Credits:

Corrado Rovaris, I Virtuosi Italiani

Description:

La fuga in maschera, the delightful opera of Spontini’s youthRevived at the Festival Pergolesi Spontini in JesiAnd, of course, a world premiere recordingGaspare Spontini (1774-1851) is remembered for the lavish operas he presented in Paris and Berlin, among them La vestale, which Maria Callas sang at La Scala. For several years before he made his way to Paris, however, he worked mainly in opera buffa in Italy. La fuga in maschera is a comedy from that Italian period, premiered in Naples during the 1800-1801 carnival season – a time when Paisiello was hugely popular, Cimarosa was close behind him, and Rossini was still a boy. Spontini, then 26, works within the conventions of pre-Rossinian opera buffa while showing flashes of the brilliance one would expect from a composer later revered by Wagner.Ruth Rosique, who sings Elena, is a Spanish soprano who has appeared in Cata