Ciro Pinsuti (1829-1888): MATTIA CORVINO

[pcc]

Has anyone here looked into Ciro Pinsuti, best known as a singing teacher at the RAM and a composer of parlour songs and vocal quartets (including a really lovely setting of "Good night, good night beloved")?  I just noticed that his opera MATTIA CORVINO (1877) was staged in Hungary in 2008 and there are two extended video excerpts on YouTube. It seems rather good, if slightly old-fashioned; Verdi aside, it didn't appear to me on first hearing as up to Gomes or Ponchielli in the "punch" department.  However, the vocal writing is very attractive, the orchestration seems quite effective, and the drama (from what I could tell) seemed to be well-paced.  (It's hard to get a full sense of a four act work in 18 minutes of excerpts.) The Hungarians in these two bits give it their all; the baritone, soprano, and chorus are first-rate, but the tenor's a bit wobbly.  I wonder if the whole opera was recorded at that time and might be obtainable someway.  Anyway, any other thoughts or knowledge about Pinsuti and/or this? (Pinsuti also did his own Shakespearean opera on THE MERCHANT OF VENICE.)

[Gareth Vaughan]

I performed a song by Pinsuti once at a concert of Victorian Parlour Music. It was called "The Last Watch" and had words by Frederick E. Weatherly (a justly famous and prolific lyricist). I recall it's being gratefully written for the voice, attractive and a pleasure to sing, though no masterpiece.

[alberto]

I see that Opus Arte has just released a Cd featuring the emerging soprano Rosa Feola , titled "Musica e Poesia", containing one " Sonetto di Dante" by Pinsuti (alongside with works by Respighi, Martucci, Ponchielli and Liszt).It has got very positive reviews.