When I am about to listen to Otello, frequently my difficulty is whether to choose listening to the one by Verdi or the other by Rossini. Most times my choice falls on Rossini’s opera not only because it is associated with some of my memories as an interpreter in the role of Rodrigo but above all because the opera contains pages of the human soul’s music and expressive heights, which Verdi’s Otello does not reach.

 Salvatore Fisichella & Joseph Fragala

Rossini’s Otello
The delicacy of Assisa a' piè d’un salice has no comparison in the operatic firmament of all times, so too is the singing of Rodrigo in the aria Ah, come mai non senti!, a perfect control of internal aspiration to express the torment of the soul for a love which is not repaid, Nessun maggior dolore the gondolier’s barcarolle and Non arrestare il colpo, Desdemona and Otello‘s final duet.

It is an example of great technique in composition for which Rossini is the greatest exponent of Italian opera, above all in the finale’s modernity: The Moor takes his life, pronouncing a few words on a dissonant accordo of the ninth minor, shouted by those present on the stage. The curtain falls rapidly, within five orchestral bars.

When compared to Shakespeare’s play, the plot has differences: in the handkerchief, which becomes a letter and other minor details. Among the ten operas written by Rossini for the theatre of Naples, Otello is surely the best conceived so much that it obtained a long success. It filled with enthusiasm the audiences of Paris, Madrid and St. Petersburg up until the Verdian Otello’s appearance, which caused the Rossinian opera to fall almost to oblivion.

Verdi’s Otello
By comparison, Otello by Verdi reaches a powerful dramatisation with certain recitatives of notable mark and without precedent, whether in the operas by Verdi himself or in those by other composers. The rich orchestration caused the debate between Wagnerians and Verdians to explode. The memorable pages are: Esultate, Già nella notte densa, Dio mi potevi scagliare, etc., up to the finale Niun mi tema. These pages are already part of the Italian operatic texture and accompany our music life like road companions.

I love an Otello which is very intellectualistic, never the impetuous or shouting one, the way some vocal interpreters transformed it. To me, the Otello of historic reference is Giacomo Lauri-Volpi. As Otello, he reaches a vocal balance of expressivity never attained by his tenor colleagues.

Lauri-Volpi’s voice, which is always crystalline, thoughtful and calibrated, reflects the emotional state of Otello as if the character contemplated Lauri-Volpi from the outside, giving in to the wishes of destiny and accepting it with nothing in his power to change. All in all, Lauri-Volpi, as the cultured man he was, offered us an Otello from a viewpoint of Classical-Greek tragedy.

I think that many orchestral conductors nowadays look upon Otello configured likewise and not an interpretation in a vulgar-verist mode.

Advice
In conclusion, the advice which comes to me spontaneously is to listen to the Otello by Rossini twice and that by Verdi once, in order to appreciate their differences despite the stratospheric entity of the two Italian masterpieces.

Salvatore Fisichella
Translated from the Italian by the chief editor of www.opera-gems.com

Comment
First performed in 1816, Rossini's Otello became an immensely popular opera throughout the 19th century and was eclipsed only by Verdi's more Shakespearean version. The Rossini's Otello is one of the composer's early masterpieces in the tragic style.

The first of eight serious operas written for the Teatro San Carlo of Naples, Otello reveals Rossini as a composer deeply concerned with character development and large-scale musical form.

Desdemona's "Willow Song" is a fine example. Not only is variation technique used for dramatic ends but the song itself forms part of a larger music palette that encompasses the entire act III as a unified piece. Far more than a mere forerunner to Verdi’s Otello, Rossini's namesake deserves to be known and appreciated for its innovative qualities.

In September 2002 and in the ensuing five months, I presented a special feature series in Grandi Tenori, assessing the vocality of two great interpreters of Otello, including Lauri-Volpi and Del Monaco. I called the former a "noble" Otello and the latter, "barbarian". It goes with little saying that both great tenors portrayed an Otello modelled around their technical and stylistic characteristics.

Lauri-Volpi as Otello - The diction and timbre throughout are matchless. However, the overall vocal interpretation is not quite on a par with the fascinating vocal instrument. This is understandable. Giacomo sang Otello for a total of only seven times on the stage. There was a need to harness character subtleties. These are achievable with continuity of an in-depth study of the score and hundreds of performances.

Del Monaco as Otello - The overall vocal interpretation is glorious and surprisingly with sfumature supported by very rich and flexible middle registers. Musicalità is not the best with pieces where forte-piano and sweet sonorities are needed, witness the love duet. His vocal presence is ready, burning and refined through hundreds of performances.

Both tenors display heroic and overflowing squillo. In the famous suicide aria Niun mi tema more than any other, they both rightly confirmed to have been the singing actors enthusiastically admired and applauded in the XX century. Vocally and artistically, both tenors should be looked upon as the two greatest interpreters of Otello, who graced the stage in the XX century.

Joseph Fragala
www.opera-gems.com

Audio Samples:
01 Mario del Monaco and Aldo Protti under Alberto Erede, 1954
- Listen: Si pel ciel marmoreo giuro | 64 kbps / 1.07 mb
02 Giacomo Lauri-Volpi and Mario Basiola under Gino Marinuzzi, 1942
- Listen: Si pel ciel marmoreo giuro | 64 kbps / 1.36 mb