BELISARIO
Gaetano Donizetti (1797 - 1848)
Libretto: Salvatore Cammarano
Premièr at Teatro La Fenice, Venice – 4 February 1836
07†, 09, 11 October 1970
Teatro Donizetti, Bergamo
OPENING PERFORMANCE OF TEATRO DONIZETTI DI BERGAMO
Conductor: Adolfo Camozzo
Chorus master: Vittorio Barbieri
Stage director: Alberto Fassini
Scene and costumes: Pier Luigi Pizzi
Belisario General of the Army RENATO BRUSON baritone
Antonia his wife LEYLA GENCER soprano
Irene their daughter MIRNA PECILE mezzo-soprano
Giustiniano Emperor of the Byzantium NICOLA ZACCARIA bass
Alamiro prisoner of Belisario UMBERTO GRILLI tenor
Eudora LINA ROSSI soprano
Eutropia Head of Imperial Guards BRUNO SEBASTIAN tenor
Eusebio VIRGILIO CARBONARI bass
Ottario n/a bass
Time: Byzantium
Place: Sixth Century
Bergamo. After the
break with tradition in 1969 with La Favorite, the Teatro Donizetti has resumed
the special and honourable task of making known its favourite composer's less
popular operas. The current autumn season opened (on October 7, although I saw
the performance on the 9) with an excellent production of Belisario. Together with Anna Bolena and Roberto Devereux, this
opera is surely one of the most valid of all the 'serious' Donizetti that has
been dug up in the past 20 years. The production has a good deal in common with
the one mounted last year in Venice: the effective production of Alberto
Fassini and the much-discussed sets of Pier Luigi Pizzi. Also in the cast, as
in Venice, were Leyla Gencer, for whom the inexorable passage of time may well
cloud the vocal gloss but most certainly not the fervour of her commitment to a
part; Mirna Pecile, so accurately capturing the vocal ambiguity of Irene;
Umberto Grilli, who would seem to have improved in power and accent more than
in his understanding of the true Donizetti style; and, finally, Nicola
Zaccaria, repeating his essentially weak Fenice performance of Giustiniano. But
there were two innovations. First, the baton passed from an inflamed and
passionate Gavazzeni to a composed and traditional Adolfo Camozzo, who is also
this short season's competent and diligent artistic director. The second
innovation is in the main part, played here not by the veteran Taddei, but by
the young Renato Bruson, who was the surprise and delight of the production. A
good actor and subtle interpreter, Bruson possesses a limpid baritone voice
particularly suited to the relaxed, smooth singing, so sad and touching at one
and the same time, of certain Donizetti characters. Moreover, he knows how to
use his voice, intelligently grading the colours to give particular
expressiveness to his phrasing. If he continues to study, and to perfect his
means, resisting the temptation to sing too often and in too many important
parts in too short a time, Bruson is most certainly destined to be much talked
about over the next decade.
Chorus master: Vittorio Barbieri
Stage director: Alberto Fassini
Scene and costumes: Pier Luigi Pizzi
Belisario General of the Army RENATO BRUSON baritone
Antonia his wife LEYLA GENCER soprano
Irene their daughter MIRNA PECILE mezzo-soprano
Giustiniano Emperor of the Byzantium NICOLA ZACCARIA bass
Alamiro prisoner of Belisario UMBERTO GRILLI tenor
Eudora LINA ROSSI soprano
Eutropia Head of Imperial Guards BRUNO SEBASTIAN tenor
Eusebio VIRGILIO CARBONARI bass
Ottario n/a bass
Time: Byzantium
Place: Sixth Century
† Recording date
Photos © FOTO FLASH, Bergamo
OPERA MAGAZINE
1970 September
CORRIERE DELLA SERA
1970.10.08
IL DRAMMA
1970.10.11
OPERA MAGAZINE
1971 January
COMPLETE RECORDING
1970.10.07
Recording Excerpts [1970.10.07]
Sin la tomba ... Act I (Il Trionfo) Finale
Da quel dì che l'innocente Act III (La Morte) Scene V
Egli è spento, e del perdona ... Act III (La Morte) Finale
