L'aura che in torno

The series of musical excepts from Giachino Rossini's operas, entitled "Master of Belcanto", continues with new uploads and a whole new concept.

I decided to do something a bit different for my new upload: a compilation based on a single theme which is featured prominently in all selections. The first theme is love (what else :)?). The compilation is entitled: "Tornami a dir che m'ami".

Originally, I had planned a more diverse program which would have included arias as well as duets. But when I saw the size of the content I wanted to upload (the remaining compilation is about two hours long), I decided to do love arias as a separate series.

The chosen items include love scenes from the very first to the very last operas by Rossini. We start at "L'occasione fa il ladro" with a simple pastoral duet and finish at the beginning of the second act of "Guillaume Tell" with a romantic grand scena. Such an approach gives us a chance to understand how Rossini's composing style changed with each passing year. The presented excepts are listed below with some notes detailing their characteristics.

As the whole compilation is quite large, I'm going to upload everything slowly.

1) «Se non m'inganna il core» for Alberto and Berenice from «L'occasione fa il ladro».


2) «Quanto e dolce a un'alma amante» for Florville and Sofia from "Il Signor Bruschino".


3) "L'aura che intorno spiri" for Amenaide and Tancredi from "Tancredi".


Here we have an altogether situation. This duet happens almost at the same moment as the two lovers meet. But, whereas the first two selections were scenes of a pastoral exchange of words between two people oblivious to their surroundings, Amenaide and Tancredi are hard-pressed by their problems. Returning from a long exile, Tancredi has hoped for a tenderer meeting with his lover. Amenaide, on the other hand, tries in vain to hide her feelings: she knows well of Tancredi's standing in the social world around them and wants him to live on even if it will be without her (she has been ordered to marry another by her own father). They express their conflicting emotions in an exquisite duet.

Here we meet for the first time a musical structure that Rossini would utilize frequently during his musical career: a moderato (to set the scene and also to allow characters to exchange a few words) -- an andante (where each character gets an opportunity to muse on his/her personal feelings) -- a stretta (where the feelings expressed before reach a boiling point).

This duet is sung by Ewa Podles and Sumi Jo from the familiar complete recording of the opera.