From the Tutto Verdi Series-I due Foscari was Verdi's sixth opera and based on Lord Byron's play The Two Foscari. Rich in intrigue, the plot tells of the final days of the famous Venetian doge, Francesco Foscari, and his illegal overthrow in 1457.
Conductor: Donato Renzetti
Stars: Roberto De Biasio, Leo Nucci, Tatiana Serjan, Roberto Tagliavini.
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2812242/
also
1h 57min | October 2012 (USA)
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4625300/
(will try to sort that out later)
6th Verdi opera.
First performed in Rome's Teatro Argentina, 1844
Place: Venice
Time: 1457
Filmed at Teatro Regio di Parma.
Jacopo Foscari, son of the Doge of Venice, has returned from exile, and faces trial for murder. When he's convicted, his wife Lucrezia tries to generate clemency from his father, but he reluctantly abstains. His sentence is exile, and his family cannot go with him. Jacopo dies on the departing galley ship, evidence is uncovered that he's innocent, and the town removes Foscari senior from his office of Doge, who promptly dies as well. (Sounds like a setup for a revenge-filled sequel - if the wife wants to lead a band of vigilantes.)
Having read the synopsis beforehand, I was worried that this would be a lot of sturm und drang, Italian-style, and it is. One celebratory dance sequence felt strange, as though the town was dancing on the graves of the people about to die. But they were either celebrating something else, or the fact that this "murderer" was about to be exiled. Otherwise, it's a lot of people feeling very badly about the situation, and singing their guts out about it. The soprano gets a bit shrill at times, but the music may have been written that way.
I liked the simpler plot, and the men were good in their roles. The costume designs were era-appropriate (see the ermine cape in the poster), although the chorus wore some translucent coats which stood out as not possible for the time. The sets were minimal, but had steps for the players to be staggered on different levels.
The Great Course mentions this opera, but basically jumps from Ernani to Macbeth.
Per the 2012 featurette, without naming the source of world-wide most-performed rankings, this is 16th among Verdi's operas, 213th among all operas. (another source-less list of the top 100; Operabase Statistics)
Unitel, cond. Renzetti; 8
