Donizetti Songs Vol.2 Nicola Alaimo – ‘Non sdegnar, vezzosa Irene’

£1.59

1 disc set
Single Track Download

The prolific and versatile Italian composer Gaetano Donizetti, one of the central figures of Italian bel canto opera, also wrote around 200 songs. Most of them are rarely performed and some, until recently, completely unknown. Curated by musicologist Roger Parker and under the leadership of Opera Rara’s artistic director Carlo Rizzi, Opera Rara presents the complete solo songs in a series of eight recital albums.

The project makes a powerful case for Donizetti as a key figure in 19th-century song repertoire, and for the importance of the Italian school in a field long dominated by German and French composers.

This album is the second in a series of 8 recordings to be released between now and spring 2026.

Catalogue Number: ORR255 Category: Tags: , , , , , ,

Description

One of Opera Rara’s most ambitious projects in its fifty-year history is to record the complete solo songs of Gaetano Donizetti.

A handful of these songs has been long known and often heard in recitals; many more are listed in specialist catalogues but very rarely if ever performed; others still have been thought lost or are completely unknown. Recent research connected with this project, undertaken by Roger Parker in collaboration with Ian Schofield, has made clear that, in total, Donizetti wrote some 200 solo songs over the course of his thirty-year career. Making modern editions of this vast corpus has been an arduous task: sources for the songs are dispersed in European libraries and beyond, the composer’s autograph scores often having been casually given away at the time of composition (typically as a present from the composer to the dedicatee). But in their totality these compositions make a powerful case for Donizetti as a key figure in nineteenth-century domestic music-making: someone whose achievements in this area deserve to be better known; a body of work that, single-handedly, makes a powerful argument for the importance of the Italian “school” in a field long dominated by German and French composers.

Cast

Nicola Alaimo, tenor
Carlo Rizzi, piano

Tracklist

[1] La partenza del crociato ‘Al campo della gloria’ (2’43)

[2] ‘Ov’è la voce magica’ (2’22)

[3] Romanza. ‘Il mio grido io getto ai venti’ (2’46)

[4] J’aime trop pour être heureux ‘Dans un salon si quelqu’un vous regarde’ (Abigail Fenna, viola) (5’56)

[5] Il pegno ‘Questi capegli bruni’ (2’06)

[6] Romance. Te dire adieu ‘Tu pars, il faut te dire adieu’ (3’53)

[7] L’amor funesto ‘Più che non ama un angelo’ (Hetty Snell, cello) (5’41)

[8] Arietta. ‘A piè del mesto salice’ (3’05)

[9] ‘O Cloe, delizia di questo core’ (1’23)

[10] Auf dem Meere ‘Ob die Stürme auch wüthen’ (2’32)

[11] Amore e morte ‘Odi d’un uom che muore’ (2’29)

[12] ‘Non v’è nume, non v’è fato’ (Daniel de-Fry, harp) (5’27)

[13] ‘Non sdegnar, vezzosa Irene’ (1’48)

[14] ‘Nici, ss’occhiuzzi, calali’ (2’21)

[15] La partenza ‘Taci, in van, mia cara Iole’ (1’27)

[16] Le Dernier Chant du Troubadour ‘A ce tilleul, muette et détendue’ (2’45)

[17] Il crociato ‘Colle piume sul cimiero’ (2’31)

[18] Il trovatore in caricatura ‘Era notte, e la campana’ (4’38)

[19] ‘Dio che col cenno moderi’ (4’24)

[20] ‘Quando da te lontano’ (2’06)

[21] Un Baiser pour espoir ‘Je vais quitter tout ce que j’aime’ (3’34)

[22] ‘Nice s’io moro’ (2’49)

[23] ‘Si soffre una tiranna’ (1’25)

[24] Canto elegaico. ‘Non priego mai, né pianto’ (5’12)

[25] ‘Mentre dal caro lido’ (2’53)

[26] ‘Quanto mio ben t’adoro’ (2’34)