Giulietta e Romeo (Zingarelli) Versailles 2021 Fagioli Charvet Talbot
Information on the Performance
- Work Title: Giulietta e Romeo
- Composer: Zingarelli Niccolo Antonio
- Libretto: Giuseppe Maria Foppa after the 1530 novella of the same name by Luigi da Porto. T
- Venue & Opera Company: Opéra Royal, Versailles, France
- Recorded: April 2021
- Type: Concert Live
- Singers: Franco Fagioli, Adèle Charvet, Philippe Talbot
- Conductor: Stefan Plewniak
- Orchestra: Orchestre de l'Opéra Royal, Versailles, France
- Stage Director:
- Costume Designer:
Information about the Recording
- Published by: Royal Opera Versailles
- Date Published: 2021
- Format: DVD
- Quality Video: 4 Audio:4
- Subtitles: nosubs
- Video Recording from: Royal Opera Versailles FULL VIDEO
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ON THIS PERFORMANCE
Napoleon’s enthusiasm for opera was extreme. This music-loving conqueror brought to him a young Italian star, the contralto Giuseppina Grassini, and the most dazzling castrato: Girolamo Crescentini, the only singer to ever move the Emperor to tears. Invited to France from 1806 to 1812, Crescentini made the glorious evenings of the Imperial Chapel at the Tuileries, in the company of Grassini, who was appointed First Cantress to his Majesty the Emperor – and his mistress. 143 concerts of Italian soloists at Court between 1810 and 1815 attest to Napoleon’s musical passion for Italian opera!
Grassini and Crescentini’s workhorse was Zingarelli’s opera Giulietta e Romeo, first performed at La Scala in 1796, and then performed many times in Paris before Napoleon by his two favourite singers. “They arouse heroism in me” said Napoleon. This duo of Empire stars comes back to life with Franco Fagioli and Adèle Charvet, for a selection of the great numbers of this totally forgotten opera by Zingarelli, even though it was a triumph throughout Europe for three decades, thanks to a sumptuous Bel Canto: this is Napoleon’s Opera!