Programs · Episode

ROSSINI: L’Italiana in Algeri

Program: At the Opera
Aired: Saturday, March 4, 2017 @ 6:00 pm
Hosted by Lisa Simeone

This opera's story may be a little silly — OK, more than a little — and its cultural portrayals are outmoded in the extreme, to put it kindly. Yet nobody did wackiness better, more beautifully, or with a finer instinct for pure comedy than Rossini displays in this sparkling score.  We'll explore it in recordings featuring three great mezzo-sopranos in the title role:  Agnes Baltsa, Teresa Berganza, and Marilyn Horne.

Featured Recordings:

Silvio Varviso, conductor

Orchestra and Chorus of the Maggio Musicale, Florence

(Decca 4758275)

CAST:  Teresa Berganza (Isabella); Luigi Alva (Lindoro); Fernando Corena (Mustafà); Rolando Panerai (Taddeo); Giuliana Tavolaccini (Elvira); Miti Truccato Pace (Zulma); Paolo Montarsolo (Haly)

Claudio Scimone, conductor

I Solisti Veneti, Prague Philharmonic Chorus

(Erato 2292-45404)

CAST: Marilyn Horne (Isabella); Ernesto Palacio (Lindoro); Samuel Ramey (Mustafà); Domenico Trimarchi (Taddeo); Kathleen Battle (Elvira); Clara Foti (Zulma); Nicola Zaccaria (Haly)

Claudio Abbado, conductor

Vienna Philharmonic, Vienna State Opera Concert Chorus

(DG 427331)

CAST:  Agnes Baltsa (Isabella); Frank Lopardo (Lindoro); Ruggero Raimondi (Mustafà); Enzo Dara (Taddeo); Anna Gonda (Zulma); Patrizia Pace (Elvira); Alessandro Corbelli (Haly)

MORE ABOUT THE OPERA:

Both Gioachino Rossini and Ludwig van Beethoven were dominant composers during the early 1800s — though aside from that shared chronology, they seemed to have little in common, especially when it comes to opera.

Sometime before 1809, when he was still a teenager, Rossini began composing his very first opera, beginning a career that produced everything from deadly serious tragedies, to historical epics to, frothy comedies. By the time he was finished, Rossini had written nearly 40 operas, and was famous in theaters all over Europe.

In 1804, while in his mid-thirties, Beethoven got started on his own first opera, launching an operatic career that concluded about 10 years later — when he finally finished that same score. It was the only opera he ever composed.

Still, these two very different composers do share one common thread. They both took a dramatic formula that was extremely popular among opera lovers early in the 19th century — something called the "rescue opera" — and turned it upside down. Beethoven did it in his only opera, Fidelio, and Rossini followed suit in the opera featured here, his 1813 comedy L'italiana in Algeri.

A typical rescue opera involves a beautiful young woman who is kidnapped or captured and then faces torture and death — that is, until her heroic lover shows up and saves the day. But in Fidelio and L'italiana, the tables are turned: In both operas it's a man who is in desperate trouble, and it takes a resourceful woman to get him out of it.

L'italiana in Algeri is usually translated as The Italian Girl in Algiers. But if Isabella, Rossini's title character, were transported to the present day, nobody would dare call her a "girl." She's one of the wisest and most formidable women you'll find in any opera, and by the time her story ends, no one — including her captive lover Lindoro — is willing to stand in her way.

On World of Opera, host Lisa Simeone presents L'italiana in Algeri in a trio of recordings spanning nearly 25 years. From 1963, it's a release featuring Teresa Berganza in the title role, with Luigi Alva as Lindoro. From 1980, we'll hear Marilyn Horne as Isabella, with Ernesto Palacio as Lindoro, and Samuel Ramey as Mustafà. And, in a 1987 recording, Agnes Baltsa stars alongside Frank Lopardo and Ruggero Raimondi.

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