Bottesini: Ali Baba

[mikehopf]

This Saturday, 3 American radio stations are broadcasting this tempter:

WFMT Opera Series: OPERA SOUTHWEST
OPERA: Alì Babà (1871) (in Italian)
COMPOSER: Giovanni Bottesini
LIBRETTO: Emilio Taddei
CAST:
Alì Babà ..... Ashraf Sewailam, Bass-Baritone
Delia ..... Monica Yunus, Soprano
Nadir ..... Christopher Bozeka, Tenor
Aboul Hassan ..... Kevin Thompson, Bass
Orsocane ..... Darren Stokes, Bass-Baritone
Morgiana ..... Laurel Smerdjian, Mezzo-soprano
ENSEMBLE: Opera Southwest Orchestra
CHORAL DIRECTOR: Aaron Howe
CONDUCTOR: Anthony Barrese

[Alan Howe]

Is anyone able to record this, please?

[Maury]

I would be very interested to know if anyone heard this opera let alone recorded it. Bottesini wrote a number of operas and he was Italian. Are they so astoundingly awful that even the Italians don't want to hear them? I'm really curious what is going on with their absolute disappearance. I assume it's not an Albinoni situation where the scores were lost.

[Alan Howe]

Here's an introduction (discussion) to the opera:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cwHmdVj0N9k

The overture is included in the brilliantly played collection of Bottesini's music:
https://www.prestomusic.com/classical/products/7975662--bottesini-collection-volume-2

[Maury]

 Mr Howe,
Thanks for the link to the discussion. I did find the overture on my own but obviously no opera or even aria. The discussion while providing some interesting history really did not say much about the opera musically that one couldn't have predicted from general knowledge of the period and Bottesini's other music though.

One bit of history I thought quite interesting is that Ali Baba was performed in English and Spanish back in the day but apparently not Italian. So I have to assume his operas did not appeal to Italian opera goers for whatever reason. It does sound like his operas have been untouched for 150 years or so. Did no one hear the broadcast? Is the score available anywhere?

[Gareth Vaughan]

The MS full score is in the library of the Universidad Complutense de Madrid (UCM). There are vocal scores in numerous libraries. The libretto is in Italian, according to a catalogue entry in one of the libraries.

[Maury]

Thanks for the info. The fact that the full score is in Madrid does further suggest that Italian performances were at best few or maybe even none. I wonder if his other operas met a similar fate from his compatriots.