Ashley Holland, Peter Sidhom, Franz Mayer, Annalisa
Raspagliosi, Katharina Magiera, Pere Llompart, Lars Rößler, Ricardo Iturra, Pavel Smirnov
Chorus of the Frankfurt Opera
Frankfurt Opera and Museum Orchestra
Stefan Solyom, conductor

Franco Leoni was born in Milan in 1864, the same year as Richard Strauss. In 1892, he moved to London and achieved some popularity as a song and opera composer. His fourth opera was his most successful work: L’Oracolo, based on the drama The Cat and the Cherub by Chester Bailey Fernald. The opera premiered on June 28, 1905 at Covent Garden with Antonio Scotti in the role of Cim-Fen. This became Scotti’s best-known role, which he sang for many years at New York’s Metropolitan Opera. The piece was a repertoire staple from 1917 to 1926, then again after 1931. Scotti also chose it for his 1933 farewell from the Met; this was the opera’s 55th performance. Amazingly, however, the work disappeared almost completely from opera stages following this. Franco Leoni died on February 8, 1949 in the British town of Hampstead.