The late arch-Rossinian Philip Gossett regarded Semiramide as a neoclassical work, vaguely and alarmingly suggesting to me a musical equivalent of Canova, a sculptor I detest. Actually, I don’t think the terminology is helpful. Nor is Semiramide monumental in the way that the programme book suggests. There is a notable lack of ensembles and of anything except accompanied recitative and arias. The duets are as rare as in Handel, and come as just as great a relief. The culminating duets in Act Two are as balm to the soul. They even remind one that there is such a thing.
Semiramide is called ‘a tragic melodrama’, and derives from a play by Voltaire, but the librettist was also influenced by Metastasio, so with two such baneful sources it isn’t surprising that as a drama it doesn’t seriously begin to exist.
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