BELISARIO        

Gaetano Donizetti (1797 - 1848)

Opera in three acts in Italian

Libretto: Salvatore Cammarano 
Premièr at Teatro La Fenice, Venice – 4 February 1836

25†, 28, 31 January - 03†, February 1973                                        

Teatro San Carlo, Napoli                                            

Conductor: Carlo Franci
Chorus master: Giacomo Maggiore
Stage director: Alberto Fassini
Scene and costumes: Pier Luigi Pizzi (from Teatro La Fenice di Venezia)
 
Belisario General of the Army GIUSEPPE TADDEI baritone
Antonia his wife LEYLA GENCER soprano
Irene their daughter BIANCA MARIA CASONI mezzo-soprano
Giustiniano Emperor of the Byzantium SILVANO PAGLIUCA bass
Alamiro prisoner of Belisario OTTAVIO GARAVENTA tenor
Eudora ANNA MARIA BORELLI soprano
Eutropia Head of Imperial Guards LUIGI PAOLILLO tenor
Eusebio n/a bass
Ottario n/a bass
 
Time: Byzantium
Place: Sixth Century

† Recording date

 

A LETTER FOR PROGRAMMING                                      

1972.08.30

TELEGRAM FOR PROGRAMMING                                     

1972.02.22

TELEGRAM FOR PROGRAMMING                                        

1972.08.31

Teatro San Carlo offered Leyla a new Medea for the season of 1972 – 1973 but Gencer preferred another production and they decided on Donizetti’s Belisario

OPERA MAGAZINE                                               

1972 December

OPERA MAGAZINE                                               

1973 January

OPERA MAGAZINE                                               

1973 April

Recording Excerpts [1973.01.25]                        

Plauso! Voci di gioia... Sin la tomba ... Part I “Il Trionfo” Scene III

Recording Highlights [1973.01.25] In House LP Recording                      

Liberi siete.. Quando di sangue tinto.. Sul campi della gloria

Part I “Il Trionfo” Scena VI

Amici, è forza separarci..

Part II “L’Esilio” Scene III

Ah, se potessi piangere... Dunque andiam...

Part II “L’Esilio” Scene IV

Recording Excerpts [1973.02.03]                      

Sin la tomba ... Part I “Il Trionfo” Scene III

Madre tu fosti, e moglie Part I “Il Trionfo” Scene X

Da quel dì che l'innocente Part III “La Morte” Scene V

Egli è spento Part III “La Morte” Scene VII Finale 

BELISARIO

Gaetano Donizetti (1797 - 1848)

Opera in three acts in Italian
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

† 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                                                                                         

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.                 

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

BELISARIO       

Gaetano Donizetti (1797 - 1948)                                         

Opera in three acts in Italian

Libretto: Salvatore Cammarano 

Premièr at Teatro La Fenice, Venice – 4 February 1836

09, 11, 14†, 17†, 20 May 1969                                     

Teatro La Fenice, Venezia                                         

Conductor: Gianandrea Gavazzeni

Chorus master: Corrado Mirandola

Stage director: Alberto Fassini

Scene and costumes: Pier Luigi Pizzi

Belisario General of the Army GIUSEPPE TADDEI baritone

Antonia his wife LEYLA GENCER soprano [Role debut]

Irene their daughter MIRNA PECILE mezzo-soprano

Giustiniano Emperor of the Byzantium NICOLA ZACCARIA bass

Alamiro prisoner of Belisario UMBERTO GRILLI tenor

Eudora RINA PALLINI soprano

Eutropia Head of Imperial Guards BRUNO SEBASTIAN tenor

Eusebio GIOVANNI ANTONINI bass

Ottario AUGUSTO VERONESE bass

Time: Byzantium

Place: Sixth Century

† Recording date

Photos © FOTO ALDO NEGRO, Venezia
Photos © FOTO ERMANNO REBERSCHAK, Venezia 
Photos © FOTO AFI, AGENZIA FOTOGRAFICA INDUSTRIALE, Venezia

Drawings © FONDAZIONE GIORGIO CINI ONLUS, Venezia

Drawings © PİER LUIGI PIZZI

GENCER ALLA FENICE 

BELISARIO 

STAGIONE 1968 – 1969

https://www.archiviostoricolafenice.org/scheda_opera.php?ID=15564

FONDAZIONE GIORGIO CINI

BELISARIO

JERUSALEM / GERUSALEMME

LA VESTALE

LES MARTYRS

MEDEA

MEDEA IN CORINTO

https://archivi.cini.it/teatromelodramma/search/result.html?startPage=0&query=Gencer&jsonVal=%7B%22jsonVal%22%3A%7B%22query%22%3A%5B%22leyla+gencer%22%2C%22Gencer%22%5D%2C%22fieldDate%22%3A%22dataNormal%22%2C%22_perPage%22%3A20%2C%22archivefind%22%3A%5B%22teatromelodrammaIcoTeatrale003+OR+teatromelodrammaIcoTeatrale013+OR+teatromelodrammaIcoTeatrale002+OR+teatromelodrammaIcoTeatrale005+OR+teatromelodrammaIcoTeatrale006+OR+teatromelodrammaIcoTeatrale007+OR+teatromelodrammaIcoTeatrale011%22%5D%2C%22accountName_string%22%3A%5B%22teatromelodramma%22%5D%2C%22archiveName_string%22%3A%5B%22teatromelodrammaIcoTeatrale003+OR+teatromelodrammaIcoTeatrale013+OR+teatromelodrammaIcoTeatrale002+OR+teatromelodrammaIcoTeatrale005+OR+teatromelodrammaIcoTeatrale006+OR+teatromelodrammaIcoTeatrale007+OR+teatromelodrammaIcoTeatrale011%22%5D%7D%7D&orderBy=&orderType=asc&activeFilter=

OPERA MAGAZINE                                       

1969 January

OPERA MAGAZINE                                       

1969 May

Unknown Magazine                                    

1969 May (?)

IL PICCOLO                                   

1969.05.23

SAN FRANCISCO EXAMINER                                           

1969.05.25  

OPERA MAGAZINE                                             

1969 August   

THE STAR LEDGER

1990.11.18

THE BELCANTO OPERAS BY CHARLES OSBORNE

1994

Belisario opera seria in three acts

Principal characters:

Belisario, a Byzantine General (baritone)

Antonina, his wife (soprano)

Giustiniano, Emperor of Byzantium (bass)

Alamiro (tenor)

Irene, Belisario's daughter (mezzo-soprano)

LIBRETTO by Salvatore Cammarano

TIME: The sixth century

PLACE: Byzantium

FIRST PERFORMED at the Teatro La Fenice, Venice, 4 February 1836, with Caroline Unger (Antonina); Antonietta Vial (Irene); Celestino Salvatori (Belisario); Ignazio Pasini (Alamiro)

 

 

On 23 September 1835, three days before the première of Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor in Naples, its composer's young rival, Vincenzo Bellini, died in France in his thirty-fourth year. On 20 October, Donizetti told his publisher Ricordi that he wanted to honour Bellini's memory by composing a Mass. However, he had already signed a contract to produce a new opera for Venice, to be staged early in the new year, so instead he turned his attention to Belisario, whose libretto had been provided by Salvatore Cammarano. In December, Donizetti's father died in Bergamo. The composer paid for his funeral but was unable to be present as he was detained in Milan where his Buondelmonte was about to be performed under its proper title of Maria Stuarda for the first time. A few days after its première on 30 December, Donizetti made his way to Venice to begin rehearsals of his new opera.
Belisario was received with great enthusiasm at its première at the Teatro La Fenice on 4 February 1836 and was given a further seventeen performances during the season. The Gazzetta privilegiata di Venezia said: "A new masterwork has been added to Italian music ... Belisario not only pleased and delighted, but also conquered, enflamed and ravished the full auditorium. However, writing to a French publisher in April, its composer said that he knew Belisario was effective in the theatre but that he himself placed it below Lucia. It went the rounds of the Italian theatres and was also staged in thirty-one cities abroad, in Europe and in the Americas. Its first London performance was on April 1837. It reached the United States first in Philadelphia, on 29 July 1843, and was heard in New York on 14 February 1844. After a production in Coblenz in 1899. Belisario disappeared until its first twentieth-century revival on 6 May 1969 when it returned to the Teatro La Fenice in Venice for the first time since 1841, with Leyla Gencer as Antonina and Giuseppe Taddei as Belisario, conducted by Gianandrea Gavazzeni. There have been subsequent performances in Bergamo in 1970 with Leyla Gencer and Renato Bruson, in London in 1972 (at Sadler's Wells Theatre, with students of the Royal Academy of Music), in Naples in 1973 with Gencer and Taddei, in Buenos Aires in 1981 with Mara Zampieri and Bruson, in London in 1981 (the Royal Academy of Music again), and in New Brunswick, New Jersey, in 1990, at Rutgers University.
Grove's Dictionary lists Cammarano's libretto as being 'after Marmontel'. However, Cammarano's primary source was not Jean- François Marmontel's 1766 novel, Bilisaire, a plea for religious tolerance, but a play, Belisarins, by Eduard von Schenk, which was first staged in Munich in 1820, and produced in Naples in 1826 in an Italian adaptation by Luigi Marchionni. Belisarius is an historical character, a general in the army of the sixth-century Byzantine Emperor Justinian. In the opera, Belisario, having defeated the Bulgarians, returns in triumph to Byzantium with prisoners all of whom he releases, except one, Alamiro, who chooses to remain with him as a kind of foster-son. Belisario's wife, Antonina, believing her husband to have been responsible for the death of their own son, denounces him to the Emperor Giustiniano as a traitor. Belisario is blinded and sentenced to exile but is later reunited with his son who is revealed to be Alamiro. After another battle in which Belisario is fatally wounded, a remorseful Antonina confesses her guilt to her dying husband.
The opera's three acts are each given titles: Il Trionfo (Triumph), L'Enlis (Exile), and La Morte (Death). Act I, Il Triunfo, is preceded by a highly engaging, if dramatically inappropriate, overture. The double arias for Irene and for Antonina are characterless and awkwardly written, and the jaunty chorus which both precedes and follows Giustiniano's dull arioso would be more suitable accompanying a quick two-step than the ceremonial appearance of an Emperor. The duet, 'Quando di sangue tinto', in which Belisario and Alamiro, unaware that they are father and son, swear to remain united forever, is the nearest approach to a love duet in this opera in which romantic love never rears its fascinating head. The duet is, however, an oddly crude piece to have come from the composer who had only some months previously written Lacis di Lammermoor. The Act I finale of Belisario is, for the most part, stiffly formal, though a larghetto ensemble, 'Non ti nascondi, o sol, brings it momentarily to life.
A very brief Act II (L'Enilio) consists of no more than an introductory chorus, an aria and cabaletta for Alamiro, and a duet for Belisario and Irene, none of which, with the possible exception of the moderato section of the duet ('Dunque andiam'), reveals Donizetti at anywhere near his best. Alamiro's vigorous cabaletta, Trema Bisanzio!", has been compared to the famous 'Di quella pira' from Verdi's Il Trovatore to which it bears a superficial resemblance, though it lacks Verdi's elemental fury. The Belisario-Irene duet, too, has been described by at least one writer on Donizetti as a prototype of Verdi's great father-daughter duets, but in this instance the comparison seems rather far-fetched.
After an orchestral introduction imbued with an almost Bellinian melancholy, the main features of Act III (La Merte) are a trio for Irene, Alamiro and Belisario with a moving larghetto ('Se il fratel stringere m'è dato al seno'), followed by the obligatory final aria and cabaletta for a remorseful Antonina who has not been heard from since Act I. The aria, 'Da quel di', is not particularly remarkable, although it can be made to sound effective by a soprano with a secure Donizetti style. Likewise, the cabaletta ('Egli è spento").

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2021.05.15

ANDANTE MMUSIC MAGAZINE

2024 October

YİĞİT GÜNSOY

Donizetti'nin Belisario'su Üzerine

 

Yiğit Günsoy, Gaetano Donizetti'nin Bizans İmparatorluğu'nun en parlak döneminde, Jüstinyen devrinde geçen Belisario operasını Andante okuyucuları için kaleme aldı.

 

Donizetti'nin 52. operası olan Belisario, 1835-1836 sezonu için Venedik'deki La Fenice Operası için sipariş edilmiştir. Ortaya çıkan eser Donizetti'nin yaratıcı gücünün doruğunda olduğu bir döneme rastlar. 26 Eylül 1835 yılında bir baş yapıt olan ve çağdaşlarının bile kendisiyle özdeşleştirdiği Lucia di Lammermoor operası, Napoli'deki San Carlo Tiyatrosu'nda oynanmıştı. İşte bu yıllarda herkes Donizetti'den yepyeni bir şey bekliyordu. Donizetti'nin ilk defa, Vezüv'ün gölgesinden, Floransa'daki Biblioteca Palatina'nın müdürü olan arkadaşı Innocenzo Giampieri'ye yazdığı bir mektupta Bizans projesinden bahsettiğini görüyoruz. "Torino'ya ve karnaval için Venedik'e gidiyorum. Torino'da, Gli Illinesi; Venedik'de, Belisario". Venedik, Donizetti'ye her zaman başarı getirmiş bir mekândır. Donizetti burada, Belisario'dan 18 yıl önce bestelediği iki perdelik operasi Enrico di Borgogna (Teatro San Luca, 14 Kasım 1818) ile debüsünü yapmıştı. Bir ay sonra, 15 Aralık'da, San Luca'daki aynı topluluk, tek perdelik Una Follia di Carnevale'yi alkışlamıştı. Simone Mayr'in öğrencisi, Venedik'de başka bir başarıyı 2 Aralık 1819'da Teatro San Samule'de, Il Falegname di Livonia, o Pietro il Grande, zar delle Russie ile yakalamıştı.

Takip eden yıllarda, Donizetti sadece ümit vadeden bir besteciden daha öteye gitmiş, İtalyan melodramının kusursuz bir gerçek sanatçısına dönüşmüştür. Donizetti için Venedik'e, Rossini'nin en büyük başarılarını elde ettiği bu şehre dönmek, adeta Rossini'nin adımlarını takip etmek gibiydi. Rossini, Paris'de emekliliğinin tadını çıkarırken, Bellini ise çok genç yaşta ölmüşken, Donizetti, tartışmasız bir numaralı besteci konumundaydı. Giampieri'ye, Belisario hakkında bir mektup yazdığı zaman, besteci sadece operanın başlığını biliyordu, librettoya hiç başlanmamıştı. Konu La Fenice'nin müdürü Natale Fabbrici ile beraberce seçilmişti. Fabbrici 25 Temmuz 1835 yılında Donizetti'ye 7000 Frank ödemeyi teklif etmiş daha sonra bunu 8000 Franka yükseltmişti. 20 Ekim günü bestecinin müdüre şöyle yazdığını görüyoruz:

"Son derece itaatkârım ve Belisario'yu tam istediğiniz gibi besteleyeceğim. Hem sizin iyiliğiniz hem de kendi iyiliğim için kostümler başka temsillerde kullanılmasın. Caroline Unger, Antonietta Vial, Salvatori ve de tenor (yakın zamanda kim olduğunu öğreneceğimi umuyorum) ana karakterler olacak. Fakat mükemmel bir ikinci bas, iki küçük rol ve ikinci bir kadına ihtiyacımız var. Gerisi talihe kalmış. Her zaman emrinizdeyim. - Gaetano Donizetti"

Şarkıcıları tanıma ve onların her birinin vokal kapasitesine göre beste yapma endişesi bu mektupta açıkça anlaşılabilir. Müdürün, Beltrame adlı Venedikli bir librettist önerisine karşı besteci, bu şartlar altında müzikal profil altında her bir karakterin doğasını tam olarak ortaya çıkartamayacağını söyledi. Donizetti, 24 Ekim'de "Şairin besteciden böylesine uzak olması, birbirlerinin tarzlarını hiç bilmemeleri bence mantıksız" diye yazmıştır. Ayrıca librettistin, konuyu bile bir araya getirmeden önce sanatçıların karakterlerini bilmesi gerektiğini savunmuştur.

"Sanatçıların söylenmese daha iyi olacak türden kusurları var. Cammarano'ya bunlardan çoktan bahsettim bile. Signor Beltrame’ye bunları ancak Venedik’e gittiğim zaman söyleyebilirim fakat o zaman da kitaptaki karakterleri değiştirmek için çok geç olur. Şarkıcıların bir rol için bazı tercihleri var fakat diğerleri hakkında hiçbir fikirleri yok. Bunun iyi anlaşılması lazım. Eğer anlaşılmazsa tüm yapı çöker!"

Tüm bu sebeplerden dolayı Donizetti, Belisario'nun librettisti olarak, Lucia di Lammermoor'da başarılı bir iş birliği kurduğu Salvatore Cammarano'yu seçti. Cammarano, romantik öğelerle dolu güçlü bir libretto yarattı. Olayı romantik başlıklarla üç bölüme ayırdı. (Yıllar sonra aynı şeyi Verdi'nin II Trovatore operası için de yapacaktı.) Zafer, Sürgün, Ölüm.

Bisarius, San Vitale Bazilikası, Ravenna, İtalya

Ekim ayının sonlarına doğru Cammarano, librettoyu besteciye sundu fakat besteci müziği bestelemekte tereddüt ediyordu. Zira Alamiro rolünü oynayacak tenor hâlâ belli olmamıştı. (Bu rolü oynayan ilk tenor Ignazio Pasini olacaktı) 12 Kasım'da arkadaşı Ferretti'ye: "Belisario'yu Venedik için besteliyorum tam bir kör gibi gidiyorum çünkü hâlâ tenorun kim olacağı belli değil." diye yazmıştır. Donizetti, 3 Aralık'da bir ay kalacağı Milano'ya gitti. Teatro Alla Scala'da 30 Aralık'da oynanacak olan Maria Stuarda operası için bir senfoni ve bazı yeni bölümler besteledi. Baş rol Maria Malibran tarafından oynanacaktı. Temsilin başarısız olması, iki ay içinde hem annesini hem babasını hem de yeni doğan ikinci oğlunu kaybeden besteciyi daha da üzdü. Ayrıca o yıllarda kuzey İtalya bir kolera salgınına tutulmuştu. Donizetti'nin Venedik'e gelişi hiç de mutlu bir geliş değildi. Neyse ki Venedik'e salgın ulaşmamıştı, böylece besteci yeni yaratısını sakin bir şekilde bekleyebilecekti. Tek korkusu Antonietta Vial'in sesinin orta rejisterde zorlanıyor olmasıydı. 4 Şubat 1836 tarihinde Belisario, La Fenice'de açılışını yaptı. Aynı gece ayrıca, koreograf Cortesi'nin Gismonda adlı tarihi dansı da oynandı. Başarı olan ve etrafını eserin dört kahramanının tüm beklentilerin de üzerindeydi. Donizetti 5 Şubat tarihinde Ricordi'ye yazdığı mektubunda şöyle diyor:

"İşte Belisario'nun çıkış haberleri. Kendi yaratım hakkında ne kadar gerçekçi ve seçimsellikten uzak olabileceksem o kadar uzak olmaya çalışacağım. Senfoni şöyle böyle; Vial'in cavatini alkış, Unger'in cavatini öyle yüksek çığlıklar ki cavatini ikinci defa başlatmakta zorlandık. Pasini ve Salvatori düeti ikisi için de alkış; koro, şöyle böyle; final, alkış, herkes solo alkışa çağırıldı.

İkinci perde: Pasini aryası, üç defa sahneye çağırıldı; Vial ve Salvatori düeti birçok Bravi fakat finalde (onların dediğine göre!) durum öyle ilginçti ki hepsi ağlıyordu. Terzetto alkışlandı. Son sahnede Unger çok yoğun alkış aldı hem tek başına hem diğerleriyle hem de benimle birçok defa selama çağırıldık. Bazı terslikler oldu ama sende ilk gecelerin nasıl olduğunu bilirsin. Daima daha iyi olacak."

18 Şubat'da, dönüş yolundayken Livorno'da mola verdiği bir sırada besteci arkadaşı Innocenzo Giampieri'ye, Belisario'nun mutlu sonucunu şöyle müjdeliyor. "Belisario, Venedik'de çok mutlu bir sonuç elde etti. Hangi bölümlerin daha çok beğenildiğini bilemiyorum (alçakgönüllülüğümü bağışla) üçüncü geceden sonra evime meşaleler, çığlıklar ve bir bandoyla döndüm." Venedik'de çıkan La Gazzetta, okuyucularına opera hakkında çok olumlu yorumlar yazmıştır. "İtalyan müziği yeni bir başyapıtla zenginleşti. Anna Bolena kendisine yakışan bir kardeşi Belisario'da buldu. La Fenice'de sahnelenen Donizetti'nin operası sadece çok beğenilmekle kalmadı aynı zamanda kalabalık bir seyirci grubundan da sıcak bir alkış aldı. İlk notadan son notaya kadar tüm temsil alkışlandı ve hem şarkıcılar hem de besteci tekrar tekrar selama çağırıldı."

Donizetti dördüncü temsilden sonra Napoli'ye doğru yola çıktı, fakat Belisario 28 temsil yaptı (sadece Paskalya'nın başlaması ile bir kesinti oldu) Venedikli bir basim ustası, ortasında Donizetti'nin resmi olan ve etrafını eserin dört kahramanının çerçevelediği bir taş baskı yaptı. Altında ise şu sözler yer alıyordu: "Belisario'nun savaş sesi, isteğiniz üzerine tüm Adriatik'de yankılandı." Yeni eser kısa sürede her yerde büyük bir başarı elde etti. La Scala'da aynı yılın 20 Ağustos'unda ve 1842'de temsil edildi. 1836 yılında Viyana ve Madrid'de, 1837'de Londra'da, 1842'de Berlin'de, 1843’te Paris'de, 1844’te St. Petersburg'da ve New York'da seyirciyle buluştu. Opera Venedik'e iki defa daha geri döndü. İlkinde 2 Mart 1839'da Viyana'lı Caroline Unger (Beethoven' in 9 Numaralı Senfoni'sini ilk defa seslendiren efsanevi soprano) yine Antonina rolünü canlandırdı. Belisario'nun ikinci ve son temsilinde 3 Ocak 1841 yılında başrolde Sebastiano Ronconi (daha meşhur olan Giorgio'nun kardeşi) Belisario, Desiderata Delnacourt ise Antonina rolünde sahneye çıktı. Bu tarihten sonra ne yazık ki Belisario bir daha sahnelenmedi. Eserin modern zamanlarda tekrar keşfedilmesinde en önemli görevi üstlenen orkestra şefi kuşkusuz Gianandrea Gavazzeni'dir. Operanın doğmuş olduğu La Fenice'de 1968-1969 sezonunda operanın kesintiye uğramış yolunu yeniden açmak için büyük çaba gösteren şef, Venedik Opera kitapçığında basılmak üzere şöyle yazmıştır:

"1948- 1968 yılları arasında olacak Donizetti rönesansını ben bile tahmin etmemiştim. Bu, kendi kendine olan bir olay değildi, uzun bir yenileme döneminden sonra ortaya çıkan bir olaydı. Donizetti'ye duyduğum çekim ilk önce aynı şehirden olmamız, aynı coğrafi örtüde büyümemizden dolayı geldi."

Gerçekte, La Scala'da Maria Callas'ın baş rolünü oynadığı Anna Bolena operasından sonra yavaş fakat emin adımlarla Donizetti rönesansını gerçekleştirmeye başlamıştı Gavazzeni. Yunanlı- Amerikalı sopranonun sahnelerden çekilmesiyle görevi 1964 yılında Napoli'deki tarihi Roberto Devereux temsilini yapan Leyla Gencer devraldı. Franca Cella'nın kitabında "Leyla Gencer, Romanzo vero di una primadonna" yazdığı gibi Gencer, Belisario'nun ilk temsili için dekoratör Pier Luigi Pizzi'nin yaptığı dekorlarda biraz tereddütteydi. Sahneye girmesi gereken büyük bir göz şeklindeki kapı, onu hayrete düşürmüştü. Fakat San Vitale mozaiklerinden etkilenilerek yapılan gerçekçi Bizans kostümleri hazırlanınca, Pizzi tarafından sahneye konulan temsil, kendi bütünlüğüne kavuştu ve sopranonun da tüm endişeleri dağıldı. Seyirciler de prodüksiyondan aynı oranda etkilenmişlerdi hem Gencer'in Antonina'sını, hem Giuseppe Taddei'nin Belisario'sunu, hem de Nicola Zaccaria'nın Giustiniano'sunu ayakta alkışladılar. Il Giorno gazetesi 11 Mayıs 1969 tarihinde şöyle bir başlık atmıştı: "Donizetti'nin temsil edildiği Venedik'e koşun!"

Belcanto'nun tutkunları bu daveti kabul ettiler ve Venedik'e gittiler. Fakat Belisario'yu seyretmek isteyen herkes amacına ulaşamadı. Açılış gecesi olan 9 Mayıs'dan sonra sadece beş temsil daha yapıldı. Bu sebeple Bergamo'daki Teatro Donizetti, bir yıl sonra Ekim ayında Fassini, Pizzi prodüksiyonunu sahneleme teklifinde bulundu. Fenice'de görev alan sanatçıların bazıları Donizetti'nin doğduğu şehir olan Bergamo'da görev alamadı. Orkestra şefi Gianandrea Gavazzeni yerini Adolfo Camozzo'ya bıraktı. Belisario rolünde bile bir değişiklik oldu. Taddei yerine ileride çok büyük bir kariyer yapacak olan Renato Bruson yer aldı. Bir kez daha eserin sahnelenme sayısı seyircinin duyduğu ilgiye yetmedi. Bir önceki yıl operayı görenler, fikirlerinden emin olmak için eseri tekrar görmek istediler. Halkın ortak yorumu, bu unutulmuş eserin klasikler arasındaki sağlam yerini aldığı yolundaydı.

OPERA NEWS

BELISARIO

Links from OPERA NEWS ARCHIVES related with Gencer’s performances

DONIZETTI: Belisario

... Alaimo and Joyce El-Khoury; for thrilling drama, find Gianandrea Gavazzeni’s

rough-and-ready 1969 Venetian performance with Giuseppe Taddei and Leyla Gencer. ...

Opera News - Belisario

... Canadian soprano Joyce El-Khoury operates on a narrower format than did Leyla Gencer, the best-known Antonina of the late-twentieth-century Donizetti revival. ...

Opera News - Belisario

... impact was evident both at the triumphant 1836 premiere at La Fenice in Venice and

in the first modern revival (with Giuseppe Taddei and Leyla Gencer) in the ...

COMPLETE RECORDING                        

1969.05.14

Recording Excerpts [1969.05.14]

Overture Part I “The Triumph” Scene

Serto d'eterni lauri Part I “The Triumph” Scene I

Oh! Venite!... voliam sulla sponda Part I “The Triumph” Scene II

Plauso! Voci di gioia! Part I “The Triumph” Scene III

Sin la tomba è a me negata! Part I “The Triumph” Scene III

Ti conforta Part I “The Triumph” Scene III

O desio della vendetta Part I “The Triumph” Scene III

O nume degli exerciti Part I “The Triumph” Scene IV

Cesare, hai vinto Part I “The Triumph” Scene VI

Quando di sangue tinto Part I “The Triumph” Scene VI

Sul campo della gloria Part I “The Triumph” Scene VI

Padre!... Irene, m'abbraccia Part I “The Triumph” Scene VII

Che mai sarà Part I “The Triumph” Scene IX

Sostegni del mio trono Part I “The Triumph” Scene X

Ah, da chi son io tradito! Part I “The Triumph” Scene XII

Madre tu fosti, e moglie Part I “The Triumph” Scene XII

Ah, pera l'empio che offese natura Part I “The Triumph” Scene XII

Oh, duce! Part II “The Exile” Scene I

Belisario! A sì tremendo annunzio Part II “The Exile” Scene II

Vien la figlia! Part II “The Exile” Scene II

Trema Bisanzio! Sterminatrice Part II “The Exile” Scene III

Amici, è forza separarci Part II “The Exile” Scene III

Se vederla a me non lice Part II “The Exile” Scene IV

Ah, se potessi piangere Part II “The Exile” Scene IV

Ma tu, segundo un povero Part II “The Exile” Scene IV

Introduction Part III “The Death” Scene I

Qui siedi, o padre Part III “The Death” Scene I

Diffondasi terrible grido di guerra Part III “The Death” Scene II

Impavidi guerrieri Part III “The Death” Scene III

Di', su qual riva il barbaro t'invenne? Part III “The Death” Scene III

Se il fratel stringere Part III “The Death” Scene III

Figli, figli, partiam Part III “The Death” Scene III

Itene al campo Part III “The Death” Scene IV

Da quel dì che l'innocente Part III “The Death” Scene V

Vittoria! Vittoria! Part III “The Death” Scene V

Di pianto, di gemiti Part III “The Death” Scene VI

Ricopriti, o cielo, d'un lugubre vel Part III “The Death” Scene VI

Egli è spento Part III “The Death” Scene VI

Abborrita dal mortali Part III “The Death” Scene VI

Recording Excerpts [1969.05.17]         

Sin la tomba .... Part I Da quel di che ..... Part III Egli e spento ... Part III Finale 

FROM CD BOOKLET

BELISARIO                                                                                           

……. Gianandrea Gavazeni, decided to re-start Belisario’s interrupted path at the Teatro La Fenice in Venice where the opera had been born, during the 1968-69 season. With singular modesty, the director wrote in a letter published in the Venetian opera house’s programme (“About Donizetti’s unforeseen posterity”) …. Even I had not foreseen the Donizetti renaissance which would break out during the twenty years 1948-1968. An event which was not created isolated but which connected itself with a vast recuperation operation. My approaches to Donizetti came above all from “native reasons” linked to the landscapes and characters of our small birth place …” In reality, over and above the common small homeland Bergamo, Gavazzeni had known how to gather in Donizetti since the years of the historic Anna Bolena at La Scala with Maria Callas, the incandescent heart of his melodrama. After the retirement from the stage of Greek soprano, the enquiry continued with Leyla Gencer, protagonist in 1964 in Naples of historic Roberto Devereux. As France Cella relates in her book singer’s first approaches to the abstract flavoured scenes conceived by Pier Luigi Pizzi for the performance (May 9th) of Belisario were hesitant. The great port hole-eye through which she had to enter on stage left her perplexed. Nevertheless, when the realistic Byzantine costumes inspired by the mosaics of San Vitale were ready, the show conceived by Pizzi acquiesced its own coherence and the soprano was won over by it.  The public was also equally conquered and together with Gencer’s Antonina, they showed their appreciation for Giuseppe Taddei’s Belisario. “

………………being performed” was the headline of “Il Giorno” (11 May 1969) and impassioned lovers of belcanto took up their invitation. Nevertheless, not everyone who would have liked to have attended the performance was able to take up the offer and rush to Venice (after all, after first night on 9^th May, there were only five performances). Therefore, the Teatro Donizetti in Bergamo came forward and proposed Fassini/Pizzi staging in October of the following year. Not all the protagonists of the Fenice edition were able to appear in the city of Donizetti’s birth place. Gavazzeni had to leave his place to Camozzo. Even in the role of Belisario a change took place; no longer Taddei but instead a young baritone who was destined to have a great career, Renato Bruson. Once again, the performances (7th, 8th, 11th October) resulted too few for r-the amount of tickets requested. Many of the spectators of the year before wanted to see the opera again to verify their impressions. The unanimous response of the public was that this forgotten work had now gained the consistence of a classic.

FROM CD BOOKLET

BELISARIO

BILL PARKER

Belisario by Gaetano Donizetti

The phrase "unjustly neglected" is used so cavalierly and so often in regard to obscure operas that its force is nearly spent, yet in the case of Donizetti's Belisario it may still have meaning. Seldom heard today, Belisario had brilliant success at its premiere at the Teatro La Fenice in Venice on February 4, 1836, despite the fact that it contained no love scenes at all. The evening began with scattered catcalls from Donizetti detractors, but as the opera progressed the audience began to cheer, weep, applaud and shout acclaim, not only for the music but especially for the magnificent Carolina Ungher in the female lead.

The next day a Venice newspaper reported: "A new masterwork has been added to Italian music... Belisario, produced last evening, not only pleased and delighted, but also conquered, enflamed, ravished the full auditorium... No first performance in memory has recorded a more splendid, fuller, more solemn success." Belisario ran for 28 consecutive nights, and after the third Donizetti was accompanied to his hotel by a brass band and an adulatory crowd carrying torches.

A major reason for Belisario’s demise seems to have been the fact that it followed immediately after Lucia di Lammermoor, the most popular and successful of all of Donizetti’s 70-odd operas.

It was simply eclipsed. That is not to say it is as great an opera; the composer himself said "I place it as a work below Lucia." But it is only inferior by comparison, largely because its inspiration is less continuous and even. Its best moments, however, compare with the best in Donizetti. Many of them served as models for Verdi, including a first act "friendship duet," a second-act tenor cabaletta that presages "Di quella pira" in Rigoletto, and a father-daughter duet of the kind Verdi so often specialized in later on.

The story is based on both a German play, Belisarius, by Eduard von Schenk, and a French one, Bélisaire, by Jean-Francois Marmontel. It was made into a libretto by Salvatore Cammarano, who had just done the same for Sir Walter Scott in Lucia. The play in turn is a romanticized treatment of historic events that took place during the early period of the Byzantine Empire.

The Story

Act I "Triumph." Belisario, a general in the court of the Byzantine Emperor Giustiniano (Justinian) in the sixth century A.D., returns in triumph after winning a glorious victory over the barbarians in Italy. The Senate and the people hail him, but his wife Antonina curses him instead, having heard reports that he had their own son killed. Before the Emperor and his court, Belisario magnanimously releases his prisoners, although one, Alamiro, prefers to remain at his side. Belisario welcomes him as a replacement for his slain son. Later, on forged evidence, Belisario is convicted by the Senate of treason, his enemies having conspired with his wife against him. Confronted by Antonina, he confesses to killing their son, but only because he had been commanded in a dream to do so as the only means of saving the Empire. The court expresses shock.

Act II "Exile." Belisario has been blinded, thrown in prison, and ordered into exile. Learning of this, Alamiro swears vengeance on his accusers. Belisario’s daughter Irene, disguised as a boy, sadly leads her father away.

Act III "Death." Wandering the earth, Belisario and Irene take refuge in a cave as troops approach. The pair overhear Alamiro and another young man planning an attack against Byzantium. Belisario comes forth and denounces their treachery, even though their action is on his behalf. Irene and Belisario recognize the second youth as their brother and son, who was not killed after all, but abandoned by the goodhearted servant charged with his destruction. Nevertheless, the son is determined to carry on the assault, and Belisario, to prove his loyalty to the state, takes up arms against him, joined by Alamiro. Though the imperial forces win, Belisario is fatally wounded in battle, and dies before his wife can win his pardon. Now that she knows he was innocent, she laments her actions against him. 

FROM LP BOOKLET

BELISARIO

Music by Gaetano Donizetti to a libretto by Salvatore Cammarano based on the novel, “Belisaire" written by Marmontels in 1766. First performed on February 4, 1836, at Teatro La Fenice, Venice. The most important revival in recent times was also at La Fenice on May 9, 1969.

The action takes place partly in Byzantium and partly in the environs of Mt. Emo in 580 A.D.

Act I On the palace porch at Byzantium, there is excited expectation of the triumphal return of Belisario, supreme commander of the imperial armies, after a successful expedition against the Goths. A group of senator’s praises Belisario for having made Byzantium the equal of Rome. Irene, the daughter of Belisario, enters with her companions and she entreats them to hasten to the shore to greet her father and join in the general celebration. The wife of Belisario, Antonina, enters in a rage and encounters Eutropio, the Captain of the Guards, she tells him that she has just learned that her husband had ordered the murder of their infant son. The servant who had been entrusted with the slaying many years ago has just confessed on his deathbed. The slave, Procio, also revealed that lacking the heart to commit this crime he had left the child on a deserted beach far from Byzantium. Antonina grieves for her son and together with Eutropio, she plots vengeance against Belisario. Eutropio loves Antonina and expects to marry her once Belisario is out of the way. They go off to meet Belisario. The emperor Justinian enters with his guards, ascends the throne, and praises Belisario's victory. A triumphal procession begins, including a military band, magistrates, senators and the populace, followed by Belisario's army. Warriors carry the spoils of victory, including the crown and mantle of Vitges, King of the Goths. The people sing a hymn of victory. Belisario arrives and receives the honours of his triumph, Justinian in a supreme act of homage gives into Belisario's hands the fate of the barbarian prisoners and he with a magnanimous gesture requests their liberation. Justinian grants this, and the prisoners fall on their knees in gratitude. The prisoners depart all except Alamiro, a youth who remains behind saying that freedom would be irksome far from Belisario, to whom a mysterious attraction binds him. Belisario, deeply touched and also inexplicably drawn towards the youth, declares that he will keep Alamiro with him in place of his lost son. Alamiro reveals that he is actually a Greek of unknown parentage, and the two men speak fondly of living and fighting side by side.

In her apartments, Irene looks forward to seeing her father again, when told by her attendants that Belisario is coming, she sends one of them to bring her mother to share this joy. Belisario enters and embraces Irene, but he notices that Antonina, who now arrives, seems troubled, He asks her what is amiss, but she gives an evasive answer. Eutropio enters with the guards, demands Belisario's sword, and commands him to appear before the emperor. Irene is struck with horror at what this may portend, but Belisario goes calmly as Antonina gloats at the onset of her revenge,

In the senate house, the senators are all wondering what can suddenly have gone awry. Justinian arrives and tells them that Belisario is to be brought before them, charged with a terrible crime. Belisario enters and Eutropio accuses him of high treason, by plotting to kill Justinian and set himself up as Emperor. As evidence, he produces letters written by Belisario to his wife, but with subtle changes made in the wording to suggest treasonous intent. Beliserio calmly states that Antonina will clear him by testifying that the letters have been altered, but she says that the letters are just as she received them. When Belisario questions her antagonism toward him, she further charges him with having ordered the murder of his own son, Belisario is almost overcome with remorse and confesses that he had ordered the murder of his son because of a terrible dream he had prophesying that this son would be a danger to the Eastern Empire. Amidst cries of horror, Belisario is led away by the guards to prison,

Act II In front of a prison in a remote spot outside Byzantium, soldiers and citizens are bemoaning Belisario's fate. Alamiro enters and questions whether the report is true that Belisario's death entence has been commuted to exile. Horrified, Alamire learns from the crowd that Justinian's order that Belisario should never more look upon him has been deliberately perverted by Eutropio so that Belisario's eyes have been put out. Irene arrives with her attendants, grief-stricken, preparing to lead her father into exile. Alamiro swears vengeance for Belisario's treatment, and leaves. Irene tearfully sends her attendants away. The prison gates open and Belisario, his eyes bandaged, comes out. A royal edict is read aloud, informing Belisario that someone has been sent to lead him into exile, but Irene does not reveal that it is she. Belisario asks his unknown guide to fetch his daughter so that he may bid her a last fond farewell. Irene can no longer contain her emotion and reveals herself. Belisario tries to dissuade her from accompanying him, but she is determined and at last he consents. Praying for heavenly guidance, she leads him away under a military escort which will take them to the border.

Act III On a rocky landscape near Mt. Emo, Belisario and Irene, lacerated and grieving, stop to rest during their long journey. A trumpet sounds in the distance. Irene climbs a rock and sees a band of armed men coming. She leads Belisario to safety in a nearby cave. A horde of Alans and Bulgarians, led by Alamiro and Ottario, enters. They are seeking an encounter with the Greek forces and are using Belisario's name as a rallying cry. Belisario and Irene emerge from the cave, and the blind general recognizes the voice of Alamiro, and reproves him for using his name in an unjust war. Alamiro, in the dialogue that follows between the two warriors, reveals that he was found as a child, on the Grecian shore and raised among the barbarians. Irene, trembling, questions him further, since her mother had secretly revealed to her that the old servant had not actually killed her brother, Alexis, but had left him to perish on the shore, A cross, placed around Alamiro's neck. by Antonina in infancy, and worn by him ever since, and other identifying objects, confirm his identity as Alexis, Belisario's son and Irene's brother. There is general joy and embracing. Their happiness is cut short when Ottario reminds Alamiro that he has sworn a sacred oath to level Byzantium. Since only death can release him from his oath, Alamiro tries to stab himself, but is stopped by Irene and Ottario. Ottario and the soldiers release Alamiro from his oath and leave to carry out their threat to raze Byzantium. Irene and Alamiro express their mutual belief that God is on the side of Byzantium.

In his tent near Mt. Emo, Justinian orders preparation for battle. Antonina enters, dishevelled and pale, and confesses her false accusation of Belisario, naming Eutropio as her accomplice. Justinian tells her that they will both be put to death. Racked with guilt and fear of damnation, Antonina welcomes death, only wishing first to be pardoned by her husband, Noise and cries of victory interrupt their interview, and they go outside to see what has happened. Irene greets her mother and -tells her of the discovery of Alexis. She tells Justinian that the enemy has been put to flight — and by Belisario. A mournful sound of trumpets fills all with foreboding. Alamiro (now Alexis) enters and tells them that the arrow of a retreating enemy soldier has mortally wounded Belisario, who is now carried in on the Veterans' shields. Irene runs to him, and all are filled with grief, Justinian takes his hand and greets him as a friend. Belisario commends the care of his children to the emperor, who agrees to watch over them. Antonina falls before Belisario and begs his pardon, He tries to raise himself, but falls back dead. Antonina is grief struck that he had no time to forgive her. Justinian bids her to live on, cursed by heaven and hated by her children. Antonina, seeing life before her as one of unrelieved misery, loses her senses. She rushes to the body of Belisario, utters a piercing cry, and drops to the ground.