Frederica von Stade (Desdemona); Nucci Condo (Emilia); José Carreras (Otello); Salvatore Fisichella (Rodrigo); Gianfranco Pastine (lago); Samuel Ramey (Elmiro); Keith Lewis (Lucio); Al. tonso Leoz (Doge and Gondolier); Ambrosian Opera Chorus; Philharmonia Orchestra conducted by Jesus Lopez Cobos.
Philips 6769 023, 3 LPs, $29.94; 2 cas. 7699 110, $19.98

"If we put Shakespeare out of mind and enjoy Rossini’s Otello for the fine opera seria it is, we cannot fail to understand its continued fame, which lasted practically until the time of Verdi’s and Boito’s masterpiece." So writes Philip Gossett in his liner notes to this premiere recording of the opera. The libretto that Francesco Berlo fashioned on the Othello story was admirably suited to Rossini’s operatic purposes: the verses express intense if somewhat generalized emotions (grief, rage, resolution, despair, etc.), the dialogue is terse and dramatic, and the action produces logical sequences of arias, duets, ensembles and full finales.

The distribution or vocal parts— seven men, two women—was suitable for the company of Teatro del Fondo in Naples, which had commissioned the opera for the season of 1816. The prima donna was Isabella Colbran (who later became Rossini’s wife) there was a fine bass, Benedetti, and a plethora of tenors—Nozzari, who would be an ideal Otello; Davide, for the important role of Rodrigo; an adequate second tenor, Cicimarra, for lago; and three more company tenors for comprimario roles. Of this company Stendahi wrote in his Life of Rossini: ". . .the scores of Rossini’s Neopolitan operas are a biography of voices . . . giving us the vocal history of Signora Colbran . .. Nozzari, Davide and others." The Otello score reveals that Coibran was a dramatic soprano with good command of coloratura; Benedetti was a dramatic bass with a flexible voice; Nozzari was an unusually low tenor with a practical singing range of two octaves (low to high A) and some head-voice extension above; Davide was an unusually high tenor with extraordinary facility in the upper register. Stendahl poses the question: "...how is any singer to perform this music when his voice does not happen to possess exactly the same characteristics as that of Nozzari or Davide?" In Rossini’s day, singers solved the problem quite simply: they rearranged the music. All prima donnas sang Desdemona, transposing the music up or down to suit their voices. Some divas, Pasta and Malibran, for example, even sang Otello—and why not? the music lies perfectly for mezzo-soprano, and transvestite heroes are a tradition in opera seria. When high tenors such as Rubini and Mario sang Otello, they took over Rodrigo’s showy, high-flying aria and, presumably, the upper line in the ensembles.

By this century, musical taste and vocal style had so changed, conductors and singers hardly knew what to do with the Rossini scores. For a rare concert performance of Otello in 1957, with Eileen Farrell, Thomas Hayward, Loren Driscoll, and Hugh Thompson (preserved, in a terrible in- house recording—Historical Recording Enterprises HRE 265-2), the music was cut, simplified, transposed and rearranged almost beyond recognition.

Today, we have more respect for Rossini’s musical intentions. Critical editions of the scores are being prepared, from which conductors and singers may create musically and stylistically correct performances. But the "creation" of a performance entails more than slavish observance of the written notes of Rossini’s MSS. The vocal lines must be fleshed-out, brought to life. As Professor Gossett wrote in his notes to Rossini’s Tancredi: "Every voice has different characteristics, and thus the art of vocal embellishment is born. It is not only appropriate for singers to add embellishments tastefully in Rossini, it is incorrect not to add them." The key word is tastefully. Rossini grumbled about singers who obscured his melodies with unseemly ornamentation, and in Otello he took care to suggest appropriate variants; for Colbran, who was musically and vocally untrustworthy, he went so far as to make his written embellishments of the voice part in her great third act scena an integral part of the music structure so they could not be changed. But he expected his artists to elaborate the melodic line in the musical repeats, to insert cadenzas at the pauses, and to alter notes in their recitatives for dramatic effect.

Conductor Cobos will have none of this, and by refusing to allow his singers to embellish their music he has blunted the effect of this Otello, just as he did in his recent recording of Lucia. This is a tantalizing, frustrating recording; it could have been a great one.

Carreras has a lovely bel canto tenor voice (which he is unlikely to retain if he persists in singing such roles as Radames, Cavaradossi, and Calaf) but he finds much of Otello’s music uncomfortably low. In mid-range he sings with passion and conviction, and he handles the written fioratura with reasonable accuracy; well-chosen embellishments would have better displayed the character of his voice, and allowed him to make more of the character he was playing. His sole excursion into the upper range comes in a duet with Rodrigo, where he responds to Rodrigo’s challenging display of technique with an I-can-do-that-too cadenza that touches on high D. (The cadenza is in the score, and indicates the kind of embellishments Rossini expected his singers to introduce.)

Fisichella, the Rodrigo, has a bright, agile tenor which contrasts effectively with Carreras’ warmer, more purely beautiful sound; his coloratura technique is at least adequate for this extremely high and florid music, and he, too, should have been allowed to interpolate personally expressive variants. It was a mistake to cast another bright-voiced lyric tenor as lago; a darker tenor or high baritone would make the character more convincing and provide tonal contrast in the duets. As Elmiro, Desdemona’s father, Ramey employs his rich bass-baritone to fine effect.

Though I have nothing to compare it with other than Farrell’s much-cut and ill-recorded performance, von Stade’s Desdemona seems bland and only partially realized. She is at her best in the third act, where she sings the "Willow Song" and "Prayer" with melting tone and emotional intensity. (The scene is, in its way, every bit as effective as Verdi’s setting of it; indeed, Verdi’s debt to Rossini is apparent.) Elsewhere, her gentle musical nature seems at odds with the character. Of course all Desdemonas, Shakespeare’s and Verdi’s as well as Rossini’s, tend to droop; the lady is constantly pleading for understanding and bemoaning her fate. But Rossini wrote some strong dramatic recitatives for her and a fiery display aria, and though von Stade sings all the notes prettily she fails to project the vigorous side of the character. In her scenes with Emilia, the companion seems the more lively and interesting person.

Apart from the last act, Verdi’s and Rossini’s settings have little in common, but perhaps unconsciously Verdi recycled several of Rossini’s musical ideas in other operas. Rossini set Otello and lago’s vengeance duet to a rousing tune; Verdi "borrowed" it, not for the similar "Si, pel ciel" duet in his Otello, but for the "Si, vendetta" duet in Rigoletto! Many of Rossini’s musical " effects" are predictable—churning crescendos and toe-tapping strettos— but his melodic invention is boundless. The orchestral writing is adventuresome: recitative is fully accompanied rather than secco, the string and wind writing is expressive, and there are splendid solos for horn and harp.

Though he has straitjacketed his singers, Cobos has elicited sure and sensitive playing from his orchestra. The smaller roles are strongly sung, and the chorus is well-balanced. The recorded sound is excellent, surfaces are clean, and there is a libretto in four languages.

This is an important recording, a first hearing of one of Rossini’s most innovative—and influential—works.

Copyright © 1980 Record Guide Productions.