Dario Salvi close to crowdfunding target for recording of lost Meyerbeer ballet

Dario Salvi has launched a crowdfunding campaign to help finance a recording of Meyerbeer's Der Fischer und das Milchmädchen.

Originally scheduled for 2020, plans for all of his upcoming recording projects have been put on hold due to the travel and physical distancing restrictions put in place since the Coronavirus outbreak.

The score for the ballet Der Fischer und das Milchmädchen was thought to have been lost or destroyed under the Nazi rule, but was found recently in the possession of the Berlin Public Library after a search conducted by Dario Salvi and Robert Letellier, cultural and music researcher most noted for his extensive scholarship on the life and works of Giacomo Meyerbeer.

Dario Salvi has since transcribed the handwritten score ready for performance by modern orchestras.

The CD will include other previously unrecorded operatic works by Meyerbeer, including the Prelude to Das Brandenburger Tor, the Overture and March from Wirt und Gast, and the Overture from Meyerbeer's first opera, Der Admiral, written in collaboration with Abbé Vogler, which was also recently uncovered in the Berlin Public Library.

If the financial target is met, the recording will be able to go ahead in 2021 with Dario Salvi conducting the Czech Chamber Orchestra (Pardubice), for commercial release in 2021/22.

"This recording is a historical moment in the world of classical music. The ballet is Meyerbeer's first solo composition for the stage (following his collaboration with Abbe Vogler on Der Admiral - which is also included in the programme for this recording). It is historically very important, showing us the outstanding level of compositional skill that Giacomo Meyerbeer was capable of at a very young age, with echoes of Mozart, Hayden and Schneitzhoeffer in his early ballets.

This will be the third release of Meyerbeer's works by Dario Salvi. The first was released in January 2019, and is a collection of some of Meyerbeer's sacred works performed by the Neue Preußische Philharmonie, soprano Andrea Chudak and organist and pianist Jakub Sawicki. The second is due for release in March 2021, and is the first recording of Meyerbeer's first opera, Jephta’s Gelübde, performed by the Sofia Philharmonic Orchestra and Chorus and a cast of soloists. Both records are on the Naxos label.

Please show your support for this project by donating here if you can. All supporters will receive a PDF copy of the score, and supporters who pledge £30 or more will receive a signed copy of the CD and a note of thanks in the booklet.