Gianni di Parigi
| Gianni di Parigi | |
|---|---|
| OperabyGaetano Donizetti | |
 Gaetano Donizetti c. 1835 | |
| Librettist | Felice Romani |
| Language | Italian |
| Based on | François-Adrien Boieldieu'sJean de Paris |
| Premiere | 10 September 1839 Teatro San Carlo,Naples |
Gianni di Parigiis an 1839melodrammacomico(opera buffa) in two acts with music byGaetano Donizettito alibrettobyFelice Romani,which had previously been set byFrancesco Morlacchiin 1818 and by Giovanni Antonio Speranza in 1836.[1][2][3]
It is derived fromJean de Paris,an 1812 opera byFrançois-Adrien Boieldieuwith a libretto byClaude Godard d'Aucourt de Saint-Just,which had been performed in Naples in 1816.[4]
Composition history
[edit]According toCharles Osborne,the research of Swedish musicologist Anders Wiklund suggests that Donizetti may have begun composing the music for the opera between 1828 and 1830 for a projected performance in Naples which did not occur. It is established with certainty that Donizetti completed the score in 1831, intending it as a vehicle for the popular tenorGiovanni Battista Rubini,who had created the role of Percy in Donizetti'sAnna Bolenaon 26 December 1830, and to whom Donizetti presented the completed score in 1831. Apparently Rubini did not seriously promote it with opera managements, but somehow it was acquired byBartolomeo Merelli,who became impresario ofLa Scalain 1836 and despite the protests of Donizetti produced it there in 1839.[4]
Jeremy Commons,however, points out that Wiklund discovered that in Donizetti's autograph score in the NaplesConservatorio di Musica San Pietro a Majellathe overture is clearly dated 1828. Commons notes that the opera's style fits better with florid operas of the 1820s such asGianni di Calaisthan with the more romantic 1830s operas such asL'elisir d'amore,and Wiklund suggests that Neapolitan elements in the opera indicate that it was composed in Naples where Donizetti was active in the 1820s. A further score of 1832, with some revisions by the composer (including the omission of the Neapolitan elements), is located in theCasa Ricordiarchives in Milan. This may be the score which Donizetti presented to Rubini, who presumably passed it through the hands ofGiovanni Ricordito Merelli.[5]
The sparkling overture includes a theme which is quite similar to that of Don Profondo's aria Medaglie Incomparabili fromIl viaggio a ReimsbyRossini.
Performance history
[edit]The opera premiered on 10 September 1839 at theTeatro alla Scalain Milan, where it received twelve performances. There were seventeen further performances in 1845 at theTeatro Regio (Turin)and ten in 1846 at theTeatro San Carloin Naples,[6]but it was not staged subsequently until December 1985 inNew Yorkby the Vineyard Opera Shop, in a much reduced arrangement for piano, flute, clarinet and bassoon. It was revived by the Donizetti Festival inBergamoin 1988 and 1991.[4]A new production in 2010 at theFestival della Valle d'ItriaatMartina Francawas revived byWexford Festival Operain October 2011.
Roles
[edit]| Role | Voice type | Premiere cast, 10 September 1839[7] (Conductor: – ) |
|---|---|---|
| The Princess ofNavarre | soprano | Antonietta Marini-Rainieri |
| Il Gran Siniscalco,herseneschal | bass | Ignazio Marini |
| Gianni di Parigi,the disguisedDauphin of France | tenor | Lorenzo Salvi |
| Pedrigo,an inn-keeper | bass | Agostino Rovere |
| Lorezza,his daughter | mezzo-soprano | Marietta Sacchi |
| Oliviero,Gianni's page | contralto | Felicita Baillou-Hillaret |
| Followers of the Princess and of Gianni, waiters | ||
Synopsis
[edit]- Place: Provence
- Time: 14th century
Pedrigo, an innkeeper from Provence, is preparing his inn for the arrival of the Princess of Navarre who ordered her lunch and lodging in advance, but before her arrival comes a rich citizen from Paris, Gianni, who pays him as twice as much and gets hold of the place. To everyone's surprise, when the princess arrives she accepts the situation with good humor – and that is because she recognizes Gianni as King Philip de Valois's son. Finally both princess and prince (after taking off his disguise) fall in love and are prepared to get married.
Recordings
[edit]| Year | Cast: Princess, Gran Siniscalco, Gianni, Pedrigo |
Conductor, opera house and orchestra |
Label[8] |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1988 | Luciana Serra, Angelo Romero, Giuseppe Morino, Enrico Fissore |
Carlo Cillario, Italian Radio Symphony Orchestra and Chorus (Recorded at performances at the Bergamo Festival, 18, 20, 22, 25 September) |
CD: Nuovo Era Cat: 6752-6753 |
| 2010 | Ekaterina Lekhina, Roberto de Candia, Edgardo Rocha, Andrea Porta |
Giacomo Sagripanti, orchestra and Slovakian Choir of Bratislava |
DVD: Bongiovanni, Cat: AB 20025 |
Scores
[edit]An autograph of the score is held at the Conservatorio di San Pietro a Majella in Naples. Since neither of the first two productions were supervised by Donizetti, it reflects changes made by other hands, which are evident from the differences in the two librettos and the presence of considerable non-autograph materials in the Naples score.[9]There is also a score in the Ricordi Archives in Milan with significant autograph additions not found in the one in Naples.[10]
References
[edit]Notes
- ^Ashbrook 1982,pp. 321–322, 550–551.
- ^The libretto for Morlacchi's opera was published in Milan by Giacomo Pirola with the titleGianni di Parigi: melodramma comico(OCLC40787703); Ricordi published a piano reduction by Pietro Tonassi of Donizetti's score ca. 1901 under the titleGianni di Parigi: melodramma comico de Felice Romani, posto in musica da Gaetano Donizetti(OCLC82723197).
- ^Ashbrook 1982,p. 321. He calls it anopera comicaand in note 6 on pp. 683–684, says: "The work is structurally an opera buffa; 'opera comica' is presumably Romani's direct translation of 'opéra comique', the designation of Boieldieu's work on which Romani based his libretto."
- ^abcOsborne 1994,pp. 198–199
- ^Commons 2011,pp. 50–51.
- ^Commons 2011,p. 52.
- ^Casaglia, Gherardo (2005)."Gianni di Parigi,10 September 1839 ".L'Almanacco di Gherardo Casaglia(in Italian).
- ^Source for recording information:Recording(s) ofGianni di Parigion operadis-opera-discography.org.uk;see alsolistingsatWorldCat.
- ^Ashbrook 1982,pp. 322, 551.
- ^Ashbrook 1982,pp. 551, 684 note 8.
Cited sources
- Ashbrook, William(1982).Donizetti and His Operas.Cambridge University Press.ISBN0-521-23526-X.
- Commons, Jeremy(2011), "Wit Outwitted", in programme book forWexford Festival Opera,60th Anniversary Season, 21 October – 5 November 2011
- Osborne, Charles(1994).The Bel Canto Operas of Rossini, Donizetti, and Bellini.Portland, Oregon: Amadeus Press.ISBN0-931340-71-3.
Further reading
[edit]- Allitt, John Stewart (1991),Donizetti: in the light of Romanticism and the teaching of Johann Simon Mayr,Shaftesbury: Element Books, Ltd (UK); Rockport, MA: Element, Inc.(USA)
- Ashbrook, William (1998), "Donizetti, Gaetano" inStanley Sadie(Ed.),The New Grove Dictionary of Opera,Vol. One. London: MacMillan Publishers, Inc.ISBN0-333-73432-7ISBN1-56159-228-5
- Ashbrook, William and Sarah Hibberd (2001), inHolden, Amanda(Ed.),The New Penguin Opera Guide,New York: Penguin Putnam.ISBN0-14-029312-4.pp. 224–247.
- Gelli, Piero (ed.),"Gianni di Parigi",Dizionario dell'Opera,Baldini Castoldi Dalai, 2007,ISBN88-6073-184-4.Accessed online 26 September 2009.
- Loewenberg, Alfred (1970).Annals of Opera, 1597-1940,2nd edition. Rowman and Littlefield
- Sadie, Stanley,(Ed.);John Tyrrell(Exec. Ed.) (2004),The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians.2nd edition. London: Macmillan.ISBN978-0-19-517067-2(hardcover).ISBN0-19-517067-9OCLC419285866(eBook).
- Weinstock, Herbert(1963),Donizetti and the World of Opera in Italy, Paris, and Vienna in the First Half of the Nineteenth Century,New York: Pantheon Books.LCCN63-13703
External links
[edit]- Gianni di Parigi:Scores at theInternational Music Score Library Project
- Donizetti Society (London) website
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