ALCESTE

Christoph Willibald Gluck (1714 - 1987)
Opera in three acts in French
Libretto: Ranieri da Calzabigi
Premièr at the Burgtheater, Vienna - 26 December 1767
27†, 30† April - 05, 08, 11 May 1972
Teatro alla Scala, Milano
 
Conductor: Gianandrea Gavazzeni
Chorus master: Ramono Gandolfi
Stage director: Giorgio de Lullo
Scene and costumes: Pier Luigi Pizzi
 
Alceste LEYLA GENCER soprano
Admeto GIORGIO LAMBERTI tenor
Grand Sacerdote ATTILIO D’ORAZI tenor
Apollo DOMENICO TRIMARCHI bass
            EFIMIOS MICHALOPOULOS bass (11 May)
Evandro GIAMPAOLO CORRADI tenor
Ismene JOSELLA LIGI soprano
Banditore GIOVANNI ANTONINI bass
L’Oracolo UBALDO CAROSI bass-baritone
Corifee MILENA PAOLI mezzo-soprano
Corifee JEDA VALTRIANI soprano
Corifee SAVERIO PORZANO tenor
Corifee CARLO FORTI baritone
Leaders of the People soprano, mezzo-soprano, baritone

Time: Ancient
Place: Pherae

† Recording date

Note: The production (30.04.1972) recorded for video by La Scala for its own archive.
 
Photos © ERIO PICCAGLIANI, Milano 

 

























CONTRACT FOR THE PERFORMANCES

1971

OPERA MAGAZINE                                               

1972 January

CORRIERE DELLA SERA                                                

1967.03.11   

OPERA MAGAZINE                                               
1972 April

TRAVEL MAGAZINE Volume 137 Issue 4                                            

1972 April

CORRIERE DELLA SERA                                                
1972.04.27                                                                                      

CORRIERE DELLA SERA                                                
1972.04.27                                                                                      

CORRIERE DELLA SERA                                                
1972.04.02                                                                                      

CORRIERE DELLA SERA                                                
1972.04.28                                                                                     

L'UNITA                                           
1972.04.28                                                                                  

IL GIORNO                                             
1972.05.09                                                                                  
“The Voice that makes the choir cry”
 
People had told me go and see “Alceste” at La Scala and sit on the first row to witness how Gencer makes the choir cry. I’m acquainted with both Gencer and the La Scala Choir since long time and I know how professional they both are. “You can’t be right I said. Yes, Alceste is a remarkable opera but it sure isn’t a Madam Butterfly”.  In order to affect the audience so deeply, one has to explore all the mysteries of the music, transcend the ancient tragedy into the present; briefly she has to be a hundred percent present.  But anyway, I went to La Scala and sat very close to the stage.
Gluck’s opera is dramatic and rigid. Queen Alceste sacrifices herself to the gods for the sake of her husband’s life.  At the scene where she prostrates herself on the ground: Two women come and lift her up. It looks like the Pietà of Michelangelo. Gencer’s each gesture fits miraculously and perfectly into the music. The words that seem to have no meaning when read from the score or the libretto suddenly mean everything; they mean the world. “Let me die, let me die” she says. We become enchanted by the fascinating music and Gencer’s intense and precise pronunciation of the words.  As in all major tragedies, we feel whether desperation or consolation. (Lorenzo Arruga)

OPERA MAGAZINE                                             
September 1972                                                                                  

CORRIERE DELLA SERA                                                
1987.03.05                                                                                  

IL PICCOLO                                           
1987.03.07 

L'UNITA                                                
1987.03.19                                                                                   

EDOARDOPERA (Social Media Post)
2023.09.23

COMPLETE RECORDING
1972.04.27

Recording Excerpts [1972.04.27]

Divinità infernal Act I (Finale)
Cotanta Grazia...Al Pianto Vostro Act II (Finale)
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