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Lyric Opera of Chicago's Production of Rossini's Le comte Ory Utilizes Bärenreiter's Milestone Critical Edition

Nov. 23, 2022

From November 13-26, Lyric Opera of Chicago presented Rossini's Le comte Ory in a production conducted by Enrique Mazzola, directed by Bartlett Sher, and featuring a cast of star soloists including Lawrence Brownlee and Kathryn Lewek. Bärenreiter's outstanding new critical edition was edited by Damien Colas and overseen by Philip Gossett. It represents a milestone in critical edition scholarship as it reestablishes the original full version of Rossini's opera from the premiere at the Paris Opera in 1828.

Since the publication of the critical edition in 2014, it has been used in Zurich, Vienna, Lyon, Paris, Milan, Seattle, Liége, Toulon, and Metz. Philip Gossett notes, "The new edition [of Le comte Ory], of course, uses the only surviving autograph manuscripts (the opening orchestral introduction and a sketch for it and the Trio), and consults the critical edition of Il viaggio a Reims for pieces borrowed from that opera. Mostly, however, the edition is based on original performing materials: the score located in the archives of the Opéra is its primary source (Rossini personally wrote several things into this score); ultimately this score was checked carefully against all individual performing parts and against the Troupenas score (for there are copying mistakes in the Opéra manuscript). The version of this edition is the version Rossini himself prepared and performed at the Opéra in 1828. This is also the only edition to integrate stage directions from the original printed libretto and to pay close attention to the words (particularly important where different groups must use different texts)."


(Lawrence Brownlee performs "Que les destin prospères" from Rossini's Le comte Ory at the Lyric Opera of Chicago)

To learn more about Gioacchino Rossini, visit: bärenreiter.com.

Gioacchino Rossini
Le comte Ory
libretto by Augustin Eugène Scribe and Charles-Gaspard Delestre-Poirson
Edited by Damien Colas
First performance with the new edition: January 23, 2011 - Opernhaus Zürich, Conductor: Muhai Tang, stage dirctor: Moshe Leiser, Patrice Caurier

Characters: La Comtesse (soprano), Isolier (mezzo-soprano), Alice (mezzo-soprano), Dame Ragonde (mezzo-soprano), Coryphée 1 (mezzo-soprano), Coryphée 2 (mezzo-soprano), Comte Ory (tenor), Coryphée (tenor), Gérard (tenor), Mainfroy (tenor), Coryphée 1 (bass), Coryphée 2 (bass), Raimbaud (bass), Le Gouverneur (bass), Mixed chorus, Men's chorus, Women's chorus

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