The title of this album comes from the fact that Haydn wrote most of these insertion arias (arias written to show off the special talents of a singer in a particular production, and substituted for the arias by the opera's composer) for his lover, Italian soprano Luigia Polzelli. Thank goodness these delightful arias have survived, although the operas into which they were originally inserted, by composers like Pasquale Anfossi, Alessandro Guglielmi, and Francesco Bianchi, are forgotten. Haydn's inventiveness and benevolence overflow in this charming music. If there is any criticism of this assortment of arias, it's that they are all relentlessly cheerful and sprightly, and all in major keys, even those with texts like, "Unhappy and unfortunate I am…." While not all these arias reveal Haydn at his most dramatically astute, they find him at his most genial. One of the arias, La moglie quando è buona, is in fact laugh-out-loud funny. Spanish soprano
Núria Rial and Austrian mezzo-soprano Margot Oitzinger divide the arias. Their voices are well matched: exceptionally pure, supple, and focused, with an unmannered, effortless sounding delivery and immaculate technique. In only one aria, Infelice sventurata, in an unmercifully low passage, does
Rial show any strain.
Michi Gaigg leads L'Orfeo Barockorchester in a sparkling, beautifully blended accompaniment. The sound is warm and spacious, but always clear and clean.