Saturday at the Opera

     Some weeks ago, I did a post featuring the great Italian baritone Alessandro Corbelli, with a video of his performance of Germano's aria from Rossini's one-act opera La Scala di Seta. (Also in that same post is a really delightful video conversation with Corbelli, Joyce DiDonato, and Lawrence Brownlee.) Another charming scene from Scala is the duet of Giulia and Germano, which I post today -- this video, like the one of Germano's aria, is extracted from the Schwetzingen Festival's 1990 production staged by Michael Hampe (available on DVD), which features, along with Corbelli, Luciana Serra as Giulia, David Kuebler as Dorvil, Alberto Rinaldi as Blansac, Jane Bunnell as Lucilla, and David Griffith as Dormont. Gianluigi Gelmetti leads the Radio-Sinfonieorchester Stuttgart.

     Brief synopsis: Giulia is secretly married to Dorvil (he gains access to her room at night via the titular silken ladder), but her guardian has arranged for her to marry Dorvil's friend Blansac. To get out of the engagement, Giulia plots to put her sister Lucilla in Blansac's path, knowing that, since he is an incurable womanizer, he'll make a play for her. She suspects Lucilla of having a crush on him, anyway. Giulia enlists the aid of the servant Germano, who'll do anything for her because he has a crush on her. 

     This extract begins with Dorvil (Kuebler) making his escape from spending the night in Giulia's(Serra) room. Dormont (Griffith) and Lucilla (Bunnell) enter with the news that Blansac (Rinaldi) is expected for a visit. Germano (Corbelli) then enters to announce their guest, and after Dormont and Lucilla exit, Giulia waylays Germano, using his infatuation for her to persuade him to help with her plan. 

     Luciana Serra, I have to say, is not one of my favorite singers -- she has pitch issues, uses too much straight tone for my taste, and I just don't think the basic tone is appealing. But she's a deft comedienne. Corbelli is at his best here, displaying seamless legato, handsome tone, and absolutely stunning coloratura (the best I've heard from one of his voice type). His characterization is adorable. Gelmetti takes a pretty breathtaking tempo in the second part of the duet, and his two singers have to stare him down, but they cope admirably.