After the success of his first opera, Oberto, Verdi was contracted to write three more for La Scala. Sad to say, Un giorno di regno – ‘King for a day’ – had a miserable gestation and a disastrous birth. The composer chose a libretto by Felice Romani already set by Gyrowetz. While he was working on the opera, his wife died suddenly. Merelli, the Scala impresario, refused to release Verdi from his contract; the premiere, which duly took place on September 5, 1840, was a fiasco and Merelli immediately cancelled the remaining scheduled performances. Productions elsewhere in Italy were successful but Verdi wrote no more comic operas till Falstaff (1893).

The opera is by no means a total failure but its cause will not be advanced by this indifferent recording. The original title of the libretto was the more informative Il finto Stanislao – ‘The false Stanislaus’. Belfiore is posing as King Stanislaus for political reasons. As the guest of the Baron for marriage celebrations, he engineers the wedding of the Baron’s daughter Giulietta to Edoardo rather than to the latter’s uncle, and prevents the Baron’s widowed niece – with whom he is in love – from marrying the Count. As was still – just – the opera buffa convention, the set pieces are separated by secco recitative: indeed, Verdi’s debt to Rossini and Donizetti is apparent throughout. The duet for Edoardo and Belfiore could be from L’elisir d’amore, while the scenes for the buffo basses, the Baron and the treasurer La Rocca, hark back to La Cenerentola.

This performance is spirited but recorded in a dull, constricted acoustic. The buffo duets go well and Alice Quintavalla is a lively widow. But, voice for voice, Gardelli wins every time. Quintavalla is outclassed by Cossotto, Alberti can’t match Wixell’s stylish phrasing and Frusoni sounds strained compared to the honeyed tones of the young Carreras. The new critical edition is credited: the general absence of second stanzas in the cabalettas did provoke a raised eyebrow. Some stage noise; lukewarm applause. Stick to Gardelli.