Dynamic SrL Operas

The première of Ernani at Venices' Teatro La Fenice in 1844 failed to come up to Verdi's expectations, primarily because of the poor health of some of the singers. Both critics and audiences, however, soon warmed to Ernani, especially after the following performances. The opera contains some of Verdi's most successful, impassioned arias (first and foremost Elvira's cavatina and Silva's cantabile) and clearly denoted an evolution in terms of dramatic structure, more cohesive and with lesser use of blocks of closed numbers. Despite a turbulent 'premiere', Ernani became a real international success, beginning with the felicitous Vienna productions of May/June 1844. The cast of this Teatro Regio of Parma production features some of today's best singers for this type of repertoire.

Singers of great renown were called upon for the first performance of Ercole sul Termodonte by Antonio Vivaldi in Rome, "in the hall of Signor Federico Capranica", on 27th January 1723. An exclusively male singing cast, as was the custom on Roman stages, to tell the tale of the battle between Hercules, accompanied by the heroes Theseus, Telamon and Alceste, and the Amazons led by Antiope. The story, which is based on the ninth of the legendary labours of Hercules, and which concludes with the traditional happy ending here decreed by Diana, who proclaims the nuptial unions of Hippolyte with Theseus, prince of Athens, and of Martesia with Telamon, king of Ithaca, was arranged by the "regular canon of La Carità of Venice" Don Giacomo Francesco Bussani, on a libretto that had already been performed in 1678 at the San Salvatore theatre in Venice. The opera was successful, winning appreciation and at the same time astonishment through its introduction of many passages written in a new "manner", with an exciting, incisive rhythmic gait. This style so excited the Romans that from then on they demanded it almost exclusively in melodramas. After the success of 1723, however, Ercole did not circulate widely and at a certain point the score was thought to have been lost. It has only recently been reassembled thanks to the precious rediscovery of some thirty arias and two duets in various archives, and has been reconstructed in its recitative passages by Alessandro Ciccolini. The daring direction of John Pascoe for the Spoleto Festival presents a statuary Hercules appearing on stage completely naked. On the podium, conducting the Complesso Barocco, an expert of the stature of Alan Curtis.

Macbeth, the Thane of Glamis, receives a prophecy from a trio of witches that one day he will become King of Scotland. Consumed by ambition and spurred to action by his wife, Macbeth murders his king and takes the throne for himself.

Director Pier Luigi Pizzi drew inspiration from Georges Rodenbach's short novel, "Bruges - La Morte" which narrates the bizarre and sinister experience of a man who, having lost his wife, is mesmerized and hypnotized by the atmosphere of the city of Bruges to the point that he believes to recognize his beloved one in a woman met in the streets. He is so obsessed by this incredible event to think that he can bring the past back, but despite the two women's amazing likeness, the unique sensitivity and the feelings of the wife that he had loved for ten years are gone forever. Rodenbach turns the city of Bruges in a sinister and foggy stage where mysterious events take place. The urban spaces and the dead woman are deeply linked, the city itself amplifies death as it mirrors the main character's feelings, his agony, his tireless quest for an impossible love. This quest will lead him to death, in the cold, dead Venetian waters. Erich W. Korngold was very touched by this novel and composed an opera imbued with romantic and lyrical elements, that enhance the sense of self destruction and doom of the protagonist, describing through music his sudden mood swings. The reference to water is very important as it mirrors the characters' feelings and the strict analogy with Venice. Venice is the connecting element between this production and last year's Death in Venice by Benjamin Britten. These two titles are deeply linked and form one unique path. For that opera too Pizzi had used fog and mist on stage as to evoke a sense of ghost silence and desolation. Water and fog are therefore essential ingredients, and always recurring on the stage set.

Gioconda is rarely performed, except for the famous Dance of the Hours, which became popular also thanks to Walt Disney's Fantasia. This co-production of Arena di Verona, Barcelona's Teatro Eliseo and Madrid's Teatro Real, directed by Pier Luigi Pizzi, is quite stunning. In the cast are Andrea Gruber, Carlo Colombara, Marco Berti, Ildiko Komlosi, Elisabetta Fiorillo and, debuting in the Dance of the Hours, Roberto Bolle, star of La Scala who has appeared in the most important theatres of the world. This music, on which Ponchielli worked for twenty-six years, seems to prefigure Puccini while, at the same time, echoing Verdi. To date Gioconda is one of the works most loved by audiences.

After the CD recording of Thaïs, which marked the beginning of Dynamic's collaboration with Venice's prestigious Teatro La Fenice, here is now the DVD version of this enthralling opera, by the captivating music and dramatic development. The title role, in this excellent production, is sung by an Eva Mei in great vocal form, who gives an interpretation of extraordinary depth. Beside her, the famous bass-baritone Michele Pertusi, as Athanaël, shows once again his unquestionable style. On the podium is Marcello Viotti, music director of the Venetian theatre. The story of the conversion of the beautiful courtesan, and the clash between spirituality and sensuality have been portrayed brilliantly by Pier Luigi Pizzi, one of today's most talented opera directors.

The plot of La cambiale di matrimonio; which Rossini composed when he was just eighteen years old; revolves around the farcical attempts of Tobia Mill; a rich English merchant; to combine business with pleasure by forcing his daughter; the lovely Fanny ("the merchandise") to marry Slook; his rich colonial correspondent.

Il Burbero di buon cuore is a dramma giocoso in two acts composed by Vicente Martín y Soler to a libretto by Lorenzo da Ponte, based on one of the most popular and amusing French comedies by Carlo Goldoni, Le bourru bienfaisant. The opera was premièred to a triumphant success in Vienna's Burgtheater on 4th January 1786. The gruff Ferramondo must deal with a nephew who has been ruined by his spendthrift wife, and who would like to have his sister sent to a convent so that he can get his hands on her dowry. The girl, of course, has other plans. A brilliant libretto, music that can be both graceful and captivating, and a first rate cast make of this opera a welcome rediscovery. Vicente Martín Y Soler was known in Europe during his lifetime as Vincenzo Martini,an Italian name that appears at the time to have been considered an advantage in the operatic world. When he met Lorenzo Da Ponte in 1785, Vicente Martín Y Soler, born in Valencia in 1754 already had to his credit a dozen operas, but decisive leap to his career was due to the collaboration with Da Ponte who wrote the librettos for: Il burbero di buon cuore (1786), Una cosa rara (1786) and L'arbore di Diana (1787). These were operas which shared the favour of the public in the imperial capital with Mozart's masterpieces, likewise on librettos by Da Ponte, Le nozze di Figaro, Don Giovanni , and Così fan tutte. When Il Burbero di buon cuore was first staged in Vienna in 1786 it was warmly received by the audience. The music is simple, charming, orchestrated tastefully and with a wealth of colours. The handling of the situations is impeccable and the mechanism works perfectly, with suitable theatrical timings, so that the scenes follow one another with an urgent rhythm, giving the development of the plot a sensation of fresh naturalness up to the final dénouement. The Da Ponte - Martín Y Soler partnership collaborated again on the opera, Una cosa rara, ossia bellezza e onestà.

Baldassarre Galuppi was considered the leading exponent of Venetian comic opera, if not the absolute creator. Though he was shortly forgotten after his death, opera buffa gave him international fame, and it's only recently that his serious operas have begun to receive serious attention. Composed according to tradition, with the use of new arias displaying various affetti (fury, contrast, outrage) as well as others borrowed from contemporary operas, this dramma per musica is a consistent work, where music and text are one, and the seven characters and their emotions are strongly portrayed. The opera takes place in Olimpia during the games, and focuses on a complicated love intrigue. Megacle and Aristea are in love, but the maid is also loved by Megacle's friend Licida. Megacle owes his life to Licida, and therefore to honour this friendhip he is forced to win his beloved's hand for him. The situation gets more complicated, tragedy seems to darken the horizon, but the final happy ending settles things. Pietro Metastasio wrote the libretto in Vienna in 1733, and many musicians put it in music: among the most famous Vivaldi, Pergolesi and Paisiello.

La Sonnambula was first performed with enormous success at the Teatro Carcano, Milan on 6th March 1831 with Giuditta Pasta and Giambattista Rubini in the roles of Amina and Elvino, the most well-known and ideal singers for the parts at the time. Bellini was full of praise for their performance and declared them "two angels who could transport the audience into a state bordering on distraction". La Sonnambula is an idillic, classical and intense melodramma with an extremely fine, lyrical musicality and tense with pure "canto", suspended between Arcadia and Romanticism. It is a combination of tender and melancholic sentiments and of tragic and moving passion, in a natural uncontaminated and innocent atmosphere and humanity which clearly represent the artistic experience of the composer. The charming staging by Hugo de Ana, at the Teatro Lirico di Cagliari goes back to January 2007. Through fascinating tableaux vivants, references to 17th century Romantic painting and refined visual projections, it is a tribute to Luchino Visconti. Visconti produced the memorabile performance of Sonnambula in March at the Scala di Milano with the magnificant Maria Callas.

For La forza del destino, Verdi created one of his most famous melodies, the "fate" motif that permeates the whole of the score. Music and action alternate in masterly fashion between large-scale crowd scenes and intimate interiority, in that way illustrating Verdi's real theme: the manner in which fallible human beings are destroyed by a cruel fate.