I am returning, after quite a bit of time, to my comedic collection with excepts from one of Rossini's most "Shakespearean" comedies, "Il turco in Italia".

"Il turco" was commissioned by the famed La Scala for the autumn season of 1814. Although only 22 at the time of composition, Gioachino Rossini had already reached great esteem as an operatic composer (having scored hits with several opere buffe as well as grander, more serious works, such as "Tancredi"), and the success of his "L'italiana in Algeri" the year before spurred him to write a companion piece. Although the two cannot be considered sequels in the literal sense, the similarities are obvious: in "L'italiana", amorous intrigues surround an Italian woman stranded in Algiers, while in "Il turco", a Turk arrives in Italy only to add himself to an existing love triangle (making a love quadrangle, perhaps?). Unfortunately for Rossini, the Milanese public was all too aware of these similarities and, although Rossini's score was every bit as fresh and inventive and his characterizations as well-drawn as those for "L'italiana", they heartily disapproved. However, the quality of the score would eventually carry the day and, as Stendhal wrote in his biography of Rossini, the opera was revived just four years later to wild enthusiasm.

In short, the opera involves the Pirandello-like theme of an author in search of six characters: here, the capricious married woman, Fiorilla (soprano); her buffoonish but sincere husband, Genorio (bass); the new lover, Selim, a Turkish prince (bass); his own long-lost lover, the gypsy Zaida (mezzo-soprano); to further complicate matters, we have an unrequested lover of Fiorilla, Narciso (tenor); and, finally, the poet himself (baritone). All these characters get involved into a surprisingly realistic series of entanglements that, thankfully, leads to a happy ending for all. Interestingly, all this, despite the idiom of Rossini, is presented mostly through ensembles: if we count only the completely stand-alone arias, we have to notice that only four numbers (including a usually cut secondary aria) from sixteen that the opera houses are solo. This fact makes for a very free righting style that allows both the composer and librettist to get to each point immediately, without any kind of prolonged vocalizing for a lone singer.

The librettist for "Il turco" was Felice Romani. A noteworthy feature of his book was the use of the fictitious poet, Prosdocimo, as both narrator and putative author of the story. Essentially a theatrical conceit personified, he is both detached from, and involved in, the story, and puts an amiable face on plot machinations that might otherwise seem weary. The inclusion of an exotic foreigner, on the other hand, was a fairly stock device in opera buffa, allowing composers to add international spice to their scores. The combination of these things reveals the essence of what made Romani such a successful librettist: his writing provided an excellent foundation for the extremely formal musical concerns of early nineteenth century opera, while still maintaining its poetic integrity and dramatic interest. But let us pass onto the opera itself.

I hit a true dilemma when choosing a recording to represent the opera: the Chailly recording (featuring the controversial Fiorilla of Bartoli who I am not exactly fond of; a very good supporting cast and a lively accompaniment) or the Marriner recording (featuring a slightly cold but clear-voiced Sumi Jo as the heroine; again, a very good supporting cast and the more intimate leadership of Marriner). Finally, I decided to go for the second one, as it is, for me, the best representation of the work's elegant storytelling, in spite of the first recordings' considerable merits.

The overture, sections of which would find their way into Rossini's later works (including, most successfully, in "Otello"), is one of the most intimately connected with the opera it precedes. After a characteristically "wave-like" opening, to set up the ever present sea which brings and takes away turmoil from the characters' lives, a tremendously romantic horn solo over short string phrases forms the andante portion of the sinfonia. The first theme of the allegro is noted by an especially "jumpy" melody of great vivacity which is stated by the violins; but it is the second portion that catches one attention, including the passing of music from the horns to the flute and then to the violins and a quotation of Fiorilla's and Selim's first duet. Before recapping these two sections, Rossini unusually returns to melodic material from the andante, superbly contrasted with the main themes.

Hope you'll enjoy :).

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