Caterina Carmela Apollonia

Arturo Nicoletta Ciliento

Conte di San Megrino Mario Leonardi

Duca di Guisa Stefano Antonucci

Conductor Massimo De Bernart

Orchestra Filarmonica Italiana - Coro Francesco Cilea di Reggio Calabria

Recorded live at the Teatro Chiabrera in Savona, Oct. 30 and Nov. 3, 1990. Released on Bongiovanni GB 2117/18 (2 Cds)

Coccia was a contemporary of Rossini's, whose first opera antedates Rossini's first by a few years, but who was active as an opera composer more than ten years later than the better known native of Pesaro. But if Caterina di Guisa is any indication of the potential of the work of some of these other people, there is a gold mine waiting to be explored.

As for this recording, let me say right off that the singing, especially on the part of the tenor, is not what one would expect from the familiar stars who take part in most of the commercial recordings of better known operas. But it is more than adequate, and in no way detracts from being able to enjoy the music. And I am convinced that most purchasers will get the recording because they want to hear an unfamiliar, but historically important work of the period. Mario Leonardi is out of his element in bel canto opera, but his voice is sufficiently virile so as not to ruin the performance. Still, I was unable to really enjoy his singing, and wish that a better tenor-and there were many-would have been chosen. The others range from reasonable (the mezzo, Nicoletta Ciliento), to more than acceptable (the baritone, Stefano Antonucci, already familiar from a recording of Il Furioso on the same label) to very good (the young soprano, Carmela Apollonia). My overall impression of the singing is that it is better, much better than that on many other first attempts at reviving a forgotten opera. As implied before, there is a large (and largely ignored) market of individuals who, like myself, are interested in expanding their horizons when it comes to new operas and new composers. It is this group that will want the recording, and will want it for the music, not the singers.

And what music !!!!. The contributor to the New Grove Dictionary of Opera describes Coccia as a conservative, but probably had not yet heard the work when he made that statement. In this opera, at least, Coccia is anything but conservative. He experiments considerably with the forms. Even though we have the usual succession of cavatinas and cabalettas, arias, and duets, they are, somehow different-and the obligatory ensemble where all the principals are on stage at the same time is missing. The music is far ahead of it's time, and while there are opportunities for vocal display, the emphasis is almost entirely on the emotional side, especially in the highly dramatic confrontations between the principal characters, and in the heart rending finale. The latter is among the very best of its kind in all of opera.

The plot has much in common with that of Maria di Rohan, except that instead of being friends, the tenor and baritone are already mortal enemies. And the baritone (the Duc de Guise), unlike Chevreuse in the Donizetti work or Renato in Verdi's Un ballo in maschera never arouses our sympathy. If anything, he would make Iago seem like a nice person. Rather than accepting the Count of San Megrino's challenge to a duel, he pulls rank on him, and lures him into a trap where he and his soldiers can murder him. In order to do so, he forces his wife to write a letter inviting San Megrino into their palace. This leads to many excellent dramatic situations allof which are fully xploited by the composer.

As said before, the best individual piece of music in the opera is the aria finale, one of the finest of its kind in all of opera-and quite ably sung by the soprano. Other highlights include:
The "duetto della sfida", although one wishes the tenor part had been sung by the likes of Chris Merritt or Bruce Ford.
the second duet between the count and the duchess, a part of which strangely foreshadows some of the Act IV duet from Les Huguenots.
The tenor's aria "Torna a lei, tremante e forse"
The duet between the duke and the mezzo soprano
The Scene where Arturo (the Duchess' cousin, a mezzo) reads some verses by Ronsard to her.

The sum total of such wonderful music adds up to a real master-piece-one that can be mentioned in the same sentence with the best operas of Coccia's more famous contemporaries. In summation, I feel that this is easily one of the best two performances to come out of the Teatro Chiabrera in recent years (Pacini's Medea is the other.) as well as one of the best of the forgotten operas to get their first major post war revival in the 1990s.

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