ELISABETTA--ROSSINI'S DÉBUT AT NAPLES.
In _Elisabetta_ Mademoiselle Colbran obtained the first of the numerous
triumphs for which she was to be indebted to Rossini. The work was
founded on the subject of "Kenilworth," and it is satisfactory to know
that the libretto was from the pen of Signor Smith, a gentleman of
unmistakable origin settled at Naples. Amy Robsart loses her beautiful
name in the opera and is called _Matilda_; but then Signor Smith had not
taken his story direct from Sir Walter's novel. He had adapted it from a
French melodrama.
The cast of the opera was admirable, the principal parts being assigned
to Mademoiselle Colbran, Mademoiselle Dardanelli, Nozzari, and Garcia.
An English dilettante, a great admirer of Mademoiselle Colbran, obtained
correct copies from London for the costume of _Queen Elizabeth_; and the
success of the prima donna, both as an actress and as a singer, was
most remarkable.
The Neapolitans had not heard a note of Rossini's music. The stories of
his great success in the north of Italy had reached them from time to
time; but there was nothing to prove that this success was deserved. The
composer, of whose merits the Milanese and the Venetians were so full,
had not been tested at Naples, and the composer who has not been tested
at Naples has yet to make a name. If the Neapolitan public was not
prepared to applaud Rossini merely on the recommendation of the
Milanese, the professors of the Conservatories, where he had never
studied, were quite ready to criticise him very severely, and had made
up their minds beforehand that he was not a musician of any learning.
Rossini treated the Neapolitan audience to the overture he had written
the year before at Milan for "Aureliano in Palmira," and which was to be
presented to the public of Rome the year afterwards as fit preface to
"Il Barbiere." The brilliant symphony was naturally liked, though if the
Neapolitans had known that it was originally written for "Aureliano in
Palmira," they, perhaps, would not have applauded it quite so much.
The first piece in the opera was a duet for Leicester and his young wife
in the minor, described by Stendhal as "very original." The effect of
the duet was to confirm the audience in the good opinion they had
already formed of the composer, who, so far as Naples was concerned, was
now only making his début. The finale to the first act, in which the
principal motives of the overture occur, raised the enthusiasm of the
audience to the highest pitch. "All the emotions of serious opera with
no tedious interval between," such was the phrase in which the general
verdict of the Neapolitan public was expressed.
Mademoiselle Colbran's great success, however, was yet to come. It was
achieved in the first scene of the second act, when an interview between
_Elizabeth_ (in her historical costume from London) and _Matilda_ is
made the subject of a grand scene and duet; and again in the finale to
the second, described by the critics of the period as one of the finest
Rossini ever wrote.
Mademoiselle Colbran's solo, "Bell' alme generose," in which she
forgives and unites the lovers, is a brilliant show-piece, written for
the display of all the best points in the prima donna's singing. "A
catalogue of the qualities of a fine voice" it was called, and
Mademoiselle Colbran's voice was at that time magnificent.
It was objected to the solo that it was not in keeping with the
situation, being very grand, but entirely devoid of pathos. Such
remarks, however, as these were not made until after the performance.
Rossini had aimed at success through a very successful prima donna, and
he had attained it.
"Elisabetta," though it contained much beautiful music, was not one of
Rossini's best operas, and owing perhaps to the distribution of parts it
has not been much played out of Italy, nor elsewhere than at Naples. For
instance, the parts of _Leicester_ and _Norfolk_ are both given to
tenors. If Rossini had been distributing the characters according to his
own ideas, as he was afterwards able to carry them out, he would
certainly have made the treacherous _Norfolk_ a baritone or a bass; the
position of the lover, _Leicester_, as tenor being of course quite
unassailable. But Rossini had to write for a particular company, and
there was no bass singer at the San Carlo capable of taking first parts.
Indeed it was still a conventional rule that in opera seria leading
personages should not be represented by the bass, who was kept
systematically in the background. Rossini was the basso's friend, not
only in regard to opera seria, but also as to operas of mezzo carattere,
such as "La Cenerentola," "La Gazza Ladra," and "Torvaldo e Dorliska."
It is entirely to Rossini and his music that Galli, Lablache, and so
many distinguished baritones and basses, owe their reputation.
The company at the San Carlo, though without a leading basso, included
at this time three admirable tenors--Davide, Nozzari, and Garcia; and
the two latter appeared together in "Elisabetta." This opera is the
first in which Rossini accompanies recitative with the stringed quartet
in lieu of the piano and double bass of former Italian composers. The
score of "Otello" is the one usually cited (by M. Fétis, M. Castil
Blaze, among other writers) as first exhibiting this important
substitution.