La Wally

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Work data
Title: The Vulture Wally
Original title: La Wally
Title page of the piano reduction, around 1890–1900

Title page of the piano reduction, around 1890–1900

Shape: Dramma lirico in four acts
Original language: Italian
Music: Alfredo Catalani
Libretto : Luigi Illica
Literary source: The Geier-Wally by Wilhelmine von Hillern
Premiere: January 20, 1892
Place of premiere: Teatro alla Scala , Milan
Playing time: about 2 hours
Place and time of the action: Hochstoff and Sölden in the Ötztal ( Tyrol ), around 1800
people
  • Wally ( soprano )
  • Stromminger, her father, a rich landowner ( bass )
  • Afra, Adler hostess in Sölden ( mezzo-soprano )
  • Walter, a young zither player and ballad singer (soprano)
  • Giuseppe Hagenbach from Sölden, a hunter ( tenor )
  • Vincenzo Gellner from Hochstoff, Stromminger's estate manager ( baritone )
  • The Messenger of Schnals (bass)
  • Mountain residents, shepherds, petty bourgeoisie, old women, farmers, hunters, young people, children from Sölden and from Hochstoff ( choir )
  • Traveling musicians, farmers, hunters from Sölden and from Hochstoff (extras)
  • Children, hunters (ballet)

La Wally is an opera (original name: "Dramma lirico") in four acts by Alfredo Catalani on a libretto by Luigi Illica based on the novel Die Geier-Wally by Wilhelmine von Hillern . It premiered on January 20, 1892 at the Teatro alla Scala in Milan.

action

first act

In honor of the 70th birthday of the landowner Stromminger, a shooting festival is celebrated in Hochstoff in the Ötztal . When the hunter Hagenbach from the neighboring town of Sölden (Ötztal) , who is rivaling Hochstoff, comes and boasts that he has killed a bear, Stromminger starts an argument with him. The two fighters are separated, but Stromminger's manager Gellner reports to his master that his daughter Wally is in love with Hagenbach. Thereupon Stromminger orders his daughter to marry Gellner. However, she steadfastly refuses and leaves her father to move into a mountain hut ( Wally's famous aria : Ebben? Ne andrò lontana ).

Second act

A year later, Wally inherited all of her father's fortune. At the Corpus Christi festival in Sölden, she meets Hagenbach, who steals a kiss from her because of a bet, but does not care about her. Wally seeks revenge for this humiliation and demands of Gellner to kill Hagenbach.

Third act

On the same evening, Hagenbach follows Wally on the way home to Hochstoff, but Gellner lies in wait for him and plunges him into the gorge. When Wally found out, she was startled and rushed into the ravine herself to save the injured man.

Fourth act

Wally has retired to her mountain hut on the Murzoll. Hagenbach appears and explains to Wally that he still loves her. He doesn't want to give up either when Wally admits that she wanted him to be killed. The two descend into the valley, but Hagenbach is torn down by an avalanche. In desperation, Wally falls to her death as well.

Instrumentation

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

Work history

The first performance of the opera, with the Romanian soprano Hariclea Darclée in the title role, took place on January 20, 1892 at the Teatro alla Scala in Milan. Ettore Brancaleoni (Stromminger), Virginia Guerrini (Afra), Adelina Stehle-Garbin (Walter), Emanuele Suagnez (Giuseppe Hagenbach), Arturo Pessina (Vincenzo Gellner) and Pietro Cesari (messenger from Schnals) also sang. The musical direction was in the hands of Edoardo Mascheroni , and the stage design was by Adolfo Hohenstein .

The conductor Arturo Toscanini , who directed the second production of La Wally in Lucca in September 1892 , valued Catalani and his opera so much that he named his daughter "Wally" after the main character. Gustav Mahler , conductor of the German premiere of the opera on February 16, 1893 in Hamburg , considered Catalani's work “the best Italian opera”. Werner Schroeter's production at the Bremen Theater in 1985 is one of the well-known productions of the opera . Today, however, the opera is rarely on the program of the stages in German-speaking countries, for example in Innsbruck 2013, in the Landestheater Niederbayern 2016/2017 or in the Volksoper Vienna 2017.

However, Wally's aria “Ebben? Ne andrò lontana ”, which Catalani originally composed in 1878 as Chanson Groënlandaise and then included in the opera. In professional circles, it is considered vocal demanding and highly expressive. She can be heard as a solo work on numerous albums by famous opera singers such as Maria Callas . It became popular through its use in the soundtrack to the film Diva by Jean-Jacques Seeleix .

Recordings

Web links

Commons : La Wally  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Egon Voss : La Wally. In: Piper's Encyclopedia of Musical Theater . Volume 1: Works. Abbatini - Donizetti. Piper, Munich / Zurich 1986, ISBN 3-492-02411-4 , p. 507.
  2. ↑ January 20, 1892: “La Wally”. In: L'Almanacco di Gherardo Casaglia ..
  3. ↑ World famous aria literaturportal-bayern.de (accessed on August 17, 2017)
  4. ↑ Dopo trent'anni in scena "La Wally" con Protagonisti d'eccellenza La Gazzetta del Serchio, July 31, 2013.