Luigi and Federico Ricci – Crispino e la Comare
Colaianni; Bonfadelli; Boscolo; Orchestra Internazionale d’Italia; Chorus of Teatro Petruzzelli; Jader Bignamini
Dynamic 37675
The operas by the brothers Luigi and Federico Ricci were popular in their day which was the middle of the 19th century. Now they are rarely performed, although there was a recent staging of Federico’s La prigione d’Edimburgo in Edinburgh, an apt choice since that opera is based on Sir Walter Scott’s The Heart of Midlothian. There have been a few modern revivals of Crispino e la Comare, beginning with that in Wexford in 1974. The production on this DVD was filmed at the Valle d’Itria Festival in Marina Franca, in Puglia, in 2013.
Although the librettist is Francesco Maria Piave, now largely known for his work with Verdi, and although the Riccis called the work Melodramma fantastico giocoso, this is really old-fashioned opera buffa, with little of the seriousness which Goldoni and Galuppi had introduced in the late 1740s, let alone the way da Ponte and Mozart transformed the genre in the 1780s. Conductor and director are good at keeping the action moving. Some of the acting, however, is diabolical. The best performance comes from the baritone Domenico Colaianni as the much-put-upon cobbler Crispino, while the soprano Stefania Bonfadelli as Crispino’s wife Annetta copes well with her technically demanding part. A cute little dog comes close to stealing the show. I suppose that is inevitable once you introduce animals!
