Rosa Feola on Donizetti

Masterminded by musicologist Roger Parker and Artistic Director Carlo Rizzi, Opera Rara's Donizetti Song Project was launched in late 2024 to shine a light on a substantial body of the Italian composer's songs which have never previously been recorded, published or even performed in modern times.

The series was honoured at last month's OPER! Awards (where the laurels are usually reserved for complete opera recordings), and has been widely praised for Rizzi's stylish, sympathetic pianism alongside singers including Lawrence Brownlee, Ermonela Jaho, Michael Spyres and Marie-Nicole Lemieux.

For this penultimate volume, Rizzi is joined by Italian soprano Rosa Feola, whose plans for the coming months include Gilda at Covent Garden, Violetta at the Metropolitan Opera, and Lucia di Lammermoor at La Scala. I was lucky enough to eavesdrop in the studio and enjoy some downtime with Rosa during the session-breaks back in October 2024, and caught up with her earlier this month to discuss how the songs went down in her Wigmore Hall recital shortly after the recording was wrapped up...

What sort of role has Donizetti’s music played in your story so far?

Donizetti is one of my favourite composers - I feel his music is truly in tune with my vocal range and my own personality! So far I’ve sung three of his operatic heroines: Norina in Don Pasquale, Lucia di Lammermoor, and Adina in L’elisir d’amore…I couldn’t say which is my favourite! I will sing quite a few Lucias this season, and I’m finding it interesting to approach it as a soprano drammatica con agilità rather than a pure lyric coloratura role. And on a similar note, Maria Stuarda is certainly something I’d love to perform in the future…

What I love about Donizetti’s music is the storytelling – you’re always acting with music rather than just making pretty sounds, and that’s as true in his songs as it is in the operas. Every song on this album has its own story, and Carlo helped me to explore so many layers during the recording process: he knows Donizetti inside-out, and understands exactly how to give every line intention and movement so that it really speaks to the audience.

When did you and Carlo first work together?

We did Bellini’s I Puritani ten years ago for Welsh National Opera and he taught me so much about bel canto, both musically and vocally. He’s one of the best guides you could have for this repertoire, and I try to go along to as many of his performances as possible. Carlo had the idea of bringing me on board for this project a couple of years ago when we met up at the Metropolitan Opera: we hadn’t worked together since that Cardiff Puritani, but it felt like we’d never been apart! The secret to Carlo’s success is that he never stops studying and practising: I’d arrive for our recording sessions to find him already there at the piano, trying things out and refining them.

How many of these songs were new to you, and which ones did you particularly enjoy discovering?

Nearly all of them were new! The only one I’d sung before was ‘A mezza notte’. Some of the most familiar Donizetti songs are the ones in Neapolitan dialect, like ‘Me voglio fa' 'na casa’, but most of the songs on this album are far less well known - some are world premiere recordings. 

The first thing that I noticed was that almost all the texts are about tortured love: Donizetti had a very complicated life with the ladies, and we can hear this from the music…’Amor tiranno’ asks why love isn’t always requited, and several of the songs are about fidelity or betrayal. And the opening song 'Amiamo' (‘Or che l’età ne invita’) is all about enjoying love when you’re young, because fresh roses don’t last forever…The first time I sang through that one, I thought ‘Good to know, Donizetti - thanks for your advice!’. 

‘No: tu non m'hai tradita’ (the one song with harp) is an interesting one: it opens with her saying ‘No, you didn’t betray me’, but she’s obviously convinced that he did! Carlo and I responded differently to this song at first: I saw it as an expression of melancholy and he saw it as an expression of anger, and we had a wonderful time bringing both of those elements into the mix. One thing we discussed is that when you’re really angry you actually tend to speak softer, so I sing that opening verse quite strongly and then become quieter and more controlled as the text gets more unhinged!

That song created a sense of profound intimacy when we performed it at Wigmore Hall, resonating with both the performers and the audience. While the harp has a naturally unique timbre, I believe Donizetti chose it specifically to highlight a complex blend of emotions: melancholy, sadness, hope, and agitation. The sound of the harp is capable of rendering these emotional contrasts in a truly magical way.

The most stimulating and complex song to explore was undoubtedly 'Già presso al termine de' suoi martiri', which echoes the aria 'Al dolce guidami' from Anna Bolena. Even though this belongs to the chamber music repertoire, the vocal demand is strictly operatic; the writing is more intricate and requires a different vocal weight.

The text itself is quite demanding as well, having been written by Pietro Metastasio, which necessitates a specific elegance in delivery. Donizetti clearly attached a special significance to this piece, as seen in the introduction where he writes 'Cavatina for…I’m the one who knows who it’s for”, and that fact alone lends the piece a great deal of importance.

‘Luce che brilla da bei lidi suoi’ is another one that’s written on a more expansive scale: it’s structured as a recitative, cavatina and cabaletta, so it needed a more operatic finish! Carlo and I came up with a cadenza together for the very end: it reminded us of L’elisir d'amore, and we’re sure that Donizetti would’ve approved!

Otherwise there aren’t very many high notes on the album – these are all songs conceived for light soprano, but the tessitura is fairly central. There’s a difference between tessitura and range, of course: one thing I did notice is that the intervals are quite wide at times, with lots of jumps between registers.

Which other songs particularly resonated with the Wigmore audience?

I believe 'La zingara' and 'Or che l’età ne invita' were the most well-received pieces of the concert. The former stood out for the vivacity with which it introduces such a fascinating character - a gypsy woman who recounts her life with a strong sense of pride and belonging. The latter was equally captivating due to its spirited nature, as it serves as a joyful invitation to embrace love. 

Were any of these songs written for star singers who were personally known to Donizetti?

Not so much for particular singers as just for people in his life. Lots of the songs have dedications at the beginning, so most of them were composed for somebody specific – apart from that one for a mysterious lover which I mentioned earlier…Donizetti had a short but intense life: he was highly sensitive, he suffered a lot and he worked constantly, but was very sociable and had lots of friends. That opening song about making the most of love while you’re still young enough is dedicated to a friend who was celebrating his nameday - the text feels quite funny to us here in 2026, but the structure is rather grand.

You have a lot of Lucias in the diary for 2026! Did any of the songs put you in mind of her music?

No, I must say that none of the arias reminded me of Lucia. There is that one song which references Anna Bolena and another which echoes Don Pasquale, but Lucia is far too unique. It’s tied to a sense of alienation - a feeling Donizetti deeply identified with. This album, by contrast, features songs that are more 'grounded' and tangible.

What's new/coming up for you in terms of opera roles?

I recently said goodbye to a favourite role, Susanna in Le nozze di Figaro: I decided it was time to move onto the Countess, so I sang my last Susanna at the Met last season and made my debut as the Countess in Washington a few months later.

Figaro is one of those operas where you need to know all the characters and all their lines to do your own role justice: Susanna is so often listening to the Countess even when she’s speaking alone, so that’s been an interesting way to discover her. The Countess is a woman, whereas Susanna’s still a girl: she knows she doesn’t have the same life experience as the Countess yet, and even if she seems to be the smartest person in the room she’s always listening and learning.

My dream role will always be Butterfly…it’s not in my repertoire yet, but I have to sing her later in my career. I made my debut as Liù a few years ago and it was such a beautiful experience – discovering Puccini is special, because it tears your soul into pieces! It’s such a delicate balance, because if you’re going to do the music justice (and not destroy your vocal cords!) you have to learn to control the strong emotions it stirs up in you. It was lovely to come back to Donizetti (Lucia especially) with that in mind, and it’s healthy for the voice to have both composers in the mix: you can’t live on Puccini alone!