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Rossini is often characterized as lazy; in fact ‘workaholic’ would be a more accurate description. ‘He has toiled long and wearily enough’, wrote his father in a letter of 1827, referring to the composer’s almost superhuman productivity over the previous decade and a half. Today, Donald Macleod talks us through Rossini’s two-act musical melodrama Bianca e Falliero, the final production of one of the composer’s busiest ever years, 1819.

Bianca e Falliero, Act I scene 1, Introduzione
'Dalle lagune Adriache' (coro)
'Pace alfin per l'Adria splende' (Contareno, Capellio)
Barry Banks (Contareno), Capellio (Ildebrando D'Arcangelo) / Geoffrey Mitchell Choir / London Philharmonic Orchestra / David Parry (cond.)
Opera rara ORC20
CD1 T2-3

Bianca e Falliero, Act I scene 3 (extract)
'Ciel! qual destin terribile' (Falliero, Bianca)
'Deh! va', ti scongiuro' (Bianca, Falliero)
Jennifer Larmore (Falliero), Majella Cullagh (Bianca) / London Philharmonic Orchestra / David Parry (cond.)
Opera rara ORC20
CD2 T4-5

Bianca e Falliero, Act II scene 2
'Ah! qual notte di squallore' (coro)
'Qual funebre apparato' (Falliero)
'Alma, ben mio, si pura' (Falliero)
'Vieni, signor: in altra stanza' (Pisani, Falliero)
'Tu non sai qual colpo atroce' (Falliero, coro)
'Lasso! cessar di vivere' (Falliero)
'Ma piu che onore e vita' (Falliero, coro)
'No, non e reo' (Pisani, Contareno, Capellio, Falliero)
'Donna, chi sei? -- Bianca son io' (Bianca, Contareno, Capellio)
'Cielo, il mio labbro inspira' (Bianca, Falliero, Contareno, Capellio)
'Parla dunque: qual mistero' (Contareno, Bianca, Capellio, Falliero)
'Grazie, o cielo!' (Bianca, Falliero, Contareno, Capellio, coro)
Jennifer Larmore (Falliero), Ryland Davies (Pisani), Barry Banks (Contareno), Capellio
(Ildebrando D'Arcangelo), Majella Cullagh (Bianca) / Geoffrey Mitchell Choir / London
Philharmonic Orchestra / David Parry (cond.)
Opera rara ORC20
CD3 T11-22