Baldassare Galuppi has great credentials: In addition to composing successful operas in Italy and London from 1729 on, he was music director of Catherine the Great’s chapel in St. Petersburg and staged operas in that city and Moscow, and he was Maestro di Capella at Venice’s St. Mark’s. By the time of his death in 1785, he had had almost 100 operas, 27 oratorios, more than 100 harpsichord pieces, and dozens of other works performed. His “serious” operas were Gluckian in their lack of frippery; many of his comic works were composed in conjunction with Carlo Goldoni. This present recording of his very successful comic work (from 1754, in Venice) is a newly revised, very faithful (we are told by conductor and critical revisionist Franco Piva) reading. Here’s what we get: Out of two hours and 54 minutes of music, almost an hour is dry recitative; six arias are da capo, 12 are not; there are five ariettes, three duets, two quartets, and a sextet. You’d think this would be enough; you’d be wrong.
The trouble with these light-hearted but sincerely comic Goldoni (and Goldoni-esque) pieces is that there’s so much interest in creating “opportunities” for characters (types, I might add) to express and define themselves and in proving that true love can’t be thwarted, that no arias or scenes have any real substance of their own. The “whole” is what we should be concerned with, but if Goldoni’s worldview and the Age of Enlightenment’s philosophy are not of urgent concern to you, you’ll find precious little to sink your musical teeth into here. True, it’s all delightful in that 18th century, bewigged way, and the cast is young, sincere, and doesn’t overdo the “buffo” elements (thank heavens), and we get lachrymose arias, happy arias, self-deprecating arias, etc., but I defy all but the most sincere 18th century intermezzo fan to feel fulfilled after one, two, or repeated listenings to this. Is La Serva Padrona your idea of nirvana? Then this is your Tristan. Otherwise, make yourself some coffee, kick your shoes off, and good luck remaining interested.
