Anna Bonitatibus returns to Rossini with Fogli d’album, a new recording released by Prospero Classical. The mezzo-soprano is accompanied on the piano by Adele D’Aronzo.
Far removed from the great operatic works that have shaped our familiar image of the composer, the album delves into the world of fogli d’album: small vocal and instrumental pieces that Rossini wrote throughout his life for friends, artists, patrons, members of the aristocracy and a variety of private occasions. These works offer a particularly personal insight into the composer, tracing different moments in his life, his relationships and his artistic development.
The repertoire is presented in chronological order, from Se il vuol la mulinara, considered Rossini’s earliest composition, to works from the final decades of his life. The programme features numerous little-known pieces and several settings of Mi lagnerò tacendo, alongside works such as La passeggiata, L’âme délaissée, Arietta spagnuola, Preghiera nuova, L’esule, La pastorella, Amori scendete and Addio di Rossini.
One of the project’s most distinctive features is its recovery of little-known material. The performances are based on autograph manuscripts and early printed sources, many of them unpublished. Among the works brought to light is L’esule, whose autograph manuscript was discovered in an album of manuscripts sold by Christie’s in 2023 and whose version is presented here for the first time.
Anna Bonitatibus approaches this repertoire with a focus on preserving the simplicity and expressive character of the music, deliberately avoiding excessive vocal ornamentation and paying particular attention to the relationship between music and text. The project also incorporates the latest musicological research and places each composition within its historical context.
With Fogli d’album, Anna Bonitatibus reveals an intimate, private and surprisingly personal Rossini, offering a very different perspective on the composer from that found in his great operatic works.
