Don Ranuccio (bass-baritone Filippo Morace) is the villain who has imprisoned Don Sebastiano (baritone Piero Terranova) in his castle; he also wants to kill the Duke of Alziras (tenor Cataldo Gallone), his political rival. Ranuccio’s daughter Ines (soprano, Rosetta Ramini) is in love with Fernando (tenor Massimiliano Barbolini), but her father wants her to marry Antonio (baritone Giacomo Rocchetti) who is Don Sebastiano’s nephew. To the castle comes the Gypsy girl Argilla (La zingara of the title, mezzo Manuela Custer), who overhears all the plots and tricks everyone. She eventually gets Don Sebastiano freed (and she turns out to be his long-lost daughter) and she brings Ines and Fernando (who, it turns out, is the Duke of Alziras’ brother) together. All ends happily.
Despite its moronic libretto, the opera was an enormous success at its premiere in Naples in 1822, and even Bellini wrote nice things about the second-act septet. Donizetti mixes buffo and serious characters, as well as Neapolitan dialect (there are no recitatives; numbers are separated by spoken dialogue) with “pure” Italian, and the absurd plot is (sort of) held together by the clever Argilla, who under the guise of telling fortunes gains entry to people’s feelings as well as to every area of the castle. Is it a masterpiece? Even close? No, but there are niceties galore–rhythmic arias and ensembles, good (if typical) characterizations, and good tunes.
This live-from-Martina-Franca (summer of 2001) performance features young singers, some clearly better than others, some not very good, all sincere and involved. Manuela Custer, the Argilla, is very good–agile, expressive, appealing–and since it is she who manages to show up in almost every scene (and has a final aria), we’re lucky. Not so with the tenor Fernando (Massimiliano Barbolini), who can barely cope, although as Ines, Rosetta Ramini is good. Piero Terranova could use a more noble delivery (and a more impressive voice, in general) as the beleaguered Sebastiano, but Filippo Morace, the wicked Ranuccio, does sound wicked. The buffo characters try hard not to mug.
Specifics aside, the spirit of the opera and performance come up strongly positive. Chorus and orchestra are thin-sounding, and the recording, though a bit bright, is quite good. I’m glad to have heard this piece of early Donizettian fluff; it may not be memorable, but it seems stageworthy and it manages to entertain, even on disc.
