Today we are listening to Mosè in Egitto by Gioachino Rossini. The opera premiered in 1818 at Teatro San Carlo in Naples. Set in ancient Egypt, it is considered Rossini’s Biblical opera. It was commissioned during Lent and is loosely based on the Exodus from Egypt of the Israelites, led by Moses.
During my season at LaScala we did a new production of Rossini's MOSE in Italain with Luciano Damiani. There are 3 different versions and several recordings of all of them.
Julia Hamari, Yvegeni Nesterenko, and Jesus Luis Corboz---Damiani designed it and was director. We joked about DeMille and 10 Commandments movie as prototype. The chilling final scene when the water receded and the stage was full of dead Egyptian mannequins and the postlude.
While I love the music the problem with MOSE is that is more-like an oratorio than opera. There are numerous secondary characters who take away focus from MOSE. The score is complex so the different performing editions create some chaos. The Philips recording with Claudio Scimone has some of the same cast in Milan but different music or variations on prior themes.
During my season at LaScala we did a new production of Rossini's MOSE in Italain with Luciano Damiani. There are 3 different versions and several recordings of all of them.
Julia Hamari, Yvegeni Nesterenko, and Jesus Luis Corboz---Damiani designed it and was director. We joked about DeMille and 10 Commandments movie as prototype. The chilling final scene when the water receded and the stage was full of dead Egyptian mannequins and the postlude.
While I love the music the problem with MOSE is that is more-like an oratorio than opera. There are numerous secondary characters who take away focus from MOSE. The score is complex so the different performing editions create some chaos. The Philips recording with Claudio Scimone has some of the same cast in Milan but different music or variations on prior themes.