Virginia (Mercadante)
Virginia is an
The work finally had its premiere on 7 April 1866 at the Teatro di San Carlo.[1] Although not the last opera composed by Mercadante, it was the last of his operas to reach the stage. Virginia has been rarely performed since its premiere, but a recent 2009 recording of the work was released on the Opera Rara label.[2]
Composition history
Mercadante first suggested Virginia as the subject of an opera to
Mercadante returned to Naples in March 1848
Deploring the pattern of events in his country, Mercadante selected Alfieri's Virginia as a means of expressing his criticism of the constitution's suppression. Alfieri's story, set in
Virginia was scheduled to première at the Teatro di San Carlo in March 1850. However, King Ferdinand II got word of the production and issued a ban on the opera's performance, even though Cammarano’s libretto carefully avoided any possible negative political implications. The censorship of the opera drew wide scorn for Ferdinand throughout Europe. In an attempt to appease the outcry, the Italian state offered a compromise, set the opera in Egypt and not Italy. Mercadante refused to comply. In the place of Virginia, the premiere of Mercadante's Medea occurred in Naples on 1 March 1851.[1]
In 1852, most likely out of an attempt at improving the state's public image, Ferdinand appointed Mercadante as inspector of the royal military bands, a post which led to the commissioning of several compositions for these musical groups (Fantasia sull’inno russo; Fantasia sull’inno borbonico; etc.) However, Ferdinand never lifted the ban on the opera, and neither did his successor Francis II.[1]
In 1861 the
Performance history
Although reactions to Mercadante's opera were positive, the work failed to gain a significant place in the performance repertory. Subsequent productions were mounted in Rome (1872), Turin (1877) and again in Naples (1901), but otherwise the opera remained largely ignored.[4]
After a 75-year absence, Virginia was revived for its United Kingdom premiere on November 27, 1976 in Whitla Hall at the Queen's University Festival in Belfast, Northern Ireland. The notable cast included Janet Price as Virginia, Christian du Plessis as Virginio, Bonaventura Bottone as Appio, Maurice Arthur as Icilio, and the Chorus of the Northern Ireland Opera Trust. James Judd conducted the Ulster Orchestra. An unauthorized recording was made, copies of which are part of the collections of a number of libraries, including the Chicago Public Library.[2][5]
On the heels of the UK premiere was a scheduled American premiere of the work by the Opera Orchestra of New York. Montserrat Caballé began to prepare the title role in 1977 for the anticipated premiere at Carnegie Hall in New York City on 29 March 1978. However, Caballé became ill just prior to the performance, and the production was cancelled, never to be rescheduled.[6] Since the 1976 UK production, Virginia was not revived until 2010 when it was mounted by the Wexford Festival Opera with soprano Angela Meade in the title role. [7] In 2009 Opera Rara released the first commercial recording of the work.[2]
Roles
Role | Voice type | Premiere Cast, 7 April 1866[8][9] (Conductor: - Nicola De Giosa) |
---|---|---|
Virginia | soprano | Marcella Lotti della Santa |
Appio Claudio, a powerful Roman patrician | tenor | Filippo Morelli-Ponti |
Virginio, Virginia's father | bass
|
Marco Arati |
Icilio, Virginia's boyfriend | tenor | Raffaele Mirate |
Marco, Appio's associate | baritone | Giorgio Stigelli |
Tullia, Virginia's nurse | soprano | Adelaide Morelli |
Valerio, Virginia's cousin | tenor | Michele Memmi |
Synopsis
- Place: Ancient Rome
Virginia, a
Recordings
Year | Cast (Virginia, Appio, Virginio, Icilio, Marco) |
Conductor, Opera House and Orchestra |
Label[11] |
---|---|---|---|
1976 | Janet Price, Bonaventura Bottone, Christian du Plessis, Maurice Arthur, John Tomlinson |
James Judd, Belfast Orchestra and Chorus (Recording of a performance in Belfast, 27 November) |
Audio CD: Premiere Opera Ltd. CDNO 2651-2 |
2007 | Susan Patterson, Paul Charles Clarke, Stefano Antonucci, Charles Castronovo, Andrew Foster-Williams |
Maurizio Benini, Geoffrey Mitchell Choir
(studio recording)[12] |
Audio CD: Opera Rara, Cat: ORC 39[13] |
References
Notes
- ^ a b c d e f g Wittmann
- ^ a b c d e Dominic McHugh (20 March 2009). "Mercadante: Virginia; Wekerlin: La Laitière de Trianon". musicalcriticism.com. Retrieved June 26, 2009.
- ^ a b Davis, p. ??
- ^ Raúl González Arévalo (27 March 2009). "Buena ocasión para profundizar en Mercadante". mundoclasico.com. Retrieved June 27, 2009.
- ^ Virginia at the Chicago Public Library
- ^ "Virginia Opera Canceled". The New York Times. 26 March 1978. Retrieved 27 June 2009.
- ^ Andrew Clark, "Wexford Festival Opera, Ireland", Financial Times (London), 19 October 2010; review of 2010 Wexford season
- ^ Casaglia, Gherardo (2005). "Virginia, 7 April 1866". L'Almanacco di Gherardo Casaglia (in Italian).
- ^ Opera Glass's List of role creators in the Mercadante operas
- ^ Jordi Kooiman (November 25, 2007). "Heerlijke opname van vergeten opera". Place de l'Opera. Retrieved June 26, 2009.
- ^ Recordings of Virginia on operadis-opera-discography.org.uk
- ^ Fiona Maddocks (1 February 2009). "On a mission to bring lost operas back to life". The Observer. Retrieved June 26, 2009.
- ^ Stephen Francis Vasta (July 2009). "Editor's Choice: MERCADANTE: VIRGINIA". Opera News. Vol. 74, no. 1. Retrieved June 26, 2009.
Other sources
- Davis, John A., Italy in the Nineteenth Century. London: Oxford University Press, 2000
- Rose, Michael (1998), “Mercandante, (Giuseppe) Saverio (Raffaele)" in ISBN 1-56159-228-5
- Rose, Michael (2001), in ISBN 0-14-029312-4
- Wittmann, Michael, "Mercadante, Saverio", Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians Oxford University Press, 2007