Saverio Mercadante (1795-1870)
Il proscritto, melodramma tragico in three acts, prem. 1842 Naples
Libretto by Salvadore Cammarano
(Critical edition by Roger Parker and Ian Schofield)
Giorgio: Ramón Vargas (tenor); Malvina: Irene Roberts (mezzo-soprano); Arturo: Iván Ayón-Rivas (tenor); Anna: Sally Matthews (soprano); Guglielmo: Goderdzi Janelidze (bass); Odoardo: Elizabeth DeShong (mezzo-soprano); Clara: Susana Gaspar (soprano); Osvaldo: Alessandro Fisher (tenor); Ufficiale: Niall Anderson (bass)
Opera Rara Chorus
Britten Sinfonia/Carlo Rizzi
rec. June 2022, Henry Wood Hall, London, UK
Italian libretto & essays with English translations in booklet
Opera Rara ORC62 [2 CDs: 124]
Mercadante’s Il proscritto (The Proscribed Man, or The Outlaw) is the first of three recordings to be released by Opera Rara in the 2023/24 season and its forty-sixth restoration since Opera Rara was founded fifty-three years ago, the other two planned being Offenbach’s La Princesse de Trébizonde and Donizetti’s L’esule di Roma. It was premiered at the San Carlo opera house, Naples, in 1842 – incidentally, the same year as the premiere of Nabucco, Verdi’s first major success, but, in contrast comparison Mercadante’s opera was not a success and there was no appetite to stage it elsewhere.
Mercadante’s operas are now becoming far better known. Opera Rara can be congratulated for releasing several recordings of them: complete recordings of Orazi e Curiazi, Emma d’Antiochia and Virginia, and highlights of Zaira, Maria Stuarda, regina di Scozia and I Normanni a Parigi. It was conductor and Opera Rara artistic director Carlo Rizzi who in 2019 unearthed the autograph manuscript of Il proscritto in the Naples Conservatory archives, leading to the recording of this restoration edited by Roger Parker and Ian Schofield. It had been 180 years since Il proscritto was last heard when Opera Rara gave a concert performance in June 2022 at Barbican, London, and with the Barbican cast all assembled, this studio recording was made around the same time.
Salvadore (or Salvatore) Cammarano provided Mercadante with a bold and creative libretto, basing it on the melodrama Le proscrit (Paris 1839) by Frédéric Soulié and Timothée Dehay. The setting around a castle close to Edinburgh in the mid-17th century. Cammarano created a fateful storyline of doomed love and political betrayal during the time when parliamentary army commander Oliver Cromwell was Lord Protector of England, Scotland and Ireland.
In ‘a classic love triangle’ Malvina is in a dilemma over two political rivals, one a Royalist and the other a Cromwellian – both tenor roles. Malvina’s husband Giorgio, a Royalist, is thought erroneously to have drowned at sea, allowing the ‘widow’ to remarry Arturo. Both Malvina’s treacherous mother Anna and stepbrother Guglielmo, a Cromwellian, pressure her to marry again, this time to another Cromwellian, Arturo. As the nuptial ceremony for Malvina and Arturo is underway at the castle, Giorgio appears. Later, when Arturo and Giorgio are about to duel, in the hope of resolving the crisis Malvina staggers in, having swallowed a deadly poison.
There is some unevenness in inspiration in Il proscritto, but there are several highly-charged duets and some thrilling concertati at the conclusions of acts one and two. All four of the major roles have been successfully cast. Seasoned Mexican tenor Ramón Vargas is ideal as the Angst-ridden Giorgio, the outlaw of the opera’s title. Giorgio is struggling to regain his former life and status with his wife Malvina. Nevertheless, he is relieved to be back in his homeland after suffering exile and glad to be breathing the same air as Malvina and in his act one romanza ‘L’aura ch’io spiro’ Vargas is in passionate voice. His tenor may no longer have a ringing quality and there is some minor strain, yet he is resolute and retains a heroic element that I find compelling.
Taking the lion’s share of the plaudits as Malvina, American mezzo-soprano Irene Roberts splendidly creates a complicated heroine tormented by the emotional tug-of-war in which she has become entangled following her husband’s death. Mercadante did not provide Malvina with a set-piece aria, although she has three scenes and duets. Roberts has a substantial, smooth and attractive voice with a reliable top register heard to best effect in Malvina and Giorgio’s gripping Act II scene and duet ‘Stretto agli avanzi fragili’ which is filled with emotion as Malvina agrees to leave Arturo and escape with Giorgio. In love with both men, Malvina resorts to a climactic and heartrending demise by poison at the end of the opera, making me wish I had attended the Barbican performance in 2022.
The role of Arturo is taken by Peruvian tenor Iván Ayón-Rivas, who displays a bright, clear and quite expressive, fresh-sounding voice. He flourishes in Arturo’s set-piece cavatina ‘Son del tuo volto imagine’ from Act One where he announces his arrival for his wedding to Malvina and his love for her, comparing her to a ‘shining star’.
Mercadante gives the opera’s showpiece aria ‘Ahi! del giorno sanguinoso’ from Act Two to the trouser role of Odoardo, Malvina’s brother. Created for a contralto, that role is here sung by a mezzo-soprano, American Elizabeth DeShong, who displays her dark toned voice to convincing effect singing to the group of exiles who are Giorgio’s companions. She creates a real sense of drama explaining that Giorgio has now been imprisoned in a tower, and as he saved her father’s life, she swears to save his. Following on is the Chorus of Exiles sung by the Opera Rara Chorus in dramatic form as the group of exiles who agree to help Odoardo rescue Giorgio. The supporting cast consists of the devious Anna (Sally Matthews), Clara (Susana Gaspar), Osvaldo (Alessandro Fisher) and rich-voiced Georgian bass Goderdzi Janelidze as Guglielmo, Malvina’s stepbrother, and whose singing I especially enjoy.
Carlo Rizzi’s passion for the score is infectious and the Britten Sinfonia plays spiritedly throughout and provides excellent support for the soloists and chorus. Too short to be described as an overture before the chorus joins in at point 2:49 (CD1), the orchestral introduction to the opera’s first act is especially rousing and engaging, complete with off-stage brass. But it’s not all breathtaking exuberance; take, for example, in Act Two the interlude for flute and harp soloists, played quite beautifully with an elevated degree of sensitivity, providing a splendid introduction to the scene and duet for Malvina and Giorgio ‘Stretto agli avanzi fragili’. Prepared by Stephen Harris the Opera Rara Chorus, almost fifty strong, is in striking form, clearly savouring the ample number of choruses Mercadante provided.
Made in 2022 in London’s Henry Wood Hall, the much-used studio renowned for its acoustic, this recording enjoys sound quality of a very satisfying clarity and offers an agreeable balance among the soloists, orchestra and chorus. This two CD set has a one-hundred-and-twenty-nine page booklet containing a conductor’s note, a pair of helpful essays by Teressa Poggiali and Roger Parker, a synopsis and the full Italian libretto with an English translation placed alongside.
It took me only a couple of playings to become hooked by this Opera Rara recording. Neglected for almost two hundred years, Il proscritto is undoubtedly worthy of its revival.
Michael Cookson
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