Customer Reviews

Boito: Nerone

5 star:		(0)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
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1 star:		(0)

 

 

SOURCE: Live performance from Teatro San Carlo in Naples, November 30, 1957.

SOUND: This mono recording sounds like something heard on an AM radio in a 1955 Chevy. There is a bit of stage pounding and foot stomping, as well as some tepid audience reaction. The set is listenable--but only just.

CAST: Nerone, Roman emperor and memorable monster - Mirto Picchi (tenor); Simon Mago, swindler, magician and cult leader - Mario Petri (bass); Asteria, Simon's sometime stalker, assistant, lover and nemesis - Anna de Cavalieri (soprano); Fanuel, a leader of the Christian community in Rome - Giangiacomo Guelfi (baritone); Rubria, a Christian woman with secrets - Adriana Lazzarini (mezzo soprano); Gobrias, Simon's disciple - Piero de Palma (tenor); Perside, a Christian - Anna di Stasio (mezzo soprano); Tigellino, a high-ranking Roman - Ferruccio Mazzoli; Dositeo, a pagan priest and henchman to Simon - Plinio Clabassi; Cerinto, another of Simon's henchmen - Valeria Escalar. CONDUCTOR: Franco Capuano with the Orchestra and Chorus of Teatro San Carlo, Naples.

FORMAT: Disk 1: Act I (The Appian Way), tracks 1-11; Act II (The Temple of Simon Magus), tracks 12-20; 76:51. Disk 2: Act III (The Orchard), tracks 1-7; Act IV (The Circus Maximus), tracks 8-19; 74:08.

TEXT: Arrigo Boito (1842-1918) struggled with "Nerone" over parts of five decades. He never finished it. He conceived the opera in true Grand Opera fashion with five acts. For the fifth act, only a few vague musical sketches were found, not enough for any posthumous reconstruction of what Boito had in mind. For the rest of the opera, Boito left enough for Toscanini to commission two composers, Tommasini and Smareglia, to cobble together the four act version that appears on this set. Toscanini conducted the premiere of this "Nerone" at La Scala in 1924.

Although this opera is called "Nerone," it pretty much starts with Simon Magus, is driven by his plots and schemes, and ends not long after his death. Nero, by comparison, is a subordinate character. I suppose that Boito's intended five act version might have devoted much of the last act to the demented emperor and thus justified the opera's title. As it stands now, the piece should be called "Simon Mago."

COMMENTARY: Overall, the music of "Nerone" exhibits a high level of competence. On the other hand, after listening to the opera a couple of times and to some parts of it more than that, I am at a loss to identify any highpoints. Throughout "Nerone" I found myself being reminded of those overblown, wide-screen, Hollywood epics set in imperial Rome: "The Robe," "Ben Hur" and the others of that ilk. There is nothing in "Nerone" that manages to match even the lackluster impact of "Polliuto," an opera of similar setting that was very much the run of Donizetti's mill.

I regard the performance as basically sound. There is a certain lack of energy, but I attribute that more to the composer than the performers. Giangiacomo Guelfi is the only member of the cast that I would place among the top rank of singers, but he is joined by the ever-reliable comprimario Piero de Palma and a solid group of B-list performers, right across the board. I'd be perfectly happy to attend a performance with this cast at any opera house today.

This is an opera and a recording for the more serious fan and dedicated collector. For that kind of person, I give this "Nerone" four stars rather than the much lower rating I'd otherwise slap on it.

The story line of this opera is not a patch on Mefistofele, Boito's other opera.The raucus sound effects are there in overabundance and the melodic lines ar caressing,but the chacters and the story do not tug at us the way the Faust legend does. It is too bad that Boito didn't continue to compose operas. He might have become as popular as Verdi.