Adelson e Salvini
“Some performance are as tedious as a twice-told tale, Vexing the dull ear of a drowsy man!.”
(After Shakespeare, King John 3.4)
Adelson e Salvini
Attending, over and over again, the same operas by Verdi, Donizetti, Bellini, Puccini e tutti quanti, or worse: by Mozart (one more time pa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pa-papagena! and I’m ripe for psychiatric hospitalization), is fought by interest in and search for so-called hidden gems, but the undiscovered operas not infrequently turn out to be rightly forgotten. Sometimes they aren’t. Another route is to attend contemporary operas -I like to do that-, but since I am among the blissfully ignorant when it comes to post-R. Strauss music (my thinking is tarnished by wood rot) I am far from an expert. I would not venture to publish a review of a contemporary opera, although I will do so soon, but this stems from geriatric “what-do-I-care-about-that-traffic-light” hubris. Besides, there is always this life preserver: “Even a fool who keeps his mouth still passes for wise,” I refer you to Proverbs 17:28.
Today I am treading on the slippery ice of the hidden gem, although more hidden than gem. Ever heard of the opera Adelson e Salvini? It is the debut work of Vincenzo Bellini, originally composed for the students of the Real Collegio di Musica di San Sebastiano.
Adelson e Salvini. Act II: Romanza: “Dopo l’oscuro nembo” (Nelly), sung not without merit by Joyce “I-love-Bregenz-so-much” DiDonato, also known for her narcissistic-pathological master classes. Here’s the link if you can handle it.
Friendship & Rivalry
The story is based on the amicable relationship between the two male protagonists, who are in love with the same woman and are heading for a possible tragedy. Whatever the case, it is Bellini, so the melodic gems are not lacking.
Adelson e Salvini is one of those opera titles that even many Bellini lovers discover late or not at all; understandable because it is an opera that balances between “promising” and “unfinished.” Bellini composed this opera in 1825, as has been said, a conservatory production, that is, a work in which the student had to show that he could conceive dramatically, write ensembles, master recitative and, above all, create vocal lines that make voices shine. Bellini was twenty at the time, but you can already sense that he was looking for all those broad melodic arches that would later become his trademark
The libretto revolves around friendship, rivalry, love, honor and misunderstandings. Adelson is an Irish nobleman and Salvini is an Italian artist. Both covet Nelly’s burning bush. Adelson e Salvini is a melodrama about male friendship pressured by both their desire to indulge their amorous instincts on Nelly.
Long cantabile lines
Musically, Adelson e Salvini is especially interesting because you can already see Bellini’s later world emerging. You can already hear the aforementioned long cantabile lines that require breath and legato, the love of simple but hypnotic harmonies and a dramatic build-up that leans on tension in vocal line rather than orchestral explosion.
The work obviously did not belong to the canon Norma, La sonnambula or I puritani. Theaters wanted hits, and Bellini’s “hits” lay elsewhere. The 20th century saw renewed attention. Musicologists and conductors began reconstructing the work and comparing editions. Nowadays, Adelson e Salvini is often a work for specialized festivals and hardly appears on the program of the major houses. Moreover, it calls for a first-class cast: singers who understand and can perform bel canto, especially in terms of phrasing. A sense of tempo is essential: too fast makes things banal, too slow makes them tedious.
Opera Rara – BBC Symphony Orchestra conducted by Daniele Rustioni (2017), rehearsal for the carefully compiled CD. Excellent recording quality, serious musicological basis. Here you can hear how the “young Bellini” can suddenly sound mature when the conductor is firmly in control.
Forgotten masterpiece ?
Adelson e Salvini is not a “forgotten masterpiece,” because it is not a masterpiece, and after this publication the opera will undoubtedly be back on the lips of every right-minded opera lover. Ahem…
Interesting in this opera are the opening scene + introductory ensemble. First act: Adelson’s environment, social order, relationships are put down. The classic bel canto structure: recitative → cantabile → cabaletta. Further, Salvini’s first great lyrical moment. Proto-Bellini: long, continuous melody lines. Next, Nelly’s intimate cantabile; messa di voce calls for refined vocal control, not power.
Also of note: The jealousy/misunderstanding moment: recitative + dramatic acceleration. The dramatic recitative is not yet as emphatic as Donizetti’s, but it is effective. And of course the great duet of Adelson & Salvini, friendship versus love/rivalry. Two voices combining to form one emotion.
Live recording from Catania – hold the engaging image that the opera house alone evokes in you. This performance (1992) comes from a period when Adelson & Co was just being brought back from oblivion. Here we experience the true “theater feel.” Compared to Opera Rara: more operatic reality, less studio perfection.
Also interesting is the finale of the first act: ensemble + chorus + stretta. The act ends in chaos and commotion, with a classic bel canto finale pattern. And in the second act: the “dark” middle section, the opera switches from intrigue to emotional reckoning. Less conventional cheerfulness, more romantic melancholy. Modulations to minor. I Puritani is surely around the corner. Finally, the final scene or reconciliation finale, a traditional ending, yet with vocal elegance in the final ensembles.
Adelson e Salvini is actually a bit like Bellini’s “young Cruyff,” the greatest soccer player of all time from the Netherlands: you already see flashes of pure genius, but the play still runs a bit stiff, takes just a little too long and lacks the perfection of his later top games.
Olivier Keegel
