Description
Donizetti: Pigmalione; Mayr: Che originali (HOW ORIGINAL!) 2 DVD Set / Farce for music - Libretto by GAETANO ROSSI / Première performance: Venice, Teatro San Benedetto / Conductor: Gianluca Capuano / Recorded at: Festival Donizetti Opera / DVD
Format: NTSC
Run time: 146 Minutes
UPC: 8007144378110
- MPAA rating : NR (Not Rated)
- Product Dimensions : 7.56 x 5.39 x 0.67 inches; 4.16 Ounces
- Director : Roberto Catalano
- Media Format : NTSC
- Run time : 2 hours and 26 minutes
- Release date : July 27, 2018
- Actors : Various
- Dubbed: : None
- Subtitles: : Italian, English, French, German
- Studio : Dynamic
- Number of discs : 2
Double layer disc: this feature may cause a minor pause at the layer changes
Two very rare operas in one act. Pigmalione was Gaetano Donizetti's first opera, written to a libretto by Simeone Antonio Sografi in just two weeks at the age of nineteen. The "lyrical scene" Pigmalione, as Donizetti himself defined it, is the composer's only approach to a mythological subject and tells the story of a sculptor whose statue becomes alive. The main role is sung by Antonino Siragusa, who gives a masterful interpretation, especially in the long and significant recitatives, and displays a polished and colourful voice. Excellent also is the Japanese soprano Aya Wakizono, Galatea, whose enticing voice well suits the requirements of her short part. Che originali! Is a little-known farce in a single act on a libretto by Gaetano Rossi, and was, from the very beginning, one of Giovanni Simone Mayr's most successful operas. The opera tells the story of a music fanatic, Don Febeo: in his house everybody must know and love music. Emanuele Sinisi's beautiful sets are almost surreal but well suited to Febeo's bizarre affair. The direction is humorous, often verging on the grotesque, in line with the style of the farce but always elegant and well-structured from a dramaturgical point of view. The protagonist, Febeo, is entrusted to Bruno de Simone, an excellent actor endowed with a clear and precise voice, and a master in the fast spelled-out passages.
