belcantopera's video: The Art to Sing Like a Violin: Eugenia Burzio O mio Fernando 1913

LA FAVORITA: O mio Fernando (Donizetti) Pathé 86427 [Milano 1913] A long-breath line is violined out in intention, while individual words and phrase segments are given fully expressive, even passionate, value. This is the bel canto style exhibited by all the earliest and greatest: Patti, Marconi, Battistini, Plancon. Callas often sang this way in Norma. Beautifully capturing the melancholic atmosphere of the opening sections with smooth, veiled arpeggi.......... impalpable pianissimi and dizzy diminuendi, rubati full of expressive hesitations.......... della terra il tro _ no a pos _ se _ der _ ti avria do _ na _ to il cor.... dis______pe_ra_______________to orror (ability to hold the desperate moment: "But thou would'st never call me thine, When all is called thee...") Burzio's recordings of arias from Donizetti's La Favorita and Bellini's Norma show off her bel canto characteristics. They contain a studied display of fioritura, rubato, limpid phrasing and portamento which appears to be a deliberate re-statement of the so-called bel canto style practised by previous generations of Italian sopranos... Carolina Ferni (1846-1926) was an Italian violinist and operatic soprano. She made her stage debut in Turin, as Leonora in Donizetti's La Favorita, in 1862. Ferni sang at La Scala in Milan (1866-68) as Norma and Saffo, among other roles. In Agostino Mercuri's opera Il Violino del Diavolo, she both sang and played the violin. Ferni retired from the stage in 1883, and opened a singing school in Milan. Among her students at the Milan Conservatory was the soprano Eugenia Burzio... Initially, Eugenia Burzio pursued a career as a violinist but decided instead to concentrate on opera singing... ------------------------------------- La Favorite (The Favorite, Italian title: La Favorita) is a grand opera in four acts by Gaetano Donizetti. It premiered on 2 December 1840 in Paris. The opera is now more commonly given in Italian rather than French. Early 14th-century Spain. A love triangle involving the King of Castile Alfonso XI, his mistress ('the favorite') Leonora, and her lover, Fernando, the story unfolds against the background of the Moorish invasions of Spain. Act 3. Alfonso is to honour Fernando for his role in the war. He asks Fernand what reward he would like and Fernando asks to marry the woman who has inspired him in his bravery. Alfonso asks who she is and Fernando points to Leonora. The King is astonished to learn that Fernando is his successful rival. In an abrupt change of mind, he orders Fernando and Leonora to marry within one hour. Leonora is left with mixed feelings of apprehension and delight: "O mio Fernando..." She decides that Fernando must be informed about her past... ------------------------------------- Eugenia Burzio - Casta Diva & Norma Scena Finale (1912): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=se9GK86YP0M -------------------------------------