Bianca et Falliero by Rossini, Du (2022/2022), Dirigé par Tilmann Köhler, Chef d'orchestre Giuliano Carella, Opernhaus, Francfort-sur-le-Main, Allemagne

A city strives for world power, it uncovers conspiracies, defeats its enemies and isolates itself for fear of threats. Behind its walls, the miniature state of Venice suppresses every form of individuality and love. The inhuman system freezes. The family drama Bianca e Falliero , Rossini's last opera written for La Scala in Milan, is set in this oppressive atmosphere. It is one of his charming but - wrongly - rarely performed works. The librettist Felice Romani combines an espionage story with a variant of the story of Romeo and Juliet, with the feuding families this time in a long-standing inheritance dispute. Bianca, the daughter of Senator Contareno, secretly loves General Falliero, but her father's political and financial interests threaten their love. Bianca is mercilessly used as a hostage in the family feud. Falliero, the defender of the state, returns from the war just as Bianca is about to be forced into a marriage with Capellio. The conflicts are inevitable, Bianca's ordeal between fatherly love as the original bond and the promised devotion to the beloved gave Rossini the opportunity to expand his means of expression. This time the virtuoso coloraturas are far removed from any bel canto acrobatics. The decorative art in the large-scale scenes of the protagonists serves as a stylistic device in the depiction of a four-way conflict. This bold concept in shaping the vocal parts was Rossini's Semiseria's undoing. Not least because of the high vocal demands, the opera was not able to establish itself during the composer's lifetime. It was only rediscovered in 1986 in Rossini's native town of Pesaro and revealed its extraordinary qualities.