Opera Fuoco & David Stern – Mayr: L’amor conjugale (2021) [Official Digital Download 24bit/96kHz]

A daring wife disguises herself in order to be hired as a prison guard and thus rescue her unjustly detained husband: the story of Leonora, taken from the French novel by Jean-Nicolas Bouilly, is familiar to us through Beethoven’s only opera.

The same story also inspired Giovanni Simone Mayr, a German composer who lived and taught in Bergamo. An adept of Italian bel canto, he counted Gaetano Donizetti as one of his pupils.

L’Amor Coniugale brought Mayr great success following its 1805 premiere in Padua and was revived many times. Love is not only at the centre of the plot, but also of the score, which cleverly combines orchestral writing inherited from Mozart and Haydn with the Italian vocal tradition. This ‘sacred union’ makes Mayr’s music highly appealing.

Revisited by David Stern and his Opera Fuoco in a complete, critical version, this is an essential recording of Nineteenth Century opera repertoire.

The story of Léonore ou l’amour conjugal, conveniently transported to Spain by Nicolas Bouilly, is based on a true story that took place during the French Revolution. The heroism of a young woman disguised as a man going to save her husband, who is being held arbitrarily in the depths of a dungeon, has fired the imagination of several authors. It must be said that the situation is timeless and touches us today as much as it would have in the past.

Created in 1798 in Paris at the time when the French armies were invading Rome, this “historical story in two acts, in prose mixed with songs” to the music of Pierre Gaveaux, was soon crossing the borders. The Italian composer Ferdinando Paër set it to music in 1804. We know the famous anecdote of Beethoven, who had the score to it, casually saying to the composer: “I liked your opera very much and will set it to music”. Beethoven’s Leonore was performed in Vienna the following year without success, before becoming Fidelio nearly ten years later. Coincidentally, the Bavarian composer Simon Mayr also took up the subject in the same year, 1805, when his Italian opera L’amor conjugale was performed in Padua.

Although the story is the same, the setting is shifted—to Poland. Leonore/Fidelio become Zeliska/Malvino, Florestan is Amorveno, the other protagonists are Floreska, Peters, Moroski and Ardelao. The work has been successfully produced all over the European continent. We have to say that he skilfully blends the musical traditions of Northern and Southern Europe in a perfect union of styles between Germanic harmonic science and Italian bel canto.

For this recording, David Stern and the singers and musicians of his Opera Fuoco ensemble return to their roots, particularly in the recitatives where cello and double bass are combined with the harpsichord. The whole is very lively, highlighting both the voices and the delicacy of the instrumentation. Let us welcome this new recording of an opera which represents an important link in the evolution of bel canto, which lead to further development by Rossini and his glorious successors, Donizetti and Bellini. It is undoubtedly the modernity of the subject that influenced the album’s graphic designers, presented against the background of a Mondrian composition. – François Hudry

Tracklist:
01. Opera Fuoco & David Stern – L’Amor Conjugale: Sinfonia (07:48)
02. Opera Fuoco & David Stern – L’Amor Conjugale, Scena prima: Introduzione “Gira, gira, molinello” (Floreska) (02:13)
03. Opera Fuoco & David Stern – L’Amor Conjugale, Scena prima: Allegretto “Vieni qua, vieni qua, figliuola” (Floreska, Peters) (02:11)
04. Opera Fuoco & David Stern – L’Amor Conjugale, Scena II: Accompagnato “Sono qua mia cara, addio” (Zeliska, Floreska, Peters) (02:42)
05. Opera Fuoco & David Stern – L’Amor Conjugale, Scena II: Cantabile “Caro oggetto d’un affeto il più tenero e contento” (Zeliska, Floreska, Peters) (02:27)
06. Opera Fuoco & David Stern – L’Amor Conjugale, Scena II: Allegro “Lo son allegro, io son contento” (Zeliska, Floreska, Peters) (02:25)
07. Opera Fuoco & David Stern – L’Amor Conjugale, Scena II: Recitativo “Si Malvino, sta allegro e gia da un pezzo” (Peters, Zeliska, Floreska) (04:26)
08. Opera Fuoco & David Stern – L’Amor Conjugale, Scena III: Recitativo “Sempre più son contento” (Peters, Floreska) (00:37)
09. Opera Fuoco & David Stern – L’Amor Conjugale, Scena III: Aria “Non so, cosa sia” (Floreska) (01:59)
10. Opera Fuoco & David Stern – L’Amor Conjugale, Scena IV: Recitativo “Qui bisogna sbrigarsi” (Peters) (00:30)
11. Opera Fuoco & David Stern – L’Amor Conjugale, Scena V, VI, VII: Recitativo “Siate pronti miei fidi” (Moroski) – Mio Signore (Peters) – Un espresso (Moroski, Peters) (00:46)
12. Opera Fuoco & David Stern – L’Amor Conjugale, Scena VII: Accompagnato “Qui mi scrive” (Moroski) (00:54)
13. Opera Fuoco & David Stern – L’Amor Conjugale, Scena VII: Aria “Ciel, che lessi quel periglio” (Moroski, Peters) (04:41)
14. Opera Fuoco & David Stern – L’Amor Conjugale, Scena VIII: Recitativo “Lo vedesti” (Floreska, Zeliska) (01:06)
15. Opera Fuoco & David Stern – L’Amor Conjugale, Scena IX: Recitativo “Floreska, ritirati” (Zeliska, Floreska, Peters) (00:35)
16. Opera Fuoco & David Stern – L’Amor Conjugale, Scena X: Recitativo “Lode al Cielo, siam soli” (Zeliska, Peters) (02:06)
17. Opera Fuoco & David Stern – L’Amor Conjugale, Scena XI: Scena “Si, ne profittero” (Zeliska) (08:46)
18. Opera Fuoco & David Stern – L’Amor Conjugale, Scena XII: Recitativo “Lasciami, che ho da fare” (Floreska, Peters) (01:06)
19. Opera Fuoco & David Stern – L’Amor Conjugale, Scena XII: Aria “L’oro a un colore” (Peters) (04:20)
20. Opera Fuoco & David Stern – L’Amor Conjugale, Scena XIII: Recitativo “Sara ver quel che dice” (Floreska) (00:32)
21. Opera Fuoco & David Stern – L’Amor Conjugale, Scena XIV: Scena “Qual notte eterna, spaventosa!” (Amorveno) (06:16)
22. Opera Fuoco & David Stern – L’Amor Conjugale, Scena XIV: Aria “Cara immagine adorata” (Amorveno) (03:41)
23. Opera Fuoco & David Stern – L’Amor Conjugale, Scena XIV: Accompagnato “Oh Dio, dolce illusione” (Amorveno) (01:34)
24. Opera Fuoco & David Stern – L’Amor Conjugale, Scena XV: Recitativo “Animo, ma cos hai Paura” (Zeliska, Peters) (02:25)
25. Opera Fuoco & David Stern – L’Amor Conjugale, Scena XV: Romanza “Una moglie sventurata” – Prima stanza (Zeliska, Peters) (02:31)
26. Opera Fuoco & David Stern – L’Amor Conjugale, Scena XV: Recitativo “Ma che razza di canzon” (Zeliska, Peters) (00:13)
27. Opera Fuoco & David Stern – L’Amor Conjugale, Scena XV: Romanza “Scuopre alfin, che in nera tomba” – Seconda stanza (Zeliska, Peters) (06:39)
28. Opera Fuoco & David Stern – L’Amor Conjugale, Scena XV: Trio “Ah qual voce mi sorprende” (Amorveno, Zeliska, Peters) (04:10)
29. Opera Fuoco & David Stern – L’Amor Conjugale, Scena XVI: Quartetto “Fra l’orror di questo abisso” (Zeliska, Amorveno, Moroski, Peters) (08:23)
30. Opera Fuoco & David Stern – L’Amor Conjugale, Scena XVII: Accompagnato “Ecco tutto perduto” (Zeliska, Amorveno) (02:18)
31. Opera Fuoco & David Stern – L’Amor Conjugale, Scena XVII: Duetto “Ah, ti stringo al seno omai” (Zeliska, Amorveno) (05:19)
32. Opera Fuoco & David Stern – L’Amor Conjugale, Scena XVIII: Finale – Sestetto “Vendetta, vendetta” (Zeliska, Floreska, Amorveno, Aderlao, Moroski, Peters) (03:32)
33. Opera Fuoco & David Stern – L’Amor Conjugale, Scena ultima: Ah, perche non t’apri, o terra (Zeliska, Floreska, Amorveno, Aderlao, Moroski, Peters) (03:35)