Episode 491. Bubbles on the Nile, Verdi Edition
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Here’s another edition of what has become one of my (and my listeners’) favorite series of episodes, one that I have entitled “Bubbles on the Nile.” The title refers to a wonderful 1985 LP of the same name which featured favorite divas in unfamiliar or unexpected repertoire. Since publishing my first Bubbles on the Nile episode last spring, I have revisited the “franchise” with an all-Handel episode, and today, I’m back with an all-Verdi edition. The format of these episodes is thus: we always begin with Beverly herself singing a role or aria not typically associated with her, in this case, “Ernani, involami” from a 1967 radio recording for German radio. From there, I bring you a series of surprising performances from some of my (and, I hope your) favorite singers: Gundula Janowitz singing Odabella in Attila, Claudio Muzio singing Giselda in Lombardi, Margaret Price singing the title role of Giovanna d’Arco, Shirley Verrett singing Cuniza in Verdi’s first opera Oberto, Fiorenza Cossotto singing Amelia in Ballo, Callas singing Eboli, Bumbry singing the Trovatore Leonora, a rare 1960 RAI recording of Anna Moffo singing Desdemona, Carol Neblett as the Violetta of one’s dreams, a hair-raising live performance of Renata Scotto singing Abigaille in Nabucco, and Margaret Tynes as a compelling, idiosyncratic Lady Macbeth. Be prepared for some thrilling singing coming at you from all over the place!
RECORDINGS HEARD IN THIS EPISODE
All selections are by Giuseppe Verdi.
Francesco Maria Piave [after Victor Hugo]: Surta è la notte… Ernani, involami… Tutto sprezzo che d’Ernani (Ernani). Beverly Sills, Ernst Märzendorfer, Kölner Rundfunk-Sinfonie-Orchester, Chor der Kölner Oper [Köln IV.67]
Temistocle Solera, Francesco Maria Piave [after Zacharias Werner]: Liberamente or piangi… Oh, nel fuggente nuvola (Attila). Gundula Janowitz, Giuseppe Patanè, Orchester der Deutschen Oper Berlin [live 1971]
Temistocle Solera [after Tommaso Grossi]: O Madre del cielo (I Lombardi). Claudia Muzio [1922]
Temistocle Solera [after Friedrich Schiller]: Sempre all’alba (Giovanna d’Arco). Margaret Price, Richard Bradshaw, Orchestra of St. Luke’s [live New York 27.X.1985]
Temistocle Solera [after Antonio Piazza]: Oh, chi torna l’ardente pensiero… Più che i vezzi e lo splendore (Oberto). Shirley Verrett, Edward Downes, Omroeporkest, Groot Omroepkoor [live Amsterdam 18.XII.1971]
Antonio Somma [after Eugène Scribe]: Morrò, ma prima in grazia (Un ballo in maschera). Fiorenza Cossotto, Nello Santi, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra [1979]
Joseph Méry, Camille du Locle [after Friedrich Schiller; Italian version by Achille de Lauzières, Angelo Zanardini]: O don fatale (Don Carlo). Maria Callas, Georges Prêtre, Sinfonieorchester des Norddeutschen Rundfunks [live Hamburg 16.III.1962]
Salvadore Cammarano [after Antonio García Gutiérrez]: Tacea la notte placida… Di tale amor (Il trovatore). Grace Bumbry, Claudia Catania. Orchestra conducted by Anton Guadagno [live New York 26.VI.1982]
Arrigo Boito [after William Shakespeare]: Piangea cantando… Ave Maria (Otello). Anna Moffo. Massimo Freccia, Orchestra Sinfonica di Roma della RAI [live Roma 04.I.60]
Francesco Maria Piave [after Alexandre Dumas fils]: È strano!… Ah, fors’è lui… Sempre libera (La traviata). Carol Neblett, John Stewart, Chris Nance, New York City Opera Orchestra [live New York 17.IX.1971]
Temistocle Solera: Ben io t’invenni, o fatal scritto… Anch’io dischiuso un giorno… Salgo già dal trono aurato (Nabucco). Renata Scotto, John Wustman [live Carnegie Hall 31.I.1976]
Francesco Maria Piave, Andrea Maffei [after William Shakespeare]: Una macchia è qui tutt’ora [Gran Scena del Sonnambulismo] (Macbeth). Margaret Tynes, Pál Varga, Orchestra of the Budapest Philharmonic Society [1962]