Composer Johann Simon Mayr sought and found fame in Italy, writing some 70 operas. They are now all but forgotten, but the Naxos label has revived some of them as well as Mayr's other music. Elena was first staged in Naples in 1814, ran for 40 performances, and spread to other Italian houses, including La Scala in Milan; it is their version that is heard here, with secco recitatives in place of the original's spoken dialogue. It was designated as an opera semiseria or opera eroicomico ("heroic-comic"), and its complex ...
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Composer Johann Simon Mayr sought and found fame in Italy, writing some 70 operas. They are now all but forgotten, but the Naxos label has revived some of them as well as Mayr's other music. Elena was first staged in Naples in 1814, ran for 40 performances, and spread to other Italian houses, including La Scala in Milan; it is their version that is heard here, with secco recitatives in place of the original's spoken dialogue. It was designated as an opera semiseria or opera eroicomico ("heroic-comic"), and its complex plot revolves around a rescue-of-an-innocent-person tale distantly related to that of Beethoven's Fidelio. Some of it sounds like that opera, some like Mozart, some like Rossini, and some like the French operas that were the source of this style. Mayr ties it all together in big ensembles like the 17-minute Act One finale, "Che ascolto," which coordinates action and musical structure at an almost Mozartian level. Conductor Franz Hauk and his historical performance group Concerto de...
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