The traditional Bagni di Lucca Christmas concert, held in the former Anglican Church, was an unqualified success.
Here is the announcement poster of the concert with the cast of presenters and singers:
This was the programme:
All the singers were good but I have to single out Nicola Simone Mugnaini for special praise. We know him from the time we were guests with Andrea Colombini and the Lucca Symphony orchestra on one of the most memorable musical occasions in our lives – the journey to Vienna to perform at the golden Musikverein, which I write about in my post at:
https://longoio2.wordpress.com/2014/12/22/lucca-conquers-vienna-with-music/
Anyway, for those unlucky enough to have been unable to attend the Bagni di Lucca concert here are some excerpts from that evening:
The first half contained the more serious stuff.
(Bianca Barsanti sings ‘Il sogno di Doretta’ from Puccini’s ‘La Rondine’)
(Nicola Simone Mugnaini sings ‘Vesti la Giubba’ from Leoncavallo’s ‘I Pagliacci’)
(Bianca Barsanti with the Queen of the Night’s aria from Mozart’s ‘Magic Flute’)
The second half contained some very lively operetta items.
Pacelli and Bocci sing Carlo Lombardo’s ‘Spesso a cuori e Picche’ from his operetta ‘Madama di Tebe’)
(Bianca Barsanti sings mechanical doll Olimpia’s aria from Offenbach’s ‘Tales of Hoffman)
(Mugnaini sings Leoncavallo’s celebrated ‘Mattinata’)
(Mugnaini with the romanza from Lehar’s ‘The land of smiles)
(Barsanti and Mugnaini sing ‘Tace il labbro’ from Lehar’s ‘Merry Widow)
(Pacelli and Bocci sing a duet from ‘Cin Ci La’)
‘Cin Ci La’ was composed by Carlo Lombardi with libretto by Virgilio Ranzato, first performed in Milan in December 1925 scoring a great success which it has retained (with Italian audiences) ever since.
Carols followed:
The brilliant Menicagli piano added to the evening with its special sonorities.
Four hundred Euros were collected for the restoration of the historic protestant cemetery of Bagni di Lucca. (See one of my posts on this cemetery at
The evening concluded with the characteristic Christmas Brindisi with a glass of prosecco and a piece of panettone.
The festive season has truly begun and as we returned home we found the lights of Bagni di Lucca Villa had finally been installed and switched on.
As ever, we have to thank the indefatigable Marcello Cherubini, founder and president of the Fondazione De Montaigne for enabling Bagni di Lucca to enjoy another of its truly high quality evenings of great entertainment.