Il viaggio a Reims or The Journey to Reims, or The Hotel of the Golden Lilly is a comic opera, originally performed in three acts by Gioachino Rossini to an Italian libretto by Luigi Balocchi.
Rossini's last opera in the Italian language (all of his later works were in French) premiered under the title Le voyage à Reims. It was commissioned to celebrate the coronation of French King Charles X in Reims in 1825 and has been acclaimed as one of Rossini's finest compositions. A demanding work, it requires 14 soloists (three sopranos, one contralto, two tenors, four baritones, and four basses). At its premiere, it was sung by the greatest voices of the day.
Since the opera was written for a specific occasion, with a plot about European aristocrats, officers – and one poetess – en route to join in the French coronation festivities that the opera itself was composed for, Rossini never intended it to have a life beyond a few performances in Paris. He later re-used about half of the music in Le comte Ory.
Cast:
Madama Cortese - Katia Ricciarelli,
Count Libenskof - Francisco Araiza
Lord Sidney - Samuel Ramey
Don Profondo - Ruggero Raimondi,
Barone of Trombonok - Enzo Dara
Don Alvaro - Leo Nucci
Claudio Abbado - conductor
Chamber Orchestra of Europe and Prague Philharmonic Chorus,
Recorded at the Rossini Festival, Pesaro
DG - 1985