Richard Flury (1896-1967)
Casanova e l’Albertolli (1938), Commedia Lyrica in due Atti
Giocondo Albertolli, an artist from the Ticino: Carlo Allemano, tenor
Lucia Morosini, a pretty girl from Lugano: Lavinia Bini, soprano
Giacomo Casanova, Cavaliere di Seingalt: Mattia Olivieri, baritone
Vittor Giuseppe von Roll, Landvogt of Lugano :Marco Bussi, baritone
Maria Anna Ludovica von Roll, his wife: Lucia Cirillo, mezzo-soprano
Coro della Radiotelevisione Svizzera
Orchestra della Svizzera italiana/Diego Fasolis
rec. 2019/22, Lugano, Switzerland
Toccata Classics TOCC0653 [2 CDs: 118]
I had never heard Richard Flury’s music before encountering this operatic set. I was expecting something moderately early 20th-century, so I was surprised to hear music that belongs in the mid-19th-century. I think that I should have listened to his orchestral works as a preparation; some of it is available on YouTube. I had listened to both discs twice before opening the very detailed booklet that discusses Flury and his output. The other booklet has a full libretto in English, Italian and German. In these matters, Toccata Classics is to be effusively praised.
I am not criticising Flury for following a traditionally tonal route through his music. On the contrary, give me more of this and less (much less) of Boulez or Stockhausen.
With regard to this music specifically, in 1950 Flury wrote: “…a commedia lyrica that I composed to an Italian text by Guido Calgari for Radio Lugano, to be performed at the trades fair of Southern Switzerland. Individual numbers from it are still heard regularly on Swiss Italian Radio today. Since such pageants are intended for a broad public, I always had to make compromises between writing in a popular style and allowing my imagination free rein.”
So, the almost continuous flow of popular yet unremarkable melody, and perhaps the lack of emotional extremes, can be laid at the door of a work that Flury considered to be an example of “occasional music theatre pageant”. The pageants he had written were like “mayflies that have an ephemeral existence”. He did not consider them to form a significant part of his oeuvre, even if they had made his name known to a public wider than would otherwise have been the case.
The work was orchestrated by Flury’s close friend Edouard Favre, regarded as an outstanding orchestrator. Maybe this is why I notice no individual stylistic characteristics.
A significant feature of Swiss music that began to evolve from the mid-19th century is the Festspiel—a genre of spectacle created by the people, for the people. This genre played a vital role as a formative expression of Swiss national identity. There were performances at celebrations commemorating key Swiss Confederation battles. Casanova e l’Albertolli was regularly performed at the Fiera Svizzera di Lugano in 1933-1944.
The libretto is based on the documented stay of Casanova in Lugano in 1769. He hoped to regain some goodwill of the Venetian authorities so that they would allow him to return home after his notorious escape from prison. Visit Toccata’s website (notes and libretto) for the detailed circumstances of the Festspiel, plot summary and full libretto with translations in English and German from the sung Italian.
The musical style strikes me as sort-of watered-down Richard Strauss tinged with the lyricism of Giuseppe Martucci or Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari. Whilst the work had excerpts played fairly regularly on Swiss-Italian radio, perhaps that was prompted by patriotic motives rather than musical memorability. The music is nice, and melodies become recognisable upon repeated listening. And yet I have listened at least five times, and with the exception of an attractive theme on rising strings that emerges at 1:20 and again at 3:40 into the overture, I cannot bring any to mind.
That the work shares characteristics with operetta is underscored by the presence of a 7½-minute section spoken by the Trovatore. The speech is accompanied by the orchestra, and the music is attractive enough to make me wish that the words could have been omitted.
The soloists are good, although tenor Carlo Allemano, who sings the lead part of Albertolli, employs an almost continuous vibrato. I say ‘employs’ because I think that he does it deliberately to try to make his performance more expressive. It does not work for me, and becomes irritating after a while. Other than that, he easily encompasses any high notes. His voice is easy to differentiate from that of baritone Mattia Olivieri, who sings the part of Casanova very well. The lead soprano Lavinia Bini as Lucia is just fine for the role. She does not sound too old to be representing a young woman.
The RSI orchestra play very well, and sound committed to their task under the very experienced baton of Diego Fasolis. He has an international reputation, especially in historically informed performances.
The recording is very good, and the voices are well integrated into the orchestral texture.
I am conscious that that the review is not exactly enthusiastic. I have listened to Flury’s first symphony on YouTube, and I rather wish that I had been able to review it instead.
Companies such as Toccata Classics deserve praise for their willingness to issue recordings of rare classical music. When the presentation is as good as it is here – the two booklets consist of 80 and 128 pages – the praise is much more than just deserved. I have bought the Toccata Press biography – Richard Flury. The Life and Music of a Swiss Romantic by Chris Walton. There are on MWI other reviews of Toccata recordings of Flury’s music (here ~ here ~ here). The Gallo label has also recorded his music, and it has been reviewed on MWI.
Jim Westhead
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Other cast
Bargello, captain of the archers: Emanuele D’Aguanno, tenor
La Marcolfa di Cioccaro: Laura Antonaz, soprano
Conte Carlo Riva, known in Arcadia as ‘Ligerio Dianteo’, friend of Casanova: Riccardo Pisani, tenor
The Head of the Syndicators (from Bern): Matteo Bellotto, baritone
A mother who sings the ‘Ninna-nanna’: Lucia Cirillo, mezzo-soprano
Tomaso (silent role)
Priest (spoken role)
Herald (spoken role)
I Trovatore: Mario Cei, spoken role
The twelve Helvetian Syndicators, women of Lugano, men of Lugano, staff of the
AIbergo, guards and knights, artisans and artists, Italian merchants, Swiss merchants,
girls of Lugano, fishermen, heralds: SATB chorus
