| I've decided to post this slightly melodramatic piece, despite my fellings towards it, because, as in the case of Raul Gimenez and the tenor aria from "La pietra del paragone" (which I find a hint routine), the aria, perhaps a tad generic, is completely vindicated by the committed performance of the soloist. The selection is a double aria written by Michele Costa (who eventually became Sir Michael Costa) for Giulia Grisi to include in the first London production of Rossini's L'assedio di Corinto, in spite of the fact that Palmide already has two large arias; actually, the whole affair is even more interesting because Costa's aria and cabaletta replace Rossini's own inclusion, "Dal soggiorno degli estinti", at the start of Act Two (though Rossini's aria is actually a reworking of Calbos's big scene from the original version of the work, "Maometto II", as the French and Italian revisions assign the hero (no matter what his name is) a different aria (that's a bit of a mouthful :)!)). This poses a question: why did Grisi ask for the revision? Did she think the original numbers were unsuited to her voice? Perhaps, it was simply a way "to spice things up", as it were. Costa's aria is, simply put, a succession of cantabile - cabaletta, both fully decorated; the cantabile is brief but melodiously rich, while the cabaletta, though effective enough (and kept interesting by large amounts of coloratura), contains some fairly routine vocal gymnastics. As in the original aria, Palmide ... |
