Virginia Janet Price

Icilio Maurice Arthur

Appio Bonaventura Bottone

Virginio Christian du Plessis

Tullia Hilary Western

Marco John Tomlinson

Valerio Alan Woodrow

Chorus of the Northern Ireland Opera Trust and Ulster Orchestra, conductor James Judd; Live performance Queen's University, Belfast, Nov. 27, 1976 MRF 137 (LP)

Virginia was first composed around 1851, but was banned by the censors, largely because of its' inflammatory nature. It was not performed until after Italy became an independent nation, and the unduly strict censorship of the old Neapolitan Bourbon regime had lost its' powers. Thus, it was the last "new" opera by Mercadante to be performed during his lifetime. It has much in common with Orazi e Curiazi composed five years earlier in that we again have an ancient Roman setting. Musically, it does seem to be a throwback in some ways to the era of bel canto, an era that had passed by 1865. While it has many of the features of the mature Mercadante (a magisterial ensemble closing the second act, and two striking dramatic confrontations), the role of Virginia is unusually ornate, and there is a trio for two rival tenors and a soprano which brings to mind a similar scene in Rossini's La donna del lago. But the important question that comes to mind when talking about Virginia is not what innovations it contains, but whether or not the music is beautiful and effective. The answer to the latter is a resounding yes, and as is stated in the Dictionnaire des Opéras (Clément and Larousse, 1870) it can be regarded by connoisseurs as one of the finest of then modern operas.

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