This recording of Armida was made in July 2022 at the Trinkhalle, Bad Wildbad, Germany, during the Rossini in Wildbad Festival, and is a co-production with the festival and SWR.
Composition History
Rossini composed Armida while staying on the island of Ischia, where he was taking the waters for his health, and accompanied by soprano Isabella Colbran, with whom he had recently started a relationship.
Critical Reception
The opera was warmly received at its premiere, with Isabella Colbran's father, Juan Colbran, writing to Rossini's father that the king himself clapped and the audience was 'beside itself with applause'.
Cultural Impact
The 1952 performance of Armida by Maria Callas revealed the opera's beauty to the modern world and sparked a movement to revive Rossini's neglected masterpieces.
Compositional Technique
Armida's theme-and-variations aria, 'D'Amore al dolce impero', is unique in Rossini's output as it does not express emotions or affect the action, serving purely as a masterclass in bel canto.
Composer's Artistic Vision
Rossini was fascinated by the 'old-fashioned' quality of the Armida story, using it as an opportunity to measure himself against historical composers he admired, whom he called 'the last of the Classical composers'.
Compositional Technique
Rossini designed Armida to highlight Isabella Colbran's vocal and dramatic talents, notably by making Armida the only solo female voice in the entire score.
You might also enjoy...
Schönberg: Moses und Aron
Bizet: Carmen, WD 31 (Sung in German) [Recorded 1958]
Haendel: Sosarme
Picker: Lili Elbe
The Pirates of Penzance
Mussorgsky: Khovanshchina
Offenbach: Les contes d'Hoffmann (Les indispensables de Diapason)
