Rota: Il cappello di paglia di Firenze

Rota: Il cappello di paglia di Firenze

Rota: Il cappello di paglia di Firenze
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CD Details

Composer: Nino Rota
Conductor: Elio Boncompagni
Orchestra: Théâtre La Monnaie Royal Opera Orchesta
Orchestra: Orchestre Symphonique de la Monnaie
Performer: Federico Davia
Performer: Mariella Devia
Performer: Edoardo Gimenez
Performer: Magda Olivero
Performer: Augusto Pedroni
Performer: Manuel Gonzalez
Performer: Dolores Crivellari
Performer: Katarina Moesen
Performer: Hartmut Schmiedner
Performer: Jean-Jacques Schreurs
Performer: Gianni Socci
Edition: Music CD
CD Release Date: 2005-01-04
Music Label: Opera D'oro
Soundtracks:
Music CD 1
  1. Introduction
  2. Posso Entrar?
  3. Distaccate Il Cavallo Dall'Attacco!
  4. Tra Un'Ora Saro Sposo
  5. Entri Pure Con Coraggio!
  6. Tutto A Monte!
  7. Elena!
  8. Ma Che Bella Situazione... Signora, Venga Fuori... Tutto A Monte!
  9. Svelto Vola Vola L'Ago... Signora Modista, Ho Fretta
  10. O Mia Cara Baronessa
  11. Permesso, Signore?... Visconti, Baronesse
  12. Caro Signore, Lei Mi Deve Scusare
  13. Un Garofano D'Inverno?
  14. Maestro, Il Concerto Se Volete
  15. Tra Cinque Minuti Me La Svigno Col Capello
  16. La Baronessa!... Un Cappello Nero?
  17. Minardi!
Music CD 2
  1. E Una Cosa Incredibile
  2. Eccola Finalmente!
  3. Chi Mai Ha Avuto... Che Cosa Fa Da La?
  4. Signora Orsu - Dovete Entrar
  5. Mio Suocero!... Eccolo, L'Ho Trovato Finalmente!
  6. Aiuto, Aiuto!
  7. Tutta Parigi Noi Giriam
  8. Ecco Son La Ventitre... S'Avvicina Il Temporale
  9. Ah Giornata Tremenda Infernale!
  10. Psst! Ohi tu, Briccone!
  11. Papa, Gli Voglio Bene
  12. Ah La Milza! La Milza!... Ecco I Regali
  13. E Pazzo Da Legare
  14. Presto Presto Mia Signora... Fermati, Cocchiere!
  15. Qual Rombazzo - Infernale!
  16. Tutto A Posto!

Music reviews of Rota: Il cappello di paglia di Firenze

Music Review: An entertaining, live "Straw Hat"
Rating: 4 Stars

SOURCE:
Live performance at the Petite Salle in Brussels, March 6, 1976.

SOUND:
Details are not provided by the publisher, but this seems to be a true pirate recording. It was clearly recorded from the audience, as demonstrated by the close proximity of a horny-handed, bravo-shouting enthusiast (who, thank heaven, manages to restrain himself until the appropriate moments.) The orchestra is front and center, while the performers are noticeably distant and sometimes overwhelmed by the sounds emerging from the pit. All that notwithstanding, the mono sound isn't all that bad. It is certainly better than many of Callas' live recordings or almost anything emerging from the Salzburg Festival in the 1950s.

CAST:
Fadinard, a young, would-be bridegroom - Edoardo Gimenez
Nonancourt, Fadinard's short-tempered father-in-law to be - Gianni Socci
Elena, Fadinard's bride-to-be - Marielle Devia
Anaide, a lady who takes off her hat at intimate moments - Dolores Crivellari
Emilio, Anaide's lover - Manuel Gonzales
Beaupertuis, Anaide's jealous, well-armed husband - Federico Davia
The Baroness of Champigny, a lady with very definite ideas about violinists - Magda Olivero
Uncle Vezet - Augusto Pedroni
The Milliner - Katerina Moesen
Corporal of the Guard/The Viscount of Rosalba - Harmut Schmieder
A Guard/Fadinard's servant - Jean-Jacques Schreurs

CONDUCTOR:
Elio Boncompagni with the Orchestra of Theatre Royal de la Monnaie.

COMPOSER:
Nino Rota (1911-1979) was a member of a musical family. His mother was his first music teacher. Toscanini was a family friend and advisor. He was formally trained in both Italy and the United States. In Philadelphia he took classes in the orchestra from Fritz Reiner. Rota is, of course, best known for his film scores but he composed ten operas, five ballets and numerous orchestral pieces.

THE OPERA:
"Il cappello di paglia di Firenze" (The Florentine Straw Hat) is based on a famous 1851 farce by Eugene Labiche and Marc Michel called "Un chapeau de paille d'Italie." The great French film director Rene Clair used the story in 1927 for one of the best of the French silent film comedies "An Italian Straw Hat."

In 1944, Nino Rota and his mother Ernesta wrote the libretto for "il cappello." Rota worked on the score for a year or more but put it aside unfinished, with no prospect of a performance. In the mid-1950s, at the prompting of a friend who had heard parts of the score, Rota finished the piece and saw it premiered in Palermo in April 1955 with Jonel Perlea conducting.

STORY:
"Il cappello" is a farce about misunderstandings. Fadinard begins his wedding day by driving his carriage across Paris to check on the state of his new apartment. While passing through a wooded area, his whip gets entangled. He stops the carriage to retrieve the whip. His horse uses the pause as an opportunity to snack on an attractive straw hat conveniently hanging from a tree. Fadinard returns to be confronted by an indignant and very much married lady and her lover who is very much not her husband. The lady had removed the hat during an intimate moment with her lover. She cannot return to her suspicious husband without her hat. Fadinard, she and her lover insist, must provide a replacement and they will not listen to any trifling quibbles from him about his forthcoming wedding. Produce the hat, they say, or face a duel. The plot is now wound up like a top and ready to go spinning away. The wedding guests approach as Fadinard rushes off to find a replacement hat. Along the way he blunders into many misunderstandings, including one in which he is taken to be a virtuoso violinist, all to the growing annoyance of his prospective father-in-law.

COMMENTARY:
"Il cappello" is pretty much what one might expect from a mid-Twentieth Century Italian composer who was a close friend of Stravinsky but who did not buy into either the atonality of that century's music or its icy indifference to the human condition. For a hint of the sound of the opera and the approach it takes, consider the first scene of Puccini's "La Boheme," before the entry of Mimi and the lush melodies she brings in her wake. Extend that over the whole length of the opera and you have something very like "Il cappello."

Although she is in a supporting role, the star of this performance is the great Magda Olivero, still in first youth at a mere 64 years of age. That lady was, and is, everything that an opera star ought to be. The very fine Marielle Devia, impresses as always, even in the too-small part of Elena. Edoardo Gimenez was, I think, one of those performers who is a delight to see, but one, alas, not blessed with a beautiful voice. On CD, he offers a workmanlike job. The rest of the cast is competent. The conducting and orchestra seem perfectly satisfactory in this not very heavily orchestrated work.

I was drawn to this "Il cappello" by the negative Amazon reviews. Frankly, I wondered how any performance that boasted of both Olivero and Devia could possibly rate a single star. To tell the truth, I am still puzzled by Mr. Dowling's obviously honest and heartfelt disdain. For the moment, I can only assume that my reaction is so different from his because I have heard more truly lousy Twentieth Century operas than he has. The second reviewer, Armindo, always perceptive and an excellent guide, has written a solid and nicely balanced review, but it seems to me to be more like three-star piece, despite single star he actually awarded.

I give "Il cappella di paglia di Firenze" full marks for being that rarest of commodities, an entertaining Twentieth Century opera--less one star for the lack of a libretto and the so-so sound.

Four stars.
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