Mercadante: Il proscritto

Carlo Rizzi & Britten Sinfonia

Released on 14/04/2023 by Opera Rara
Main artists: Carlo Rizzi Britten Sinfonia
Genre: Opera

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Opera rara's mission is to help people discover unknown or forgotten works: this is indeed the case with this opera, which we are listening to now for the first time in almost two centuries. When his Proscritto was premiered in January 1842, Salverio Mercadante, a contemporary and competitor of Donizetti and Bellini, was the director of the Naples opera house and at the height of his fame. He was, however, on the way to being overshadowed by the young Verdi whose first major success, Nabucco, was to take place only a few months later.

The libretto, penned by the prolific Salvadore Camarano, is taken from Le Proscrit (1839), a French drama by Frédéric Soulié and Timothée Dehay and transposed into 17th century England. Malvina Douglas is about to marry Arturo Murray, a Cromwell supporter, and is being walked down the aisle by her brother, Odoardo Douglas. Her former husband, the royalist Giorgio Argyll, was banished and had been declared dead. But now he’s mysteriously reappeared... causing anguish and doubt for the poor woman. At the end of a series of particularly intense duets, it all ends very badly,

Mercadante’s discovery of the French Grand Opera prompted him to modify his style; he veered towards dramatic intensity and enriched orchestration... As a result, he was accused of being a "German style impersonator"; consequently, his opera received a frosty reception and was removed from the repertoire. Nevertheless, today we are rediscovering a piece of work which seduces with its melodic inventiveness, beautiful orchestral textures, intense duets and grand concertati finales, which feature amongst the best from this period.

This resurrection is being sustained by some magnificent artists; primarily Carlo Rizzi, the conductor who enthusiastically unearthed the manuscript and brought it back to life by heading up the Britten Sinfonia and the Opera Rara Chorus. The great Mexican tenor Ramon Vargas brings his exceptional bel-canto elegance to the role of Giorgio, but also a sense of melancholy and intensity which make him a great romantic. His rival, Arturo, is the Peruvian tenor Ivan Ayon-Rivas, winner of the Operalia award in 2021. The warm timbre of the mezzo-soprano Irene Roberts is ideally suited to the tortured heroine Alvina, which delights us while we savour the sumptuous bass of contralto Elizabeth DeShong. © Julia Le Brun/Qobuz

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Mercadante: Il proscritto

Carlo Rizzi

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Il proscritto, Act 1: 'D'amistà le soavi catene' (Chorus, Osvaldo)