Marito

Il Marito Disperato was a very popular opera in the late 18th century, premiered in 1785 and revised for more performances in 1798. The fact that it has such a long and illustrious performance history and has since fallen into oblivion explains why the San Carlo Theatre thought it worthy of revival. The score is exceedingly lively and clever, based on a libretto that is clever as well as hilarious, so much so that even Mozart, in his Don Giovanni, saw it fit to ‘borrow’ from Il Marito Disperato (the statute scene)./quote]

Composed in 1783, Thrice Betrothed, Never Wed was the young Cherubini’s fifth opera and his first opera buffa. While it echoes its era—Paisiello, Cimarosa, Haydn, and early Mozart—it displays an almost Rossinian rhythmic bite and a few harmonic touches that look forward to the dramatic masterpieces of Cherubini’s Paris years (Lodoiska, Medée, Les deux journées, Anacréon, the C-Minor Requiem). Despite decades-long exploration of Cherubini, I have never encountered the opera before; this claims to be its first recording. The plot is filled with the expected inanities: disguises, mistaken identities, and Commedia dell’arte shenanigans.