Episode 444. Renata Scotto: Casta Diva
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Today’s episode serves numerous purposes: first, as a belated tribute to the great Renata Scotto and in particular her controversial assumption of the title role Vincenzo Bellini’s bel canto masterpiece, Norma. Second, as a memento of International Womens’ Day and Women’s History Month. The remainder of the month will feature various favorite divas in belated Countermelody tributes. In all honesty, this episode also is posted today because I have been quite ill and exhausted upon returning home to Berlin and have not had the energy to post a brand new episode. An earlier version of this episode first saw the light of day in the summer of 2020 in the first season of the podcast. Scotto is heard in some of her earliest recordings, including her first studio recording in 1954 and a live performance from Trieste of Weber’s Il franco cacciatore [AKA Der Freischütz]. Early bel canto triumphs as Adina in Elisir and Amina in Sonnambula serve as a foretaste of possibly her greatest (and certainly her most ambitious and audacious) bel canto heroine, Norma, in which she is heard in early live performances between 1963 and 1978. Fellow singers heard in this episode include Alfredo Kraus, Gianfranco Cecchele, Biancamaria Casoni, Ermanno Mauro and Tatiana Troyanos. Conductors include Giuseppe Patanè, Nicola Rescigno, Nello Santi, Fulvio Vernizzi, and Riccardo Muti.
RECORDINGS HEARD IN THIS EPISODE
Pietro Mascagni, Giovacchino Forzano [after Ouida (Marie Louise de la Ramée)]: Flammen, perdonami (Lodoletta). Renata Scotto, Corrado Benvenuti, Orchestra Lirica Cetra [1954]
Carl Maria Weber, Friedrich Kind, Franco Faccio [Italian translation]: D’una sposa graziosa [Trübe Augen] (Il franco cacciatore [Der Freischütz]). Renata Scotto, Mario Rossi, Orchestra del Teatro Verdi di Trieste [live Trieste 18.I.1956]
Gaetano Donizetti, Felice Romani [after Eugène Scribe]: Prendi, per me sei libero (L’elisir d’amore). Renata Scotto, Antonio Tonini [live Moscow 18.IX.64]
Vincenzo Bellini, Felice Romani: Son geloso del zefiro errante (La sonnambula). Renata Scotto, Alfredo Kraus, Nello Santi, Orchestra del Teatro La Fenice di Venezia [live 26.V.1961]
All remaining tracks are from Vincenzo Bellini and Felice Romani’s Norma featuring Renata Scotto in the title role with supporting forces as listed for each selection.
- Casta diva. Fulvio Vernizzi, Radio Filharmonisch Orkest, Groot Omroepkoor [live Amsterdam 23.VI.1963]
- Trio and Act I Finale. Gianfranco Cecchele (Pollione), Biancamaria [or Bianca Maria] Casoni (Adalgisa); Giuseppe Patanè, Orchestra del Teatro Regio di Torino [9 April 1974]
- Act II Duet with Adalgisa. Tatiana Troyanos (Adalgisa); Nicola Rescigno, Houston Symphony Orchestra [live from Houston Grand Opera [12 November 1978]
Act II Duet with Pollione & Final Scene. Ermanno Mauro (Pollione); Agostino Ferrin (Oroveso); Riccardo Muti, Orchestra del Teatro Communale di Firenze [19 December 1978]
