Search - Telemann, Hirsch, Ensemble Florilegium Musicum :: Pimpinone

Excellent small-time opera buffa

A. Murrill | Atlanta, GA, USA | 09/09/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"You may not have heard of Pimpinone-- I hadn't either when I picked it up in a used CD store. It's not a full-blown opera, rather a series of intermezzos Telemann designed to be inserted between the acts of a larger opera. There is evidence he did this in a production of Handel's Tamerlano in 1725. Telemann started with an Italian libretto from an earlier Albinoni piece; since he was writing for audiences in Hamburg, he added new recitatives and arias in German. The result is a pretty keen mishmash.This opera involves only two characters: Pimpinone, a rich man, and Vespetta, his maid. A coquettish and charming Vespetta ensnares Pimpinone into marriage before revealing her true conniving self. The show ends in a climactic marital spat, German insults flying back and forth.Because the opera includes only the man and wife, and only the domestic sort of excitement, you might expect it to be dull. Not so-- the characters are believable and develop over the course of the opera. The real entertainment is in the snappy one-liners and snide remarks made by both characters to the audience. I was laughing out loud at some points.The format is the usual recitative, da capo aria, recitative, with several duets. The melodies will stay with you. Vespetta's arias especially are performed by Uta Spreckelsen with great technical skill-- she sounds like a little bird twittering away in some passages. She has a delightful frilly sound, like whipped, frothy pastry. Siegmund Nimsgern as Pimpinone is very emotive (almost hamming it up) and lively despite his somewhat heavy-sounding voice. In all it was a much better buy than I had expected and I heartily recommend it. It makes for a great breather from long, serious Handelian opera, just as its author intended."