Search - Callas, Di Stefano, Panerai :: Bellini: I Puritani (2 CD/CD-ROM)

"I can hardly think of any music in all Callas's recorded repertory I would rather hear her interpret than `Qui la voce', `Oh, vieni al tempio' from the Wedding Scene, or `Son vergin vezzosa'. Nobody who admires her art can be without this historic set." Synopsis I puritani is set in fortress in Plymouth during the English Civil War. The action centres on the fragile Elvira, daughter of the Roundhead Lord Walton and betrothed to Riccardo, a fellow Puritan. She is, however, in love with a Royalist Cavalier, Arturo, and her father agrees that she can marry him instead. It happens that King Charles I's widow, Enrichetta, is captive in the fortress. With Arturo's help she escapes, disguised by Elvira's wedding veil; Elvira, believing that Arturo has betrayed her, loses her senses. All finally ends happily when Elvira is reunited with Arturo; she regains her sanity and news comes of the end of Civil War, releasing Arturo from the threat of execution. The score's pièce de resistance is Elvira's poignant mad scene, `Qui la voce sua soave', as she imagines her wedding. Earlier in the opera, in `Son vergin vezzosa' her voice skips brilliantly over a vocal ensemble as she teases Enrichetta with her bridal veil. Arturo declares his love for her in the arching `A te, o cara', while Riccardo laments his loveless state in the touching `Ah, per sempre, io ti perdei'. By contrast, he and Giorgio, Elvira's uncle, exude martial aggression in their stirring duet `Suoni la tromba'.