GAETANO DONIZETTI (1797-1848): Aristea.

Description: This 59-minute oddity dates from 1823. The autograph score calls it a "cantata" and the printed libretto "Componimento melodrammatico" and it was written for the name-day of the Bourbon King of the Two Sicilies and performed only twice. Yet the libretto was pilfered from a pre-existing opera libretto and has nothing whatsoever to do with the King. So what we have here is a compressed opera, coming right after Zoraida di Granata and before Alfredo il grande. Donizetti collectors will know what to expect. Italian texts available on-line. Andrea Lauren Brown, Sara Hershkowitz, Caroline Adler (sopranos), Cornel Frey, Robert Sellier (tenors), Members of the Bavarian State Opera Chorus, Simon Mayr Chorus and Ensemble; Frank Hauk.