Mozart: Il sogno di Scipione, K. 126 Ian Page

• Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756 - 1791): Il sogno di Scipione, K. 126:
• 1 Overture 05:23
• 2 Recitative: Vieni e siegui miei passi (Fortuna, Costanza, Scipione) 02:16
• 3 Aria: Risolver non osa (Scipione) 06:45
• 4 Recitative: Giusta e la tua richiesta (Costanza, Fortuna) 00:29
• 5 Aria: Lieve sono al par del vento (Fortuna) 07:09
• 6 Recitative: Dunque ove son? (Scipione, Costanza, Fortuna) 02:40
• 7 Aria: Ciglio che al sol si gira (Costanza) 08:03
• 8 Recitative: E quale abitatori? (Scipione, Fortuna, Costanza) 00:28
• 9 Chorus: Germe di cento eroi (Chorus) 02:39
• 10 Recitative: Numi! (Scipione, Publio) 02:43
• 11 Aria: Se vuoi che te raccolgano (Publio) 07:24
• 12 Recitative: Se qui vivon gli eroi (Scipione, Fortuna, Costanza, Publio, Emilio) 03:59
• 13 Aria: Vol colaggiu ridete (Emilio) 08:17
• 14 Recitative: Padre, ah lasciate (Scipione, Fortuna, Costanza, Publio, Emilio) 01:49
• 15 Aria: Quercia annosa su l'erte pendici (Publio) 03:17
• 16 Recitative: Giacchè al voler de' Fati (Scipione, Costanza, Publio, Emilio) 02:50
• 17 Aria: A chi serena io miro (Fortuna) 06:53
• 18 Recitative: E a si enorme possanza (Scipione, Costanza) 02:16
• 19 Aria: Biancheggia in mar lo scolio (Costanza) 07:09
• 20 Recitative: Non più. Bella Costanza (Scipione, Costanza) 00:40
• 21 Aria: Di che sei l'arbitra (Scipione) 07:15
• 22 Recitative: E v'e mortal (Fortuna, Scipione) 03:33
• 23 Recitative: Non e Scipio (La Licenza) 00:34
• 24 Aria: Ah, perche cercar degg'io (La Licenza) 08:29
• 25 Chorus: Cento volte con pieto sembiante (Chorus) 01:37
• 26 Aria: Ah perchè cercar degg'io (La Licenza) 03:31
• Total Runtime 01:48:08

Info for Mozart: Il sogno di Scipione, K. 126

Classical Opera continue their complete Mozart opera recording series with the one-act dramatic serenade Il sogno di Scipione, K. 126. Composed in 1771 as a celebratory homage to Prince Archbishop Sigismund Schrattenbach of Salzburg, the Archbishop died before the piece could be performed. In the spring of 1772 Mozart amended the work so that it could be used in honour of Schrattenbach’s successor, Hieronymus Colloredo – the only necessary change was to alter the name of the dedicatee in the final recitative.

The story of Scipio’s Dream takes place in c.148 BC, while the celebrated Roman general is a guest in the palace of his ally Massinissa, King of Numidia (in modern day Tunisia). As Scipio falls into a deep sleep, he dreams that the allegorical figures of Fortuna (Fortune) and Costanza (Constancy) appear to him in Elysium and demand that he should choose one of them to follow for the rest of his days.

Mozart’s dramatic genius shows itself in two framing devices he uses to set up the story – the gradual subsidence of the overture into an unresolved hush depicting Scipio falling into a deep sleep, and the remarkable accompanied recitative in which Scipio eventually stirs from his dream – in which he composes music of sublime beauty and haunting otherworldliness.

Ian Page says: “In his early operas Mozart already demonstrates an unerring ability to match the scale and ambition of the music to the widely differing circumstances for which each work was written, no less so in Il sogno di Scipione. Mozart’s vocal writing is often virtuosic and demanding, and the orchestra already plays a dynamic role in evoking character and emotion.”

Il sogno di Scipione follows the much lauded ‘Perfido!’, a collection of concert arias by Mozart, Haydn and Beethoven sung by soprano Sophie Bevan with Ian Page’s The Mozartists, a new extension of Classical Opera reflecting their expanding concert work and broadening exploration of the music of Mozart and his contemporaries.

„The Orchestra of Classical Opera, playing on period instruments about a semitone below today’s pitch, are quite wonderful...The singers, most of them new to me, are just as fine. Stuart Jackson manages the melismas and wide leaps of his two arias with confidence and elegance...Ian Page presides over a charming performance, with well-paced recitatives and appropriate, sometimes extravagant decoration. This is minor Mozart, done supremely well.“ (Gramophone)

Chiara Skerath, soprano
Soraya Mafi, soprano
Klara Ek, soprano
Stuart Jackson, tenor
Krystian Adam, tenor
Robert Murray, tenor
Classical Opera
Ian Page, conductor

Ian Page
is the founder, conductor and artistic director of Classical Opera. He began his musical education as a chorister at Westminster Abbey, and studied English Literature at the University of York before completing his studies at the Royal Academy of Music in London. At the start of his career he worked on the music staff at Scottish Opera, Opera Factory, Drottningholm and Glyndebourne, working with such conductors as Sir Alexander Gibson, Nicholas McGegan, Mark Wigglesworth, Ivor Bolton and Sir Charles Mackerras.

With Classical Opera he has conducted most of Mozart’s early operas, including the world premieres of the ‘original’ version of Mitridate, re di Ponto and a new completion of Zaide, as well as Le nozze di Figaro, Così fan tutte and La clemenza di Tito. He has also conducted the UK premieres of Gluck’s La clemenza di Tito and Telemann’s Orpheus, and the first new staging for 250 years of Johann Christian Bach’s Adriano in Siria. In 2009 he made his Royal Opera House debut conducting Arne’s Artaxerxes at the Linbury Studio Theatre, and his studio recording of the work was released in 2011 on Linn Records.

He also devised and conducted Classical Opera’s recordings of ‘The A-Z of Mozart Opera’ (Signum Classics) and ‘Blessed Spirit – a Gluck retrospective’ (Wigmore Hall Live), both of which were selected for Gramophone magazine’s annual Critic’s Choice, and he recently embarked on a new complete cycle of Mozart opera recordings with Classical Opera.

“From the outset, Ian Page nurtures a performance that crackles, beguiles, thrills and moves by turns exactly as Mozart’s opera requires.” Gramophone

The Orchestra of Classical Opera
plays on period-instruments, and comprises some of the leading players in their field.

The orchestra, which varies in size from 12 to 50 depending on repertoire and venue, has won consistently high praise from public and critics alike, and performs symphonies and concertos as well as operas. 18th-century instruments are very different from their modern counterparts. Access to new materials through global trade and advances in technology mean that today’s instruments are lighter and more robust, and might also be more naturally resonant. Most 18-century instruments are far more exposed and difficult to play than their modern equivalents, but they bring a thrilling vibrancy and immediacy to the music. This is particularly true of vocal repertoire, where the orchestra provide a dynamic subtext and often become an extra actor in the drama.

Like Mozart’s musicians, our players are able to improvise around a given melody or harmonic sequence, bringing their own interpretation to a work and ensuring that audiences never hear the same thing twice.

The short film below features one of our principal cellists Joseph Crouch, together with Artistic Director Ian Page, discussing their approach to the interpretation of recitative during the recording of Mozart’s Apollo et Hyacinthus.

Booklet for Mozart: Il sogno di Scipione, K. 126