The composer
Egidio Duni is all but unknown nowadays, but he worked amidst several important currents of 18th century musical life. A Neapolitan who wrote Italian operas, he was backed by a noble patron who apparently gave him the means to move to Paris.
Duni composed French operas of various types, and
Denis Diderot cited him as a counterexample to
Rousseau's contention that the French language was unsuited to opera.
Duni would be worth hearing for his influence alone; the two short comic works recorded here were important early examples of opera-comique, but they are also charming in their own right. In Paris, they were known not as operas but as "comedies melees d'ariettes," or comedies mixed with ariettas. Much of the dialogue is spoken, and some of that is unaccompanied, while other pieces have a light continuo-like backing. (This aspect of the notation has not survived, but the decisions made by the performers here are unobjectionable.) The texts hold up even today as pretty funny.
Le peintre amoureux de son modele ("
The Painter in Love with His Model," she chooses someone her own age at the end) and
Les deux chasseurs et la laitiere ("
The Two Hunters and the Milkmaid") have crackling sitcom dialogue. Physical album buyers will get a booklet with complete texts. The singers are not spectacular (four in one opera, three in the other), but then, they shouldn't be; what is important is that they put the text across, don't overact, and engage with the comedy. The small
Orkester Nord is the right size at 23 players, and conductor
Martin Wahlberg keeps things moving along. This is a delightful release of much more than historical interest. If scores are available, collegiate groups could easily mount productions of these works. ~ James Manheim
