The Journey to Reims (Overture)
Lost luggage. Delayed transport that eventually does not turn up. A group of European dignitaries stranded at an inn, unable to continue their journey to a coronation in Reims: this sums up the situation in "Il viaggio a Reims" (The Journey to Reims), Rossini’s last opera in Italian. Commissioned as part of the celebrations surrounding the coronation of King Charles X of France in 1825, Rossini had pulled out all the stops in trying to showcase his genius to the French public, writing for all the greatest voices of the day – 14 soloists, chorus, and orchestra – with the intention of retiring the work after its run of performances. As such, he even recycled some of the material into the more popular (and far superior) opera "Le Comte Ory" a number of years later.
After falling into obscurity, "Il viaggio a Reims" was only rediscovered and painstakingly reconstructed in the 1970s. In 1938, when a work titled “Gran Sinfonia to Il viaggio a Reims” was published in Milan and premiered by no less than Richard Strauss conducting at the Teatro alla Scala, everyone supposed that it was the only surviving piece of the opera. However, when the original manuscript resurfaced in the 1970s, they did not include this overture or any other for that matter. Contemporary reviews from 1825 also mentioned the lack of an overture.
Mislabelled or not, this overture has become a beloved part of orchestral repertoire. With all its quintessential Rossini features such as the grand opening leading to the faster section, as well as the “Rossini crescendo”, there could be no doubt as to its composer. (Natalie Ng)
Singapore Symphony Orchestra
Mario Venzago, conductor
Recorded live on 2 Sep 2023 at the Esplanade Concert Hall, Singapore.
Video & audio: msm-productions (Singapore)
Photo: Portrait of the composer from a 1911 Gioachino Rossini cigarette trading card from the Imperial Tobacco Co. (Wills's) Musical Celebrities set.
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