Leoncavallo: Zingari

Label Opera Rara continues its meritorious work of rediscovering forgotten works of world opera literature with the title Zingari ("Gypsies") by Ruggero Leoncavallo. It is a late work by the composer from 1912, commissioned for the Hippodrome Theatre and Concert Hall in London. In purely statistical terms, it is Leoncavallo's second most performed opera after the famous Comedians (I Pagliacci), which has a certain ironic flavour given its obscure current status. It received historically high numbers of repetitions practically immediately after its first performance. In the 1912/1913 season there were literally hundreds of performances in London, sometimes even twice a day because of the great demand. It was also very successful in the United States at the same time. Unfortunately, it never managed to build on this extraordinary success again and gradually fell into oblivion, if not directly into oblivion, then at least into the disinterest of the stagers and, of course, the audience. Apart from its formal similarities (in both cases they are two-act plays), it shares with the famous and popular Comediants a strong veristic accent (including the necessary tragic finale), which Leoncavallo once again turned to at the end of his career. The libretto by Enrico Cavacchioli and Guglielmo Emanuele draws its theme from Pushkin's 1827 poem of the same name and allowed the composer to use attractive choruses and colourful instrumental music in addition to the traditionally impressive arias. The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and the Rara Opera Chorus, under the direction of the veteran Verdi conductor Carlo Rizzi, have taken on the new scoring that has served as the basis for this recording. The Bulgarian soprano Krassimira Stoyanova will play the role of the beautiful Romani temptress Fleana, the Armenian tenor Arsen Soghomonyan as the seduced and then rejected nobleman Radu, and the American baritone Stephen Gaertner as the passionate Romani poet Tamar completes the fateful love triangle.

Arsen Soghomonyan, Krassimira Stoyanova, Stephen Gaertner, Lukasz Goliński / Opera Rara Chorus / Royal Philharmonic Orchestra / Carlo Rizzi

Playlist

CD
ACT I: Batti! Il fuoco! In questa coppa chi berra? (Chorus) / ' C' that uno straniero' (Tamar, the Old Man) / ' Ah! Dad! non lo dir! ' (Tamar, the Old Man) / ' Son qui! Ah! ' (Chorus) / ' Fleana! Zingara del mio cuor' (the Old Man, Fleana) / ' Principe! Radu io son' (Radu) / ' E sia! Romans all' ombra' (the Old Man, Fleana) / ' Zingari! Le mie nozze' (Fleana, Chorus) / ལ Eccolo finalmente il sogno! ' (Radu, Fleana, Chorus) / ལ Chi e nell' ombra? ' (Fleana, Radu, Tamar) / ' Addormentarmi, accarezzarmi' (Fleana) / ' O solamente mia! ' (Radu, Tamar, Chorus, the Old man) / ' Disciogli i balenanti' (Chorus, the Old Man, Radu) / ' La la la la! ' (Fleana) / ' Ora congiungi' (Fleana, the Old Man, Radu, Chorus) Ah! Canto notturno' (Tamar, Fleana, Radu) / ' Tutta la vita mia ti donero' (Radu, Fleana) / Intermezzo / ACT II: ' Presto! Ognuno rientri' (Chorus, Tamar) / ' Ho guidato al bivacco la tribu' (Tamar, Fleana) / ' M' attendevi? Fleana io t' ho pensato' (Radu) / ' Rientra' (Radu, Fleana) / ' Well! Qualcuno s' aggira' (Radu, Fleana) / ' Tagliami! Abbruciami ma vi disprezzo' (Fleana, Radu) / ' Ah! Perduto! Tutto! ' (Radu) / ' Canto notturno' (Tamar) / ' Council? Dorm! ' (Tamar, Fleana) / ' Bella! Bella! Sei qui tutta fremente! ' (Tamar, Fleana) / ' Fleana! Ove sei? ' (Radu, Tamar, Fleana, Chorus, the Old Man)