I Shardana

I Shardana is a 1949 opera by Sardinian composer Ennio Porrino which was premiered in 1959 at the Teatro San Carlo, Naples under Gastone Limarilli and Piero Guelfi. The libretto by the composer was inspired by Bronze Age stone towers, megalithic nuraghes, found across Sardinia.^[1]

Recording

1960: Armando La Rosa Parodi, Orchestra e Coro di Roma della RAI, Decca.
Torbeno: Gastone Limarilli Bèrbera Jonia: Marta Pender Gonnario: Ferruccio Mazzoli	Nibatta: Oralia Dominguez Norace: Piero Guelfi Orzocco: Vinicio Cocchieri
1988: James Levine, The Metropolitan Opera Orchestra & Chorus, Deutsche Grammophon.
Torbeno: Plácido Domingo Bèrbera Jonia: Cheryl Studer Gonnario: Samuel Ramey	Nibatta: Florence Quivar Norace: Sherrill Milnes Orzocco: James Morris
2013: Anthony Bramall, Coro e Orchestra del Teatro Lirico di Cagliari, Dynamic.^[2]
Torbeno: Angelo Villari Bèrbera Jonia: Paoletta Marrocu Gonnario: Manrico Signorini	Nibatta: Alessandra Palomba Norace: Domenico Balzani Orzocco: Gianpiero Ruggeri

References

^ The Oxford Companion to Archaeology Volume 1 Neil Asher Silberman, Alexander A. Bauer - 2012 0199735786 p227 -One theory made these Corsican statue-menhirs the work of Corsican warriors fighting against an invasion of Sardinian "Shardana" during the late second millennium BC. The Shardana are mentioned in Egyptian accounts of the reign of Rameses III as one of the Sea Peoples who invaded Egypt in the twelfth century BC. There is, however, no firm connection, despite the similarity of name, between the Shardana of Egyptian re- cords and the island of Sardinia.
^ Opera News I Shardana TEATRO LIRICO di Cagliari, where this world-premiere recording of Ennio Porrino's 1949 I Shardana was filmed, was a most appropriate venue: Porrino was born in Cagliari, the capitol of Sardinia, and his opera is an imaginative resurrection of the island's ancient culture. Taking as his inspiration the seven thousand megalithic nuraghes scattered across Sardinia, Porrino fashioned a mythic tale of the Bronze Age Nuragic people who built these mysterious stone structures,

[1] The Oxford Companion to Archaeology Volume 1 Neil Asher Silberman, Alexander A. Bauer - 2012 0199735786 p227 -One theory made these Corsican statue-menhirs the work of Corsican warriors fighting against an invasion of Sardinian "Shardana" during the late second millennium BC. The Shardana are mentioned in Egyptian accounts of the reign of Rameses III as one of the Sea Peoples who invaded Egypt in the twelfth century BC. There is, however, no firm connection, despite the similarity of name, between the Shardana of Egyptian re- cords and the island of Sardinia.

[2] Opera News I Shardana TEATRO LIRICO di Cagliari, where this world-premiere recording of Ennio Porrino's 1949 I Shardana was filmed, was a most appropriate venue: Porrino was born in Cagliari, the capitol of Sardinia, and his opera is an imaginative resurrection of the island's ancient culture. Taking as his inspiration the seven thousand megalithic nuraghes scattered across Sardinia, Porrino fashioned a mythic tale of the Bronze Age Nuragic people who built these mysterious stone structures,

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