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Despite enjoying remarkable success at its premiere in 1655, Francesco Cavalli’s opera Il Xerse has been overshadowed by ensuing versions of the story of Xerxes I, the great Persian ruler, not least by Handel’s enduringly popular Xerxes. This milestone release represents the first recording of Cavalli’s opera in the new Bärenreiter critical edition, and is the audio version of the audiovisual production recently released on the Dynamic label (DYN-37983/DYN-57983): ‘Thanks to Muscato’s direction, Giovanna Fiorentini’s decisive costuming, and the remarkable vocal and dramatic talents of the cast, each character has an appealing individuality that propels the story with effortless clarity.’ (American Record Guide)
![CAVALLI, F.: Xerse [Opera]](../../../sharedfiles/images/cds/hires/8.660536-37.jpg "CAVALLI, F.: Xerse [Opera]")
Francesco CAVALLI (1602–1676)
Il Xerse
Dramma per musica in a prologue and three acts (1655)
Libretto by Nicolò Minato (c. 1627–1698)
Critical edition by Sara Elisa Stangalino and Hendrik Schulze (2019) – abridged version
Sung in Italian
Dioklea Hoxha, Carolina Lippo, Ekaterina Protsenko, SopranosGaia Petrone, Mezzo-soprano • Carlo Vistoli, Countertenor
Orchestra Barocca Modo Antiquo • Federico Maria Sardelli
Francesco Cavalli was successor to Monteverdi and the most influential opera composer in Venice during the mid-17th century. His dramma per musica, Il Xerse, was innovative for the period, with a tangled plot of affections and relationships based on history rather than mythology. Its enormous success was due in no small part to Xerse’s bizarre and overblown character and his famous declaration of love for a tree, ‘Ombra mai fu’. Cavalli’s Il Xerse is commedia dell’arte theatre that creates an exotic world aimed at inspiring awe in its audiences, enhanced with music that conveys an avalanche of emotions.
La donna caduta
Acis et Galatée
Lombard • Harsányi • Donato
Orchestra e Coro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino
Sardelli
– MusicWeb International
Arias and Duets from
Didone • Egisto • Ormindo • Giasone • Calisto
Banditelli • Frisani • Abbondanza • Belfiori Doro • Cecchetti
Mediterraneo Concento • Vartolo
– MusicWeb International
Gli amori d’Apollo e di Dafne
Zeffiri • Pizzolato • Martins • Prunell-Friend • Mateu • Lepore • Ferrero • Cardoso • Guagliardo • Orquesta Joven de la Sinfónica de Galicia • Zedda
– Fanfare
L’Orfeo
Carmignani • Pennicchi • Frisani • Pentasuglia • Vaccari • Lepore • Sarti
Cappella Musicale di San Petronio di Bologna
Vartolo
– Fanfare
