Amelia Maria Chiara

Oscar Elena Zilio

Meg Linda Vajna

Il conte Murray Giorgio Merighi

Il duca Hamilton Licinio Montefusco

Lord Howe Dino Formichini

Lord Kilkardy Vittorio Bruni

Scoto Dino Formichini

Un servo Jose Sanchez Cordova

Chorus of the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, and Orchestra of the Angelicum di Milano, Bruno Martinotti cond.; live performance, Siena, Feb. 9, 1970 Myto MCD 905.28

This is the second of the three operas on the the assasination of Gustave III of Sweden which are available on CD. The earliest version, by Auber, named according to the protagonist, was composed in 1833, and remained in the regular repertory until well into the 1870s, especially in the German speaking world, Vienna hearing it in 1877. The third, by Verdi, is of course, the best, and easily the most famous. Still, Il reggente was performed in Palermo as late as 1870, eleven years after the Verdi version had its premiere. It is interesting to note that Scribe's libretto (for Auber) was placed in Sweden, Cammarano's (for Mercadante) in Scotland during the time of Mary Stuart, and Antonio Somma (for Verdi) in colonial Boston.

There is a natural tendency to compare the Mercadante opera (Turin, 1843) with Verdi's, and Mercadante loses by the comparison. But that may be viewed as being unfair to the older of the two men. After all, the science of composing had made many strides forward in the intervening years. Thus, a comparison with a Verdi opera from the 1840s might be more realistic. But, when one remembers the patriotic aspects of the young Verdi, and the tremendously responsive chord that they struck in the soul of Italy, one can understand that their greater success. Still, it is great fun to be able to hear alternate versions of familiar plots, even if the location is transposed. But if one is to enjoy these alternate renditions, one should not make comparisons. True, the irony of the Verdi version is lacking, especially in the finale to the second act. But Mercadante's version has much stirring and effective music, especially the first act duet for Murray and Hamilton: Se tu l'imponi", the arias for meg and Amelia, Hamilton's aria in the third act: "Nuova ferita, cruda, profonda", as well as Murray's E forza, e forza, estinguere. Listened to on it's own merits, Il reggente can give a great deal of pleasure.

The performance is quite good for amounts to the first (and, so far, only) twentieth century production of this work.

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