Leoncavallo, Ruggero (1857-1919) - Zaza : C.Loy, Soltesz / Vienna Rso, Aksenova, Schukoff, Maltman, Shkosa, etc (2020 Stereo) - Import Blu-ray Disc

Color: Colour

Credits:

Leoncavallo, Ruggero (1857-1919)

Description:

Leoncavallo's ultimate verismo opera, "Zaza," a beautiful and fragile opera in four acts, was the opening work of the new season of Theater an der Wien in 2020. Composed and libretto by the composer himself, this charming opera in four acts is full of Leoncavallo's characteristic fragile and beautiful melodies. Before the success of his masterpiece "The Clown," Leoncavallo earned his living playing piano at a music hall in Paris, and the music hall in the Paris suburbs, the setting of this work, is vividly depicted. "Zaza" premiered at the Teatru Lirico in Milan in 1900. In 1919, just before his death, Leoncavallo published a revised version in which redundant parts were cut out. This performance is based on the revised version, with some parts taken from the original version of 1900. Synopsis: The main character, Zaza, is a leading actress at a music hall in Saint-Etienne, a suburb of Paris. There she meets a Parisian businessman, Miglio Dufrene, and they become lovers.Zaza wants to marry Miglio and eventually leave the theater, but his stage companion and former lover Cascar tells him that he saw Miglio with another woman in Paris. Zaza, enraged, storms into Miglio's house, only to find a girl there. It was Miglio's daughter, Toto. Zaza realizes that Miglio has been lying to her about having a wife and child. Zaza herself has a history of her father abandoning the family and her mother becoming a drunk because of it, and she decides to end their relationship so that Toto will not have to go through the same thing she did. All pleasant memories of romantic love are gone, and Zaza accepts her fate. Zaza is played by Russian soprano Svetlana Aksenova. She sings the hard role, which appears throughout the film, with power and panache. Miglio is sung by the Graz-born Austrian tenor Nikolai Schukow. He is a so-called Jugendlicher-Herden tenor and is quite active in his own right. Also, Kaskar, played by Christopher Moltmann, a famous British baritone, has a sad role, but he leads the stage with high enthusiasm.Even today, "Zaza" has not been performed that many times. It is said that the reason for this is that "it is too realistic and many people find it hard to bear. In particular, the scene in which Zaza tells Miglio that he has decided to step aside but has not yet told his wife about everything, and Miglio's true nature comes out and he becomes furious, is just like a common modern drama. Regardless of the reasons for the reluctance to perform the opera, this is a beautiful opera with a full cast, colored by Leoncavallo's sweet melodies. King International