5905683648103

Format: 2CD

Cat No: NIFCCD096-097

PRE-ORDER: This item will be shipped with the aim to deliver on release day.

Release Date:  25 October 2024

Label:  NIFCCD

Packaging Type:  Digipak

No of Units:  2

Barcode:  5905683648103

Genres:  Classical  Opera  

  • Description

    Richard Taruskin, in his Oxford History of Western Music, describes Giuseppe Verdi's early career in the 1830s and 40s Italy as one marked by intense pressure and strict adherence to the conventions of opera composition, known as the "Code Rossini." During this period, Verdi worked as a contract composer, juggling commissions and constantly revising his work under tight deadlines. He viewed these years, from the start of his career in 1836 with Oberto, conte di San Bonifacio to the premiere of La Traviata in 1853, as a gruelling experience akin to the labour of ancient Roman galley slaves.

    In these challenging conditions, Giuseppe Verdi began his second opera, Un giorno di regno, under a direct commission from Bartolomeo Merelli, the impresario of Teatro alla Scala in Milan. Merelli, impressed by Verdi's debut opera Oberto, saw his potential and signed a contract requiring Verdi to produce three more operas for La Scala to meet the theatre's demand for new works.

    From the outset, Verdi felt more at home in serious, historical subject matter, and he initially agreed with the impresario that he would prepare a serious melodramma for him. Soon afterwards, however, it turned out that a light comedy would be more useful to Merelli for programming the season--and he charged his newly acquired associate with the task. Un giorno di regno, which turned out to be Verdi's only work fully belonging to the comic opera genre, was written in haste.

    In many Verdi biographies, Un giorno is entirely passed over, or at most found in a chronology at the back. The premiere was given on 5 September 1840. The audience whistled its disapproval and openly mocked the work during its performance; the critics mostly tore it to shreds. Un giorno was taken from the bill immediately after that catastrophic premiere. Many years later, Verdi judged that the flop was due as much to the mercilessly criticised music as to the extremely weak performance.

  • Tracklisting

      Disc 1

      Side 1

      • 1. Verdi: Un giorno di regno Overture
      • 2. Act One: Scene One 'A fairer day never smiled'
      • 3. 'Most amiable Treasurer'
      • 4. Scene Two 'His Majesty, gentlemen'
      • 5. 'Will you he present, Sire'
      • 6. 'As long as I remain here ... He time will come all too soo'
      • 7. 'At the double wedding'
      • 8. Scene Three 'Sire, trembling I throw myself at your royal feet!'
      • 9. 'I will prove that I am worthy ... May good fortune smile upon'
      • 10. 'Inflamed by a warlike spirit'
      • 11. Scene Four 'They have not deceived me!'
      • 12. 'It is difficult for a loving heart'
      • 13. 'If the widow must fall'
      • 14. Scene Five 'So festive a morning'
      • 15. 'Dear friends ... They do not know the anguish which I suffer in my soul'
      • 16. 'I do not want that old man'
      • 17. Scene Six 'Well, Giulietta'
      • 18. Scene Seven 'Dear Giulia, I am with you at last!'
      • 19. Scene Eight 'I have great faith in you, cousin'
      • 20. 'A fine hope, indeed!'
      • 21. Scene Nine 'Your words'
      • 22. Scene Ten 'Cherished son-in-law, I have come'
      • 23. Scene Eleven and Twelve Finale I: 'Treasurer! I would like to believe'
      • 24. 'What's going on?'
      • 25. 'Baron, tell me quickly'

      Disc 2

      • 1. Verdi: Un giorno di regno Act Two: Scene One and Two Coro ed Aria: 'Then the wedding won't take place?'
      • 2. 'You know how cruelly fate has treated me'
      • 3. 'Pray, allow a loving soul'
      • 4. Scene Three 'Well, esquire, I have found you in time'
      • 5. Scene Four 'One of my castles!'
      • 6. 'You may use all the weapons'
      • 7. Scene Five 'Why can't I understand it?'
      • 8. Scene Six and Seven 'Niece, I have just heard'
      • 9. 'Then why doesn't he come? ... who adores him, beg my pardon'
      • 10. 'You remain silent, Sire'
      • 11. 'Yes, I'll forget that unfaithful one'
      • 12. Scene Eight 'Ah, my happiness is complete!'
      • 13. 'I swore to follow him into battle'
      • 14. 'Oh, may the hope in your heart not be false, my love'
      • 15. Scene Nine 'Yes, my dear Count'
      • 16. Scene Ten 'I am ready to marry you'
      • 17. Last Scene Finale II: 'Stanislaus has finally arrived'
      • 18. 'Ah, let's all be good friends'