[Ralph P. Locke]

A near-forgotten Rossini serious opera, “Aureliano in Palmira” (1813) has just been released at a bargain price as a 2-CD set by Naxos. (Click below for my review, at OperaToday.com.)

I review it for the online blog OperaToday:

A First-Rate Serious Opera by Rossini with Pre-Echoes of The Barber of Seville

Many opera lovers know that this is the opera for which Rossini composed the overture that he ended up reusing twice: in “Elisabetta, regina d’Inghilterra” and in, yes, an infinitely funnier work, “The Barber of Seville.”

I didn’t realize, though, that “Aureliano” contains other material that Rossini later re-used in “Barber,” and that parts of the overture occur in the body of the opera (as of course they do not in “Barber”).

The performance is generally fine and sometimes quite splendid. If you haven’t heard the marvelous Silvia Dalla Benetta, here’s your chance!–The recording is available on Spotify and other streaming services, and each of its tracks can be heard for free on YouTube.

The booklet and libretto can be downloaded, password-free, from Naxos.com.

Ralph

Ralph P. Locke (Emeritus Professor of Musicology, Eastman School of Music/University of Rochester)

RLocke@esm.rochester.edu

Ralph.P.Locke@gmail.com

 

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