This version of the Orfeo legend was composed by Ferdinando Bertoni in 1776 at the behest of the singer who had created the title role in Gluck’s opera of the same name in 1762–the castrato Gaetano Guadagni. Bertoni used the same text as Gluck, and he sets the music in an eerily similar manner; he acknowledged at the time that he had Gluck’s score in front of him while he wrote. And indeed, there are noticeable samenesses in mood, and even bits of melody are “borrowed” from Gluck. Since the opera is a good 40 minutes shorter than Gluck’s, all of the action is sped up; it’s hardly as great (or as moving) a work, but it does hold some fascination.
Bertoni’s setting of Orfeo’s meeting with the Furies is so much like Gluck’s that you’ll laugh, but Bertoni was a fine composer in his own right, and there are some original moments as well. The third act’s Orfeo/Eurydice duet is both inventive and appealing, and because the part of Amor–now named Hymen–is composed for tenor rather than soprano, there are some interesting, new textures.
The performance is excellent. Mezzo Delores Ziegler sings Orfeo’s music with insight and warmth, and she’s not afraid to lean on her voice for dramatic effect. The wonderful Bruce Ford, a Rossini specialist, sings Hymen with firm tone and clean diction; you only wish the role were more showy. And Cecilia Gasdia’s Eurydice is pretty and innocent. Claudio Scimone, an expert in this period’s music, leads the Ambrosian Opera Chorus and I Solisti Veneti in what probably is the best performance of this opera we’ll ever hear. The recording, from the early/mid-1990s, is crisp and clear. Granted, this is more a curiosity than a masterpiece, but it’s certainly worth hearing for both its own sake and that of perspective.
