08 Oct 2006
ROSSINI: Il Signor Bruschino
Il Signor Bruschino, Farsa giocosa per musica in one act
Opera in three acts. Words and music by Richard Wagner.
Parsifal. Bühnenweihfestspiel (“stage dedication play”) in three acts.
“German poet, dramatist and novelist. One of the most important literary and cultural figures of his age, he was recognized during his lifetime for his accomplishments of almost universal breadth. However, it is his literary works that have most consistently sustained his reputation, and that also serve to demonstrate most clearly his many-faceted relationship to music. . . .
This theme relates to operas based on the works of Friedrich von Schiller.
Here are operas based on French literature from Balzac, Hugo and beyond:
Le Cid, Opéra in 4 acts
I puritani, opera seria in three acts
Zaira, Tragedia lirica in two acts.
Athalia: Oratorio (sacred drama) in 3 acts
Lucrezia Borgia: Melodramma in a prologue and two acts.
La Esmeralda: Opéra in four acts.
Ernani: Dramma lirico in four parts.
Oberst Chabert (Colonel Chabert): Tragic opera in 3 acts.
Otello: Dramma lirico in four acts.
Music composed by Giuseppe Verdi. Libretto by Arrigo Boito after The Tragedie of Othello, the Moore of Venice by William Shakespeare.
A Midsummer Night’s Dream, a comedy in five acts with incidental music.
Le Marchand de Venise (“The Merchant of Venice”): Opéra in three acts.
Gli Equivoci (The Comedy of Errors): Opera in two acts.
Der Sturm: Opera in three acts
The Fairy-Queen: Semi-opera in five acts.
Macbeth: Melodramma in quattro parti.
Il Signor Bruschino, Farsa giocosa per musica in one act
Streaming Audio
Music composed by Gioachino Rossini (1792-1868). Libretto by Giuseppe Foppa, based upon the play Le Fils par hasard, ou Ruse et Folie by Alissan de Chazet and E.T.M. Ourry
First Performance: 27 January 1813, Teatro San Moisè, Venice
| Principal Characters: | |
| Gaudenzio, guardian of Sofia | Bass |
| Sofia | Soprano |
| Bruschino, her father | Bass |
| Bruschino, her brother | Tenor |
| Florville, lover of Sofia | Tenor |
| Un delegato di polizia | Tenor |
| Filiberto, innkeeper | Bass |
| Marianna, waitress | Mezzo-Soprano |
Setting: The environs of the Castle of Gaudenzio.
Synopsis:
Sofia and Florville are in love, but Sofia's guardian, Gaudenzio, is against the match. He is an enemy of Florville's father and when matters seem easier, with the latter's death, he presents a further obstacle, having promised Sofia to the son of his old friend Signor Bruschino. Florville impersonates young Bruschino, detained for an unpaid tavern bill, which Florville has actually settled on his behalf, and the complications that arise when old Bruschino appears are eventually solved when Signor Bruschino is induced to accept Florville as his son, for the present purposes, although well aware of the whole situation.