Brandon Cedel will sing the bass role of Giovanni in Oper Frankfurt's concert performances of Verdi's Il corsaro. He'll be joined by an all-star cast that includes Dorothea Röschmann as Medora, Željko Lučić as Seid and Mario Chang as Corrado.
The performance is part of the company's series of early and middle period operas by Giuseppe Verdi. The libretto is based on Lord Byron's 1814 poem The Corsair, which many believe was based on the life of the 19th century French pirate Jean Lafitte. The composer expressed interest in Byron's poem The Corsair as early as 1844 when he was planning an opera for Venice, but a suitable baritone was not available. Therefore, he completed I masnadieri for London before completing Il corsaro, which premiered in Trieste on October 25, 1848. With the exception of two other productions, the opera all but vanished from the repertory after just three performances in Trieste. It didn't appear in the U.K. until 1966 and in the U.S. until 1981. The San Diego Opera produced it in 1982 with a cast that included June Anderson, Rosalind Plowright, Alfonso Navarrete and J. Patrick Raftery.
Thomas Hampson sings "Alfin questo corsaro...Cento leggiadre vergini" from Il corsaro:
The opera is about a noble pirate who battles the Muslims, is loved by a harem maid but in turn loves another, and who finally kills himself after his true love poisons herself when she thinks he is dead.
Performances are on November 7th and 9th and tickets and additional information is available online. Cedel is currently performing Angelotti in Puccini Tosca and the Messenger in Stravinsky's Oedipus Rex with Oper Frankfurt.
Roberta Mantegna and Artur Rucinski in I masnadieri in Rome(Photo: Yasuko Kageyama)
Few composers wrote more great baritone and bass parts than Giuseppe Verdi. Many of his operas are named for low male voice leads instead of the usual soprano or tenor leads, including Falstaff, Rigoletto, Nabucco, Attila, Macbeth and Simon Boccanegra.
While it is his middle and late period operas that are both most performed and most popular today, his early period operas include some of the best vocal writing for low male voices. Those operas reflected his sympathy with the Risorgimento movement which sought the unification of Italy and produced the chorus "Va, pensiero" from Nabucco, which became the unofficial anthem of the movement.
His early works echo the dominant style of "aria, duet, ensemble and finale" common with composers of the era, including Rossini and Donizetti. The aria centered on a soloist generally singing three sections, including a cabaletta featuring some bravura singing. His finales often feature soloists, ensemble and chorus, usually culminating with an exciting stretto section.
Dmitry Hvorostovsky sings "Vecchio! Spiccai...La sua lampada vitale...Tremate. o miseri!"
July 22nd marks the 1847 premiere of one of his lesser known early operas, I masnadieri, his first opera composed for a foreign theater, London's Her Majesty's Theatre. The opera with its themes of fratricide, patricide, treachery, betrayal and a doomed love interest, was unpopular with London audiences and never truly found its place in the repertory. It basically disappeared from the performance archives until a 1951 revival broadcast on RAI with Sesto Bruscantini and Renato Capecchi.
Edita Gruberova sings "Tu del mio Carlo":
The opera is probably his most "male dominated" opera, with six of the seven leads being male and the chorus consisting of male bandits. Despite that, the operas most enduring piece is Amalia's aria and cabaletta "Tu del mio Carlo al seno...Carlo vive? O caro accento," a bravura piece that appears with some frequency on soprano recordings.
Nonetheless, the men get some real showstoppers, including Francesco's dramatic finale “Pareami che sorto da lauto convito.” In the aria, Francesco contemplates his judgment day and the terror it will bring, imagining that he will not be allowed into heaven because of his cruel deeds.
Dmitry Hvorostovsky sings "Tradimento! ... Pareami, che sorto da lauto convito":
One of the key characters in the operas is the bass role Count Massimiliano, who is featured in the Act 1 quartet “Sul capo mio colpevole” and sings the Act III aria “Un ignoto, tre lune or saranno.”
Bonaldo Gaiotti sings "Un ignoto, tre lune or saranno":
Upcoming performance of the opera are at the Palau de les Arts Reina Sofia with Artur Rucinski as Francesco and Michele Pertusi as Massiliano from February 6-17, 2019, and at the Teatro alla Scala with Massimo Cavalletti as Francesco and Michele Pertusi as Massimiliano from June 18-July 7, 2019.
