Hidden treasures - Michael Balfe - Cantata for Maria Malibran (1836) - “Sempre pensoso“

Painting: “A melancholic thought“ by Francesco Hayez. History: Few composers have had the luck to work continuously with the best opera singers of his or her age. Michael Balfe who could boast having known personally and worked extensively with the celebrated “I puritani“ quartet - Giulia Grisi, Giovanni Rubini, Antonio Tamburini and Luigi Lablache - was, perhaps, one of the most happy exceptions. However, it was the composer’s relationship with the famed mezzo-soprano, Maria Malibran, that proved to be