this recording: "dreadfully managed side breaks at the end of the first two CDs, a poor English translation, and failure to give track numbering in the libretto".
I have tried to solve two of the three problems.
- The CD images have their tracks reorganized, so that the last scene of Act I and Scene X of Act II are not interrupted. The breaks now occur when the scene changes completely: the choice was easy so I think you can trust my work. No gaps added or removed anywhere.
- The booklet was difficult to scan so I've tried to take acceptable photographs of the libretto, adding the track numbering. I've also compiled a tracklist to integrate the one given in the release, reworked though it is.
[arkivmusic.com] This is one of the most important reissues [Ambroisie 2005] for a very long time. It restores to the catalog the best recording yet made of an opera by one of the greatest, yet still shamefully neglected of 18th-century opera composers. First issued on the French FNAC label in 1995 [1994], it received a review in Fanfare 18:5 that in my view did nothing like justice to either the work or its performance. Very soon after its release, FNAC went out of business, the set quickly disappearing to become a sought-after collector's item fetching up to $100 on the Internet in Europe. All the proverbial tea in China would not have persuaded me to relinquish my copy.
Not the least important aspect of the re-release is the fact that Armida abbandonata is one of Niccolo Jommelli's finest operas. It was the first he composed after returning to Naples from his triumphant years in Stuttgart (1754-1769), receiving its first performance at the Teatro San Carlo on May 30, 1770. Among those who attended was the 14-year old Mozart, whose report that Armida was 'beautiful, but too serious and old-fashioned for the theater,' has been frequently quoted and almost as frequently misunderstood. 'The theater' almost certainly refers specifically to the San Carlo, which did indeed find Armida'too serious,' in the sense of its harmonic and orchestral complexity, ironically a criticism Mozart himself would later encounter in Vienna. Although Jommelli appears to have attempted some simplification as a concession to Neapolitan taste, Armida abbandonata betrays many of the stylistic traits of the reforms he introduced to opera seria in Stuttgart: greatly expanded orchestral writing, with arias frequently prefaced by long, richly scored introductions, the abandonment of the da capo aria in favor of flexible forms skillfully manipulated to suit dramatic context, and the adaptation of elements of French tragédie lyrique , in Armida most obviously in the Chaconne in act I, and the magic forest scene in act III, with its alternation of accompanied recitative, arioso, and choruses. All these features render Mozart's description of Armida as 'old-fashioned' puzzling, particularly since his own Mitridate, produced in Milan later the same year, is a thoroughly conventional opera seria that falls short of Jommelli's outstanding work.
The familiar plot of Armida is of course drawn from Tasso's Gerusalemme liberata, being the story of Rinaldo's enchantment and eventual release from the clutches of the sorceress Armida. Many of the countless operatic settings derived either from Quinault's libretto for Lully, or a 1607 libretto by Francesco Silvano, but Jommelli's librettist Francesco De Rogatis went back to the original Tasso, producing a book full of spectacular magic scenes. But he cleverly underplayed the part of magic in Armida's hold over the Christian knight, thus intensifying the conflict between love and duty that lies at the heart of the story. Until unleashing her wrath on the departing Rinaldo in a remarkable scena that conveys vividly her near-madness, Armida emerges as a sympathetic figure that reaches genuinely tragic status in another great scena in act II, her anguish articulated first through the lacerating chromaticism of the orchestral writing in the accompanied recitative, then in the aria 'Ah, ti sento,' which powerfully presages 19th-century bel canto. Rinaldo, too, is finely drawn, a man who despite his Aeneas-like vacillation is capable of arousing sympathy for his predicament.
For his original cast Jommelli had at his disposal two of the finest singers of the age for the roles of Armida, and Rinaldo. The former was sung by Anna de Amicis, renowned as a great singing actress, while the part of Rinaldo went to Giuseppe Aprile, a favorite of Jommelli's, and a singer with whom he had worked often in the past. Both are formidable roles, that of Armida in particularly calling for a singer who can not only manage coloratura of Queen of the Night-like agility and tessitura, but also convey the sorceress's deepest pain. Ewa Malas-Godlewska may not have the most beautiful of voices, but her management of the glittering passage work the role demands is spectacularly impressive, and she has the dramatic power to be deeply moving in Armida's darker nights of the soul, effectively conveying both her troubled spirit, and tragic mien. Claire Brua's Rinaldo is also a convincing portrayal, managing to impart a real sense of heartbreak and inner turmoil at the prospect of losing Armida. Again, the voice is not the greatest, and there are times when vibrato obtrudes too much, but Brua provides a fine account of the big virtuoso 'jealousy' aria of Act I, 'Resta, ingrata.'
The other major role is that of Tancredi, an import from an earlier part of Tasso's epic, and a man who has also been captive to Armida's allure, but here plays a heroic role in helping release Rinaldo from her clutches. It's another virtuoso role here splendidly undertaken by tenor Gilles Ragon, whose masculine, ringing tone is ideally suited to both the huge 'Non è viltà' (act I), and the splendid 'simile' aria 'Fra l'orror' (act II). The remaining parts are all capably taken, with especial plaudits going to Véronique Gens's touching Erminia, the woman who has come in search of her lover, Tancredi. Christophe Rousset directs with the fervor of a man on a mission, inspiring playing of great conviction from his fine band, although one might have wished for a string complement more in keeping with the considerably larger body Jommelli had at his disposal at the San Carlo.
While Ambroisie earns gratitude for restoring the set to the catalog, it deserves no points for the lazy manner in which it has simply replicated FNAC's original sins. Among these are dreadfully managed side breaks at the end of the first two CDs, a poor English translation, and failure to give track numbering in the libretto. All are matters that could and should have been rectified. Moreover, Ambroisie has gone one worse than FNAC by not only reducing the number of pages in the booklet from 199 to 166, with a commensurate reduction in the size of print to a point that will cause some to seek out their binoculars, but also failing to distinguish between recitative and aria in the libretto. But these aggravations are not going to prevent my hailing this set as an obligatory acquisition for anyone remotely interested in 18th-century opera. I'm delighted that a far wider audience now has the opportunity to experience the marvels of this magnificent opera.
FANFARE: Brian Robins