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The Teatro Pergolesi at Jesi, Italy, celebrated Giuseppe Persiani's birth bicentenary with a revival of the long forgotten but once very popular Ines de Castro. This is to my knowledge the first revival since the early 1850s. While we often indulge in reviving as much as possible the obscure works of famous composers, much less attention is paid to their contemporaries. This is, of course, to our detriment since we cannot fully appreciate the musical and artistic environment in which composers such as Donizetti and Bellini had to operate and compete. The reason why I mention these two specific composers is because, as we all know, with Rossini's absence from Italy compounded by a decline in his prolificacy, there was a gap and the emergence of Bellini and Donizetti has a lot to do with their ability to successfully compete with other contemporary composers. To say that Donizetti and Bellini did not have strong competitors or that they were not watching one another while keeping a keen eye on what other composers were doing is not only naive but also myopic.
Giuseppe Persiani was born in 1799, and wrote his first opera in 1826. He is known to chroniclers as the husband of Fanny Tacchinardi (who usually sang as Fanny Persiani), but his wife's rise to international stardom only marginally helped Giuseppe Persiani. A devoted husband, he actually spent more time helping Fanny's career than his own. His greatest success came after he tried with varying results diverse genres including opera buffa, as well as an oratorio titled Abigaille (yes, the nasty lady of Nabucco), and an opera with a happy ending titled Attila in Aquileja. On 28 January 1835 Persiani's Ines de Castro premiered at Naples Teatro San Carlo and was an immediate success both with critics and the public. The cast included *sacre monstres* such as Malibran and Duprez. The opera went on for about 16 years, enjoying as many as sixty productions. The opera impressed the insiders too, and in her negotiations with La Scala for the opening opera of the 1835-36 Carnival season, Malibran bluntly suggested a choice of two -- Persiani's Ines de Castro or Donizetti's Maria Stuarda. She however, added that Maria Stuarda was more convenient to her, and eventually this comment influenced the course of events. It was only in January 1837 that Ines de Castro landed at La Scala, but by this time Malibran was no longer in the world of the living.
The opera benefitted from a good libretto penned by a young poet by the name of Salvadore Cammarano. His second libretto, Ines, catapulted Salvadore into fame and it is no coincidence that in 1835 he also wrote the libretto for Donizetti's evergreen Lucia di Lammermoor. Incidentally both operas include a very dramatic and compelling mad scene, but Ines' story is by far the more gruesome -- abduction and murder of Ines' children, parricide, a poisoned mother, a king with a rebellious son who eventually dies of a stroke after the 11th confrontation with the son, an arrogant Infanta who knows only how to threaten everyone, and a shady figure named Gonzales, a grandee of Portugal, who is up to Jago's mischievous practices but goes a step further and eliminates Ines' sons. Indeed a hair- raising story that must have had more than one problem with the censors. In fact the planned Naples revivals were aborted because of censors' veto. A story, however, that in varying versions had in the course of years become the basis for at least twenty operas.
Cammarano's approach must have been largely influenced by Persiani's natural gift for dramatic propulsion. It's quite rare at this point in time to encounter operas where the action is tight and the sequence is almost that of a movie. There have been a few attempts to stick labels on Persiani as a composer. Some musicologists have described him as a transition composer strongly influenced by Rossini, others have noted that his Ines de Castro is "structured in the Donizetti style". There is a bit of truth in both statements but they are generic and could well apply to so many other composers of the time. Persiani's work shows a penchant for winds, but the prelude to Ines' Act II superb aria ("Cari Giorni") shows his mastery with strings too. Listening to his Ines de Castro one cannot help but see the Rossinian influence, which becomes more apparent when the composer resorts to wrapping up some of the items. In this respect the opera does not show immediately apparent examples of innovation, but it's far from a routine work. Persiani's sense of drama seems - at times - more developed than that of Donizetti and this leads me to say that his Ines has more than a few moments that call to mind the young Verdi works, both musically and dramatically. The best examples are most of the numbers in Act 2. The tenor's part (Don Pedro, son of King Alfonso IV of Portugal) is exceedingly impressive as would be expected; the baritone too (King Alfonso) has his share in Act I, followed by the even more dramatic scene of the father's curse in Act II. Again we have a glimpse at Verdian favorites that will come in the late 1840s and 1850s.
But the real fireworks come with the title role. I venture to say that the role of Ines de Castro is more difficult than that of Norma. The role has a range of over two octaves and would require superhuman qualities with a soprano that ought to sing with great agility from the lowest mezzo notes to the highest coloratura notes. Which leads me to believe that Malibran, who at this time was at the peak of her career, was a real holy monster. Persiani did not give this role to his wife, Fanny Tacchinardi, and this has baffled biographers. Of course, he probably did not have any say in Lanari's (the impresario) choice; but later when he rewrote Ines for Paris (1839), with Fanny in the title role, her part was tailored around her range. Bianca, the Infanta of Castile, foreshadows Eboli with her unrestrained ambition and threats. The role was given to a mezzo, but by 1839 it was refashioned for a full-fledged contralto. There we go again - Persiani's choice of voices is closer to the mature Verdi than to the Donizetti model. This is because of Persiani's instinctive understanding of the interaction between music and drama - melos and drama. A gift, of course, that became the trademark of another Giuseppe -- Verdi.
The revival presented at Jesi (24 September 1999) is based on research work carried out by Paola Ciarlantini on the original 1835 edition. She was unable to find the autograph score but she was lucky enough to locate two 1835 copies - one filed with the censorship department and a second copy with annotations and minor changes utilised in 1835 for subsequent Naples performances.
I am presently transferring the RAI broadcast to the cd format and I must admit that the more I listen to Ines de Castro the more I like it. As for the Jesi performance, it has it's good moments and one must keep in mind that finding someone with Malibran's talent is almost impossible. In fact I don't think that Caballe or Sutherland could have sung Ines - the only one that would have been eligible for this role was Callas and to a much lesser degree Gencer (both - of course - on a very good night). As it is - Maria Dragoni did her best and she was able to encompass the "horrific" range of Ines. I take my hat off to her for this achievement - unfortunately her picchiettatos and some of the ornamentations leave something to be desired.
Jose Sempere as Don Pedro showed a nice beefy tenor voice, although his beef could do with more firm muscles. Speaking of which we cannot lose sight that this role was written for Duprez and later on (1839) Rubini sang Pedro both in Paris and London.
Massimiliano Gagliardo's baritone is a bit dull and unexciting. Lisa Huben sang Bianca at the Jesi revival. Her tally is mostly positive.
Enrique Mazzola as conductor has things under control but the orchestra's dynamics could have been more pronounced and some of the sweet tunes could have benefitted from a better polish.
On the whole, I am of the view that this revival of Ines de Castro is one of the most interesting events at this stage of our belcanto Renaissance. It sheds much light on the ferments that preceded Verdi's arrival on the operatic scene.
While it greatly helps us in understanding the great competition Donizetti had, it also provides insights in the operatic platform that Verdi found at the beginning of his career.
Giorgio Migliavacca
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