(Radio abridgement - Complete as performed by French Radio)
French version by Arrigo Boito and Camille du Locle
Otello ....................................... José Luccioni
Iago ..................................... Charles Cambon
Desdemona ................. Maria Giovanna Vitale
Cassio ......................................... René Hérent
Emilia ................................. Suzanne Darbans
Montano .................................Lucien Lovano
Orchestre Radio-Lyrique
Jules Gressier. cond.
French Radio, December 18, 1948
The first presentation of Otello was a grand event in the history of Italian musical art. La Scala was overcrowded with people representing all classes of Milan society. Journalists and critics from all quarters of Europe were in attendance, with the managers of the chief European theatres and opera houses. No more critical or intellectual audience was ever brought together in La Scala to approve or condemn a new opera.
For the French première, Boito himself translated the libretto, with the help of Camille du Locle. Subsequently, he took the translation to Sant'Agata and, together with Verdi, adapted the music to the new words.
In this recording, Maria Giovanna Vitale sings in Italian and the rest of the cast in French. Luccioni, when addressing Desdemona, also reverts to the Italian text.
Act 1
