EDITH CAVELL (Paolino Vasallo) Selections Valletta 2023 Martina Bortolotti, Jorge Carreras, Gina Galati

Information on the Performance

• Work Title: Edith Cavell  
• Composer: Vasallo Paolino  
• Libretto: ALFONSO GIGLIO, AUGUSTO GERMAN  
• Venue & Opera Company: Pjazza Teatru Rjal, Valletta, Malta  
• Recorded: 2023
• Type: Concert Live
• Singers: Martina Bortolotti, Jorge Carreras, Gina Galati
• Conductor: Dario Salvi  
• Orchestra: Malta Philharmonic Orchestra  
• Chorus: Chor Malta  
• Stage Director:   
• Costume Designer:   

Information about the Recording

• Published by: Dario Salvi  
• Date Published: 2023  
• Format: Streaming
• Quality Video: 3 Audio:3
• Subtitles: nosubs  

• ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ON THIS PERFORMANCE

  The opera focuses on British nurse Edith Cavell (1865-1915). From 1907, she worked as the first professional matron and nurse trainer in Brussels.

  In early August 1914, she bravely returned from holiday in England just before the outbreak of the World War I – she wanted to be with her team in Brussels to organise care for the wounded from both sides.

  Over the nine months from November 1914, along with Belgian colleagues, she helped around 200 British and French soldiers caught behind German lines.

  The opera’s honouring of men and women who put their lives on the line in resistance to oppression gives it real contemporary relevance

  She hid them in the basement of her hospital and treated their wounds. She arranged for guides to take them (and Belgian men wanting to join up with the Allies) to the Dutch border and freedom.

  
  The British nurse Edith Cavell, whose story inspired Vassallo’s opera.

  She knew all along that this was in breach of German military rules and could result in her execution.

  On August 5, 1915, she was arrested and held for 10 weeks in solitary confinement. She was tried by court martial with 34 others, and she and a Belgian resistance leader were condemned to death.

  They were executed by a firing squad at dawn on October 12, 1915.

  The opera Edith Cavell

  Edith Cavell was first performed at the Royal Opera House in Valletta on March 21, 1927, four years after Vassallo’s death.

  The international cast included soprano Emma Lattuada in the titular role, and the celebrated tenor Giovanni Breviario as Philippe Baucq (a leading figure in the Belgian resistance, executed with Cavell).

  Phillipe Baucq, Cavell’s collaborator and network leader.

  Other main parts were sung by Manuel Marti Folgado (von Flacken, the head of the German secret police), Ines Guasconi (Charlotte Bonett, an undercover agent) and Enzo Feliciati (Rev. H. Gahan, Cavell’s friend and pastor). Several performances were held during 1927 under the direction of Chev. Arturo Sigismondo.

  The opera has it all – the shining courage, compassion and faith of Cavell, Baucq’s fierce patriotism, and Bonett as a glamorous spy torn between love for Baucq and von Flacken.

  Act II includes the tense interrogation of the nurse and Bonett being overwhelmed by her guilt in sealing Cavell’s fate.

  A trial scene follows, with the prosecutor and judges confronting a jury unwilling to send Cavell to her death.

  The final act is full of tragedy and glory: it is set in Cavell’s prison cell where, hours before her death, she is allowed time with her friend and pastor, facing her end with heartbreaking fortitude.

  The opera’s honouring of men and women who put their lives on the line in resistance to oppression gives it real contemporary relevance.

  Quoted from https://timesofmalta.com/

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