LA SONNAMBULA – BELLINI
Presented on Apr 29 May 4, 9, 12 at the Gaiety Theatre Dublin as part of the Dublin Grand Opera Society’s Spring Season
Virginia Zeani / Margherita Rinaldi[May 9, 12] – Amina
Ruggero Bondino – Elvino
Ferruccio Mazzoli – Rodolfo
Nicoletta Verzieri – Lisa
Rina Corsi – Teresa
Ernesto Vezzosi – Alessio
Franco Patanè – Conductor
Bruno Nofri – Producer
Zeani’s career was by now at its height. She had become a firm favourite at La Scala where her roles included Butterfly, Lucia, Violetta and Adina. She had also figured in a famous Scala production of “The Tales of Hoffmann” in which she performed all four female parts opposite the four villains of her husband Nicola Rossi-Lemeni. Her French repertoire also included roles in “Manon”, “Thais”, “Werther” and “Faust”. In that 1962 spring season the popular soprano displayed a new maturity vocally – her acting had always been extremely convincing. Although one morning newspaper critic found her voice ‘too rich and sombre’ to impersonate a simple village maiden in “La Sonnambula”, other reviewers thought she carried the role of Amina with her usual aplomb. Zeani was steeped in the bel canto tradition and told me she counted Amina as ideal for her voice, though she was perhaps better known as Elvira in “I Puritani”, Norina (“Don Pasquale”), Lucia and Adina (“L’Elisir d’ Amore”). But she was a versatile artist and La Scala had mounted two important works for her – Verdi’s “Alzira” and Rossini’s “Otello”. ‘I was able to cope with many different roles because my technique was good,’ she said, ‘and I hoped in time to sing Tosca, Desdemona, Charlotte in “Werther” and Tatyana in “Eugene Onegin”. I wanted new challenges to keep my career interesting.’
(Extracted from “Love and Music: The Glorious History of the Dublin Grand Opera Society” by Gus Smith, 1998)
Opera in Ireland 