L'incantesimo
| Opera dates | |
|---|---|
| Title: | L'incantesimo |
| Shape: | Opera in one act |
| Original language: | Italian |
| Music: | Italo Montemezzi |
| Libretto : | Sem Benelli |
| Premiere: | Concert: October 9, 1943, scenic: August 9, 1952 |
| Place of premiere: | Concert: NBC -Radio staged: Arena di Verona |
| Playing time: | about 45 minutes |
| Place and time of the action: | A castle in the Italian Alps, Middle Ages |
| people | |
L'incantesimo (German: "The Magic") is an opera in one act by Italo Montemezzi (music) with a libretto by Sem Benelli . It premiered on October 9, 1943 as an NBC radio broadcast . The scenic premiere took place posthumously on August 9, 1952 in the Arena di Verona .
action
On a snowy winter evening, Folco and his wife Giselda wait for Count Rinaldo to arrive in their castle in the Italian Alps. He was a close friend of Folco until the two of them were married, and he had also courted Giselda at the time. Folco invited him because he hoped his companion, a fortune teller , would clarify an experience he had during today's hunt.
Rinaldo arrives and has also brought the fortune teller with him who waits to the side. After a warm welcome, Rinaldo explains that he had also learned from his teacher Salomone to “read behind the bill”. Still, Folco prefers to speak to the fortune teller directly. He is called, and Folco tells him about his experience: He was full of a thirst for battle in search of a wolf, whose trail he followed to its burrow. He lured him out with a pig skin and thrust his lance into his heart. At the moment of his death, a gentle and almost human-looking doe appeared, which he also attacked in a hunting frenzy. Their face suddenly changed into that of his wife Giselda. Although their eyes pleadingly looked at him, Folco could not stop, killed her and fled.
While the magician ponders what has happened, Giselda and Rinaldo share their views. Giselda is shocked that Falco killed the doe even though she wore her face. Rinaldo believes that love itself brought the doe to him. Finally, the fortune teller also expresses himself. He says that Folco's pride is greater than his love and that only through death can he experience true feelings such as pity. Giselda admits that she feels trapped in a "dark fear of a secret". Falco now fears that she too will die and asks Solomon for advice on how to avoid it. The fortune teller explains to him that he has to prove his love to Giselda with an act: he has to go to the place where he killed the doe tonight. If he finds Giselda's body there, he should carry her home.
While Folco goes on a search, Rinaldo explains that love is all powerful. He still loves Giselda and often imagined in dreams that she was his. He firmly believes that one day this will happen through a "secret miracle". If Folco finds the doe, he will only see her as an animal and not Giselda. She will then die and be reborn for him (Rinaldo). Giselda asks Rinaldo to transform the snow-covered garden into a blooming May garden the next morning. If he succeeds in this, it will be his. But she doesn't believe that.
After a while, Folco returns without having achieved anything. Although he found the doe, he could only see an animal in her. Solomon explains to him that the enchantment is gone forever for him, but that for Giselda it is only just beginning. In fact, the garden blooms like spring, and Giselda surrenders to the power of love.
layout
Although Montemezzi did not complete this opera until 1943, it is stylistically based on Italian verismo and the music of Giacomo Puccini , Pietro Mascagni and Ruggero Leoncavallo .
Work history
The libretto of Italo Montemezzi's opera L'incantesimo was written by the Italian playwright Sem Benelli . Montemezzi began composing in 1933 but did not finish it until after he emigrated to America in 1939.
The concert premiere took place as a radio broadcast of the NBC on October 9, 1943 with the NBC Symphony Orchestra New York under the direction of the composer. Viviane della Chiesa (Giselda), Alexander Sved (Folco), Mario Benini (Rinaldo) and Virgilio Lazzari (Salomone) sang . Despite the reduced interest due to the chaos of the war, the work was well received by the public. The reviews pointed out that it was well suited for broadcasting as it did not necessarily need to be staged. The New York Times reviewer also wrote that this was "by far the most representative opera by a contemporaneous composer which has been introduced on the air" by far by a contemporary composer.
The scenic premiere took place after the composer's death, on August 9, 1952 in the Arena di Verona . Since then, the opera has only been played sporadically, for example in 2007 at the Avery Fisher Hall in New York, in 2010 at the Carnegie Museum of Art in Oakland or in October 2018 at the Conservatory in Milan. In 2019 the Latvian National Opera in Riga presented the work in a production by Aik Karapetian together with Ruggero Leoncavallis Pagliacci . Arte Concert made a video recording available on the Internet.
The opera book A History of Opera by the American musicologist Carolyn Abbate and the British musicologist Roger Parker tops this work on a list of ten “high-profile theater failures between around 1950 and 1980 […]; all works premiered or commissioned for premieres at the highest level ”.
Recordings
- Oct. 9, 1943 - Italo Montemezzi (conductor), NBC Symphony Orchestra New York.
Viviane della Chiesa (Giselda), Alexander Sved (Folco), Mario Benini (Rinaldo), Virgilio Lazzari (Salomone).
Recording of the concert premiere in New York, radio broadcast by NBC .
EJS 277 (LP), GAO (LP), IRCC (CD). - 2019 - Jānis Liepins (conductor), Aik Karapetian (staging), AJ Weissbard (stage, equipment, lighting), Liene Grava (choreography), Artis Dzērve (video).
Dana Bramane (Giselda), Vladislav Sulimsky (Folco), Irakli Kakhidze (Rinaldo), Romāns Polisadovs (Solomon), Rihards Millers (servants).
Video; live from the Latvian National Opera Riga.
Video stream at Arte Concert .
Web links
- "L'Incantesimo" by Italo Montemezzi. Work information and video stream on Arte Concert , video available until August 20, 2019
Individual evidence
- ^ A b c "L'Incantesimo" by Italo Montemezzi. Work information on Arte Concert , accessed on June 8, 2019.
- ↑ a b October 9, 1943: "Incantesimo". In: L'Almanacco di Gherardo Casaglia ..
- ↑ a b information on the work at esdf-opera.de, based on information from David Chandler (Doshisha University, Kyoto), accessed on July 8, 2019.
- ↑ a b Lara Sonja Uras: Montemezzi, Italo. In: Raffaele Romanelli (ed.): Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani (DBI). Volume 76: Montauti – Morlaiter. Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana, Rome 2012.
- ^ Olin Downes: Montemezzi Opera in Radio Premiere; "L'Incantesimo" Given by NBC, With Composer Conducting - Poem Is by Benelli. In: The New York Times , October 10, 1943, accessed July 8, 2019.
- ↑ Vivien Schweitzer: Sorcery, Lust, Chinatown and Opium: It's All Opera. Review of the 2007 New York performance. In: The New York Times , November 15, 2007, accessed July 8, 2019.
- ↑ Mark Kanny: Italian opera premiere casts a "Love Spell". Information about the 2010 Oakland performance on triblive.com, accessed July 8, 2019.
- ↑ Information on the performance in Milan 2018 at novecentoitalianomilano.it, February 12, 2010, accessed on July 8, 2019.
- ↑ Carolyn Abbate, Roger Parker: A History of Opera. The last 400 years. Translated from the English by Karl Heinz Siber and Nikolaus de Palézieux. CH Beck, Munich 2013, ISBN 978-3-406-65542-5 , p. 642.
- ^ Italo Montemezzi. In: Andreas Ommer: Directory of all complete opera recordings (= Zeno.org . Volume 20). Directmedia, Berlin 2005, p. 10261.