Semiserious Rossini: Torvaldo e Dorliska

Festivals dedicated to a single composer is often provide an opportunity to contextualize well-known masterpieces by reviving rarely performed works. The Rossini Opera Festival has done wonders in this respect: not only has it prompted opera lovers to assess long-forgotten scores, but in several cases it has shed light on undeservedly overlooked gems. While I am not ready to list Torvaldo e Dorliska in the latter category, this opera certainly deserves more critical consideration than it has thus far received. The third title of the 2017 Rossini Opera Festival, Torvaldo e Dorliska belongs to a genre that does not fit comfortably with contemporary taste, but was very popular at the turn of the nineteenth century: that of semiserious opera. Capitalizing as they did on the vogue for French mélodrame and combining adventurous plots, coups de…