I never tire of the concerts held at San Anton Palace. Unfortunately I have had to miss two or three this year.  The last concert I attended there was that of soprano Rosabelle Bianchi who entertained us in those elegant and intimate surroundings. I first heard Rosabelle sing many years ago when she was in her early twenties and it was evident that she had talent and stage presence. Following her studies to PGCE level at the University of Malta she continued to attend Master classes abroad. At present she is being coached by Juliette Bisazza who has spent so many years in Italy teaching singing there. To be a successful singing teacher in Italy you really have to be very good. Juliette is said to be an exacting and dedicated teacher. Her students love her, always a good start to learning anything.

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I love the intimate ambience at these San Anton concerts which are reminiscent of those salons which flourished in France throughout the 17^th and 18^th centuries. An Italian invention they continued to be in the limelight in Italy and other countries throughout Europe and further afield in the 19^th century.

There was a time when these gatherings were frequently held in the bedroom. There a lady reclining on her bed would receive close friends who would sit on chairs or stools drawn round. One good thing about these salons: women seem to have played a leading role in salons, often acting as hostess. Salons were essentially social gatherings with literary or artistic overtones. There was poetry and they were 'theatres of conversation and exchange'  but also scandal and petty intrigues. Some late 19th- and early 20th-century Paris salons were major centres for contemporary music, and some of the greatest songs and chamber music works of Fauré, Debussy, Ravel and Poulenc were commissioned by famous hostesses.

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But back to San Anton Palace. Rosabelle Bianchi was accompanied on the piano by Irina Fedcenko Carbonaro who is from the Ukraine but lives in Malta. It was a varied programme which Rosabelle sang in the presence of our President and also president emeritus and Mrs Mifsud Bonnici. From Classical to Romantic to Verrismo and the early 20^th century period she sang compositions by Schubert, Donizetti,  Rossini and Mascagni among others. Mascagni, she told me, is one of her favourite composers. "I express my emotions vocally and put my inner self in the passion needed to extract the best out of the beauty of his music." Yes, Pietro Mascagni who composed the most famous intermezzo in classical music, the divine three-minute orchestral miniature from his opera Cavalleria Rusticana. He expressed his aversion to modern music thus: 'Modern music is as dangerous as cocaine.' I would not go as far as that although I have as yet to try out cocaine - in another life.

When it comes to lieder it is Schubert's songs which Rosabelle prefers. She sang for us his divine Serenade, divinely, touching our hearts.  What is more beautiful and full of sentiment than this Serenade. There is, too, his sublime Ave Maria. He may have lived for only 31 years but he was a highly proficient composer by the time he was 17 and he still managed to leave behind more than 600 songs - or Lieder, besides symphonies, operas, masses and other works. He also had enough energy to fit into his short life musical parties - or 'Schubertiads' for which he was famous. He contracted syphilis in 1823 and died of typhus five years later in 1828. One of his works I know best is his Unfinished Symphony which, as teenagers and twenties we played as a duet, No one seems to know why it has remained unfinished yet it is still one of his most popular works even today.

 

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Besides being a soprano Rosabelle is also a primary school music teacher. "It allows me to transmit the love I have for music to my students. I missed this during my childhood since at school there were no music lessons." Her parents helped her to cherish and pursue her musical dream. "It is through their dedication and encouragement that I have arrived this far," she comments. Her father George who passed away some three years ago was a great fan of hers. "Whatever I sing he is never far and I sing for him."

Rosabelle knows only too well that a career in music involves hard work and perseverance. She continues to follow her dream and to take opportunities which come her way to sing, both in Malta and abroad.

 

Rosabelle sang from the heart Massenet's Elégie. This French composer is perhaps best known for the beautiful Méditation for solo violin and orchestra from his relatively unknown opera Thaїs. It is a captivating and pure performance piece in its own right.

On a lighter note she gave us Donizetti's Amiamo and a Neapolitan song also by Donizetti Me Voglio fa'na casa during which I put my tissues away. This year a friend who is happy to sit through a Wagner opera and enjoy every note, persuaded me to go and watch, at St James Cavalier, Donizetti's opera Roberto Devereux. I am familiar with his Elisir d'Amore and less so with La Fille du regiment,  but I had not even heard of the Roberto opera. It was transmitted from the Met where it was full house whereas at St James Cavalier there were about a dozen of us watching it, all above a certain age.  I enjoyed it very much because Donizetti's music is so pleasant and not in the least bit taxing. 

But when it comes to Neapolitan songs it was Rosabelle's encore Passione - which I enjoyed most -  Now that is well and truly Neapolitan as we know it and love it.

She sang other songs by Alfano, Schumann, Rossini and Donaudy.   There was diversion as well as diversity throughout the programme and something for everyone - or almost. 

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