Opera Books
THE OPERA
EDITED BY
ALBERT HILLERY BERGH
VOLUME IV.
1909
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Wolf-Ferrari.
Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari
was born at Venice on January 12, 1876. His father was a German painter,
and his mother, Emilia Ferrari, was of Italian birth. His musical
education began when he was six years of age. His father wished him to
become a painter, and after attending the Aktschule at Bonn, he was sent
to the Holosy School at Munich, with that end in view. Determined,
however, to adopt a musical career, young Wolf-Ferrari became a pupil at
the Munich Hochschule für Musik and studied the art of composition under
Joseph Rheinberger from 1893-1895.
After his return to Italy he was for three years director of the
International Choral Society at Milan, and in 1902 was appointed
director of the Liceo Benedetti Musicale of Venice, a post which he
resigned in 1909, in order to live in Germany. Apart from his operas his
compositions include violin sonatas, several trios and quartettes for
the piano, Italian love songs, and a symphony for twelve instruments.
His youthful opera, La Sulamita, produced at Venice in 1889
was a failure. He was more successful with a subsequent opera produced
at Venice in 1900 under the title of Cenerentola, and presented
in 1902 at Bremen as Aschenbroedel. His celebrated oratorio,
La Vita Nuova, with text from Dante, received its
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first public performance in 1903, and the same year his opera Le
Donne Curiose was brought out at Munich as Die Neugurigen Frauen.
It was also at Munich that Die Vier Grobiani was given an
operatic production in 1906.
Four of Wolf-Ferrari’s operas have been presented in America,
namely: Il Segreto di Susanne, Le Donne Curiose, I Giojelli della
Madonna and L’Amore Medico.
Il Segreto di Susanna
was first produced at Munich in 1909, and its first
American production was at Chicago in 1911. The opera is in one act, and
the libretto was originally written in French. It is essentially a farce
set to music and suggests the opera buffs of the earlier Italian school.
The vein of comedj is well sustained throughout the entire score.
The first American production of Le Donne Curiose was at New
York in 1912. It is in three acts; and is also in the style of the old
buffa opera of which Mozart and Rossini wrote such admirable specimens.
Le Donne Curiose abounds in exquisite melodies. The score has
spontaneity and individuality of style. There is no apparent striving
for originality in the vocal and orchestral effects, but the music is
never commonplace, and frequently scintillates with the genuine spirit
of comedy.
I Giojelli della Madonna
was originally presented at Berlin in 1911, and a year
later received its initial American production at Chicago. The story of
the opera was devised by Wolf-Ferrari himself, but he called in two
Italian writers to assist him in preparing the versification of the
libretto. The entire score bears evidence of having emanated from a past
master in
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vocal and orchestral effects. It is partly owing to the absorbing
interest of the dramatic story, but more especially to the effectiveness
of the musical score that I Giojelli della Madonna sprang into
immediate popularity with the operatic public both in Europe and
America. Its world-wide success has placed Wolf-Ferrari in the foremost
rank of modern operatic composers. In the consensus of critical opinion
it is one of the most significant operas of the present century. “It
merits this distinction,” says one of the critics, “by reason of the
beauty and dramatic truth of the music, the vivid realism of the action,
and the pathos of the culminating tragedy.”
L’Amore Medico
is in two acts. Its originial production was at Dresden
in 1913, and the first American performance took place in New York at
the Metropolitan Opera House in 1914. The libretto is an adaptation from
Molière’s L’Amour Médecin, which might be translated either as
Love, the Physician, or Dr. Cupid. The music is another
attempt on the part of Wolf-Ferrari to modernize the style of the old
Italian opera-buff a.
Il Segreto di Susanna.
(The Secret of Suzanne).
Opera in one act by
Wolf-Ferrari. Libretto originally written in French by Enrico Golisciano.
Characters: Count Gil; Countess Susanna; Sante.
Place, Southern Europe. Time, Eighteenth or early part of
Nineteenth Century.
First produced at Munich in 1909. First American production at
Chicago in 1911.
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Count Gil and the Comtesse Suzanne are a newly married couple.
Suzanne is a devotee of the cigarette, and the jealous Count, perceiving
the fragrance of cigarette smoke in the house, attributes it to the
presence of a lover of his wife.
The Countess attributes his perturbation to his hatred of tobacco.
Accordingly she proceeds to make excuses for what she considers a most
venial sin, but as she doesn’t specify the sin she refers to, the Count
is more convinced than ever that she is harboring a rival to his
affections and works himself into a pitiable state of jealous fury. He
tracks the unknown disturber of his domestic peace by the fragrance of
the tobacco smoke, believing himself to be hot upon the trail, till
suddenly the secret is revealed.
The Count has not the slightest objection to cigarette smoking, and
the restoration of peace in the family is instantaneous.
Le Donne Curiose
(The Inquistive Woman).
Opera in three acts by
Wolf-Ferrari. Libretto adapted by Luigi Sugana from the comedy by Carlo
Goldoni.
Characters: Ottavio; Beatrice; Posaura; Florindo; Pantalone; Lelio;
Leandro; Colombina; Eleanora; Arlecchino; Asdrubale; Almoro; Alvise;
Lunardo; Momolo; Menego; Servant.
Place, Venice. Time, Eighteenth Century. First produced at Munich
as Die Neugierigen Frauen in 1903. Produced at New York in 1912.
The comedy begins in the “Amicizia” or “Friendship” Club, over the
door of which is the motto, “No
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Women Admitted.” The married men are all enjoying themselves over the
prospect of a supper which Pantalone has ordered and are chuckling over
the impatient curiosity of their wives as to what goes on within the
clubhouse walls.
In the second scene, in the home of Ottavio, the women are in an
animated discussion of ways and means for discovering the clubhouse
secret. They try in vain to find out from Ottavio and Arleechino.
Rosaura, however, prompted by Colombina, her mischievous maid, succeeds,
by the stratagem of fainting, in tearing the pass-word from the lovelorn
Florindo.
The second act takes place in Lelio’s home. Eleanora discovers from
a letter in her husband’s pocket, that new keys have been made for the
club. When Ottavio and his family arrive on a visit all the women
endeavor to obtain the keys from the men. Again Colombina’s cunning
triumphs, and she secures the keys’. The women now resolve to gain
entrance to the club; only Rosaura, as she is a young girl, is left at
home, and she appeals to Florindo, who, being more in love than ever, is
persuaded to deliver his key to her.
In the third act the women, including Colombina, disguised as a
boy, arrive singly in the street before the clubhouse, but manage so
clumsily that they cannot enter the club. Finally they capture
Arlecebino, take his key by force and open the door. The scene changes
to the Festival Hall in the club, separated from the ante-room by a door
of thick glass. The women assure themselves that the men are enjoying
themselves harmlessly at their supper. When they are discovered they are
forgiven, and all join in a merry dance.
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I Giojelli Della Madonna.
(The Jewels of the Madonna).
Opera in three acts by
Wolf-Ferrari. Libretto by the composer, assisted by C. Zangarini and E.
Goliscani.
Characters: Gennaro; Carmela; Maliella; Rafaele; Biaso; Ciccillo;
Stella; Concetta; Serena; Grazia; Totonno; Rocco.
Place, Naples. Time, Twentieth Century. First produced at Berlin in
1911. First American production at Chicago in 1912.
The first scene discloses a typical Naples square by the sea. All
the windows are decorated with flowers and banners of red damask. The
young wanton, Mali-ella, cries out that this is the festival of the
Madonna, and that for once she will laugh and be gay. The voices of the
Camorrists are heard in the distance as Maliella runs gleefully toward
the sparkling bay.
Gennaro turns sadly to his mother, and asks her how Maliella came
to their home. Carmela replies that when he was a child and lay very ill
she vowed to the Virgin that should his life be spared, she would adopt
a child born in sin. She then found Maliella in the street, and does not
know whence she came. Gennaro and his mother sing together a prayer to
the Madonna for strength and wisdom, after which the orchestra plays a
typical “Intermezzo” based on the melody of the prayer.
The noisy Camorrists return. When Rafaele, their leader, attempts
to make love to Maliella she draws a stilleto-like pin from her hair and
stabs him in the hand, he kisses the wound and declares that with her
kiss of blood she has given him her heart. As the procession
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passes iRafaele whispers that for her sake he would snatch the jewels
gleaming on the Madonna and put them around her neck.
When Gennaro appears on the scene he warns her against Rafaele as
being the worst blackguard in the quarter, but she answers that the
fellow knows how to make love even if he is the “King of the Black
Hand.” As Rafacle sees her enter her own house, he flings her a flower,
which she puts between her lips with a coquettish smile.
The second act takes place in the garden of Maliella’s house.
Gennaro reproaches her and begs her to listen to him, while she
complains of the monotony of her life and threatens to leave her home.
He tells her he is mad with love for her, but Maliella says she can only
love the man who would even steal the jewels of the Madonna to adorn her.
Gennaro seizes his basket of tools, and making the sign of the cross,
disappears in the darkness. While he is gone there is a passionate love
scene between Maliella and Rafaele.
When Gennaro returns with the jewels, the girl’s soul enters an
ecstatic state. She clasps the jewels as in a dream, puts them around
her neck and exclaims:
“Oh, if only Rafacle could see me now.” All thought of Gennaro
fades from her mind. Dazed and thinking only of Rafaele, she yields to
the amorous passion of Gennaro, who enfolds her in his arms.
The third act presents the den of the Camorrists on the night after
the festival. An orgy of dancing and drinking is at its height when the
voice of Maliella is heard calling on Rafaele to save her from Gennaro.
She tells him what has happened, and, furious at the taunts of his
followers, Rafaele spurns her and thrusts
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her from him. As she falls to the ground the shawl slips from her
shoulders, exposing the sacred jewels. Gennaro follows her to the den
and bursts in, calling her by name. Maliella, like a tigress, tears off
the jewels and reveals to the crowd that he stole them from the Madonna.
The men and women, horror-struck, fall on their knees in prayer.
With a cry that all is lost, Maliella rushes away to throw herself
into the sea, while Gennaro, lifting the jewels to the shabby altar on
the frescoed wail, slowly forces a knife to his heart.
Opera in two acts by
Wolf-Ferrari. Libretto by Enrico Golisciani, adapted from Molière’s
L’Amour Mélecin.
Characters: Aruolfo; Lucinda; Clitandro; Lisetta; Dr. Tomes; Dr.
Desfonandres; Dr. Macroton; Dr. Bahis; a Notary.
Place, Paris. Time, Reign of Louis XIV (Seventeenth Century). First
produced at Dresden in 1913. First American production at New York in
1914.
The lovely Lucinda, only daughter of the rich old widower, Arnolfo,
is suffering from melancholy due to an unknown malady. When the curtain
rises, the distressed father is receiving the consolations of his
friends in the garden of his villa near Paris. After they have taken
their leave, Lucinda appears dressed like a child, her face pale and
careworn. Arnolfo tries to cheer his daughter and discover the cause of
her melancholy. He coddles her and sings her a lullaby. He offers her
frocks, ribbons, a big doll, a toy theatre with a peal of
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bells; but none of these things interest her. Whereupon the alarming
thought seizes him that she must be in love.
The old man’s alarm turns to anger when Lisetta, the saucy maid,
enters and tells him point-blank that a husband only can cure his
daughter. An amusing scene between Arnolfo and Lisetta ensues. After
Arnolfo has gone the voice of the unseen lover, Clitandro, is heard from
outside the garden, to the rapture of Lucinda and delight of her maid. A
flower thrown over the wall by Clitandro falls at Lucinda’s feet.
Lisette, picking it up, hands it to Lucinda, who kisses it passionately,
while the lover’s voice dies away in the distance. Then the quick-witted
Lisetta promises her mistress to help her.
The two women hurry off into the house. Arnolfo reappears, prepared
to water his plants. He has various plans for outwitting any possible
lover of his daughter, and while considering them he falls asleep in the
sunshine, and is awakened by Lisetta, apparently in a state of great
excitement. Lucinda, she tells him, ‘has had an attack of convulsions.
He sends for all the ‘doctors of the neighborhood and, dashing off,
stumbles on a group of apothecaries, hurting his hand in falling.
Lisetta makes much ado about bandaging the injured member. At length the
old man breaks away and rushes wildly into the house, followed by four
solemn physicians, who have just arrived, while the sly Lisetta remarks,
“I’ll call a doctor whom I know, and Lucinda will be cured in short
order.”
In the second act, the quartet of medical wiseacres are in
consultation in the salon of Arnolfo’s house. The session almost results
in a row. Lisetta’s entrance has
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the effect of diverting the physicians’ thoughts. All seek to pay court
to her and rush after her, as she skips away, to find themselves in
collision with Arnolfo, who is entering to hear their verdict. Before he
knows it he has listened to much learned nonsense, paid each man’s fee,
and let him go. At this point Lisetta comes in at the other door with
Clitandro disguised as a doctor. She conceals him from Arnolfo until she
has prepared the way, and finally presents the youth as Dr. Codignac, a
marvel of his profession.
As in the good old operatic tales of “Don Pasquale” and “Barber of
Seville,” all ends happily, so also here Clitandro plays his part to
perfection, and the lovers are enabled to exchange confidences under the
very nose of the unwilling parent. Arnolfo is persuaded that the only
cure for Lucinda’s ailment is a mock marriage. Of course the ceremony
turns out to be binding, and the curtain falls on every one happy except
Arnolfo, who is compelled to resign himself to Dr. Cupid’s decree.
Last updated April 23, 2007