Re: [mascagni-interest] Usenet discussion on Mascagni etc.

[Jay & Susan Ginsburg]

Hello:
I would very much like to know where and how I can acquire other operas CDs
besides Cavalleria and L'Amico, Especially those mentioned in this email.

Jay Ginsburg

----- Original Message -----
From: "Erik Bruchez" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Tuesday, September 17, 2002 1:32 PM
Subject: Re: [mascagni-interest] Usenet discussion on Mascagni etc.


 > Jon H. Rydne wrote:
 >  > there's a discussion on "best lesser know operas" over on
 >  > rec.music.opera these days; why don't we Mascagni buffs join in and
 >  > give Mascagni's lesser known operas some PR? :-)
 >
 > Here is my reply. I can never resist plugging Parisina when I have a
 > chance ;-)
 >
 > -Erik
 >
 >  > Lastly, and I think the best of these three operas, is Mascagni's
 >  > IRIS.  The opera must be some sort of allegory.  The story is one of
 >  > the grimiest ever.  The Sony recording offers some sonorous although
 >  > rather unenthusiastic singing from Placido Domingo and rather
 >  > indifferent conducting by Giuseppe Patané.  Ilona Tokody is rather
 >  > sympathetic as the hideously mal-treated heroine.  Mascagni's lavish
 >  > melodic gift is in evidence.  His opening and closing "Hymn to the
 >  > Sun" is impressive.  What is needed, though, are singers of the Di
 >  > Stefano / Carteri class and a conductor at least as vital as
 >  > Antonino Votto was at his best.
 >
 > This is a good picture of Iris. There really is not much reason for it
 > to be "lesser known". It was even in the MET repertoire at the
 > beginning of the century.
 >
 > Many other Mascagni operas would deserve more exposure (or any
 > exposure, for that matter), in particular L'amico Fritz (gorgeous
 > music, like Iris an opera on the fringe of the repertoire), Isabeau
 > (daring and original), Guglielmo Ratcliff (Mascagni's first opera,
 > brought to completion after Cavalleria), Il Piccolo Marat (the last
 > opera Mascagni composed entirely - Pinotta and Nerone reused a lot of
 > older music - impossible for the tenor), Zanetto (a gorgeous miniature
 > opera that requires almost no mise en scene), Amica (not his best but
 > a stepping stone with gorgeous melodies and a 10-minute long symphonic
 > intermezzo - with a French libretto), Lodoletta (a beautiful opera,
 > but the plot is lacking in originality), and Le Maschere (an homage to
 > the Commedia dell'Arte, Mascagni's only comical opera).
 >
 > My favorite one though is Mascagni's Parisina (not to be confused with
 > Donizetti's Parisina d'Este), on libretto by Gabriele D'Annunzio. This
 > is a masterpiece that I hope to see performed staged and in its
 > entirety some day (I am not holding by breath though). The Montpellier
 > performance in 1999 was good, in particular because of the superb work
 > of the soprano Denia Mazzola Gavazzeni and of conductor Enrique
 > Diemecke, but unfortunately not only was the last act was omitted, but
 > numerous other cuts were made. Supposedly the cuts were those of
 > Mascagni "himself", but that statement may well be incorrect and at
 > the very least would need to be documented. At any rate many of those
 > cuts don't make any sense at all and I doubt that Mascagni would have
 > made them had he really had a choice.
 >
 > Denia Mazzola Gavazzeni did sing the last act separately in 1995,
 > under the baton of her husband, but those performances were never
 > officially released. I think they were complete though.
 >
 > One needs to be in the adequate mood to go through the four hours of
 > Parisina's mostly declamato recitativo style. The opera contains
 > almost no action (although the battle scene, for example, was
 > completely amputated from the Montpellier performance). The reward is
 > music from another world, with incredible melody, harmony and
 > orchestration. Some scenes, such as the end of the first act and third
 > act with Nicolo, Ugo's father, are simply extatic.
 >
 > The Mascagni.org web site features an article of Alessandro Rizzacasa
 > on Parisina (in Italian only):
 >
 >    http://www.mascagni.org/articles/rizzacasa-200009-parisina/
 >
 > See also the discography entries, audio excerpts, and libretto:
 >
 >    http://www.mascagni.org/works/parisina/recordings
 >    http://www.mascagni.org/works/parisina/sounds
 >    http://www.mascagni.org/works/parisina/libretto
 >
 > There are lots of anecdotes about the composition of this opera which
 > Mascagni composed mostly in France under the pseudonym of Ing. Armando
 > Basevi, often in the company of his daughter Emi, his lover Anna
 > Lolli, and his librettist, the poet Gabriele D'Annunzio. There is also
 > a monography on Parisina recently written by Carlo Botteghi: that's
 > more than 300 pages dedicated to the opera.
 >
 > -Erik
 >
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