BaL 18.06.22 - Haydn's operas

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

9.30 am
Building a Library
Roger Parker chooses his favourite recordings of Haydn's operas

Joseph Haydn is possibly one of the greatest composers who wrote operas which are hardly known. He wrote 17 of them, and opera occupied a great deal of his composing life. During the 1770s and 1780s, Haydn ran an opera company for his employer, Prince Nikolaus Esterházy. They put on up to 150 performances per year. Haydn's operas are not often performed today, but they contain some great music which Roger explores.

(This might seem to be one one those mega-projects that sometimes occur on BaL, but there are few recordings available in total.)

Available recordings:-

Armida
Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne, Antal Dorati *
Vienna Concentus Musicus, Nikolaus Harnoncourt

Il mondo della luna
Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne, Antal Dorati *
Concentus Musicus Wien, Nikolaus Harnoncourt (DVD/Blu-ray))


L’anima del filosofo, ossia Orfeo ed Euridice
Scottish Opera Chorus and Scottish National Orchestra, Richard Bonynge *
Bavarian Radio Chorus & Munich Radio Orchestra, Leopold Hager *
Academy of Ancient Music, Christopher Hogwood *
Vienna State Opera Orchestra and Chorus, Kurt Rapf

L’incontro improvviso
Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne, Antal Dorati *

L’infedeltà delusa
Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne, Antal Dorati *
Liszt Ferenc Chamber Orchestra, Budapest, Sándor Frigyes *

L’isola disabitata
Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin, Bernhard Forck
L’Orfeo Barockorchester, Michi Gaigg *
Academia Montis Regalis, Alessandro De Marchi *

La canterina
Capella Savaria, Pal Nemeth *

La fedeltà premiata
Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne, Antal Dorati *
Liszt Ferenc Chamber Orchestra, Budapest, Sándor Frigyes *

La vera sostanza
Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne, Antal Dorati *

Le pescatrici
Choir and Orchestra of the Lithuanian Opera, Géczy Olga *

Lo speziale
Liszt Ferenc Chamber Orchestra, György Lehel *

Orlando paladino
Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne, Antal Dorati *
Concentus Musicus Wien, Nikolaus Harnoncourt

* = download only

[ardcarp]

If I recall correctly, Anthony Lewis 'revived' Haydn's Orfeo ed Euridici at Birmingham's Barber Institute. This may have been at some time in the 1960s. Lewis was a major reviver of Baroque Opera which was widely considered unstageable because of the number of set-piece arias. These were thought to slow down the action which they probably did, but the idea was for an audience to be dazzled by vocal virtuosity. I think Haydn was probably Lewis's most modern production! Late Baroque operas (Handel, Rameau, etc) were Lewis's chief projects, in which many famous singers cut their teeth...Janet Baker being a prime example.

This may be worth reading before the BAL in question: https://www.theguardian.com/music/to...mposer-believe

If anyone can find a more substantial overview of Haydn the opera composer, please post up the link. It seems from Alps's list that Dorati was something of a fan.

[Frances_iom]

...It seems from Alps's list that Dorati was something of a fan.

I have 9 of these not played for years as they are vinyl bought in late 70s/early 80s - 8 of which are Dorati in the "Haydyn Opera Cycle" produced by Philips - extensive notes as would be expected at that time. I think some may have been transferred to CD as they wouldn't have been cheap to records and I recall them as very good. Dorati would be around 70 when he recorded them - I think the EBU may have contributed to the cost
[edited as I miscounted another Hadyn set ]

[Bryn]

I have 10 of these not played for years as they are vinyl bought in late 70s/early 80s - 9 of which are Dorati in the "Haydyn Opera Cycle" produced by Philips - extensive notes as would be expected at that time. I think some may have been transferred to CD as they wouldn't have been cheap to records and I recall them as very good. Dorati would be around 70 when he recorded them - I think the EBU may have contributed to the cost

Around £70. Previously issue in two volumes, which is what I have.

[gurnemanz]

If anyone can find a more substantial overview of Haydn the opera composer, please post up the link. It seems from Alps's list that Dorati was something of a fan.

Haydn "complete" operas are here: https://www.pdf-noten.com/pdf/Hdn_Opera%208_en.pdf

I've skimmed though this list. It seems very thorough and competent with cast lists for the recordings mentioned, role details and plot synopses.

Also provenance of surviving scores. A pity "Der krumme Teufel", a comic opera about the limping Devil, is lost. Sounds interesting. "This opera was performed twice to great acclaim, and then was forbidden because of offensive remarks in the text." .... According to to wiki.

[MickyD]

There is another version of L'Infedeltà Delusa (HIPP) from La Petite Bande/Sigiswald Kuijken on DHM, very good.

And I guess we should also include Acide (an opera fragment from 1763) plus Philemon und Baucis, a marionette opera in one act with Prologue. Both in excellent performances from Manfred Huss and the Haydn Sinfonietta on BIS.

[Pulcinella]

A selection from the Dorati set appeared as a very early BBC MM cover CD: Volume 1 number 10.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Haydn-Operatic-Arias-Jessye-Norman/dp/B000EO1SH6/ref=sr_1_4?crid=2SR4FQR4J64U8&keywords=haydn+operatic+arias&qid=1653986490&s=music&sprefix=haydn+operatic+arias%2Cpopular%2C57&sr=1-4

This Amazon purchaser review makes interesting reading, and has certainly made me dust the CD off for a spin.

M. B. Handelsman
5.0 out of 5 stars A Great Sampling from a Forgotten Haydn Output
Reviewed in the United States on 23 October 2009
Verified Purchase
If you love your Haydn and wish his operatic output would get more respect, this is the CD to play for your skeptical friends! This is a unique compilation of the Dorati/Lausanne Chamber Orchestra series of eight Estarhazy operas. Seven are represented here. (L'Infedelta Delusa is omitted.) But first, you must fib to your audience that it consists of newly discovered Mozart or Gluck arias. After you shock them by showing the jewel case, they'll surely agree that Haydn should be performed in the great opera houses. Of course, the program directors of these large venues have long ago dismissed the stage worthiness of these works over issues such as libretto and pacing. So while you're waiting (and waiting and waiting...) for that distant day, this vintage collection and Quasthoff's 2009 release will provide much of the musical joy from these neglected works. I may prefer this one for its large inclusion of opera seria, female voices, collaborations and choruses. But the Quasthoff, (reviewed elsewhere) covers beautifully much of the subject in the voice of the base-baritone, and should not be overlooked.

[Darloboy]

I don't currently possess any recordings of Haydn's operas. I think is going to be an expensive week!

[Master Jacques]

Roger Parker is doing his heroic best to cover about fifteen operas, many in multiple versions, in about forty minutes!

I think the point he raises about Dorati's star casting - that it isn't always very successful, especially in male roles - is well made. I'd add, that all too frequently I find the Dorati's conducting and the orchestral playing stodgy. He fails to lift the music off the page, in the way that (say) Kuijken and Harnoncourt in their "one off" recordings consistently do. It's hard to escape the feeling that these Dorati performances were recorded routinely, and without very much thought to differentiate the atmosphere of one opera from another. They are dutiful, but dull.

The old Hungaraton sets (if you can find them) are much more musical, and much more magical.

If you want to sample Haydn opera on CD, I'd suggest the Kuijken L'infedeltà delusa or the Harnoncourt Orlando Paladino. Better still, try the latter opera on DVD conducted in Berlin by René Jakobs with a superb cast and Freiburg Barock (on Euroarts), in a slim but intelligent - and reasonably amusing - production. There are some pretty good DVDs of several of the other operas, but this one is special.

[Master Jacques]

P.S. Mr Parker has chosen the Harnoncourt Armida as a good place to start an exploration of Haydn's operas. Fair enough, but I'd have some caveats. The work itself commends itself to him, as the composer's only non-comic opera. For that very reason I would say it was an outlier, and the work falls a little short on Haydn's trademark wit and humour. The Harnoncourt performance is strongly played and conducted, but though Bartoli and Petibon's mannered performances will please their fans, only Prégardien's tenor will please everyone. By contrast Orlando Paladino is more varied, with shorter arias and a better dramatic flow; and the Harnoncourt recording is outstanding in many respects. That's the one to sample, I think.

[LeMartinPecheur]

Driving home from work some 20 years ago I had a startling collision with Haydn opera on In Tune, and I really wish I could recall the details. It was an absolutely magnificent virtuoso bass aria which stopped me in my tracks without a clue what it was.

Surely it had to be Mozart to be of that quality, but I knew it wasn't out of one of the mature operas, so presumably a concert aria that I needed to seek out? But no, it was announced as from a Haydn opera, but I couldn't make a note of its exact source. Never heard it since, and it isn't on the above-mentioned BBC MM disc. Suggestions gratefully received!

[Master Jacques]

It could possibly be the bravura bass aria for Neptune, from the revised version of his early 'festa teatrale' Acide, the young and inexperienced Haydn's take on Acis and Galatea, and his first work for the stage. This has often been sung out of dramatic context, as a concert aria, and is popular with basses. But there are lots of grand arias for basses and bass baritones in his comedy operas.

[richardfinegold]

Roger Parker is doing his heroic best to cover about fifteen operas, many in multiple versions, in about forty minutes!

I think the point he raises about Dorati's star casting - that it isn't always very successful, especially in male roles - is well made. I'd add, that all too frequently I find the Dorati's conducting and the orchestral playing stodgy. He fails to lift the music off the page, in the way that (say) Kuijken and Harnoncourt in their "one off" recordings consistently do. It's hard to escape the feeling that these Dorati performances were recorded routinely, and without very much thought to differentiate the atmosphere of one opera from another. They are dutiful, but dull.

The old Hungaraton sets (if you can find them) are much more musical, and much more magical.

If you want to sample Haydn opera on CD, I'd suggest the Kuijken L'infedeltà delusa or the Harnoncourt Orlando Paladino. Better still, try the latter opera on DVD conducted in Berlin by René Jakobs with a superb cast and Freiburg Barock (on Euroarts), in a slim but intelligent - and reasonably amusing - production. There are some pretty good DVDs of several of the other operas, but this one is special.

I find the “lift the music off the page”comment applies to Dorati and the Symphonies as well. Groundbreaking in their time, and although the Conductor clearly relished the task, somehow the results just didn’t add up

[MickyD]

It's surely time for some new recordings of some of these pieces in good HIP hands. The sad thing is that Haydn operas just don't seem to sell, so I'm not holding my breath.

[RichardB]

P.S. Mr Parker has chosen the Harnoncourt Armida as a good place to start an exploration of Haydn's operas. Fair enough, but I'd have some caveats. The work itself commends itself to him, as the composer's only non-comic opera. For that very reason I would say it was an outlier, and the work falls a little short on Haydn's trademark wit and humour. The Harnoncourt performance is strongly played and conducted, but though Bartoli and Petibon's mannered performances will please their fans, only Prégardien's tenor will please everyone. By contrast Orlando Paladino is more varied, with shorter arias and a better dramatic flow; and the Harnoncourt recording is outstanding in many respects. That's the one to sample, I think.

I agree. I always love the way Harnoncourt worked with Haydn, but (and not just with Haydn) his idea of vocal casting was frequently a bit eyebrow-raising. I am not a fan of Bartoli for example.