“...Wolf-Ferrari’s life falls very much in the period of the emergence of Italian verismo, although in his programme note Gerald Larner suggests that its melodic beauty and instrumental elaboration points towards Richard Strauss. Certainly the music is melodic and well orchestrated but in Susanna’s hymn in praise of the cigarette I heard shades of Doretta’s aria from Puccini’s La Rondine, the Italian’s effort at operetta composed ten years after Il segreto di Susanna. Susanna, the wife whose secret is not a lover, but the vice of Turkish cigarettes, was sung by twenty nine years old Dora Rodrigues. Born in Portugal, Dora sang with strong tone and with good characterisation and expression. She has already sung the likes of Zerlina (Don Giovanni), Nannetta (Falstaff) Pamina (Magic Flute), and Musetta (La Bohème) as well as various other roles in operas by Britten, Hindemith and Virgil Thompson, an eclectic collection. Her full voice and variety of colour seems to point towards the lyrico spinto fach. She acts with poise and presents a good ‘face’ to the audience....”
Robert J Farr
