Many operas have been based on popular plays, and the comedy on this week’s Sunday Opera (3/10 3:00 p.m.) is an excellent example of when this works to perfection. “La Vedova Scaltra” or “The Cunning Widow” by Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari with a libretto by Mario Ghisalberti is based on a play of the same name by Italian comic master Carlo Goldoni.
The fourth of five operas based on Goldoni plays by Wolf-Ferrari, the story centers on a wealthy widow who is wooed by suitors from four different countries (Great Britain, France, Spain, and Italy) and the complications that ensue as she tries to decide which one to choose. True to a good farce, there are mistaken identities, disguises, and, in this case, one wily Harlequin who manipulates things in his own favor.
The cast includes Anne-Lise Sollied as the widow Rosaura and as her four suitors: Maurizio Muraro (Britain), Emanuele D’Aguanno (France), Mark Milhofer (Italy), and Riccardo Zanellato (Spain). Alex Esposito is the Harlequin, and other members of the cast from this live recording from 2007 include Claudio Zancope, Luca Favaron, and Antonio Casagrande.
They’re joined by the Orchestra and Chorus of the Teatro La Fenice, Venice, and Karl Martin conducts.
Who will she choose? It all depends upon who passes her test, and to find that out, you’ll have to tune in this Sunday!
Also tune in for more glorious music from Wolf-Ferrari after the opera when host Michael Kownacky plans to bring you the overture and intermezzo from another of his works, “Doctor Cupid” followed by the wonderfully quirky Sinfonie da Camera in B-flat major, Op. 8 and the delightful Serenade for String Orchestra.
