This year marks the 150th anniversary of Rossini's death in Paris, where he contributed to the birth of the grand opéra genre with Guillaume Tell, in 1829, and opened a path (well... an "invasion", in the eyes of Berlioz) for the younger Italian opera composers. I'm sharing here a few operas to represent each one of them.
Gioacchino Rossini (1792-1868)
Guillaume Tell
Gabriel Baquier, Montserrat Caballé, Nicolai Gedda, Gwynne Howell. Jocelyne Taillo, Kolos Kovacs, Mady Mesplé, Nicolas Christou
Ambrosian Opera Chorus
Royal Philharmonica Orchestra
Lamberto Gardelli
EMI 50999 6 40763 2 4 (2010). Recorded 1972
[flac, cue, log, scans, digital booklet]
Bellini went to Paris in 1833 (two years after Chopin) hoping to receive a commission from the Opéra but the only opera he was going to write before his premature death was I puritani for the Théâtre-Italien. Premiered in 1835, it could count on the friendly support of Rossini and it was a success, unlike Donizetti's Marin Faliero premiered in the same season.
Vincenzo Bellini (1801-1835)I puritani
Joan Sutherland, Luciano Pavarotti, Piero Cappuccilli, Nicolai Ghiaurov
Chorus of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden
London Symphony Orchestra
Richard Bonynge
Decca 417 588-2 (1987). Recorded 1973
[flac, cue, log, partial scans]
In 1838 Donizetti was going to stage in Naples his new Poliuto which was composed with the contribution of the famous tenor Adolphe Nourrit. Sadly the King of Naples banned the opera for its Christian subject. This caused the departure of the composer for Paris. There he composed La fille du régiment, had other operas staged with success and finally, in 1840, managed to present to the public for the first time Poliuto as Les Martyrs, the grand opéra remake which he made carefully with Eugène Scribe. At the end of the same year Donizetti was again in Paris for his second grand opéra: La Favorite.
Gaetano Donizetti (1797-1848)La Favorite
Vesselina Kasarova, Ramón Vargas, Anthony Michaels-Moore, Carlo Colombara, Francesco Piccoli, Abbie Fumansky
Chor des Bayerischen Rundfunks
Münchner Rundfunkorchester
Marcello Viotti
BMG 74321 66229 2 (2000). Recorded 1999
[flac, cue, log, scans with libretto]
Dom Sébastien was going to be Donizetti's last grand opéra, Don Pasquale his last opera buffa, both premiered in Paris in 1843. The composition of Le duc d'Albe was abandoned but the libretto proved useful again for Scribe when in his old age he adapted the story for Verdi's Les vêpres siciliennes. The latter was first performed in 1855; it was preceded at the Opéra by a remake of I Lombardi alla prima crociata entitled Jérusalem and followed by Don Carlos twelve years later.
Giuseppe Verdi (1813-1901)I vespri siciliani
Martina Arroyo, Placido Domingo, Sherril Milnes, Ruggero Raimondi
John Alldis Choir
New Philharmonia Orchestra
James Levine
BMG 09026 63492 2 (1999). Recorded 1973
[flac, cue, log, scans with libretto]
Half of Rossini's life passed from 1829 to the day he attended to the 500th performace of Guillaume Tell at the Paris Opera in 1868. Evidently satisfied, he never considered producing more operas; he composed instead the Stabat Mater (→post by Davide) and the Petite messe solennelle (→post by Arepomd).
Appendix. – Poliuto was premiered soon after Donizetti's death in 1848 and remained popular during the century, a bit longer than Les Martyrs, but eventually both became rarities. Here's the chance to discover two versions of another good opera.
Gaetano Donizetti (1797-1848)
Poliuto
José Carreras, Katia Ricciarelli, Juan Pons
Chor der Wiener Singakademie
Wiener Symphoniker
Oleg Caetani
CBS M2K 44821 (1989). Recorded 1986
[flac, cue, log, scans with libretto]
Gaetano Donizetti
Les Martyrs
Joyce El-Khoury, Michael Spyres, David Kempster, Brindley Sherratt, Clive Bayley, Wyne Evans
Opera Rara Chorus
Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment
Mark Elder
Opera Rara ORC52 (2015). Recorded 2014
[flac, cue, log, covers, digital booklet]
Courtesy of Bodtje