'Opera Rara's advocacy of a neglected composer proves once again to be well founded'
Gramophone
It is generally acknowledged that Rossini’s arrival on the musical scene changed the face of Italian opera. Everyone imitated him and his fresh approach to opera. But what was Italian opera like prior to this renaissance? Operas were being written but composers were still working with 18th century tools. While denying neither the genius of Rossini nor his position in the Romantic Movement in Italian opera, composers such as the Bavarian Giovanni Simone Mayr and the Parma-born Ferdinando Paer were already reshaping the operatic traditions laid down by Haydn and Mozart. Sofonisba, a classical heroine portrayed by various 17th and 18th century composers, becomes, in Paer’s hands, a more realistic figure – a real woman. When circumstances turn against her she takes poison and it is here that Paer seizes the opportunity for something exceptional. The emotionally charged, multi-movement final scene for Sofonisba was something audiences had never encountered before.The impact of these performances of Sofonisba was not lost on Rossini – the opera was revived 15 years later in Naples for his wife, the great Isabella Colbran. In a period when audiences demanded only new operas it seems an extraordinary testament to the innovations of Ferdinando Paer.
Gramophone
It is generally acknowledged that Rossini’s arrival on the musical scene changed the face of Italian opera. Everyone imitated him and his fresh approach to opera. But what was Italian opera like prior to this renaissance? Operas were being written but composers were still working with 18th century tools. While denying neither the genius of Rossini nor his position in the Romantic Movement in Italian opera, composers such as the Bavarian Giovanni Simone Mayr and the Parma-born Ferdinando Paer were already reshaping the operatic traditions laid down by Haydn and Mozart. Sofonisba, a classical heroine portrayed by various 17th and 18th century composers, becomes, in Paer’s hands, a more realistic figure – a real woman. When circumstances turn against her she takes poison and it is here that Paer seizes the opportunity for something exceptional. The emotionally charged, multi-movement final scene for Sofonisba was something audiences had never encountered before.The impact of these performances of Sofonisba was not lost on Rossini – the opera was revived 15 years later in Naples for his wife, the great Isabella Colbran. In a period when audiences demanded only new operas it seems an extraordinary testament to the innovations of Ferdinando Paer.
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