18 Jan 2009
BELLINI: Norma — Roma 1955
Norma: Tragedia lirica in two acts.
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ROSSINI: Guglielmo Tell — Rome 1954
Guglielmo Tell: Melodramma tragico in four acts
BOITO: Mefistofele
Mefistofele, Opera in un prologo, quattro atti e un epilogo
Music and libretto by Arrigo Boito (1842-1918), based on Faust: Eine Tragödie by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
VERDI: La Forza del Destino
La Forza del Destino, a melodramma in quattro atti
Music composed by Giuseppe Verdi. Libretto by Francesco Maria Piave based on the drama Don Alvaro o La fuerza del sino by Angel Perez de Saavedra
FLOTOW: Martha — Berlin 1944
Martha, an opera in four acts.
Music composed by Friedrich von Flotow. Libretto by Wilhelm Friedrich.
First performance: 25 November 1847 at Theater an der Wien, Vienna.
PERGOLESI: La serva padrona
La serva padrona, intermezzo in two parts
Music composed by Giovanni Battista Pergolesi. Libretto by Gennar'antonio Frederico.
First performance: 28 August 1733, Teatro San Bartolomeo, Naples.
BEETHOVEN: Fidelio — Munich 1978
Fidelio, an opera in two acts
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VERDI: Macbeth
VERDI: Macbeth, melodramma in quattro parti.
Music composed by Giuseppe Verdi. Libretto by Francesco Maria Piave, based on the play by William Shakespeare.
STRAUSS: Die Fledermaus
Music composed by Johann Strauss II.
Libretto by Richard Genée based on Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy/Karl Haffner.
First performance: 5 April 1874 at the Theater an der Wien, Vienna.
NICOLAI: Die lustigen Weiber von Windsor (The Merry Wives of Windsor)
Die lustigen Weiber von Windsor (The Merry Wives of Windsor), a comical-fantastical opera in three acts with dance.
GIORDANO: Fedora
Fedora, a melodrama in three acts.
Umberto Giordano, composer. Arturo Colautti, librettist, based on the play with the same name by Victorien Sardou
First performance: 17 November 1898 at Teatro Lirico Internazionale, Milan
PUCCINI: Tosca
Tosca, a melodrama in three acts
Giacomo Puccini, composer. Libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa, based on the play La Tosca by Victorien Sardou.
First performance: 14 January 1900 at Teatro Costanzi, Rome
Victorien Sardou — A Tale of Two Operas
Victorien Sardou (1831-1908) was a popular French dramatist during the later half of the 19th Century. He, along with Eugène Scribe, combined melodrama and realism to a produce a more serious form of drama that emphasized careful plot construction.
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A few years ago, I had the rare experience of attending a performance of Tosca in a small farm community where opera was a fairly new commodity. After the second act ended, with Scarpia's corpse lying center stage, I happened to overhear a young, wide-eyed woman say to her companion, "I knew she was upset, but I didn't think she'd KILL him!"
RIMSKY-KORSAKOV: Mozart and Salieri
Mozart and Salieri, an opera in one act consisting of two scenes.
Nicolai Rimsky-Korsakov (1844-1908), composer. Libretto derived from Alexander Puskhin's play of the same name.
First performance: 7 December 1898 in Moscow.
MUSSORGSKY: Boris Godunov
Boris Godunov, an opera in four acts with prologue
Modest Mussorgsky, composer. Libretto by the composer, based on Alexander Pushkin's drama Boris Godunov and Nikolai Karamazin's History of the Russian Empire
First performance: 8 February 1874 at the Mariinsky Theatre, St. Petersburg
TCHAIKOVSKY: Eugene Onegin
Eugene Onegin, lyrical scenes in three acts and seven tableaux.
Pyotr Il’yich Tchaikovsky, composer. Libretto by the composer, based on the verse novel by Aleksandr Sergeevich Pushkin.
First performance: 29 March 1879 at the Maliy Theatre, Moscow.
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TCHAIKOVSKY: The Queen of Spades
The Queen of Spades (Pique Dame), an opera in three acts.
Pyotr Il’yich Tchaikovsky, composer. Modest Tchaikovsky and composer, librettists.
First performance: 19 December 1890 at the Mariinsky Theatre, St. Petersburg.
PUCCINI: Manon Lescaut
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Giacomo Puccini (1858-1924), composer. Luigi Illica and Domenico Oliva, librettists.
First performance: 1 February 1893 at Teatro Regio, Turin.
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Music composed by Vincenzo Bellini (1801–1835). Libretto by Felice Romani, from Norma ou L’infanticide (1831) by Alexandre Soumet.
First Performance: 26 December 1831, Teatro alla Scala, Milan.
Principal Characters:
| Pollione, Proconsole di Roma nelle Gallie | Tenor |
| Oroveso, capo dei Druidi | Bass |
| Norma, Druidessa, figlia di Oroveso | Soprano |
| Adalgisa, giovine ministra del tempio d’Irminsul | Soprano |
| Clotilde, confidente di Norma | Mezzo-Soprano |
| Flavio, amico di Pollione | Tenor |
| Due fanciulli, figli di Norma e di Pollione | Silent roles |
Time and Place: Ancient Gaul during the Roman conquest.
Synopsis:
Act I
In a forest in Gaul, at the time of the Roman conquest, the head of the Druids, Oroveso, announces to his people that the priestess Norma, his daughter, is about to reveal the will of the god Irminsul: all are hoping that the time has come to rebel against their oppressors. Meanwhile the Roman proconsul Pollione confides to his friend Flavio that he no longer loves Norma, in spite of the two children she has borne him and who live hidden in Norma’s house, their existence a secret, but loves Adalgisa, a young priestess in the temple of Irminsul. Pollione fears Norma’s anger, and recounts a dream in which she slaughters their children. Rut the sound of the sacred gong is heard announcing Norma’s arrival, and the two Romans disappear into the forest. Now all the Druids are gathered, eager to be given the signal to revolt; but Norma reveals that the time for war has not yet come, and by the light of the moon she performs the sacred rite of cutting the mistletoe, invoking peace — a peace that is necessary for her to consolidate her secret liaison with Pollione. When Adalgisa is left alone she anguishes over her illicit love; Pollione arrives and eventually persuades her to follow him to Rome.
In her dwelling Norma looks anxiously at her children: she knows that Pollione must leave, but she has received no message from him, and is afraid that he no longer loves her as he once did. Adalgisa arrives, and cannot conceal that she has betrayed her vocation as a priestess and yielded to love. Norma understands her and reassures her, and releasing her from her vows she encourages her to follow the man she loves. But what is his name? Adalgisa indicates Pollione, who is approaching at that moment. At this tragic revelation Norma threatens revenge, and Pollione vainly tries to defend himself. Adalgisa, who knew nothing of Pollione’s former love for Norma, is deeply distressed, and reassures Norma with generous words that she will break off all relations with the faithless Roman.
Act II
In her despair, Norma wishes she could kill her children: she is afraid, they will be turned into slaves in Rome, and also wishes to make Pollione suffer terribly. But she cannot bring herself to carry out the mad deed. She calls Adalgisa, and asks her to agree to marry Pollione and to keep the children with her; but Adalgisa no longer loves the Roman, and undertakes instead to rekindle his love for Norma. In the forest the warriors are ready to attack the Romans and kill the proconsul, but Oroveso has to stop them: Norma continues to remain silent about the decisions of Irminsul.
In the temple of Irminsul Norma learns from her friend Clotilde that Adalgisa’s attempt has failed, and that Pollione is planning to abduct the girl. Norma has an overwhelming desire for revenge, and calls all her people together: it is the signal for war. Pollione is immediately taken prisoner, guilty of having broken into the cloister of young priestesses. It, is Norma who will have to sacrifice him, but first she must interrogate him and asks to be left alone with the guilty man. Norma promises to save Pollione’s life if he will give up Adalgisa, but Pollione refuses and invites Norma to kill him, urging her to have, mercy on Adalgisa. Norma summons back her people and announces that there is another culprit, a priestess who has broken her vows: after a moment’s hesitation she does not say Adalgisa’s name, but her own. Only now does Pollione understand the nobility of the woman he has betrayed, and feels that he loves her again. Norma entrusts her children to her father Oroveso, who tearfully forgives her, and she serenely mounts the pyre with Pollione.
Click here for the complete libretto.