William Tell (opera) - Performance History

Performance History

In Italy, because the work glorified a revolutionary figure against authority, the opera encountered difficulties with the Italian censors, and the number of productions in Italy was limited. The Teatro San Carlo produced the opera in 1833, but then did not give another production for around 50 years. The first Venice production, at the Teatro La Fenice, was not until 1856. By contrast, in Vienna, in spite of censorship issues there, the Vienna Court Opera gave 422 performances over the years 1830-1907. As Hofer, or the Tell of the Tyrol, the opera was first given in London on 1 May 1830. In New York, William Tell was first presented on 19 September 1831.

In 2010 there was a major revival of the opera, when it opened the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia's 2010-11 season under Antonio Pappano. This performance was of the rarely-heard French version, with some cuts to particularly the fourth act (which Pappano noted had been approved by Rossini himself ). A live recording of this concert performance was released in 2011, and the production was transferred to The Proms in July of that year, with Michele Pertusi taking on the title role, Patricia Bardon as Hedwige, Nicolas Courjal as Gessler, and Mark Stone as Leuthold. The performance was very well reviewed, and marked the first full performance of the work in the history of the Proms.