Salieri - La Scuola de’ Gelosi

The Guardian 60

Mazzulli/Mameli/D’Aguanno/Sacchi/L’Arte del Mondo/Ehrhardt
(Deutsche Harmonia Mundi)

As Peter Shaffer’s Amadeus once again tantalises audiences at the National Theatre with the notion that Salieri might actually have dunnit, here is a premiere recording of one of his major operas. Salieri didn’t share Mozart’s gift for instant and succinct musical characterisation, but still, he’s more than Shaffer’s “patron saint of mediocrities”.

First performed in 1778, and revised for stagings in Vienna in 1783, three years before Mozart’s Marriage of Figaro, La Scuola de’ Gelosi has a convoluted plot based on familiar themes of marital jealousy and trickery, and some other familiar aspects besides. Salieri introduces his Countess well into the first half with a soliloquy aria almost – but not quite – as poised and beautiful as Mozart’s Porgi Amor; Mozart’s genius may have been absolute, but it didn’t spring from nowhere. There are no real standouts in Werner Ehrhardt’s mostly Italian-speaking cast, but all are decent. The orchestral playing has the odd rough edge but plenty of spirit.