Rossini: Maometto Secondo (Claudio Scimone) (1822 Venice version) (200

When
the eponymous Turkish sultan comes onstage with his victorious troops
for the first time in Act One, he immediately launches into a fiendishly
difficult cantabile aria and cabaletta--think of Mehmet II as the
Muslim Alexander the Great. In this particular opera, he is engaged in
capturing the Venetian colony of Negroponte in Greece. His most famous
historical conquest, for us Christians at least, was Constantinople.

In
this version, which Rossini modified for Venice's Teatro La Fenice in
1822 (the Venetians insisted on a happy ending), Mehmet II fails to
conquer Negroponte because Anna, the woman he loves, betrays him. In
order to save her father (tenor), Erisso, the governor of Negroponte and
her fiance, Calbo (mezzo), Anna obtains Mehmet's imperial seal of
authority, and frees Erisso and Calbo when her captor has to exit the
harem to fight another battle.

Now comes the shocker. Instead of
Anna meeting up with her father and her fiance in the church crypt, next
to her mother's tomb, it is Mehmet himself who shows up. There is a
fine trio in which Calbo challenges the Turkish general to a duel for
Anna's hand and the three men (tenor, bass, and mezzo) exit for the
battlefield. Anna and female chorus enter the church and kill time with
various arias and choruses until her fiance and father make their
triumphant return. Anna rejoices as only a soprano can, Negroponte is
saved, and she marries Calbo, the mezzo.

I also own a DVD of the
original version of "Maometto Secondo" in which Samuel Ramey sings the
Turkish general at the 1985 Rossini Festival in Pesaro, in what he says
is his most difficult role. This is a totally intoxicating performance,
in spite of the poor technical quality of the DVD (I think it was
transferred to DVD off of an Italian TV screen). Some comparisons
between the two productions:

- Lorenzo Regazzo is a sonorous
Maometto, a bit more bombastic than Ramey and a very restless stage
presence. Ramey's bass is seductive, ironic, alternating velvet with
steel. Regazzo's bass is more of a plush, bumpy corduroy. Both
absolutely inhabit the character and I wouldn't want to miss either
version.

- Tenor Maxim Mironov reminds me of the Cossack in the
movie version of "Fiddler on the Roof" with his stringy blond hair and
wild blue eyes. He has a brilliant, edgy tenor and quite upstages stodgy
Chris Merritt who sang this role in the Pesaro production. Merritt has a
stronger, more ringing tenor but Mironov has the brilliant cadenzas.

-
The late Lucia Valentini-Terrani sang Calbo in the Pesaro version and
Italian contralto, Annarita Gemmabella is a darkly splendid young
warrior on this DVD. They are both superb in one of the juiciest mezzo
arias in all of Rossini: "Non temer: d'un basso affetto " where Calbo is
trying to buck up a very depressed Erriso in the crypt after Anna has
seemingly betrayed them. I have GOT to find a CD where Marilyn Horne
sings this show-stopper. Both Valentini-Terrani and Gemmabella take my
breath away in "Non temer".

- Carmen Giannattasio is a rather
listless Anna on this DVD, pretty but most of her emotions are conveyed
by a series of frowns. Her soprano doesn't really warm up until after
her duet, "Gli estremi sensi ascolta" with Maometto. Of course, in this
Venetian version, Anna has to reserve her voice for a much longer
ending. In the consistently grim Neapolitan score, Anna literally cuts
her singing short by stabbing herself. I prefer Cecilia Gasdia's
spirited, well-sung Anna in the Pesaro production.

The chorus is a
lethargic, almost ghostly presence on this DVD whether its members are
singing as citizens of the beleaguered Negroponte or as Turkish
warriors.

Technically, this DVD is far superior to the Pesaro disk but it has several annoying freeze-frames, at least on my copy.

Claudio Scimone conducts both versions.

Performer:
Maometto secondo - Lorenzo Regazzo
Selimo - Federico Lepre
Paolo Erisso - Maxim Mironov
Anna - Carmen Giannattasio
Calbo - Anna Rita Gemmabella
Condulmiero - Nicola Marchesini
Orchestra e Coro del Teatro La Fenice di Venezia
Direttore - Claudio Scimone
Regia, scene e costumi - Pier Luigi Pizzi



Download links:
Download from
http://www.filesonic.com/file/2014562231/45RMSCS1.part01.rar
http://www.filesonic.com/file/2014439974/45RMSCS1.part02.rar
http://www.filesonic.com/file/2014440004/45RMSCS1.part03.rar
http://www.filesonic.com/file/2014521594/45RMSCS1.part04.rar
http://www.filesonic.com/file/2014473354/45RMSCS1.part05.rar
http://www.filesonic.com/file/2014445394/45RMSCS1.part06.rar
http://www.filesonic.com/file/2014521784/45RMSCS1.part07.rar
http://www.filesonic.com/file/2014521624/45RMSCS1.part08.rar
http://www.filesonic.com/file/2014521544/45RMSCS1.part09.rar
http://www.filesonic.com/file/2014521574/45RMSCS1.part10.rar
http://www.filesonic.com/file/2014521572/45RMSCS1.part11.rar
http://www.filesonic.com/file/2014521644/45RMSCS1.part12.rar
http://www.filesonic.com/file/2014508204/45RMSCS1.part13.rar

http://www.filesonic.com/file/2014562241/45RMSCS2.part01.rar
http://www.filesonic.com/file/2014473364/45RMSCS2.part02.rar
http://www.filesonic.com/file/2014472014/45RMSCS2.part03.rar
http://www.filesonic.com/file/2014474674/45RMSCS2.part04.rar
http://www.filesonic.com/file/2014472254/45RMSCS2.part05.rar
http://www.filesonic.com/file/2014474624/45RMSCS2.part06.rar
http://www.filesonic.com/file/2014473334/45RMSCS2.part07.rar
http://www.filesonic.com/file/2014472224/45RMSCS2.part08.rar
http://www.filesonic.com/file/2014465974/45RMSCS2.part09.rar

Download from
http://www.wupload.com/file/179405730/45RMSCS1.part01.rar
http://www.wupload.com/file/179405731/45RMSCS1.part02.rar
http://www.wupload.com/file/179405732/45RMSCS1.part03.rar
http://www.wupload.com/file/179405734/45RMSCS1.part04.rar
http://www.wupload.com/file/179405735/45RMSCS1.part05.rar
http://www.wupload.com/file/179405736/45RMSCS1.part06.rar
http://www.wupload.com/file/179405737/45RMSCS1.part07.rar
http://www.wupload.com/file/179405738/45RMSCS1.part08.rar
http://www.wupload.com/file/179405739/45RMSCS1.part09.rar
http://www.wupload.com/file/179405741/45RMSCS1.part10.rar
http://www.wupload.com/file/179405742/45RMSCS1.part11.rar
http://www.wupload.com/file/179405743/45RMSCS1.part12.rar
http://www.wupload.com/file/179405745/45RMSCS1.part13.rar

http://www.wupload.com/file/179405746/45RMSCS2.part01.rar
http://www.wupload.com/file/179405747/45RMSCS2.part02.rar
http://www.wupload.com/file/179405748/45RMSCS2.part03.rar
http://www.wupload.com/file/179405749/45RMSCS2.part04.rar
http://www.wupload.com/file/179405750/45RMSCS2.part05.rar
http://www.wupload.com/file/179405751/45RMSCS2.part06.rar
http://www.wupload.com/file/179405752/45RMSCS2.part07.rar
http://www.wupload.com/file/179405753/45RMSCS2.part08.rar
http://www.wupload.com/file/179405755/45RMSCS2.part09.rar
-