Wolf-Ferrari – „Quando ti vidi“ (Tuscan song-cycle) – orchestration: Friedrich Haider (Docu dt/engl)

“Quando ti vidi” (“Dein Anblick” / “When I first laid eyes on you”) is a cycle of 29 songs for soprano and chamber orchestra, originally composed for voice and piano by Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari (1876-1948), selected and orchestrated by conductor Friedrich Haider in 2024.

Wolf-Ferrari’s song work remained largely unknown during his lifetime, although it is one of the most profound aspects of his oeuvre. It is exclusively old Tuscan folk poetry, that he has set to music – dominated by the “Rispetto” – an old Italian verse form.

The cycle “Quando ti vidi” (being publicly presented for the first time in this documentation) is made up of songs from the Rispetti op.11 and 12 (composed in 1902) as well as those from “Il Canzoniere”, the “Tuscan Songbook” (1936). The songs are brought together in such a way that a story comes to life. Individual instruments of the orchestra are assigned to a sound-symbolic role. The cycle takes around 40 minutes.

In collaboration with Bayerische Staatsbibliothek München, Friedrich Haider’s score and its orchestral parts are published by MUSICA MUNDANA in Munich.
musica-mundana.com

Soloist in this documentation is italian soprano Bianca Tognocchi. Born in Como, Italy, Bianca specializes in the belcanto repertoire. Notable debuts include Amina (La Sonnambula) at Tiroler Festspiele Erl, Lucia (Lucia di Lammermoor) at the Donizetti Festival in Bergamo, Deutsche Oper am Rhein Düsseldorf and Gilda (Rigoletto) in Malmö, Oper Leipzig, and Oper Frankfurt. She has performed in prestigious venues such as Teatro alla Scala, Teatro Petruzzelli in Bari, and Teatro Filarmonico di Verona, as well as in concerts at the Auditorio Nacional de Música in Madrid, the Philharmonie Essen, Berliner Philharmonie.

Her repertoire includes roles such as Norina (Don Pasquale), Adina (L’Elisir d’amore), Nannetta (Falstaff), Leïla (Pecheurs de perles ), Die Nachtigall (Die Vögel) a.o. In 2024 Bianca celebrated an extraordinary success as Gasparina in Wolf-Ferrari’s “Il Campiello” at Teatro Filarmonico in Verona.