Italian composers in the primo ottocento, the term
loosely used to describe the first half of the nineteenth century,
had a pretty hard time. There had been a steep decline in the
tradition of instrumental composition after Cimarosa (1749-1801)
and Paisiello (1740-1816). Opera was a popular genre even in
the dark days of the frequent wars and provided the only opportunity
for composers to earn a living. Every city had at least one
opera house, with the major centres having two or three, each
one specialising in a particular oeuvre and often drawing its
audience from a particular social class. This was no more evident
than in Venice where the Teatro La Fenice
provided opera seria, the San Benedetto opera buffa and the
Teatro San Moise one act farse. New productions, at least two
each season, were the order of the day and composers scrambled
to get their works performed. The singer rather than the composer
was the important person in a production and accordingly paid
more. The composer had to write rapidly and then move on if
he was to keep the wolf from the door. Once having presented
his work, and been present in the orchestra pit for the first
three performances, he had no other control over what happened
to his music. Often singers would choose to interpolate another
composer’s work to show off their vocal prowess. The most the
originator could hope for was to re-use music from the composition
in an amended version or in another work in a town where the
original was not known. This was the milieu in which Pacini
plied his trade, with one notable addition, the influence of
Rossini. Rossini had announced his quality early on in his compositional
life. The year of the premiere Pacini’s first opera, 1813, was
when Rossini became pre-eminent in this competitive environment
with the premieres of both Tancredi and L’Italiana
in Algeri. Rossini’s position in Italian opera remained
pre-eminent until his departure from the Italian opera scene
to go to Paris via Vienna, ten years later. Keen
to get their works staged, many Italian opera composers of the
period, including Pacini, followed Rossinian compositional models.
It was not until after the great man’s departure from Italy that the likes of Donizetti and Bellini moved
towards a more romantic view in their operas.
Pacini’s longevity gave him a great advantage over
his many compositional rivals. He took the opportunity after
the failure in 1834 of Carlo di Borgogna to withdraw
from composition for five years and rethink his ideas of dramatic
theory and structure. His return to the theatre saw some of
his finest works, the likes of Sapho (1840), La findanzante
corsa (1841), Maria Regina d’Inghilterra (1843) and
Medea (1857) are quoted in this context by Dr. Jeremy
Commons in his brief booklet introduction. Pacini’s last opera,
Berta, was staged a mere seven months before his death
in 1867, the year of the premiere of Verdi’s Don Carlos in
Paris. Between the first and
last of Pacini’s operas compositional styles changed immeasurably.
Although this CD does not extend across Pacini’s compositional
life, the last work being composed in 1848, it must be heard
in the context of the changes that took place during even that
part of Pacini’s life.
In focusing much of their artistic endeavour on
the recording of operas by Donizetti, and to a lesser extent
Rossini, Opera Rara, and their guiding mentor the late Patric
Schmid, have never forgotten other significant composers of
the primo ottocento, particularly Pacini. Their catalogue includes
recordings of his Maria regina d’Inghilterra (ORC 15)
and Carlo di Borgogna (ORC 21) as well as extracts from
other operas in the two series, Il Salotto and A Hundred
Years of Italian Opera volumes two and three (ORR 227 and
230). The present compilation is derived from these various
sources and is issued to coincide with the recording, and concert
performance, of the composer’s Alessandro Nell’Indie
at the London Coliseum. This composition of 1824 was the composer’s
first for the San Carlo in Naples which had premiered so
many of Rossini’s opera seria and was to be important to Donizetti’s
later development. The trio from this opera Che fai felon,
from an earlier recording, is featured on this selection (tr.5)
and indicates a distinctly individual compositional footprint.
The duet from Il Contestible di Chester (tr. 6) has some
reminiscences of Bellinian cantilena, and the long scene and
bravura tenor aria from Maria Regina d’Inghilterra (tr.
8), superbly taken by Bruce Ford, would not have disgraced one
of Rossini’s Naples opera seria. That said, Pacini is shown
on this disc to be a composer of both inspirational quality
as well as individuality.
The new recording of Maria Regina d’Inghilterra
will feature Opera Rara stalwarts such as Jennifer Larmore
and Bruce Ford. I had some happy moments with this disc comparing
the high soprano singing styles of three of the company’s stars,
Majella Cullagh (tr.5), Yvonne Kenny from a little while back
(tr.6) and Annick Massis (trs. 3 and 9). Such simple pleasure
was an added delight to discovering more about Pacini’s music
through listening to the nine operas featured.
This compilation is a perfect complement to earlier
issues from Opera Rara that provided an excellent opportunity
to hear extracts from several operas by composers of this period
other than Rossini, Donizetti and Bellini. Details and reviews
of similar compilations devoted to the compositions of Mercadante
and Meyerbeer
are available on MusicWeb. Like them this disc is thoroughly
recommendable both in respect of performance and scholarship.
There are brief notes on each track as well as a short introductory
essay by Jeremy Commons.
Robert J Farr
Eiddwen
Harrhy, (sop); Paul Nilon, (ten); John Cashmore, Geoffrey Dolton (bar)
