Now for another first act finale by Rossini written at about the same time as the one from L’Italiana. Tancredi was Rossini’s first big success. It was premiered in Venice at La Fenice a few months before L’Italiana. It’s an opera seria, though the finale we’re about to hear could just as well come from a comic opera. At the end of the first act Amenaide, the soprano, is denounced by her father, rejected her lover Tancredi (an alto), and taken prisoner. Despite all the tsouris, the number seem pretty jaunty. The opera was quite popular until the middle of the 19th century when it all but disappeared. More recently it has returned to the repertory, ranking 189 among all opera performed in the world during the 2012-14 season. Marilyn Horne sang the title role to great effect.
Marilyn Horne as Tancredi
