Nel furor delle tempeste

Giuseppe Morino: Gualtiero
Lucia Aliberti: Imogene
Giorgio Surjan: Ernesto

Alberto Zedda conducts the Orchestra Internazionale d'Italia Opera
Festival della Valle d'Itria di Martina Franca, live 1987

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IL PIRATA

Act I. Sicily. 13th century. On a stormy sea-shore, fisherfolk watch a shipwreck. Among the survivors is Gualtiero, who tells that he drew strength from his continuing love for Imogene ("Nel furor delle tempeste... Per te di vane lagrime", 0:00), although she is now married to Ernesto ("Tu sciagurato! Ah! fuggi...", 08:45). Gualtiero learns that she had married Ernesto only because he had threatened her father's life ("Pietosa al padre", 17:10), and when he sees that she has borne Ernesto's child, he starts to think of revenge ("Bagnato dalle lagrime", 22:38). Finale I: Quintette ("Parlarti ancor per poco", 25:42).

Act II. Gualtiero meets Imogene again ("Vieni: cerchiam pe' mari", 29:02). Ernesto, arriving, conceals himself and overhears the end of their passionate declarations of love ("Cedo al destin orribile", 36:26). He is discovered, and exits with Gualtiero, each determined to fight to the death. It is Ernesto who is killed. Gualtiero gives himself up to justice, and, as he is taken away, he prays that Imogene may forgive him: "Tu vedrai la sventurata... Ma non fia sempre odiata la mia memoria" (42:42).

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Now that is what I call Belcanto. The "mixed" head voice ("voce mista") is a feature of this pre-1914 style. The full belted high register, which made Caruso a popular favorite, breaks the suave romantic legato which was the great glory of this school of singing. It is NOT an easy thing to do!!
By the standards of a Rubini or a Donzelli, YES, Pavarotti and even Gedda were violent singers. Big screams from the chest that would have horrified Rossini and even Donizetti. At least Gedda knew how to sing softly (Pearl Fishers) which Pavarotti couldn't do. His "Una furtiva lagrima" is all loud, like Di Stefano.
Learning how to sing softly (sotto-voce) and mezza-voce (mid volume), not only in the mid register but in the high register as well is ESSENTIAL.
Why do singers today always sing LOUD, LOUD??
Several reasons perhaps for louder singing today. As indicated, it is not so easy to sing in the mixed head-voice in the upper register. Also, the musical demands of Verdi, Puccini, Wagner, and the verismo school (power not mezza voce), and larger modern orchestras, compared to most of those of the past. Finally, "charmless" changes in public taste (as in everything else). Bad taste today excludes falsettone, portamento and accacciatura, favored by singers such as Bonci and De Lucia. Tenor Giuseppe Morino incorporated, at least in Martina Franca, some of those techniques...

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Le stratosferiche tessiture di Gualtiero... La parte di Gualtiero venne composta per Rubini, in una tessitura molto ardua, dal momento che insiste dal do centrale sino ai più vertiginosi sopracuti (la parte sale sino al re...) Senza dubbio è essenziale la capacità dell'interprete di produrre un canto angelicato, legato, morbido e allo stesso tempo di speciale bravura, non carente della espressione malinconica che la parte richiede. Morino è stato capace di reggere la tessitura ed anche di interpolare acuti e sopracuti. Per estensione e capacità di sfumare Morino ha potuto restituire un Pirata integrale (senza "tagli") così come scritto e nello stile del tempo. Il clima sospeso ed arcaico delle cavatine di Gualtiero, su tutte lo straordinario "Tu vedrai la sventurata" (42:42), lentissimo, sono la vera particolarità di questa produzione di Martina Franca.

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"The long lyric lines of his music earned Bellini the title "the Swan of Catania" and there are reminders of and memorials to him throughout his home town. Eight years before the opera house bearing his name was inaugurated a monument was commissioned by the city and unveiled in September of 1882. Sculptor Giulio Monteverde was a leader in the "naturalist" movement and became one of the most sought after sculptors of his time. Working entirely in white marble he created an allegory to Catania's beloved son. Seven steps - the musical notes - lead to a column topped by the seated composer. On the four sides of the column are figures from his four most famous works: Norma, Il Pirata, La Sonnambula and I Puritani."
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Giuseppe Morino - Tu vedrai la sventurata (score animation):

Mirto Picchi in Bellini's IL PIRATA (1958):

IL PIRATA - Maria Callas, New York 1959 (Complete Opera Bellini):

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