Anna Netrebko, in concert at the Maggio: 21 February at 8 pm, the only Italian date of her tour
Anna Netrebko’s recital at the Teatro del Maggio
The only Italian show of his concert tour
On Friday, February 21st, 2025 at 8 pm Anna Netrebko returns to the Teatro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino.
A rich selection of songs composed by Pëtr Il'ič Čajkovskij, Sergej Rachmaninoff, Ruggero Leoncavallo, Vincenzo Bellini, Richard Strauss, and more.
On her side the mezzo-soprano Elena Maximova; on the piano Pavel Nebolsin.
Thanks to Toscana Aeroporti for their support.
Florence, February 18th 2025 – Back to the Teatro del Maggio, on Friday, February 21st 2025 at 8 pm, Anna Netrebko, the famous soprano among the most acclaimed of recent decades, protagonist of some of the brightest performances in the most important international temples of music.
Anna Netrebko, who performed for the first time at Maggio in November 2000 and the following year in June, after a break of twenty years she linked her name again with our Theater on the occasion of the amazing performance of Tosca in concert form during the spring of 2021, held at the Großes Festspielhaus in Salzburg under the direction of maestro Zubin Mehta, and then for the triumphant recital of June 2021, now renews its collaboration with the Teatro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino with this highly anticipated concert, the only Italian stage of her recital tour.
In the concert alongside Netrebko, mezzo-soprano Elena Maximova and, on piano, Pavel Nebolsin. The rich program of the evening winds through chamber novels by some of the most famous Russian composers of the 20th century and arias and duets taken from Italian operas, Russian and French, and is divided into four distinct parts.
The first, which takes the name "In the forest", opens in the name of Pëtr Il'ič Čajkovskij with the first of the 6 Romanzas op. 57, made in 1884, and with the second of the 6 Romanzes op. 38 composed in 1878 in Florence during one of the frequent stays of the musician in the Tuscan city. The next composition is by Sergej Rachmaninov, or Zdes' khorosto... (Here everything is beautiful...), the seventh of the 12 Romances op. 21 followed by Zvonče žavoronka pen'je (The lark sings louder), from the collection To the spring op. 43 by Nikolaj Rimskij-Korsakov.
Čajkovskij is also the fourth of six that compose the last of his cycles of novels, op. 73 Zakatilos solnze (The sun has set), written when he was already immersed in the composition of the famous Patetica. In closing a famous operatic piece, the ballad of Nedda Stridon lassù, from Pagliacci by Ruggero Leoncavallo and among the symbols of Italian verismo.
The second part of the recital, "Near the river", begins with a piece for piano, the sixth of 8 Morceaux caractéristiques op. 36 composed in 1886 by the Polish composer and pianist Moritz Morszkowski and continues with two pieces by Nikolaj Rimskij-Korsakov (4 Romances op. 3, no. 4: Na kholmakh Gruzii and 2 Romances op. 56, no. 1: Nimfa) and the extract "Viens Mallika... Thick dome" by Lakmé by Léo Delibes.
The third part is entitled "In the palace" and is entirely occupied by four significant arias. We start with the outing of Adriana Lecouvreur "Del sultano Amuratte m’arrendo all’imper… Io son l’umile ancella", from the opera by Francesco Cilea and then continue with the finale of Sneguročka (The Snow Maiden), opera of rare performance by Rimskij-Korsakov to which follow the aria "O, ne rïdáy, moy Páolo" (Oh, don’t cry, my Paul) From Francesca da Rimini by Sergej Rachmaninov and the final monologue of Ariadne auf Naxos by Richard Strauss.
"From the window" is the name of the last section of the recital, which collects operatic and chamber ‘pages’ characterized by marked nuances of sensitivity: this part of the concert opens with the recitative and romance of Juliet "Eccomi in lieta vesta…" from I Capuleti e i Montecchi by Vincenzo Bellini, followed by a brief instrumental parenthesis, namely the Fantasie-Impromptu in C diesis minor op. 66 by Frédéric Chopin, which the composer dedicated to Baroness Sarah Frances d'Este.
Ständchen (Serenata), from the second of the 6 Lieder op. 17 by Richard Strauss follows on the bill, and is marked by the rhythm of ‘barcarola’ the song of Serenada (Serenata) by Čajkovskij, the last of the Romanzes op. 63 scheduled after the Strauss' piece. A last extract from an opera is 'entrusted' to the duet Ja ne budu, ja ne magu spat (I will not sleep, I can’t sleep) that opens the opera War and Peace by Sergej Prokofiev. The second of the 2 Romanzas op. 56 by Rimskij-Korsakov, composed on the text of the poet Majkov and which takes the name of Son v letnjuju noč (A Summer Night’s Dream) closes the program of the evening.
The program:
The soprano Anna Netrebko will take us on a fascinating journey into the music of her homeland with a rich program that combines chamber novels by the greatest Russian authors of the last century with arias and duets from Russian, Italian and French operas.
The first part of the recital, entitled In the forest is almost entirely dedicated to chamber romance, a vocal genre for domestic use cultivated especially in the nineteenth century and mainly intended for aristocratic salons.
The program opens with two compositions by Čajkovskij inspired by nature and forest creatures: "Skazhi, o chem v temi vetvei" ("Tell me what in the shadow of the fronds"), which is part of the collection of 6 Romanzes op. 57 made in 1884 and tells the emotions experienced by the maiden in hearing the song of love of the nightingale and "To bylo ranneju vesnoj" ("It was early spring"), a small opera scene focused on nostalgia for a past love, taken from the 6 Romanzes op. . "Zakatilos solzne" ("The sun has set"), from the cycle of Romanze op. 73, was composed in 1893 and describes the joy of love in the suggestive setting of a sunset. It bears the signature of Sergei Rachmaninov "Zdes' khorosto..." ("Here everything is beautiful"), the seventh of the 12 Romances op. 21, while the last novel proposed is "Zvonče žavoronka pen'je" ("The lark sings louder"), from the collection A primavera op. 43 by Nikolaj Rimskij-Korsakov, short and full page of momentum. Finally, the first part ends with an Italian operatic piece, the ballad of Nedda from Ruggero Leoncavallo's Pagliacci, an opera that is emblematic of Italian verismo and which debuted at the Teatro dal Verme in Milan on May 21st, 1892. The protagonist presents herself on stage intoning an extremely dramatic recitative that precedes an aria with a catchy and suggestive melody in which Nedda associates her desire for freedom to a flock of birds that, chirping, fly free in the sky.
The second part of the concert, entitled Near the river, opens with two novels by Rimskij-Korsakov: "Na kholmakh Gruzii" ("On the hills of Georgia") is the last of the Romanzas op. 3 composed by the author in 1866 on text by Aleksandr Puskin while at the Romanze op. 56, made more than thirty years later, belongs instead "Nimfa" ("The nymph"), melancholy melody intoned by an ondine that fascinates the passing sailors on the river with its own song. Linked to the theme of water is also the famous flower duet from the opera Lakmé by Léo Delibes, which was performed at the Paris Opéra-Comique on April 14th 1883. In the famous duet, Lakmé, daughter of the Indian high priest, and the servant Mallika raise a sweaty song of oriental flavor as they go to the river to collect lotus flowers.
The third section of the recital, In the palace, instead impagina four great opera arias. We start with the sortita from Adriana Lecouvreur, from the homonymous opera by Francesco Cilea, a test for every great first woman both vocal and acting, followed by the final aria of Sneguročka (The Snow Maiden) opera of rare hearing by Rimskij-Korsakov. Here the protagonist Sneguročka sings a moving farewell to life at the moment when she is pierced by a ray of sun that pervades her with heat but at the same time condemns her to death being a magical creature of ice. From the opera by Rachmaninov Francesca da Rimini, is treated the aria "O, ne rïdáy, moy Páolo" ("Oh, don’t cry, my Paul") that establishes the culminating moment of the famous forbidden love passion narrated by Dante. Ariadne’s long monologue invoking death at the end of Richard Strauss' Ariadne auf Naxos closes the section on opera; a scene rich in musical references and insidious vocal passages that highlight the performer’s singing and scenic abilities.
The last section, entitled From the window, is rich and varied and gathers operatic and chamber music pages characterized by delicate melodies to be tuned with extreme sensitivity. The section opens with the recitative and romance of Juliet "Here I am in happy vesta..." by I Capuleti e i Montecchi by Vincenzo Bellini, ethereal and dreamy singing episode accompanied by the harp. Light and delicate melody is also the one intonated in "Ständchen" ("Serenata") according to the 6 Lieder op. 17 by Richard Strauss, while the luminous song of Serenada ("Serenata") by Čajkovskij, the last of the Romanzas op. 63. The last incursion in the opera is made by the duet "Ja ne budu, ja ne magu spat" ("I will not sleep, I cannot sleep") which opens the opera War and Peace by Prokof'ev. The protagonist Nataša and her cousin Sonja looking out of the window contemplate the beauty of the garden illuminated by the moonlight. The rare piano accompaniment opens the last composition on the programme "Son v letnjuju noč" ("Dream of a summer night") by Rimskij-Korsakov, the last of two novels op. 56. Wide and articulated like an opera scene, the piece tells of a night-time love encounter that actually happened or maybe just fantasized.