Episode 220. La Fiamma (The Haunted Opera House II)
SOCIAL SHARE
SUBSCRIPTION PLATFORM
A year ago, I posted an episode entitled “The Haunted Opera House” that featured a wide range of spooky, witchy, Halloween-appropriate 20th century operas from Prokofiev to Penderecki. This year I focus in on one of the works from that episode, Ottorino Respighi’s 1934 masterpiece La Fiamma, based on a 1908 play on witch hunts and witchcraft in 16th century Norway by the novelist and playwright Hans Wiers-Jenssen entitled Anna Pedersdotter, the Witch. This work also formed the basis for the Carl Dreyer film Day of Wrath. Respighi and his librettist Claudio Guastalla transferred the action to seventh-century Ravenna in the early days of Christianity. Musically the work combines Respighi’s interest with Gregorian chant, modal scales and harmonies, and the work of Claudio Monteverdi with his penchant for stunning orchestrations. The dramatically potent result was his most famous operatic work, but after an initial succès d’estime, it has only retained the slightest hold on the operatic fringes. Nevertheless, the heroine Silvana in particular is a role that great sopranos have made their own over the years, including Claudia Muzio, Gina Cigna, Giuseppina Cobelli, and Rosa Raisa (none of whom sadly recorded any excerpts) through Montserrat Caballé, Nelly Miricioiu, Ilona Tokody, Stefka Evstatieva, and Mara Coleva. I tell the story of the opera while offering substantial excerpts, which, in addition to the sopranos mentioned above, also include such operatic heavyweights as James McCracken, Carlo Tagliabue, Deborah Voigt, Giacinto Prandelli, Delcina Stevenson, Felicity Palmer, Juan Pons, Anna Moffo, and Mignon Dunn, among others. Just the thing to scare you out of your skin this Halloween!
RECORDINGS HEARD IN THIS EPISODE
Jalacy “Screamin’ Jay” Hawkins: I Put a Spell on You. Nina Simone, Henry Young, Gene Taylor, Buck Clark [live England 1968]
All remaining selections are from Ottorino Respighi’s 1934 opera La Fiamma, with a libretto by Claudio Guastalla, based on the play Anna Pedersdotter, the Witch, by G. Wiers Jenssen.
Act I. Nel nome di Dio, Monica, sei tu incantata? Felicity Palmer, Ursula van ‘t Wout, Edo de Waart, Radio Filharmonisch Orkest [live Utrecht 21.X.90]
Ancora l’ambascia ti prende?… No, Monica, lascia. Mara Coleva, Anna Moffo, Francesco Molinari-Pradelli, Orchestra di Milano della RAI [07.VIII.55]
Tu qui? Che vuoi qui? Giovanna Casolla, Gloria Scalchi, Maurizio Arena, Orchestra del Teatro Lirico Giuseppe Verdi Trieste [live 28.III.87]
Act II. Passa immune, innanzi al sacro simulacro. Giacinto Prandelli, Anna Moffo, Luisa Villa, Tusa Santo, Gabriella Carturan, Lilian Pellegrino, Francesco Molinari-Pradelli, Orchestra e Coro di Milano della RAI [Milano 07.VIII.55]
Oh, l’amore è un altra cosa… Il sogno che t’innamora. Stefka Evstatieva, Deborah Voigt, Edo de Waart, Radio Filharmonisch Orkest [live Utrecht 21.X.90]
Perdono! Perdono!… Sono colpevole, sono. Delcina Stevenson, Alessandra Marc, Orchestra conducted by Robert Bass [live Carnegie Hall 04.XIIl87]
Tu chiami il Prefetto… Una potenza misteriosa. Carlo Tagliabue, Mara Coleva, Francesco Molinari-Pradelli, Orchestra di Milano della RAI [live 07.VIII.55]
Evocare! La mia madre poteva. Nelly Miricioiu, Gabriel Sadè, Gianluigi Gelmetti, Orchestra dell’Opera di Roma [live 16.XII.97]
Act III. Dolce la morte, mentre ancor le vene. Nelly Miricioiu, Gabriel Sadè, Gianluigi Gelmetti, Orchestra dell’Opera di Roma [live 16.XII.97]
Tu soffri?… Non mi toccare! Montserrat Caballé, Juan Pons, Vera Baniewicz, José Collado, Orchestra of the Liceu, Barcelona [live 23.XII.89]
Io non uccisi… Non per malia, per empito d’amore. Ilona Tokody, Kolos Kováts, Lamberto Gardelli, Hungarian State Orchestra [1985]
Vescovo, assolvi. James McCracken, Mignon Dunn, Alessandra Marc, Kevin Deas, The Collegiate Chorale, Orchestra conducted by Robert Bass [live New York 04.XII.87]
