Cimarosa, Domenico (1749-1801)

Domenico Cimarosa was the most famous and popular Italian opera composer of the second half of the 18th Century. In the course of a brilliantly successful career he composed more than 65 operas as well as a significant body of instrumental music and works for the church. His operas were performed all over Europe, both in Italian and in translation. A number of Cimarosas operas continued to enjoy occasional stagings during the 19th Century, and his most famous work, Il matrimonio segreto, is one of only a handful of operas of the period never to have left the repertory. Voldomiro was commissioned by Teatro Regio in Turin for the carnival season of 1787. The only performance of record was Voldomiros prima in Turin, but the existence of an 18th-century MS copy of the full score at the Biblioteca da Ajuda in Lisbon suggests that there were performances of the opera in Portugal, and, similarly, the existence of a libretto for Voldomiro in the Stedelijk Musiekconservatorium in Lige suggests the possibility that either a performance was given there planned. In spite of the operas apparent lack of success, the overture, like all of Cimarosas overtures, is remarkable for its vitality, melodic invention and assured handling of the orchestra. Nick Rossi