We finish the term with Rossini's show-off piece "Viaggio a Reims". It was Rossini’s last Italian opera – he was 33.
Rossini was commissioned for a piece to celebrate the coronation of French King Charles X in Reims in 1825. So this is a classic piece de circonstance created for a Bourbon royal gala. No expense denied, it requires 14 soloists (three sopranos, one contralto, two tenors, four baritones, and four basses) and the event brought all the greatest voices of the day.
Hard act to follow – and indeed Rossini refused to give it a longer run than the required three performances (and one more). It was effectively lost for 150 years and is rarely played today, largely because of expense of a showcase for top singers. Read about its creation and rediscovery here.
It’s also pretty odd, even as operas go. The libretto is an elaborate satire on Mme de Stael's Corinne (1808), travelogue-cum-autobiography-cum-romantic fantasy about one of the famous improvising singers of the new Romantic age. (She has a wonderful Rossini-showoff opening aria.) The synopsis is basically a list of arias by splendidly caricatured characters. Rossini saw many as too good to waste – recycling them in Comte Ory. Full details at Wikipedia.
Our full opera production is from the Marinsky Theatre with Gergiev conducting and a highly praised lineup of singers for these mad roles. Here’s a foretaste of this production. (And here’s a review of of the Dutch Opera production Opera Australia will use.)
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