PHOTO: NILOU SHOKRAI
THE METROPOLITAN OPERA PRESENTS
Vittorio Grigolo in Recital
Vittorio Grigolo Tenor
Vincenzo Scalera Pianist
METROPOLITAN OPERA HOUSE
SUNDAY, MARCH 9, 2014, AT 4:00 PM
PHOTO: NILOU SHOKRAI
Vittorio Grigolo in Recital
Vittorio Grigolo, Tenor
Vincenzo Scalera, Pianist
Sunday, March 9, 2014, at 4:00 pm
Vincenzo Bellini Dolente immagine di Fille mia
(1801 – 1835) Vanne, o rosa fortunata
Malinconia, ninfa gentile
Per pietà, bell’idol mio
Gioachino Rossini La danza
(1792 – 1868)
Gaetano Donizetti “Inosservato, penetrava... Angelo casto e bel”
(1797 – 1848) from Il Duca d’Alba
Giuseppe Verdi “Ah sì, ben dite... Tutto parea sorridere”
(1813 – 1901) from Il Corsaro
Inter mission
Francesco Paolo Tosti Chanson de l’adieu
(1846 – 1916) Pour un baiser
Ideale
‘A vucchella
L’ultima canzone
Stanislao Gastaldon Musica proibita
(1861 – 1939)
Ruggero L eoncavalloMattinata
(1857 – 1919)
Er nesto De Curtis Ti voglio tanto bene
(1875 – 1937)
Vincenzo D’A nnibale O paese d’ ‘o sole
(1894 – 1950)
Notes on the Program
by Jay Goodwin
VINCENZO BELLINI
Dolente immagine di Fille mia
Vanne, o rosa fortunata
Malinconia, ninfa gentile
Per pietà, bell’idol mio
Vincenzo Bellini’s massive popularity in his own day and his continuing legacy today are
due entirely to his bel canto masterpieces for the theater—chief among them the operas
La Sonnambula, Norma, and I Puritani—which display an unsurpassed gift for meltingly
lyrical, long-spun melodies and searing psychological intensity. He wrote little of consequence outside the operatic realm, and as the four ariettas on this program make clear,
even his non-staged work never strays far from the theater in spirit.
In “Dolente immagine di Fille mia,” an early work dating from Bellini’s student years at
the Naples Conservatory, a grieving lover sings to the ghost of his beloved, pledging with
gently rising and falling strains that the flame of their passion will not be extinguished
by her death. For the playful “Vanne, o rosa fortunata,” Bellini turns his attention from
the mourning of a lover left behind to the yearning of one as yet unfulfilled; here, the
persona longs to be the flower that adorns the breast of the object of his desire yet pales
in comparison to her beauty.
The brief “Malinconia, ninfa gentile” is a microcosm of Bellini’s style, spinning out
its entire melody from just a few measures of musical material. A paean to nature, it is a
declaration of love for a nymph and the beautiful landscape which she imbues with magic.
The most urgent and theatrical of these four songs is “Per pietà, bell’idol mio,” in which
an impassioned lover fiercely defends his faithfulness and devotion. In the drawn-out
vocal fireworks of its conclusion, the operatic atmosphere is palpable.
GIOACHINO ROSSINI
La danza
Perhaps music history’s premier example of career burnout, Rossini was tirelessly productive
and wildly successful in his early years, composing an inconceivable 39 operas between
1810 and 1829, taking Europe by storm and becoming the most popular, influential, and
wealthy composer of his time. Then, on top of the world at the age of 37, he abruptly
retired. Despite countless entreaties and commission offers, he never wrote another opera.
Rossini continued to compose small-scale works, however, mostly for voice and piano,
for his own satisfaction and to be performed at swanky musical salon parties he held at
his Paris home on Saturday evenings. “La danza,” a rollicking tarantella that jumps and
whirls with the exhilarating rhythms of southern Italian folk dancing, is one such piece.
GAETANO DONIZETTI / MATTEO SALVI
“Inosservato, penetrava ... Angelo casto e bel,” from Il Duca d’Alba
Donizetti’s incomplete opera Le Duc d’Albe was intended to be a four-act work in French for
the Paris Opéra and was commissioned in 1839. After writing the first two acts, however,
Donizetti abandoned the work—possibly because the leading lady was unhappy with her
role—and never returned to it. In 1855, the French libretto was modified and repurposed
for Verdi’s Les Vêpres Siciliennes, but Donizetti’s music did not see the light of day until
1881, when the composer’s former pupil Matteo Salvi completed the opera based on
Donizetti’s notes. He arranged for the libretto to be translated into Italian, and thus Le
Duc d’Albe became Il Duca d’Alba. “Inosservato, penetrava ... Angelo casto e bel” comes
from the beginning of the fourth act of the completed opera and is therefore actually
the work of Salvi, not Donizetti. Its later origin explains why this dramatic, soaring aria
sounds more like Verdi than Donizetti.
GIUSEPPE VERDI
“Ah sì, ben dite ... Tutto parea sorridere,” from Il Corsaro
It is understandable why Il Corsaro is one of Verdi’s least-known works. Based on the
long-form poem The Corsair by Lord Byron, the opera was composed in haste and under
duress from the “tiresome and ungrateful” (Verdi’s words) publisher Francesco Lucca, who
continually pestered Verdi for the music after the composer’s enthusiasm for the project
had waned. Under the circumstances, Verdi made no attempt to reach his full potential
with the opera and even failed to attend the rehearsals and premiere performance. A few set
pieces from the work, which had its premiere in Trieste in 1848, were successful, however,
among them “Ah sì, ben dite ... Tutto parea sorridere,” the title character’s mournful opening
aria, in which the pirate laments the course his life has taken.
FRANCESCO PAOLO TOSTI
Chanson de l’adieu
Pour un baiser
Ideale
‘A vucchella
L’ultima canzone
An extremely prolific songwriter and a truly cosmopolitan musical figure, Paolo Tosti
wrote more than 350 intimate and well-crafted salon tunes, mostly love songs, in Italian,
French, English, and Neapolitan. He also was a distinguished voice teacher who counted
among his students Princess Margherita of Savoy, who would become Queen of Italy, and,
after settling in England in 1875, the younger children of Queen Victoria. He became a
professor at the Royal Academy of Music in 1894 and a British citizen in 1906, and two
years later was knighted by his friend King Edward VII. After several decades of relative
neglect, his works are once again becoming fashionable.
In two of Tosti’s French songs, we encounter two species of melancholy: the existential
in “Chanson de l’adieu,” in which the philosophical persona explains that part of one’s self
dies with each parting, and the lovesick in “Pour un baiser,” a yearning tune in which the
lover offers his entire soul for a single kiss. Moving into Italian, we first hear “Ideale,” an
ardent paean to the beloved and to love itself, both of which have deserted the persona.
“‘A vucchella”—despite setting verse by poet, playwright, soldier, and ultra-nationalist/
proto-fascist politician Gabriele D’Annunzio—is the innocent, folk-inflected song of a lover
seeking a kiss, and the set concludes, appropriately, with “L’ultima canzone,” in which the
persona offers one final serenade to the girl who has abandoned him, and whom, come
morning, he will lose forever with her marriage to another.
NOTES ON THE PROGRAM (continued)
STANISLAO GASTALDON
Musica proibita
RUGGERO LEONCAVALLO
Mattinata
ERNESTO DE CURTIS
Ti voglio tanto bene
These three songs continue the theme of the serenade, beginning with Stanislao Gastaldon’s
“Musica proibita.” Gastaldon is remembered for two things: writing a one-act opera based
on Giovanni Verga’s Cavalleria Rusticana that was completely overshadowed by Mascagni’s
exactly contemporaneous work based on the same story, and this charming song, in which
a young lady confesses her desire for a man who serenades her each evening from beneath
her balcony. Though her mother has forbidden her from repeating the serenade, the girl
takes advantage of her absence and rhapsodically sings the song to herself.
In Leoncavallo’s “Mattinata,” a decidedly operatic-sounding serenade that sets the
composer’s own text, the serenader compares the object of his desire to the dawn, urging
her to, like the morning sky has to the sun, dress herself in white and open her door to him.
The great-grandson of Saverio Mercadante (one of Paolo Tosti’s teachers, incidentally),
Neapolitan composer Ernesto De Curtis wrote more than 100 songs, which, though they
achieved significant regional renown in his own time, have not retained their popularity.
“Ti voglio tanto bene,” on a text by Domenico Furnò, is a swooning, sentimental declaration of love.
VINCENZO D’ANNIBALE
O paese d’ ‘o sole
It is only fitting that a program of Italian music should end with music paying tribute
to its land of origin. More specifically, Vincenzo D’Annibale’s “O paese d’ ‘o sole” is a
fervent hymn to Naples, in which the persona feels born again upon his return home.
Capturing the sounds of the city in the accompaniment, especially during the interludes
between verses, the music shines brightly upon mention of the sun, splashes when the
returned traveler sings of the sea, and everywhere flutters with the sound of mandolins.
About the Artists
VITTORIO GRIGOLO was born in Italy and made his operatic debut
as the Shepherd in Tosca at the age of 13 and, at age 23, became the
youngest tenor ever to perform a leading role at Milan’s La Scala. Within
a few years, he was appearing around the world under the batons of
Riccardo Chailly, Lorin Maazel, Zubin Mehta, Riccardo Muti, Myung-Whun
Chung, Gustavo Dudamel, and Antonio Pappano. His repertoire includes
some 24 operas by Mozart, Donizetti, Verdi, Puccini, Gounod, Massenet,
Offenbach, and Bernstein, and the sacred works of Rossini. As one of
the leading tenors of his generation, he now performs regularly in all the
world’s leading opera houses.
He was heard at the Metropolitan Opera last season as the Duke in
Rigoletto and later this month returns to the role of his 2010 company debut, Rodolfo in La Bohème.
In 2008 he sang before an audience of over 40,000 in Chicago as a tribute to the late Luciano
Pavarotti and in 2010 he collaborated with Zubin Mehta and the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra in
a special gala concert performance of Rigoletto in Tel Aviv.
With a gold and platinum-selling debut album, a Grammy-nominated recording of Bernstein’s
West Side Story, and his albums with Sony Classical—The Italian Tenor (2010), Arrivederci (2011),
and Ave Maria (2013)—he is already established as a successful recording artist. Work on television includes his 2008 performance of Alfredo in La Traviata, broadcast live from Zurich’s main
train station, and Andrea Andermann’s 2010 worldwide live broadcast of Rigoletto from Mantua.
He received the European Border Breakers award for his debut solo album, In the Hands of
Love (Polydor), and France’s 2010 Diapason Discovery of the Year award for his album The Italian
Tenor. He was also named best tenor by L’Opéra magazine for his performances as des Grieux in
Manon for his 2010 debut at Covent Garden. In 2011 he received the ECHO Klassik newcomer of
the year award.
Upcoming events for Mr. Grigolo include the title role of Werther in Berlin, Rodolfo in La Bohème
and Nemorino in L’Elisir d’Amore at Covent Garden, Roméo in Roméo et Juliette in Verona, and
the release of his new album, The Romantic Hero, a collection of his favorite French opera arias.
VINCENZO SCALERA is a native of New Jersey and began piano studies
at the age of five. After graduation from Manhattan School of Music
he worked as assistant conductor with the New Jersey State Opera
before moving to Italy to continue his studies. In 1980, he joined the
music staff of Milan’s Teatro alla Scala as coach and pianist, assisting
conductors including Claudio Abbado, Riccardo Chailly, Gianandrea
Gavazzeni, and Carlos Kleiber. He has participated in many music festivals, including those of Edinburgh, Martina Franca, Jerusalem, Istanbul,
Orange, Salzburg, and Pesaro, and has accompanied singers including
Carlo Bergonzi, Montserrat Caballé, José Carreras, Leyla Gencer, Raina
Kabaivanska, Katia Ricciarelli, Juan Diego Flórez, Maria Guleghina,
Renata Scotto, Cesare Siepi, Lucia Valentini Terrani, and Leontina Vaduva. In 2011 he accompanied
Andrea Boccelli in recital at the Metropolitan Opera House.
His discography includes The Complete Songs of Verdi with Renata Scotto, Carlo Bergonzi in
Concert, The Art of Bel Canto: Canzone with Carlo Bergonzi, and the comeback concerts of José
Carreras. Mr. Scalera has three recitals on video with Mr. Carreras: In Vienna, In Concert, and
Comeback Concert in Spain. Documenting his extensive collaboration with Carlo Bergonzi is a
video Bergonzi Celebrates Gigli, the program they performed together in a highly acclaimed 1985
Carnegie Hall recital.
As harpsichordist, he has recorded Rossini’s La Cenerentola under the direction of Claudio
Abbado and the world premiere recording of Rossini’s Il Viaggio a Reims, also with Abbado.
Mr. Scalera is a Steinway Artist and currently on the staff of the Renato Scotto Opera Academy
in Savona, Italy, and of Milan’s Accademia d’Arti e Mestieri of Teatro alla Scala.
Don’t miss
Vittorio Grigolo
as Rodolfo in
La Bohème,
opening March 19
MARTY SOHL / METROPOLITAN OPERA
Acknowledgements
MANAGEMENT FOR VINCENZO SCALERA
Markus Laska
Atelier Musicale
Via Caselle, 76
San Lazarro di Savena (Bologna), Italy