Il turco in Italia

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Work data
Title: The Turk in Italy
Original title: Il turco in Italia
Title page of the libretto, Milan 1814

Title page of the libretto, Milan 1814

Shape: Dramma buffo in two acts
Original language: Italian
Music: Gioachino Rossini
Libretto : Felice Romani
Literary source: Caterino Mazzolà
Premiere: August 14, 1814
Place of premiere: Teatro alla Scala di Milano , Milan
Playing time: approx. 2 ½ hours
Place and time of the action: Naples , 18th century
people
  • Selim, Turkish prince on trips, temporarily lover of Zaida's, then in love with Fiorilla ( bass )
  • Donna Fiorilla, capricious but honest woman, wife of Don Geronios ( soprano )
  • Don Geronio, weak, fearful man (bass)
  • Don Narciso, lover of Fiorilla, jealous and sentimental ( tenor )
  • Prosdocimo, poet, acquaintance Don Geronios (baritone)
  • Zaida, a gypsy (soprano)
  • Albazar, Selim's first confidante, Zaida's companion (tenor)
  • Gypsies, Turks, Masked People ( Choir )

Il turco in Italia (Eng: The Turk in Italy ) is an opera buffa (original name: "dramma buffo") in two acts by Gioachino Rossini from 1814. The libretto is by Felice Romani and is an adaptation of the original of the same name by Caterino Mazzolà . The premiere took place on August 14, 1814 in Milan at the Teatro alla Scala di Milano .

action

In search of comedy material, the poet Prosdocimo observes the love entanglements in his environment, in which he occasionally intervenes cynically through intrigues. Fiorilla cheats on her husband Geronio with Narciso. The Turkish Prince Selim also falls in love with her, but then reconciles with his former lover, the gypsy Zaida. Finally, Fiorilla regrets her volatility and returns to her husband.

first act

Lonely place outside of Naples. Seashore. A hill on one side, country houses in the distance, gypsy tents

Scene 1–2. The poet Prosdocimo was commissioned to write the libretto for a comic opera, but he couldn't think of a plot. Finally he got the idea to write a piece about his friend Don Geronio, whose young wife Fiorilla is having an affair with Don Narciso. But instead a group of gypsies inspires him to write a gypsy opera (introduction: “Nostra patria è il mondo intero”).

Scene 3-4. Geronio also visits the gypsy camp in order to be prophesied of the future (Cavatine: “Vado in traccia d'una zingara”). However, the beautiful Zaida and her friends only mock him. Prosdocimo observes the scene and is interested in Zaida. She tells him that she was once the mistress of a Turkish prince who sentenced her to death out of jealousy. Only with the help of the gypsies and her friend Albazar did she manage to escape. The poet promises to help her get back together with the prince.

Scene 5-6. At the port of Naples, Fiorilla observes the arrival of Selim, a Turkish prince who wants to get to know Italian life (Cavatine Fiorilla: “Non si dà follia maggiore” - Choir of the Turks: “Voga, voga, a terra, a terra” - Cavatinetta Selim : "Cara Italia, alfin ti miro"). The two quickly fall in love with each other (duet: "Serva!" - "Servo").

Scene 7–8. Geronio and Narciso are devastated and discuss with Prosdocimo what to do next. For the poet, the development of his story is in the foreground, but the two companions refuse to be simply puppets in Prosdocimo's play (trio: “Un marito - scimunito!”).

Elegantly furnished rooms in Don Geronios' house

Scene 9-14. Meanwhile, Fiorilla has invited Selim for coffee (quartet: "Siete Turchi: non vi credo"). Geronio makes a scene, but is appeased by his wife. Selim uses the friendliness of Italian husbands to arrange another rendezvous with Fiorilla at the port. After the rival has disappeared, Geronio confronts his wife, but again Fiorilla succeeds in appeasing her helpless husband (duet: “Per piacere alla signora”).

Seashore. At night. The anchored ship Selim. The illuminated gypsy camp

Scene 15-17. Zaida and the Gypsies reflect on the unknown future (Finale I: “Gran meraviglie”). Meanwhile, Prosdocimo is unhappy that he cannot follow the current development. He is all the more pleased when he sees a meeting between Selim and Zaida, at which Selim recognizes his former mate and falls in love with her again. But Fiorilla surprises the two lovers and a loud argument ensues. In the middle stands the poet, who cheers on the wild goings-on and happily observes - the first act of his opera buffa couldn't end better.

Second act

Room in an inn

Scene 1-3. Selim has made a decision: According to Turkish custom, he wants to buy Fiorilla from her husband. But Geronio refuses with the reference to Italian customs. There are mutual threats (duet: "D'un bell'uso di Turchia"). Prosdocimo, who has observed the conversation, realizes that the story is dragging on longer than desired for his acting. He needs a quick and moral resolution.

Scene 4-5. Even women cannot come to an agreement at a meeting (choir and Cavatine Fiorilla: “Non v'è piacer perfetto” - “Se il zefiro si posa”).

Scene 6-7. Fiorilla called Selim over to the interview. All that remains is the evening masked ball to unwind the different threads of the plot. At this ball, Fiorilla and Selim want to meet in disguise and flee together (duet: “Credete alle femmine”).

Scene 8. The poet convinces Zaida and Geronio to disguise themselves in the same way, thereby creating confusion and preventing their escape. Narciso overhears the plans and also decides to appear at the masked ball in the disguise of the Turk (aria: “Tu seconda il mio disegno”).

Scene 9-10. Albazar supports Prosdocimo in his preparations because he wants to help Zaida to her happiness (aria: "Ah! Sarebbe troppo dolce").

Dimly lit ballroom

Scene 11. At the ball (chorus: “Amor la danza mova”) Selim now holds the disguised Zaida for Fiorilla, Fiorilla Narciso for Selim. The horned husband Geronio cannot distinguish Zaida and Fiorilla in their disguise and becomes the mockery of the ball guests (quintet: "Oh! Guardate che accidente!").

Scene 12. After Selim, Zaida, Narciso, Fiorilla and the other guests left, Geronio stayed behind in despair. Prosdocimo invites him over.

Room in the guest house as before

Scene 13-14. Prosdocimo takes the last blow and persuades Geronio to pretend to file for divorce. Albazar intervenes and reports of Selim's reconciliation with Zaida.

Place with the house of Don Geronios

Scene 15-17. Fiorilla learns from Prosdocimo of the impending departure of Selim and Zaida. Abandoned by her lover and husband, she despairs (aria: “Squallida veste, e bruna”). Prosdocimo, however, is enthusiastic about this theater material.

Sea shore as in the first act. Selim's anchored ship and Turkish sailors preparing for departure

Scene 18-19. Fiorilla regrets what she did. Morality is secured and the poet can happily note the happy ending: Because at the end Geronio forgives his unfaithful wife (Finale II: “Son la vite sul campo appassita”).

layout

Contrary to the opinion of the audience after the world premiere, this work is not just a plagiarism by L'italiana in Algeri , but an independent composition. It also contains some successful pieces, but does not quite match the quality of its predecessor. The libretto is of a high standard. It seems like a satire about the Buffo style and the "Turkish fashion".

The ensemble movements dominate musically. The solo arias and cavatins are generally of a lower quality and in some cases do not even come from Rossini himself. It is noticeable that not a single aria is intended for the acting role of the poet.

Instrumentation

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

  • Two flutes / two piccolo flutes, two oboes, two clarinets, two bassoons
  • Two horns, two trumpets, one trombone
  • Timpani, bass drum
  • Strings
  • Continuo

Music numbers

The opera contains the following musical numbers:

  • Sinfonia

first act

  • No. 1. Introduction (Zaida, Albazar, Prosdocimo, choir): "Nostra patria è il mondo intero" (scene 1)
  • No. 2. Cavatine (Geronio): "Vado in traccia d'una zingara" (scene 3)
  • No. 3. Cavatine (Fiorilla): "Non si dà follia maggiore" (scene 5)
    • Choir: "Voga, voga, a terra, a terra" (scene 5)
    • Cavatinetta (Selim): "Cara Italia, alfin ti miro" (scene 6)
    • Duet (Fiorilla, Selim): "Serva!" - "Servo" (scene 6)
  • No. 4. Trio (Prosdocimo, Geronio, Narciso): "Un marito - scimunito!" (Scene 8)
  • No. 5. Quartet (Fiorilla, Selim, Geronio, Narciso): "Siete Turchi: non vi credo" (scene 9)
  • No. 6. Duet (Geronio, Fiorilla): "Per piacere alla signora" (scene 13)
  • No. 7. Finale I (Choir, Zaida, Selim, Prosdocimo, Narciso, Fiorilla, Geronio, Albazar): "Gran meraviglie" (scene 15)

Second act

  • No. 8. Duet (Selim, Geronio): "D'un bell'uso di Turchia" (scene 2)
  • No. 9. Choir and Cavatine (Fiorilla): "Non v'è piacer perfetto" - "Se il zefiro si posa" (scene 4)
  • No. 10. Duet (Selim, Fiorilla): "Credete alle femmine" (scene 7)
  • No. 11. Accompagnato recitative and aria (Narciso): “Intesi, ah! Tutto intesi "-" Tu seconda il mio disegno "(scene 8)
  • No. 12. Aria (Albazar): “Ah! sarebbe troppo dolce "(scene 10)
  • No. 13. Choir: "Amor la danza mova" (scene 11)
  • No. 14. Quintet (Geronio, Narciso, Zaida, Selim, Fiorilla, choir): “Oh! guardate che accidente! "(Scene 11)
  • No. 15. Accompagnato recitative and aria (Fiorilla, chorus): "I vostri cenci vi mando" - "Squallida veste, e bruna" (scene 16)
  • No. 16. Finale II (Fiorilla, Geronio, Prosdocimo, Choir, Selim, Zaida, Narciso): "Son la vite sul campo appassita" (scene 18)

Acquisitions

Due to lack of time, Rossini did not compose some pieces himself. These may come from Vincenzo Lavigna , the “Maestro al Harpsichord” at the premiere. These include all secco recitatives, the arias of Geronio (No. 2) and Albazar (No. 12) as well as the finale of the second act.

The gypsy choir at the beginning of the opera is based on Lucilla's aria “Sento talor nell'anima” from La scala di seta . The theme of Duet No. 6 “Per piacere alla signora” comes from Il signor Bruschino .

Rossini later processed the music of the overture twice for Sigismondo and Otello . He used several pieces for La gazzetta . These include the Geronio / Fiorilla duet “Per piacere alla signora” (No. 6), the choir “Amor la danza mova” (No. 13) and the quintet “Oh! guardate che accidente! ”(No. 14).

music

In the literature, the following numbers are particularly emphasized:

  • No. 4. Terzett (Prosdocimo, Geronio, Narciso): "Un marito - scimunito!" Framed by an orchestral melody over elongated bass notes, "cleverly varied Buffo declamation, quirky modulations and the elegant insertion of phrases from the overture of the opera"
  • No. 5. Quartet (Fiorilla, Selim, Geronio, Narciso): "Siete Turchi"
  • No. 6. Duet (Geronio, Fiorilla) “Per piacere alla signora”. Ambiguous, jokingly serious mood when Fiorilla pretends to cry.
  • No. 7. Finale I with pretty arias from Fiorilla, e.g. B. "Chi servir non brama Amor"
  • No. 8. Duet (Selim, Geronio): “D'un bell'uso di Turchia”. A buffo duet with a crescendo effect at the brilliant end.
  • No. 9. Cavatine (Fiorilla): “Se il zefiro si posa” with folk charm
  • No. 14. Quintet: “Oh! guardate che accidente! ”The climax of the opera,“ an ambiguous sentence, its brilliance cannot be stopped, very funny, but also quite heartless ”.

Work history

Rossini received the commission for Il turco in Italia , with which the autumn season of 1814 was to open, from the Milanese Teatro alla Scala , where only a few months earlier his Aureliano in Palmira had been performed with moderate success. For this he received a fee of 800 francs. The libretto is by Felice Romani and is an adaptation of the original of the same name by Caterino Mazzolà , which was set to music by Franz Seydelmann for the Dresden Opera in 1788 . In terms of content, it is a kind of reversal of Rossini's opera L'italiana in Algeri , because here it is not an Italian who is transferred to Algeria, but a Turk to Italy. In addition, the figure of the poet creates a "distancing and content-related refraction" that is reminiscent of the works of Luigi Pirandello . Romani took into account Rossini's change requests in his work. For his version, he adopted the basic personnel constellations and the basic structure of the plot from Mazzolà's original, but concentrated more on the characters Fiorilla and Selim and increased the number of the ensemble .

At the world premiere on August 14, 1814 at the Teatro alla Scala in Milan, the orchestra played under the direction of the concertmaster (“Primo Violino, Capo d'Orchestra”) Alessandro Rolla . “Maestro al harpsichord” was Vincenzo Lavigna . The set was done by Pasquale Canna. Together with the opera, the ballet Ifigenia was performed in Tauride with a choreography by Urbano Garzia and a stage design by Giovanni Perego. Luigi Pacini (Don Geronio), Francesca Maffei Festa (Fiorilla), Filippo Galli (Selim), Giovanni David (Narciso), Pietro Vasoli (Prosdocimo), Adelaide Carpano (Zaida) and Gaetano Pozzi (Albazar) sang. The work was given a total of twelve times. Nevertheless, the performance is considered a failure because the new opera was perceived as a copy of L'italiana in Algieri . According to a report in Corriere milanese , a gentleman in the audience shouted “Potpourri, potpourri!”.

After the premiere, Rossini composed two new musical numbers with an alternative aria from Fiorilla and the aria from Narciso in the second act.

In 1814/1815 performances at the Teatro della Pergola in Florence followed and in 1815 a production at the Teatro Valle in Rome, which Rossini personally supervised. It was played there for a whole month from November 7th due to its great success. Then there were many other performances in Italian cities until 1853, some under other titles such as Il tutore deluso (Vicenza 1816) or La capricciosa corretta (Rome 1819).

The German premiere took place on November 30, 1816 in Dresden. The opera was first given in German on April 23, 1819 in Stuttgart. The translation came from Franz Carl Hiemer .

In London, the work was given in Italian on May 19, 1821 at His Majesty's Theater and on May 1, 1827 in an English translation as The Turkish Lovers at the Theater Royal, Drury Lane . It was published in New York on March 14, 1826. In May 1830, Rossini personally conducted a one-act version in the private theater of the Marchese Francesco Sampieri.

For a long time the opera was played in mutilated or distorted versions. Piano reductions published in France and England even contained pieces by other composers.

In the second half of the 19th century, Il turco in Italia disappeared from the repertoire until it was performed again in 1950 with Maria Callas as Fiorilla in Rome. In 1981 a critically revised edition by Margaret Bent appeared. In the meantime, the opera is played frequently again and is considered to be one of the "most concise and demanding attempts by Rossini in the field of opera buffa".

Recordings

Il turco in Italia has appeared many times on phonograms. Operadis lists 20 recordings in the period from 1954 to 2009. For this reason, only those recordings that have been particularly recognized in specialist journals or opera guides are listed below.

Web links

Commons : Il turco in Italia  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Charles Osborne : The Bel Canto Operas of Rossini, Donizetti, and Bellini. Amadeus Press, Portland, Oregon, 1994, ISBN 0-931340-71-3 .
  2. ↑ a b c d e f g h Richard Osborne: Rossini - life and work. Translated from the English by Grete Wehmeyer. List Verlag, Munich 1988, ISBN 3-471-78305-9 .
  3. ^ Richard Osborne:  Turco in Italia, Il. In: Grove Music Online (English; subscription required).
  4. ^ Il Turco in Italia. Notes on the critical edition by Margaret Bent, Fondazione Rossini Pesaro 1988 , accessed January 11, 2016.
  5. ^ Il turco in Italia. Music numbers on librettidopera.it , accessed May 10, 2016.
  6. ↑ a b c d e Il turco in Italia. In: Reclam's Opernlexikon. Digital library volume 52. Philipp Reclam jun., 2001, p. 2595.
  7. ↑ a b c d e f g Herbert Weinstock : Rossini - A biography. Translated by Kurt Michaelis. Kunzelmann, Adliswil 1981 (1968), ISBN 3-85662-009-0 .
  8. ↑ a b c d e Il turco in Italia. In: Harenberg opera guide. 4th edition. Meyers Lexikonverlag, 2003, ISBN 3-411-76107-5 , p. 767 f.
  9. ↑ Details of the performers of the premiere according to the libretto from 1814.
  10. ^ A b Il turco in Italia (Gioachino Rossini) in the Corago information system of the University of Bologna .
  11. ^ Discography on Il turco in Italia at Operadis.
  12. ↑ a b Gioacchino Rossini. In: Andreas Ommer: Directory of all opera complete recordings. Zeno.org , volume 20.