The 36 Songs of Stefano Donaudy
IF YOU EVER HEARD works by a composer that you found appealing and attractive, you no doubt wanted to hear more other than the few works—in this case songs—and it has finally happened with the songs of the Italian composer Stefano Donaudy [1879-1928]. Songs such as "O del mio amato ben," and "Vaghissima sembianza" have perpetually been audience pleasers and are frequently on programs by singers. A CD now comes forth on an unnamed label distributed by CD Baby giving us all 46 of Donaudy's songs in the ancient style ... Italian love songs by a composer who was a contemporary of Giacomo Puccini. The disc is generally filled timing in at 77:22.
The tenor is Thomas Poole and pianist is Rob Hallquist. The recording took place at the University of Northern Colorado's recording studio apparently in 2000. For cataloguing purposes, I've called the label Tenor in a Box (there is no catalogue number on the CD), which also lists the singer's address, e-mail address and phone number. The insert only lists the titles of the 36 songs with biographies of the two artists. No notes are included on Stefano Donaudy. In that end, below I provide information taken from Wikipedia:
Stefano Donaudy (Palermo, February 21, 1879 – Naples, May 30, 1925), son of a French father and an Italian mother, was a minor Italian composer active in the 1890s and early 20th century, at a time when Palermo, his native city, was enjoying a period of relative splendour under the influx of rich Anglo-Sicilian families such as the Florios and the Whitakers. No biographical or musicological studies have so far been devoted to him, but it seems that Donaudy was very precocious, as a variety of sources date both his first opera Folchetto and one of his most popular songs, Vaghissima sembianza, to 1892, when he was only thirteen.
After studies with the director of Palermo's Conservatoire, Guglielmo Zuelli (a rival of Giacomo Puccini in his early years), it seems that Donaudy made a living as singing teacher, coach and accompanist for some of Sicily's wealthiest families, all while actively pursuing a career as a composer. He wrote mostly vocal music, dividing his efforts between opera and song, though he did also write chamber and orchestral music. Practically all his song texts and libretti were supplied by or written at four-hands with his brother, Alberto Donaudy (1880–1941), a poet whose style reflects the prevailing literary tastes of the period, from Arrigo Boito and Gabriele D'Annunzio to Guido Gozzano.
Today, Donaudy's fame rests exclusively on his collection 36 Arie di Stile Antico, first published by Casa Ricordi in 1918 with revisions in 1922, but using material composed from 1892 onwards. It's still currently in print. Several of its songs have never disappeared from the concert repertoire of Italianate opera singers, and titles such as Vaghissima sembianza, Spirate pur, spirate, O del mio amato ben and the beautiful Amorosi miei giorni, have been given unforgettable renditions on record by singers like Enrico Caruso, Beniamino Gigli, Tito Schipa, Claudia Muzio, Luciano Pavarotti, Rosa Ponselle and more recently people like Arleen Augér, Marcello Giordani, Sumi Jo and Andrea Bocelli. All these songs reveal a perfect mastery of vocal technique and a deeply sensuous and elegant melodic vein, which make them a worthy testimony of that particular variant of Art Nouveau spirit known in Italy as Stile Liberty. Perhaps, the quickest way to epitomise Donaudy is calling him an Italian equivalent of Reynaldo Hahn.
The rest of his production is completely forgotten. This includes the operas Folchetto (Palermo, 1892), La scampagnata (Palermo, 1898), Teodoro Koerner (Hamburg, November 27, 1902 as Theodor Körner), Sperduti in buio (Palermo, April 27, 1907) and Ramuntcho (from Pierre Loti, Milan, March 19, 1921). Donaudy's final opera was premiered at the Teatro di San Carlo in Naples on April 25, 1922: La Fiamminga was an unmitigated fiasco, and Donaudy was so hurt that he abandoned composition for the rest of his life. He died three years later, when he was barely forty-six.
All that said, it's wonderful to finally hear all of Donaudy's songs, none of which have the quality of his most popular two songs listed above. While Thomas Poole is no Franco Corelli, Giuseppe di Stefano or a Pavarotti (few are), he gives us good readings of all the songs in excellent Italian with a most able accompanist. The recording quality is good, though often heard with pedal use from the piano. This is obviously not a production in the style of EMI, RCA, Sony, or Decca, but fills a much needed place in the catalogue. Poole's voice becomes somewhat strained in the uppermost range at times, but over all is a pleasant voice, though lacking in "color" at times. He has a most able partner at the piano in Rob Hallquist, who plays with deep emotion in the piano accompaniments. ♫
