Otello received its world premiere at La Scala on 5 February 1887. The opera was conducted by Arturo Toscanini, who lived long enough to record the full opera in the early 1950's, and starred Francesco Tamagno and Victor Maurel, both of whom brought their premier roles to the Metropolitan Opera in 1894.
However, three years earlier when the opera was a mere 4 years old, the opera had its Metropolitan Opera premiere in Chicago in November of 1891. 1891 is Jean de Reszke's debut year, and this Chigaco Otello is the fourth performance of his under Met auspices.
>The performance had some very commendable features. M. Jean de Reszke was a splendid figure as Otello, and sang the music with a most artistic appreciation of its dramatically declamatory character. Yet without losing that indefinite grace of vocal expression which belongs to his school, his treatment of the rΓ΄le was beautifully plastic, but it lacked the portentous repose which we have learned to associate with the best interpretations of the part. On the whole, however, his performance was an excellent one, and deserved the hearty applause which it received.
They were referring to Tamagno when they mentioned "the best interpretations of the part."
Today's opera is from the Arena di Verona in 1982.
Opera Link: https://youtu.be/ETsneoOfOIA
English Libretto: https://www.opera-arias.com/rossini/otello/libretto/english/
Part 1:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zP3R0MHJO-Y
Part 2:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iz2tVGLSEG8
Libretto:http://www.murashev.com/opera/Otello_libretto_Italian_English
Giacomini here acts and sings what is probably his most famous role, that of the tormented Moor of Venice. Maria Chiara, a significant soprano who notably sang an Aida with Pavarotti and Dimitrova, is Desdemona, and Piero Cappuccili is the scheming Iago.
TRIGGER WARNING: This production, like most Otello productions from before a decade or so ago, contains blackface.
Otello is a human male, ex-sailor, now warlock of the Fathomless patron. This campaign takes place in the forgotten realms and he comes from the Sword Coast. He's a dependable person and a good friend, however he tends to follow his conscience about what he deems is "right" and "wrong" regardless of what the law actually says.
He is about 5β10β with blue eyes, and long, unkempt brownish/blondish hair, and is clean shaven. He is decently built but not shredded, and is white, but definitely has very tanned skin from lots of time spent working in the sun.
He wears blue/black flowing clothes, in the theme of the deep sea, so has some water-y ideas and is meant to evoke the thought of the abyss, they are kinda like robes but not super long. These are worn over some patchwork leather armor. He also wears baggy pants like what we would think of as sweatpants today but without the elastic and are also pretty thin. These are wrapped with cloth wraps that wrap down his legs to his beat up brown workman boots. He wields an axe , specifically a boarding axe, which has a blade on one side and a point on the other side. He has two distinct tattoos of intertwining tentacles, seaweed and other sea-stuff like chains, going around his wrists.
He was a sailor before his ship was attacked, he drowned, and made a pact to serve the being that contacted him from deep beneath the sea in exchange for his life. After that he has been a working man, doing whatever will keep coin in his pockets and food in his mouth, sometimes it was just manual labor and sometimes this involved using his new-found powers. He has some experience with the adventuring life-style, beast slaying and the like, however he will soon find himself with a group that will take him on an adventure that is slightly out of his league.
Link:https://www.operaonvideo.com/otello-tokyo-1959-del-monaco-gobbi/ Libretto:http://www.murashev.com/opera/Otello_libretto_italian_english This performance of Verdi's penultimate work features Mario del Monaco, probably the greatest exponent of the title role, as a suitably heroic and tormented Moor, with Gabriella Tucci as a wonderfully pure and innocent Desdemona, and Tito Bobbi as a superbly acted and evil Iago. Even more of a must-watch than Monday's video. Pardon my lateness, my power was out.
Buongiorno a tutti,
Can anyone help we with what Otello Profazio says before the Tarantella starts playing in his song A Viddhaneddha? So far I've got....
Chistu Γ¨ lu ballu di li nostri nonni Chistu Γ¨ lu ballu di picciuli e randi Lu ballunu m'brischiati, omini e donni Li Calabrisi di tutti li bandi
Need from from here, grazie a voi
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jpHFa6v9NVk
This apparently comes from a live TV performance, in German, with Sena Jurinac and Norman Mittelman. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2361828/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xgdI6p7kFS8&ab_channel=VariousArtists-Topic
