Mercadante – Don Chisciotte
alle nozze di Gamaccio
Ugo Guagliardo; Domenico Colaianni; Laura Catrani; San Pietro a Majella Chorus, Naples; Czech Chamber Soloists, Brno; Antonino Fogliani
Naxos 8.660312-13
Cervantes’ huge, epoch making novel from 1605, the first “novel” ever written, has inspired more than one musical treatment not to mention the magnificent tone poem by Richard Strauss, but there is one curiosity just recently emerged. At the well established and respected Rossini in Wildbad Festival, a totally forgotten opera (not performed in the last 150 years!) was unearthed. The composer was Saverio Mercadante (1795-1870), a contemporary of Rossini and Donizetti, an Italian who did much of his work in Spain. His music is much under the influence of Rossini with some originalities explained competently in the liner notes.
To me the interesting thing is how each composer approached this enormous novel. Massenet compressed the work into a few significant scenes, but Mercadante chose an entirely different venue by selecting only one episode, the 20th chapter, where Don Quixote prevents a forced marriage of a farm girl to a wealthy suitor instead of her poor lover. The music is delightful throughout with all-pervasive Spanish rhythms, but the opera really takes off when Don Quixote (Ugo Guagliardo) enters the scene. The entry of the powerful basso profundo voice with vocal acrobatics and strong characterization turns the opera into the extraordinary, much like what Rossini did in his Maometto Secondo. Laura Catrani, the country girl and her lover Hans Ever Mogollon (tenor) are beautiful fresh voices and there is no weakness in the supporting roles either. Rossini specialist Antonino Fogliani conducts with a strong impulse and forward momentum to draw a thunderous ovation.
