Everything is ok

I had this performance years ago on an expensive 3 CD Melodram set coupled with another Donizetti rarity called Pia de Tolomei. I never listened to it before selling it to a Donizetti collector. I regretted that, but now I've heard Maria di Rohan, thanks to Opera Depot.I'm still not quite sure what the plot is all about (a soprano-tenor-baritone triangle of some kind), but my libretto Italian is good enough to follow the basic idea. Zeani is thrilling with her tears-in-the-voice instrument. She adds a number of high dominant notes (Ds and E-flats) and always has the audience on her side. Zanasi is Elegance personified with his beautiful Italian baritone and style. He certainly didn't lack for work, but in an era rich in good Italian baritones he was overlooked by the recording studios. Enzo Tei is all right in the lead tenor role. His intonation isn't always perfect yet he gets the job done. Previtali uses the later edition of the score so we get Anna Maria Rota is a trouser role. I only regret she doesn't have more to do.The audience loves what they're hearing and applauds vociferously, especially Zeani. The sound is excellent. The two filler arias from Zeani are nice, but the "Ah, non credea" really should've had the "Ah, non giunge" cabaletta attached to it; there was room on the disc.Donizetti collectors and fans of the singers should get this. This is one of Donizetti's more original scores and it should be heard more often.

Maria di Rohan is quite innovative. Much of the criticism of this piece still relies on shallow clichés of old-fashioned Donizetti criticism. In a nutshell: Donizetti was Verdi's master. All of Verdi is to a lesser or greater extent found in Donizetti. Verdi, among other things, ransacked the Bergamo master's canon for quotations. The iconic 'Amami, Alfredo' is a quote from the beginning of 'Pia de' Tolomei', by Ghino, the tenor, where he declares his wild, unsupportable love for the soprano. For me, one arresting thing about 'Maria di Rohan' is it's adult, stripped-down, terse, verging-on-veristic intensity. There is no chorus for the entire second half! If you're expecting Lucia, you won't understand it. It took me awhile to get it, but now I think it one of Donizetti's crucial masterworks. It belongs on the list of greatest 5 Donizetti operas, which is really saying something. Good luck, though, with finding the singers to sing it, and a production that serves the score. Good luck with that.....

This is a terrific and largely unknown opera, and this performance presents it quite decently. Zeani is wonderful, and the others are fine.

Donizetti's Maria Rohan is a opera that is not as often performed as it's score would suggest it should be. The music is beautiful and always engaging, full of marvellous arias, cabalettos and ensembles.Virginia Zeani's beautiful voice with it's secure and brilliant extension makes her an ideal Maria. She delivers a stunning high D at the end of her 3rd act aria that rightly sends the Napolitan audience wild.Mario Zansi is excellent as the betrayed husband. His warm high baritone bright and incisive, his diction, as is Zeani's, clean and clear.Eno Tei is not quite in this class but he serves the music well. Anna Maria Rota is particularly good in the trouser of Gondi.The sound is very good

Zeani is brilliant in this unusual Donizetti.