Capuleti e i Montecchi 1967Edinburgh Festival Opera
Read more about the opera Capuleti e i Montecchi
This production was brought in from the Holland Festival and the Edinburgh programme does not credit the set or costume designers, whose work in Holland was presumably adapted for the stage of the King’s Theatre. It does observe that Miss Moffo’s new costumes were designed by Tim Goodchild.
The work was little known at this time, so the fact that Romeo was sung by a tenor instead of the authentic mezzo-soprano attracted little attention. The part of Romeo later attracted some great singers including Agnes Baltsa and Anne Sofie von Otter. Dame Janet Baker recorded the part though did not perform it in the theatre.
Anna Moffo only sang the role in Edinburgh – Margherita Rinaldi sang Juliet in Holland, and Renata Scotto followed at La Scala, all performances being conducted by the highly-promising Abbado. Live recordings made in Amsterdam and Milan have been made available on CD.
Luciano Pavarotti never sang opera again in Scotland, and his only subsequent appearance at the Festival was for two performances of the Verdi Requiem conducted by Carlo Maria Giulini in 1974.
1967 was the year in which the Festival experimented with its own programme format. The normal programme, with casts, remained in the generic King's Theatre presentation. The synopsis was issued in a new long and slim format. From 1968 that new style included all the programme information.
Opera at the Edinburgh Festival - 1967
For the 1967 Edinburgh Festival, the chosen musical theme was Igor Stravinsky. A wide-ranging programme of events was produced, with the composer in attendance. Participants included the Cleveland Orchestra under their conductor, the legendary George Szell, who had been chief conductor of the Scottish Orchestra back in the thirties. The operatic programme featured the Festival debut of Scottish Opera with The Rake's Progress, and they also put on The Soldier's Tale.
Peter Diamand continued the link with his previous employers, the Holland Festival, for a third year, by mounting co-productions of two rarities by Bellini (Capuleti) and Haydn (Anima del filosofo, under the title Orfeo ed Euridice).
Bellini Operas at the Edinburgh Festival
During his ten year composing career, Vincenzo Bellini produced ten operas. If only five of these have been seen at the Festival, at least the casts have displayed five of the leading sopranos of the age - Maria Callas, Joan Sutherland, Anna Moffo, Renata Scotto and Cecilia Bartoli - as well as some decent tenors (including Luciano Pavarotti , Nicola Monti and Giacomo Aragall).
The ten operas are: Adelson e Salvini (1825); Bianca e Fernando (1826); Il pirata (1827); La straniera (1829); Zaira (1830); I Capuleti e i Montecchi (1830); La sonnambula (1831); Norma(1831); Beatrice di Tenda (1833); I puritani (1835).
