I know Haydn from his symphonies, quartets and concertos(the former two genres he was responsible for generally founding and developing). Lo Speziale was very interesting, likewise with this 1982 production, though I do have to agree that those who are unfamiliar with the music and story would benefit from subtitles. Visually, it is traditional and simple, yet fancy without looking dull. The staging fits well within the farcial style, and while broad the humour is funny. The video directing is simple like the settings and effective in it yet captures the action well, though the quality of the picture I think could've been sharper. From a musical point of view, the production is really excellent. The orchestral playing crackles with energy, while the conducting is efficient yet shows sensitivity in the recitatives. The performances are every bit as impressive. Antonella Manotti and Carmen Gonzalez are charming and their singing is well suited to the style. William Matteuzzi, looking very slim here, has a good sense of comedy and his singing while not large in size is nicely toned and flexible. But Luigi Alva is the best asset of the production, while not in his prime he still articulates superbly, is a strong actor and still has a sturdy sound. In conclusion, an interesting find though not a personal favourite. 8/10 Bethany Cox
3 Reviews
Rare treat for opera buffs
gleong-125 August 2006
I cannot agree with the ungenerous and uninformed review of the first reviewer of this production. For a start, no one pretends that Haydn was a patch on Mozart as an opera composer, so the comparisons are pointless. As for the "sameness" of the music, I think that much is to be blamed on the lack of subtitles. On that particular point I absolutely concur. There is a lot of wit, humour as well as elegant tunes in this work. And - I agree - it is hard to know what the characters are singing without even a synopsis on the box cover.
Luckily I had my Groves Dictionary of Opera, and was able not only to have the usual detailed storyline, but also an outline of all the musical numbers, with plenty of pointers as to what to look out for in the arias etc. I would advise anyone who wishes to view this opera to find a synopsis of some kind - for example in Sempronio's first aria - vocal leaps and dips actually musically describe his geographical/travel interests. Then there is an aria for the young hero Mengone which is about laxatives to put off his rival Volpone (the trouser role for mezzo), and so on.
So what i am saying is that I am absolutely grateful that there is any production available at all to buy of a Haydn opera. I have 11 DVD versions of Mozart's Don Giovanni and there are many more to buy - but how many DVD versions of any Haydn opera? Haydn was not the dramatist that Mozart was, and his many operas are I am sure very formulaic, but so were Paisiello's and other lesser operatic baroque-to-classical composers of the time (Salieri's operas - I have three of them - are for example not musically exciting).None of them was like Gluck before Mozart and no one was immediately after Mozart (think of the great German and Austrian composers immediately following - Beethoven wrote one opera, Schumann and Schubert did not become famous for their stage works, although it was Schubert's great ambition.
It was also very interesting that this opera has two tenors - the older character played by Luigi Alva, famous in the middle of the last century for his Ottavio (Don Giovanni) and Count Almaviva (Barber of Seville) and similar roles. So it was delightful to see/hear him late in his career, maybe less mellifluous of tone, but still delightful.
The real treat is to see and hear the young William Mateuzzi (so slim at the time of the recording!) with his flexible light tenor, and discover his comic flair (his many Rossini assumptions on CD are not generally cheerful).
Please, if you appreciate the rare and live on an island as I do where there is no opera house, unless you get on a plane, and if you don't require top-grade production values for everything you watch, this is for you.
Luckily I had my Groves Dictionary of Opera, and was able not only to have the usual detailed storyline, but also an outline of all the musical numbers, with plenty of pointers as to what to look out for in the arias etc. I would advise anyone who wishes to view this opera to find a synopsis of some kind - for example in Sempronio's first aria - vocal leaps and dips actually musically describe his geographical/travel interests. Then there is an aria for the young hero Mengone which is about laxatives to put off his rival Volpone (the trouser role for mezzo), and so on.
So what i am saying is that I am absolutely grateful that there is any production available at all to buy of a Haydn opera. I have 11 DVD versions of Mozart's Don Giovanni and there are many more to buy - but how many DVD versions of any Haydn opera? Haydn was not the dramatist that Mozart was, and his many operas are I am sure very formulaic, but so were Paisiello's and other lesser operatic baroque-to-classical composers of the time (Salieri's operas - I have three of them - are for example not musically exciting).None of them was like Gluck before Mozart and no one was immediately after Mozart (think of the great German and Austrian composers immediately following - Beethoven wrote one opera, Schumann and Schubert did not become famous for their stage works, although it was Schubert's great ambition.
It was also very interesting that this opera has two tenors - the older character played by Luigi Alva, famous in the middle of the last century for his Ottavio (Don Giovanni) and Count Almaviva (Barber of Seville) and similar roles. So it was delightful to see/hear him late in his career, maybe less mellifluous of tone, but still delightful.
The real treat is to see and hear the young William Mateuzzi (so slim at the time of the recording!) with his flexible light tenor, and discover his comic flair (his many Rossini assumptions on CD are not generally cheerful).
Please, if you appreciate the rare and live on an island as I do where there is no opera house, unless you get on a plane, and if you don't require top-grade production values for everything you watch, this is for you.
A badly-produced DVD.
standardmetal17 December 2005
I was curious to hear a Haydn opera as this composer was never really known in that genre to the same extent as his younger colleague Mozart. His 1768 opera, Lo Speziale (The Apothecary) is here presented on a DVD of a 1982 performance which is certainly very stylish, well-sung and well-played. The librettist is the great Venetian comic playwright Carlo Goldoni.
I can't understand why the Haydn expert H.C. Robbins Landon was called upon to revise the libretto as that information is not given anywhere on the DVD. In fact, there is very little information given on the DVD, period.
The plot is almost impossible to follow even with a summary I found elsewhere. There are no subtitles here and no libretto that I'm aware of. And this opera badly needs both. And, just as annoying, there is very little tracking between one section and another so finding anything is difficult to impossible. It's possible to start at the beginning of each act but otherwise the fast-forward has to be used.
Volpino (Carmen González) is another example of a "trouser" role (a female singer in a male role.) and, in it's present form, I find it rather more annoying than amusing. Since some of the singing is not together with the orchestra, I would gather that this is a live unedited performance. As is typical with 18th century opera buffa, there are many rather absurd disguises particularly those in the Turkish style, which, at least, gives the costume designer a chance to show off.
As for the music, I find a good deal of it is too much the same. A rather beautiful duet between Antonella Manotti (Grilletta) and William Matteuzzi (Mengone) in the third act is an exception but little of this would make one forget the operas of Wolfgang Amadeus. But there is also the interesting "Turkish"-style music.
The humor, which includes a rather Harpo Marxian servant (a mute part of course!), is broad and rather thickly laid on but that is the style.
The DVD includes, by its own description, a Haydn String Quartet as a bonus, but it may actually include half of the six op. 64 quartets and, since these are mature works in Haydn's best style, they tend to put the opera in the shade musically. But it's impossible to tell what is included much like everything else on this DVD.
2 out of 10 for the DVD and 6 for the performance. Watch this only if you have an interest in Haydn operas and have a score or libretto handy or understand Italian.
A word about the other review: I fail to see that the reviewer has seriously disagreed with what I wrote and merely feels that I am "ungenerous", perhaps lacking in gratitude that this DVD exists at all. Maybe I should have praised the younger tenor more, though I did single him out in the duet. Several simple steps would have considerably improved the DVD such as subtitles, better navigation and better documentation and would have made a stronger case for the opera.
I don't think I belabored the Mozart comparison but I did find Haydn's use of the Turkish style more interesting than Mozart's (In the "Abduction" and "Rondo a la Turca".). This may be due partly to this opera's unfamiliarity.
I can't understand why the Haydn expert H.C. Robbins Landon was called upon to revise the libretto as that information is not given anywhere on the DVD. In fact, there is very little information given on the DVD, period.
The plot is almost impossible to follow even with a summary I found elsewhere. There are no subtitles here and no libretto that I'm aware of. And this opera badly needs both. And, just as annoying, there is very little tracking between one section and another so finding anything is difficult to impossible. It's possible to start at the beginning of each act but otherwise the fast-forward has to be used.
Volpino (Carmen González) is another example of a "trouser" role (a female singer in a male role.) and, in it's present form, I find it rather more annoying than amusing. Since some of the singing is not together with the orchestra, I would gather that this is a live unedited performance. As is typical with 18th century opera buffa, there are many rather absurd disguises particularly those in the Turkish style, which, at least, gives the costume designer a chance to show off.
As for the music, I find a good deal of it is too much the same. A rather beautiful duet between Antonella Manotti (Grilletta) and William Matteuzzi (Mengone) in the third act is an exception but little of this would make one forget the operas of Wolfgang Amadeus. But there is also the interesting "Turkish"-style music.
The humor, which includes a rather Harpo Marxian servant (a mute part of course!), is broad and rather thickly laid on but that is the style.
The DVD includes, by its own description, a Haydn String Quartet as a bonus, but it may actually include half of the six op. 64 quartets and, since these are mature works in Haydn's best style, they tend to put the opera in the shade musically. But it's impossible to tell what is included much like everything else on this DVD.
2 out of 10 for the DVD and 6 for the performance. Watch this only if you have an interest in Haydn operas and have a score or libretto handy or understand Italian.
A word about the other review: I fail to see that the reviewer has seriously disagreed with what I wrote and merely feels that I am "ungenerous", perhaps lacking in gratitude that this DVD exists at all. Maybe I should have praised the younger tenor more, though I did single him out in the duet. Several simple steps would have considerably improved the DVD such as subtitles, better navigation and better documentation and would have made a stronger case for the opera.
I don't think I belabored the Mozart comparison but I did find Haydn's use of the Turkish style more interesting than Mozart's (In the "Abduction" and "Rondo a la Turca".). This may be due partly to this opera's unfamiliarity.
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