La Figlia Che Non Piange

The comic-heroic romp Matilde di Shabran was Rossini’s last commission for the theatres of Rome, the city where he’d had great successes such as Il barbiere di Siviglia. Rossini took advantage of the agile, sparkling style of librettist Jacopo Ferretti to create a narrative in which the ferocious Corradino, a declared misogynist, is introduced to the resourceful Matilde, who succeeds in melting his iron heart and winning his love. This premiere recording revives the original 1821 Rome version, which was conducted at the last minute by Paganini, and caused brawling in the streets between Rossini’s admirers and detractors.

Premiered in 1821, Matilde di Shabran was Rossini's 32nd opera. It is a semi-serious work, with a plot that concerns a woman-hating, militaristic, hypochondriacal Lord (Corradino) whose doctor (Aliprando) tries to get him to fall in love with his ward, the sharp-witted Matilde, in order to make him happy. There are buffo characters and Corradino, after falling for Matilde, almost has her executed when he's duped by a Countess who loves him into thinking Matilde loves another. But a comic character, Isidoro, the court poet, saves the day and all ends happily.

Alongside our comprehensive limited and numbered edition of the legendary Claudio Abbado’s complete recordings for DG, Decca and Philips, we are in the process of issuing 16 digital albums covering the same repertoire. The penultimate release in this series of e albums, which are organised in alphabetical order of composer name, features Abbado’s Verdi recordings and is available now.

Marking the 40th anniversary of Maria Callas’ death (16th September 1977), Maria Callas Live captures the legendary soprano in action on the stages of the world’s great opera houses and concert halls. Thanks to new audio remastering from the best available sources, this set reveals Callas’ compelling genius as a singing actress with a new truthfulness and immediacy. Containing 20 complete operas – including 12 works she never recorded in the studio – and five complete filmed recitals (with two different stagings of Act 2 of Tosca) on Blu-ray, Maria Callas Live is the indispensable complement to Callas Remastered, Warner Classics’ landmark collection of her studio recordings.