Rossini: Adelaide Di Borgogna

Youthful-Sounding "Mature" Rossini
This Rossini Opera Festival (aka "il ROF" in Italy) production taken as a whole probably is as good or better than any previous edition of this obscure opera in any format. There are two older CD versions. One is under Rossini scholar Alberto Zedda that features the outstanding Adelaide of Mariella Devia with a rather weak supporting cast and less than state of the art sound. The other is a posh Opera Rara set that is somewhat hampered by the acidic soprano of Majella Cullagh amidst an otherwise acceptable cast.

Regarding the version at hand, in the title role, coloratura soprano Jessica Pratt is more than up to the task and gives a tour du force rendition of her final tripartite aria that will leave you speechless. Interestingly, that grandiose aria is the penultimate number of the score with the mezzo-soprano getting the last word with an "aria con cabaletta" as the Finale. After hearing Adelaide's big set piece, the actual conclusion of the opera is a bit anticlimactic,...

AA Sparkling Gem of Mid Career
Yes it is strange that the 25 year old highly successful Rossini would turn out an old fashioned formulaic opera seria after such forward looking achievements as Otello, Tancredi, L'italiano in Algeri, Il Barbiere di Siviglia and Armida. The last two in the same year and Armida with the same librettist G. F. Schmidt. But this return to old forms turned out to sparkle with rich writing for capable voices and the orchestration is right up there with the best. It was written for the Teatro Argentina in Rome (p. Dec 1817) where the Barber had premiered earlier that year. The opera Adelaide apparently died on the vine there and disappeared from memory (Rossini did use some material in later works as was his wont).
The Rossini Foundation commissioned a critical edition from Gabriele Gravagna and the noted Rossini scholar Alberto Zedda. It maybe old hat as far as opera development is concerned but it is in no way second rate; Rossini had written a dozen or more opera and knew what he...

Another worthwhile Rossini rarity from Pesaro
Composed in 1817 for Rome between the writing of Armida and Mosè in Egitto for Naples, Adelaide di Borgogna has all the signs of being a commission hastily filled by the composer to a classic template of war, revolution and romance, with a historical background of Italian significance. It's the kind of subject that Verdi would later make his own and, without underestimating the importance of the Rossini influence, often do it with considerably more character than it is done here in Adelaide di Borgogna. It's not the composer's greatest work then, but being Rossini it's not entirely without merit either, and the right kind of singing and staging could certainly bring out its qualities. Recorded at the Rossini Opera Festival in Pesaro in 2011, director Pier' Alli and conductor Dmitri Jurowski certainly make the best of the work and are assisted with some fine singing performances, but overall the work still remains problematic.

The main problem with Adelaide di...

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