MARBECKS COLLECTABLE: Cimarosa: Il matrimonio segreto (Complete opera recorded in 1957)

The Secret Marriage has become the only one of Domenico Cimaroso's operas to hold the stage,and its survival is well deserved. Based on a play The Clandestine Marriage by David Garrick and George Coleman the Elder, it met with huge success staying in St Petersburg for a few years, and on his way back to Naples stopped in Vienna for a lengthy stay. Emperor Leopold II offered him lodgings and a salary, and very possibly asked him to write a new opera. The premiere took place on 7 February 1792, the very day that Leopold had signed a treaty with Prussia to oppose the French revolutionary government. Leopold was in the theatre, and after the thunderous reception had died down, the Emperor asked all the performers to join him for dinner, after which he commanded a repeat performance - a unique occurrence in the history of opera.