The first performance of Jean-Philippe Rameau’s Comédie-Ballet „Les Paladins“ was a failure from which the work did not recover for a long time. Today it strikes us as a jewel with many opportunities for presentation on the stage.

83 years before George Frideric Handel’s opera „Serse“ was premiered, Francesco Cavalli had opened his dramma per musica „Il Xerse“ with the very same verses. The work very probably received its first performance on 12 January 1655 in Venice. The text was by Cavalli’s preferred librettist Nicolò Minato, whose work was revised by Silvio Stampiglia, the version also used by Handel. Cavalli’s original version of “Serse” quickly established itself in Italy and was even performed in France for Louis XIV in 1660, but today it is little known. On 25 July there is a thrilling opportunity to rediscover this opera at the Festival della Valle d’Itria in Martina Franca, Apulia, perhaps comparing it with Handel’s setting. Director Leo Moscato and conductor Federico Maria Sardelli, with his early music ensemble “Il modo antiquo”, perform „Il Xerse“ for the first time using the new critical edition from the „Opere di Franceso Cavalli“.

Gluck, „a young man of the highest abilities and a fiery spirit“, composed his opera „Antigono“ for Rome. In July this thrilling stage work can be heard once again in Bayreuth.

Schnee, kosmische Kälte: In Beat Furrers neuer Oper „Violetter Schnee“ sind fünf Menschen in einem Haus auf dem Weg in unbekanntes Terrain. Am 13. Januar 2019 wird sie an der Berliner Staatsoper uraufgeführt.

Of Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari’s works only “I quattro rusteghi” (The Four Ruffians) is really well-known, but other operas are also well worth rediscovering, for example “La vedova scaltra” and “Sly”.

Baritone Victor Maurel and publisher Edoardo Sonzogno each contributed to the immensely successful “Pagliacci”. The new critical edition reveals the connections and leaves the choice up to the performers.

“Love in a Village” has now been released as part of the ambitious “OPERA” publishing project. In the 18th century it was number one in the British Isles, but is now almost forgotten.