Il corsaro

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Work data
Title: The corsair
Original title: Il corsaro
Title page of the libretto, Milan 1848

Title page of the libretto, Milan 1848

Shape: Melodramma tragico in three acts
Original language: Italian
Music: Giuseppe Verdi
Libretto : Francesco Maria Piave
Literary source: The Corsair by Lord Byron
Premiere: October 25, 1848
Place of premiere: Trieste , Teatro Grande
Playing time: about 2 hours
Place and time of the action: Aegean Sea , early 19th century
people
  • Corrado, captain of the corsairs ( tenor )
  • Giovanni, a corsair ( bass )
  • Medora, Corrado's young mistress ( soprano )
  • Gulnara, Seids favorite slave (soprano)
  • Be, Pascha von Coron ( baritone )
  • Selimo, Aga (tenor)
  • a black eunuch (tenor)
  • a slave (tenor)
  • Anselmo, Corsair (silent role)
  • Eunuchs, slaves, corsairs, soldiers, Turks, maids ( choir and extras ).

Il corsaro ( The Corsair ) is an opera ( Melodramma tragico ) in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi . The libretto by Francesco Maria Piave based on Lord Byron's dramatic poem The Corsair . The opera's premiere took place on October 25, 1848 in the absence of the composer at the Teatro Grande in Trieste .

action

Historical context

After the Ottoman Empire had conquered Constantinople and a large part of the Balkans in 1453 , it initially dominated the eastern Mediterranean. After the end of the Spanish Reconquista under Ferdinand and Isabella , displaced persons and refugees emerged in the time of Charles V in various groups of corsairs who settled on the North African coast. After submitting themselves to the Turkish sultan in 1529 , they were feared pirates in the western Mediterranean until the 19th century , who also engaged in slave trade . In the opera, on the other hand, the corsairs tend to be pirates and bitter enemies of the Muslims . They have their headquarters on an island in the Aegean Sea and support the Christian side. The opera takes place in the 19th century, a more precise chronological classification is not possible.

first act

First picture: Corsair island in the Aegean Sea, bay surrounded by steep cliffs

After a short prelude, the corsairs sing about their lawless life. Corrado, a man of noble origin who has joined the pirates, receives a message from the Greek resistance movement that the Ottoman fleet has anchored in Coron . He decides to take command himself and fight against the " musulman ", Pascha Seid.

Second picture: Medora's room in an old tower

Medora is plagued by premonitions and says goodbye to Corrado. When a cannon shot roars from the harbor, warning you to leave, she tries in vain to hold Corrado back.

Second act

First picture: Room in Seid's harem

A choir of the Odalisques celebrates Gulnara's luck that she is the darling of Pasha Seid. Gulnara, on the other hand, detests Seid and longs for her home. A eunuch brings her the news that she is expected by the Pasha.

Second picture: beach of the port of Coron, pavilion, view of the Ottoman fleet

Ottoman soldiers and leaders praise Allah in a chorus and celebrate their victory over the corsairs prematurely. Seid, who has joined, is informed by a slave that a dervish has escaped from the hands of the corsairs. This is none other than the disguised Corrado, who is apparently asking Seid for protection. In the following finale, a fire started by the pirates breaks out in the Ottoman fleet, which quickly spreads to the harem . Seid recognizes a spy in Corrado. He throws off his disguise and incites his followers to massacre the Muslims. When Gulnara and others call for help from the harem, Corrado rushes to the aid of the pirates and saves the women. The Ottomans can regroup in the meantime and surround the pirates, of whom only a few escape. Corrado must surrender, and Seid sentenced him to a painful death. The Odalisques and Gulnara, who have long loved their savior, beg for mercy.

Third act

First picture: Seids chambers

Seid expresses his satisfaction over the imminent death of Corrado, but suspects that his beloved Gulnara has fallen in love with him. In a duet Gulnara campaigns in vain for Seid for Corrado's life.

Second picture: inside of the prison tower

Corrado, hung with chains, ponders his imminent death and Medora's misfortune. Gulnara visits the prisoner and offers to help him escape. She's already bribed the guards, and a fast ship would be waiting for both of them on the beach. When Corrado refuses, she hurries away with a dagger in hand. When she returns, she informs Corrado that she murdered Seid in his sleep. Both flee to the waiting ship.

Third picture: Corsair Island, rocky bay, like at the beginning of the opera

Medora learned from the returned pirates that Corrado was captured. She believes in his death and in her desperation has taken poison in order to at least be with him in death. The ship with Corrado and Gulnara on board has meanwhile arrived. When they meet again, Medora Corrado confesses that she will die. Medora thanks Gulnara for saving Corrado before she dies in his arms. Corrado throws himself into the sea. Gulnara collapses.

Instrumentation

The orchestral line-up for the opera includes the following instruments:

Work history

Emergence

Verdi's first engagement with Byron's The Corsair dates back to 1845. After the composition of Attila , which was premiered in March 1846, Verdi's health had deteriorated so much that he had to cancel all engagements and retired to the recreational resort of Recoaro . Francesco Maria Piave, who had long since written a libretto for Il corsaro , believed that Verdi had lost interest in the opera and asked him to send the libretto back. Verdi responded almost outraged and wrote that he already started with the composition and some of his favorite passages have set to music, as the prison duet and trio in the last act. Nevertheless presented Verdi further composition back and composed instead after acquaintance with the poet Andrea Maffei on whose libretti the operas Macbeth after Shakespeare and I masnadieri ( The Robbers ) after Schiller, which he himself conducted at the London premiere in July 1847. Verdi continued to hesitate to complete Il corsaro , although he had already worked out various scenes. Instead, he revised the Lombardi for the performance in Paris, which took place on November 26, 1847 under the title Jérusalem .

Only then did Verdi return to the composition of Il corsaro . At the time of the Europe-wide revolutions and the Italian independence and unification efforts, he was still in Paris. Piave served as a soldier on the side of the Republic of Venice , so that Verdi had no way of influencing the libretto in the sense of his mature dramatic understanding.

Verdi had long since lost enthusiasm for the subject, but had to fulfill the contract with the publisher Francesco Lucca, to whom he had promised three operas in 1845. In 1848, after the rather hasty completion, Verdi sent him the edited score from Paris and wrote that he could do whatever he wanted with it. Lucca then set October 25, 1848, as the day of the premiere in Trieste. Despite the invitation and good singers, Verdi, who had long since distanced himself from the work, was not ready to come to the premiere.

Reception and musical classification

The premiere was not a success and was panned by critics . Only a few stages played the opera.

A later reviewer suggested that Jérusalem and Il corsaro were "the least scrupulous products" in Verdi's work. However, this is only partially true. Verdi had used much older material from 1845/46 in the opera, since by then he had already started composing. So there is the Corsairs conventional places and passages that were already factored into other operas, as in I masnadieri (The robbers). For example, the melody of Corrados Si: de 'corsari il fulmine (first act, chorus, scene and aria) is identical to Carlo Moors Nell'argilla . There are also passages in the opera that seem innovative, such as the violin and cello solos at the beginning of the dungeon scene in the third act. In addition, many passages point to the mature Verdi, such as the Traviata -like phrase before Medora's first scene. Despite this inconsistency, in the opinion of Verdi biographer Julian Budden, the opera is nowhere boring and “not as insignificant as previous authors have led us to assume”.

Discography (selection)

literature

  • Julian Budden: Verdi's "Il corsaro". Analysis in the CD booklet, recording by Philips 1975.
  • Rolf Fath: Reclam's Little Verdi Opera Guide , Philipp Reclam jun., Stuttgart 2000, ISBN 3-15-018077-5 .
  • Heinz Wagner: The great manual of the opera , 2nd edition, Florian Noetzel Verlag Wilhelmshaven 1995, p. 738 f.

Web links

Commons : Il corsaro  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Rein A. Zondergeld : Il corsaro. In: Piper's Encyclopedia of Musical Theater. Volume 6: Works. Spontini - Zumsteeg. Piper, Munich / Zurich 1997, ISBN 3-492-02421-1 , p. 420
  2. ^ Budden: Verdi's "Il corsaro". 1975, p. 24 f.
  3. ^ Budden: Verdi's "Il corsaro". 1975, pp. 24–28, and Julian Budden: Verdi's London Opera. Supplement to I masnadieri , photo taken by Philips 1974.
  4. ^ Budden: Verdi's "Il corsaro". 1975, p. 25 and p. 27.
  5. ^ Budden: Verdi's "Il corsaro". 1975, p. 26.
  6. ^ Budden: Verdi's "Il corsaro". 1975, p. 28, without mentioning the name.
  7. ^ Budden: Verdi's "Il corsaro". 1975, p. 30.