"However progressive these ideas may seem at first sight, many of them had in fact already been overtaken by reality. Bellini, for example, had abandoned the strict division between recitative and aria in his final operas, which include 'La sonnambula', 'Norma' and 'I Puritani'. Instead, he had introduced more fluid transitions and broken down the hitherto inviolable barrier between aria and ensemble by allowing interjections on the part of other characters. More seriously, neither Mercadante nor Pacini went as far as Verdi was later to do - and this is true even of their 'reform operas'. For it was Verdi who was to place Italian opera on a wholly new footing and thus to displace both Mercadante and Pacini in the operatic firmament. In spite of this, the younger composer owed many important ideas to his older colleagues.
"Saverio Mercadante was born at Altamura near Bari in 1795 and studied at the Real Collegio di Musica in Naples, where his teachers included Niccolò Zingarelli, who had also taught Bellini. He first attracted attention in 1818 with his cantata 'L'unione delle belle arti' and a year later enjoyed his first operatic success with 'L'apoteosi d'Ercole' at the Teatro San Carlo in Naples. From then on he devoted himself almost exclusively to the stage. Between 1827 and 1830 he was active in Spain and Portugal, returning to Italy in 1830 and ushering in the most successful phase in his career. His works were enthusiastically received, none more so than 'I normanni a Parigi', first performed at the Teatro Regio in Turin in 1832. Three years later he travelled to Paris at the invitation of Rossini. Although his opera 'I briganti', based on Schiller's 'Die Räuber', proved no more than a 'succès d'estime' when unveiled at the Théâtre Italien in 1836, the first performance of Meyerbeer's 'Les Hugeunotes' only three weeks earlier left so powerful an impression on him that he now set out to reform Italian opera, taking the characteristic feature of French grand opera as his guidelines. First performed in Milan in 1837, 'Il giuramento' was the first of his reform operas, the most successful of which was 'La vestale' (1840). By then Mercadante's star was beginning to set. He finally settled in Naples in 1840 and the following year took over from Zingarelli as director of the city's Conservatory, a post he retained until his death. He went blind in 1862 and from then on wrote mainly small-scale instrumental works. His most famous composition remains his Flute Concerto in E minor. He died in Naples in 1870.
"'Il giuramento' was written immediately after Mercadante's return from Paris. It is based on Victor Hugo's stage play 'Angelo, tyran de Padoue', which Arrigo Boito - writing under the pseudonym of Tobia Gorrio - was to use forty years later for Amilcare Ponchielli's 'La Giaconda'. Mercadante's experienced librettist, Gaetano Rossi, reduced the number of Hugo's characters even more drastically than Boito was to do for Ponchielli, and yet, in spite of this, he was not entirely successful in unravelling the somewhat tangled plot of Hugo's original, which owes much to the then popular genre of Gothic melodrama. But Mercadante was evidently not concerned by this. In his eyes it was more important to create a series of atmospherically dense scenes that would fire his musical imagination and allow him to clothe each of these scenes in a distinctive musical garb. Solo writing for individual instruments plays an important role here, notably the flute in Bianca's first-act aria and the cello in the orchestral introduction to the scene by the family tomb in Act Two, which could almost be described as a miniature cello concerto.
"Typical of Mercadante attempts to reform opera is the taut dramaturgical structure of the opening act. There is no overture. Instead, the work begins with a festive chorus for Elaisa's guests. Embdedded within this chorus is a cavatina for Viscardo, telling of his infatuation for an unkown beauty. Shortly afterwards, his antagonist is introduced by means of a second cavatina, and this in turn gives way to an aria for Elaisa that tells of her eponymous vow ('giuramento') to find the young woman who once saved her father's life. This exposition is structure along the most succinct of lines and takes place against the background of a festive gathering that at the same time provides a contrast with the very different moods of the two cavatinas and aria. The third act, too, is brief and to the point, its dramatic impact enhanced by the fact that the action moved with inexorable logic towards its tragic climax. It goes without saying that there is no room her for the virtuoso final aria that was otherwise the rule at this period.
"Mercadante has sometimes been accused of writing tunes that fail to ignite. This reproach cannot be dismissed out of hand, and yet in 'Il giuramento' in particular the composer was able to counter this by means of harmonic writing that is varied and imaginative, while remaining in the service of the work's dramatic expression. 'Il giuramento' received its first performance at La Scala, Miland, on 11 March 1837 and proved an unparalleled success in its creator's career. As he informed his friend Francesco Florimo, even Mercadante himself had doubted that he would repeat the success of 'Elisa e Claudio', which had premièred at the same theatre sixteen years earlier. 'Il giuramento' was quickly taken up by other theatres throughout Italy, passing from there to the rest of Europe. Vienna was the first foreign capital to stage the work in April 1838, followed by Barcelona, London, Brussels, Copenhagen, New York, St. Petersburg, Buenos Aires and Paris, where it was first heard in 1858. By now, however, enthusiasm for the opera had already peaked, and the number of subsequent performances declined dramatically in the second half of the 19th century. By 1900 it had virtually disappeared from international schedules, and it was not until the 1950s that there was a gradual revival of interest in Mercadante's masterpiece. One reason for this increased interest was the powerful championship of the German conductor Gerd Albrecht, who conducted a concert performance of the work in Berlin in 1974, following it up with three further performances at the Vienna State Opera in September 1979. Although his version was by no means complete - about a quarter of the work was cut - the excursions revealed considerable dramaturgical sensitivity, while at the same time removed many of the absurdities contained in the original plot.
"The then director of the Vienna State Opera, Egon Seefehlner, was particularly fond of early 19th-century Italian opera and between 1976 and 1981 mounted new production of 'Norma', 'Lucia di Lammermoor', 'L'elisir d'amore', 'La Cenerentola' and 'I Capuleti e i Montecchi'. To complement these works, he also organized a concert performance of 'Il giuramente' intended to remind Viennese audience of a composer who was a close contemporary of both Bellini and Donizette. It was a successful move, if we may judge from newspaper reviews of the time. 'Die Volkstimme' described the performance as a 'genuine rediscovery', while the 'Salzburger Nachrichten' added that it had 'pushed back our musical horizons'. Writing in the same paper, Ruediger Engerth also praised the evening's guiding light: 'The inspiration behind the evening was the conductor Gerd Albrecht, who has championed the score with self-sacrificial abandon, constantly motivating the more sceptical members of the Vienna Philharmonic and ensuring translucent playing and tactful consideration for the singers.'
"The first of the three performances took place on 9 September 1979 and is lodged in the memory of Viennese audience for two reasons. First, it marked the Vienna State Opera dèbut of the Paduan soprano Mara Zampieri, who sang Elaisa, capturing the hearts of her listeners with the intensity of a performance that never for a moment fought shy of taking vocal risks. A year later she was entrusted with the role of Obadella in a new production of Verdi's 'Attila' under the direction of Giuseppe Sinopoli. But her greatest triumph in Vienna was as Lady Macbeth in Verdi's 'Macbeth', a role that she sang for the first time in 1982, again under Sinopoli, and which she went on to perform no fewer than 39 times in Vienana between then and 2000 - more than any other role at the State Opera. Her Elaisa was also savoured by the critics, albeit with reservations. Writing in the 'Wochenpresse', for example, Walter Gürtelschmied noted that 'for the young soprano Mara Zampieri there was ample opportunity to display a large, metallically coloured voice. It was presumably first night nerves that robbed her performance of the ultimate in perfection, but there was undoubtedly more than a mere talent to discover here.
"The second reason why this performance has a permanent place in the annals of the Vienna State Opera relates to the withdrawal of one of the singers and the circumstances surrounding his replacement. Marcel Prawy, who was then principal dramaturg at the Vienna State Opera, describes what happened in his autobiography: 'The tenor Peter Dvorsky was cast in the main role. The first performance was due to take place on a Sunday. On the Thursday, Peter Dvorsky cancelled on the grounds of ill health. We knew that no one could learn this role in such a short space of time, and so the production seemed doomed. That same day Domingo turned up out of the blue. I had no idea that he was even in Vienna. He came into my office at the State Opera and asked to use my telephone. I discovered in the course of our ensuing conversation that the next three days were taken up with recordings. 'And on Sunday I'm off to Barcelona, then to New York.' I was really only intending to make a stupid joke when I said: 'You can't leave on Sunday, Plácido, you're singing 'Il giuramento' for us.' Domingo: 'Don't be silly. In the first place, what's 'Il giuramento'? And what's all this about my singing for you on Sunday? I'm not.' I may perhaps have talked up Mercadante's qualities a little. Domingo left, but within half an hour he was back and asking for a vocal score. He took it away with him. I thought to myself: Will he really step in? It's out of the question. But I immediately told Director Seefehlner what had happened. 'This is a serious development,' he said and asked to see Domingo. 'Listen, Egon,' Domingo said, 'If my recordings are finished by Saturday according to plan and if I really have to attend only one rehearsal on Saturday afternoon, I'll sing your 'Giuramento' for you on Sunday.' Domingo sang 'Il giuramento'. While all his colleagues had to follow their parts from their music stands, Domingo glanced at his score and sang and acted with a freedom that suggested he had been performing 'Il giuramento' all his life.'
"Not least because of its distinguished cast - in addition to Mara Zampieri and Plácido Domingo, it included Agnes Baltsa as Bianca - the performance was enthusiastically received. Writing in the 'Kurier', Karl Löbl had particular praise for Domingo and Baltsa: 'Domingo showed what a highly musical practitioner he is. No one in the audience would have guessed that he first set eyes on the score only four days before the performance and that he had only a single orchestra rehearsal. He turned the concert platform into a veritable stage with his powerful personal involvement, intensity of expression, flawless phrasing, subtle nuances and well-judged passion. The same was true of Frau Baltsa, who demonstrated that, however skilful is may be, singing must be an expression of something that is felt and that the voice must be a vehicle for emotions. Whenever she sings mezzo coloratura, her singing has light and shade. Whenever she shapes a cantilena, vocal sensuality also makes sense and it not a separate entity, no matter how attractive.'
"We may end by quoting Hilde Spiel, the doyenne of Viennese music critics, who, writing in the 'Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung', described as a 'gratifying experience' this 'encounter with Verdi's predecessor, a composer who brought to the great Italian number operas of Bellini, Donizette and Rossini a new veracity, a new expressive power and a new harmonic richness.'" (Peter Blaha, tr. Stewart Spencer. From the liner notes.)
Performers: Wiener Staatsopernorchester, Wiener Staatsopernchor, Gerd Albrecht, Robert Kerns, Agnes Baltsa, Mara Zampieri, Plácido Domingo, Michele Fiotta, Sylvia Herman
1.1. Atto I: 'In Ogni Intorno'
1.2. Atto I: 'La Dea Di Tutti I Cor... Bella Adorata Incognita'
1.3. Atto I: 'Elaisa! Elaisa Dov'è?'
1.4. Atto I: 'Fier Sospetto Ohimè'
1.5. Atto I: 'Oh Mio German'
1.6. Atto I: 'Voi Ci Spariste... Di Superbo Vincitor'
1.7. Atto I: 'Era Stella Del Mattino'
1.8. Atto I: 'Oh Sì, Mie Care... Or Lа, Sull'onda'
1.9. Atto I: 'Preghiamo! Ah Pregai Tanto... Bianca! Ah, Ti Trovai'
1.10. Atto I: 'Tutto È Tenebre'
1.11. Atto I: 'Fermate... Oh, Istante'
1.12. Atto I: 'Che Vedo - Manfredo! Ah'
1.13. Atto I: 'Questo Fatal Mistero... Manfredo Eccoci A Te'
2.1. Atto II: 'Vittoria! Siracusa!'
2.2. Atto II: 'Compita È Ormai La Giusta E Terribil Vendetta'
2.3. Atto II: Interludio
2.4. Atto II: 'Alla Pace Degli Eletti'
2.5. Atto II: 'Si Compia Al Giuramento'
2.6. Atto II: 'Oh! Qual Nome Prenunziaste'
2.7. Atto II: 'Viscardo! - Il Rivedrete'
2.8. Atto II: 'A Te Il Veleno O Perfida'
2.9. Atto III: 'La Posa. Bella Ancora'
2.10. Atto III: 'Eccola!'/'L'adorava Qual S'adora'
2.11. Atto III: 'Del Suo Tiranno A Piè Cadea'
2.12. Atto III: 'Viscardo'
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