Author: Gary Hoffman

It is worth remembering that prior to the premiËre of Straussís opera in 1911, the working title was ëOchs auf Lerchenauí.

Opera producers in quest of headlines, unable to make them from the limited number of Mozart operas available (all of them far too familiar) but equipped with the flood of attractive young singers trained to sing Mozart in conservatories (because singing Mozart does not harm young voices, and
singing Verdi and Wagner before 30 ó better yet, 40 ó often will), sometimes turn to Mozartís contemporary, Cimarosa, and his Il Matrimonio Segreto, to get attention.

Handelís Rodrigo, subtitled ëVincer se stesso Ë la maggior vittoriaí (Self-conquest is the greater victory) is one of the composerís earliest operatic works, and rarely heard.