Translate
Some two centuries separate these two stage works by Italian composers Vivaldi and Respighi, now available in audio versions of their original audiovisual recordings on the Dynamic label.
Vivaldi's Il Bajazet is conducted by Federico Maria Sardelli, who reflects that he has ‘become increasingly convinced that Vivaldi had a formidable sense of the theatre. His vocal music is always faithfully shaped on the word, and in his operatic texts he continually steps in to modify a word, reformulate a verse, make an expression more effective theatrically.’
Manlio Benzi, who conducts Maria Egiziaca, observes that ‘Respighi's Maria is the only female character in the opera; her vocal part stands out over the male world, in which, like in a mirror, all her facets are reflected, from the carnal to the transfigured.’
![RESPIGHI, O.: Maria egiziaca [Opera]](https://cdn.naxos.com/sharedfiles/images/cds/hires/8.660591.jpg "RESPIGHI, O.: Maria egiziaca [Opera]")
Ottorino RESPIGHI (1879–1936)
Maria Egiziaca
Francesca Dotto, Soprano • Vincenzo Costanzo, TenorSimone Alberghini, Baritone
Orchestra e Coro del Teatro La Fenice di Venezia
Manlio Benzi, Conductor
Ottorino Respighi’s Maria Egiziaca, described by the composer as a ‘mystery in three episodes’, narrates the life of Saint Mary of Egypt in a profoundly moving and deeply sensuous musical representation of Christian faith as seen through its various characters. This work, depicting Maria’s journey from prostitution to sainthood through sin, conversion and atonement, started out as a concert triptych and sits somewhere between an oratorio and an opera. The intensely dramatic and at times symphonic qualities of Maria Egiziaca are imbued with ancient Italian musical traditions, with two beautiful symphonic interludes separating the three episodes.
Listen to an extract from Episode 1:
A te gli aliossi!
![RESPIGHI, O.: Maria Egiziaca [Opera] (La Fenice, 2024) (NTSC)](https://cdn.naxos.com/sharedfiles/images/cds/hires/DYN-38050.jpg "RESPIGHI, O.: Maria Egiziaca [Opera] (La Fenice, 2024) (NTSC)")
‘Visually the result is simple and often beautiful, with a sensitive use of dance and some rather evocative video sequences … This is a fine performance … under conductor Manlio Benzi, with the outstanding soprano Francesca Dotto in the title role and resonant bass Simone Alberghini.’
– BBC Music Magazine
![VIVALDI, A.: Bajazet (Il) [Opera]](https://cdn.naxos.com/sharedfiles/images/cds/hires/8.660616-18.jpg "VIVALDI, A.: Bajazet (Il) [Opera]")
Antonio VIVALDI (1678–1741)
Il Bajazet
Valeria La Grotta, Soprano • Loriana Castellano, Lucia Cirillo, Mezzo-sopranosSonia Prina, Contralto • Raffaele Pe, Countertenor • Renato Dolcini, Baritone
Orchestra del Teatro La Fenice di Venezia
Federico Maria Sardelli, Conductor
Il Bajazet was commissioned in 1735 to open Verona’s carnival season. Vivaldi chose a libretto by Agostino Piovene drawn from the well-known story of the defeated Ottoman sultan, King Bajazet, captured by Tamerlane who duly falls in love with Bajazet’s proud daughter, Asteria. Vivaldi was in his late maturity when he completed the opera, modifying his music to suit contemporary taste, and using the pasticcio form, incorporating some arias written by other, mostly Neapolitan, composers. Repurposing of this kind was wholly acceptable at the time and such works enjoyed great popularity. The conductor and Vivaldi specialist, Federico Maria Sardelli, has integrated lost arias, clarified the use of historically appropriate orchestration, and brought the opera to rich theatrical life.
Listen to Act III Scene 14:
Svena, uccidi, abbatti, atterra
![VIVALDI, A.: Bajazet (Il), "Il Tamerlano" [Opera] (La Fenice, 2024) (NTSC)](https://cdn.naxos.com/sharedfiles/images/cds/hires/DYN-38056.jpg "VIVALDI, A.: Bajazet (Il), \"Il Tamerlano\" [Opera] (La Fenice, 2024) (NTSC)")
‘Federico Maria Sardelli conducting a Baroque orchestra shorn of theorbos and trimmed of woodwinds but with fizzing violins on the attack … Here’s a real operatic treat and don’t the audience know it.’
– BBC Music Magazine ★★★★