The staged production (May 2022) was created as a co-production between the Schwetzingen SWR Festival and the Oldenburg State Theater
We would like to thank the Forschungszentrum Hof | Musik | Stadt for providing the sheet music
A performance at the Bayer-Erholungshaus took place in Leverkusen on September 22, 2022 with the kind support of
Music by Giuseppe Gazzaniga (1743-1818) //
Libretto by Giovanni Bertati (1735-1815) after Ludovico Ariosto
Cast
Werner Ehrhardt artistic director
Massimiliano Toni musical assistance, fortepiano
l’arte del mondo orchestra
Francesca Lombardi Mazzulli Alcina
Alice Madeddu Lesbia
Margherita Maria Sala Clizia
Enrico Iviglia Brunoro, an Italian
Kaëlig Boché La Rose, a Frenchman
Florian Götz Baron von Brikbrak, a German
William Wallace James, an Englishman
José Antonio Lopéz Don Lopes, a Spaniard
Approx. 150 minutes performance time (incl. intermission)
Mannheimer Morgen //
“The music starts right away in the overture with sheer Mozartian esprit and effervescence. It throbs, glitters, scurries and bounces in the pit. The arias are formally well and imaginatively composed and, just as the recitatives are in danger of becoming boring, the fabulous Massimiliano Toni has a few stylistic capers up his sleeve on the fortepiano. A joy. [...] The orchestra l'arte del mondo under Werner Ehrhardt plays fresh and stylistically well-informed in the Rococo Theater.”
Neue musikzeitung //
“Werner Ehrhardt and the 20 virtuosos of the specialized orchestra l'arte del mondo provide the musical brilliance - whereby brilliance in this case does not mean a calm shimmer, but a spirited, sparkling fireworks display. It is as if Gazzaniga had the ambition not to fall by the wayside in the race with Mozart (especially his 'Cosi fan tutte')”
Badische Zeitung //
“Francesca Lombardi Mazzulli took on the title role with her beguilingly beautiful soprano [voice], which she can let flow wonderfully.”
Press reviews of the premiere in Schwetzingen, May 2022
Giuseppe Gazzaniga is one of the opera composers of the 18th century that are more or less forgotten by the general public today, but during their lifetime enjoyed outstanding success on stages throughout Europe.
Gazzaniga’s music is brilliant, imaginative and bursting with colorful orchestration. He wrote more than 60 operas, and even before Mozart’s setting, his setting of Don Giovanni celebrated triumphs throughout Europe.
About the Composer
“L’Isola d’Alcina“ is a unique work of its time in several respects.
Firstly, it mercilessly mocks and spoofs a very popular opera subject of its time – the well-known Alcina story.
Secondly, the work is strikingly topical for the present-day: various European gentlemen are stranded on the magical island of Alcina: a German, an Italian, a Frenchman, an Englishman and a Spaniard. And the peculiarities of their respective nationalities – especially those of the Germans and the British – are ingeniously exaggerated and mocked!
About the Work
A Frenchman, an Englishman, an Italian, a Spaniard and a German are stranded in a lonely place. To their astonishment, it turns out to be the island of Alcina: the fairy who bewitches all men and who should have been dead for 800 years - but who presents herself to her guests as ageless and seductively beautiful.
In the conflict between reason and temptation, the island visitors get into much ado (love) and can only leave the island again after they have literally exposed Alcina's magic as “antiquated relics.”
In his parody, librettist Giovanni Bertati depicts how an old myth is reduced to absurdity by the enlightened modern age and plays with several national clichés in the process. Giuseppe Gazzaniga created a truly masterful opera from this comic template, which premiered in Venice in 1772 and was soon performed throughout Europe. Joseph Haydn even contributed an “insert-aria” for Alcina.
The Plot
Act I: Aria James »Due Baronesse« (Extract)
Act I: Finale I Ensemble »Semplicetti, se credete« (Extract)
Act II: Aria Alcina »Sento un affanno in petto« (Extract)
Francesca Lombardi Mazzulli, Photo: Giacomo Miglierina
