Post Description

The "Comedy for music" Le due contesse, first staged at the Teatro Valle in Rome in the Carnival season of 1776, marks the first encounter of Giovanni Paisiello (1740-1816) and the Arcadian Roman poet Giuseppe Petrosellini, who at the time had already made something of a name for himself as a versifier, having provided one or more librettos for such prestigious musicians as Piccinni, Anfossi, Mozart and Guglielmi. In accordance with the usage of the day, which forbad the presence of women on stage, the opera was sung by male performers, castrati that is, and its success was so rapid that from the very first performances it won extraordinary fortune in all the major opera houses in Europe. Moreover, the character of the "Contessina di Belcolore" attracted the attention of no few singers of the time, starting with the famous Anna Morichelli Bosello, who was later to link her name to peerless performances of Paisiello's works.


Veel plezier ermee..