Conchita (opera)
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| Title: | Conchita |
Title page of the score, 1912 |
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| Shape: | Opera in five pictures |
| Original language: | Italian |
| Music: | Riccardo Zandonai |
| Libretto : | Maurice Vaucaire and Carlo Zangarini |
| Premiere: | October 14, 1911 |
| Place of premiere: | Teatro Dal Verme , Milan |
| Playing time: | approx. 1 ½ hours |
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Conchita is an opera in five pictures by the Italian composer Riccardo Zandonai , composed in 1909 and 1910. First performed on October 14, 1911 in Milan, it was Zandonai's first major success and was performed several times in the following years. Nowadays, however, the opera is rarely played. The libretto was written by Maurice Vaucaire and Carlo Zangarini based on the novella Le femme et le pantin by Walloon Pierre Louÿs .
action
First picture
In a cigar factory on a summer day in the early 20th century
The workers, including Conchita, are more engaged in gossiping than in their work. Among those visiting the factory, Conchita recognizes Don Mateo, a wealthy Spaniard and relative of the governor, who saved her from a violent police officer last winter. Both immediately remember each other, and Conchita invites him to her home on the same day for a golden “Napoleone”.
Second picture
In Conchita's home
When Conchita introduces the beautiful and wealthy Mateo to her mother, who is waiting at home, she is delighted that a rich and good man has taken an interest in her daughter. Conchita sends her mother, who is quite talkative, into town to do some shopping in order to be undisturbed with Mateo. At the beginning of the following love duet (Il tuo labbro é di flamma) Conchita is still quite skeptical of Mateo's confessions of love, she fears that Mateo would only see them as a temporary "adventure". Only with a promise of eternal loyalty and a kiss to seal it does she give in to him. They decide to meet again the next day, and Conchita promises that she will be his from the next day. As he leaves, Mateo Conchita's returning mother gives some money out of pity for her poverty. When he left the house, Conchita's mother happily showed her daughter the money. However, she is horrified because she thinks Mateo wants to buy her love with money. She swears, no matter what the cost, never to see Mateo again and rushes out of the house.
Third picture
In a dance hall
Six months have passed and Conchita has become a courted and swarmed attraction in a dance hall, where Mateo finally finds her after a long search. Despite the fact that he is somewhat horrified by their change, he is fascinated by their provocative dance. Surprisingly, she agrees to meet Mateo the next evening.
Fourth picture
“Das Gittertor”, a street with Conchita's house
As arranged the day before, Mateo came to the house in which Conchita lives and where she had ordered him. But instead of letting him in, she turns around and calls “Morenito” into the house, the name of a man with whom Mateo saw her dancing the night before and mocks Mateo. After their mockery, Mateo staggers off the stage.
Fifth and last picture
A small room in the Mateos house
Mateo, desperate and dejected, remembers the previous night. After Conchita arrives, a wild argument breaks out. Mateo hits Conchita, but before he does more violent acts to her, he thinks about it. Conchita finally notices how much Mateo loves her and finally admits her feelings. She assures Mateo that Morenito was never her lover. Overjoyed you fall into each other's arms.
history
Emergence
After composing the opera Madama Butterfly (1904), Giacomo Puccini looked for new operatic material and found interest in Louÿs' novel La femme et le pantin . In 1906 a contract for the composition was signed, Luigi Illica was to write the libretto. In the following year, however, Puccini decided against the material because he had concerns about the realization of the material. In addition, Louÿs was dissatisfied with Illica's makeover. Puccini's publisher Ricordi, however, wanted to hold onto the material and found the librettist in Zangarini. Zandonai, whose first full-length opera Il grillo del focolare had previously been published by Ricordi , was commissioned with the composition. To work on Conchita , Zandonai interrupted the composition of his opera Melenis and composed the first two pictures in the late summer of 1909 in Borgo Sacco , the rest between November 1909 and February 1910 in Pesaro .
reception
Tarquinia Tarquini and Piero Schiavazzi sang in the celebrated world premiere of the opera . Ettore Panizza was the musical director . The following year the opera was given in Rome and London, and in 1913 there were performances in New York and Chicago. Up until the beginning of the Second World War, the opera enjoyed some fame and prestige, at least in Italy, but afterwards it was increasingly forgotten. Some performances after the war were u. a. 1954 in Rovereto, 1959 in Naples and 1961 in San Remo.
layout
Instrumentation
The following instruments are required:
- Woodwinds : piccolo , two flutes , two oboes , English horn , two clarinets , bass clarinet , two bassoons , contrabassoon
- Brass : four horns , three trumpets , three trombones , bass trombone
- Timpani , percussion : snare drum , bass drum , cymbals , triangle , glockenspiel , castanets , tam-tam
- Celesta
- harp
- Strings
- Incidental music: triangle, piccolo, flute, two clarinets in Bb, two violins , piano with muted strings, a double bass , a harp
music
Conchita is a thoroughly composed opera in the stylistic follow-up and further development of verismo . Zandonai built some elements of Spanish folk music into the opera, which he probably studied and absorbed on his trip to Spain while working on Conchita .
In contrast to the libretto, Zandonai did not divide the opera into four acts in the score, but into five images. Therefore the information about the form of the opera contradict one another.
libretto
Despite the fact that the librettists have reduced the brutality of the plot (especially the ending) (for example, Mateo raped Conchita in the original text, and then realizes that she was a virgin up to then) the ending is still very drastic. While Puccini rejected the subject for this reason, Zandonai made this scene with great sophistication the musical-dramatic climax of the opera. The original libretto originally provided for 4 acts (6 images), whereas Zandonai gives 5 images in the score. So he almost completely deleted the 2nd picture of the 1st act, only the reputation of the fruit seller has been preserved.
Web links
- Conchita : Sheet Music and Audio Files in the International Music Score Library Project
- Conchita (Riccardo Zandonai) in the Corago information system of the University of Bologna
- Discography on Conchita at Operadis
Individual evidence
- ↑ Information on the work on klassika.info, accessed on June 18, 2017.
- ↑ a b Rein A. Zondergeld : Conchita. In: Piper's Encyclopedia of Musical Theater . Volume 6: Works. Spontini - Zumsteeg. Piper, Munich / Zurich 1997, ISBN 3-492-02421-1 , pp. 777-779.
- ↑ Information in the score