Meanwhile, two weeks hence, I’ll be discussing the production of Respighi’s fascinating La campana sommersa shared between the New York City Opera and Cagliari’s Teatro Lirico–the work itself, the production, the singing, and the possible implications for the future of the NYCO.

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P.S.:  Neither Di Stefano nor Valletti sings the cabaletta, and there are no early recordings of it, since both it and its baritone counterpart for “Di Provenza” were regularly omitted from performance from some date I’ve never seen tracked down till well after World War II. The earliest recordings of it I can find are by Helge Rosvaenge (Berlin, 1943, one verse, in German) and Ivan Kozlovsky (Moscow, 1947, both verses, with the orchestral bridge, in Russian). The reason given for the omissions was musical–the relatively uninspired level of the writing–but I wonder if dramatic considerations may not have played a role. As verisimilitude in acting became a stronger desideratum in the later 19th Century, the theatrical discomfort of the convention must have grown–what’s the character supposed to be doing? A single verse of “O mio rimorso” can be reasonably resolved (at least until W.D. & Co. came along) according to the direct-address convention. But Germont’s “No, non udrai rimproveri” is directed at Alfredo. On March 1, it was quite well sung by a last-minute substitute, Nelson Rodriguez. But it would take Ruffo, Stracciari, or De Luca to interest me in listening to its two galumphing stanzas while watching some tenor squirm with inaction or resort to indications of impatience, rebellious petulance, etc. Not all cuts are bad.