La contadina astuta

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Opera dates
Title: The crafty peasant woman
Original title: La contadina astuta
Title page of the libretto, Florence 1792

Title page of the libretto, Florence 1792

Shape: Opera intermezzo in two parts
Original language: Italian
Music: Giovanni Battista Pergolesi
Libretto : Tommaso Mariani
Premiere: October 25, 1734
Place of premiere: Teatro San Bartolomeo, Naples
Playing time: about 30 minutes
Place and time of the action: Rural area in Italy, 18th century
people
  • Livietta, young peasant girl ( soprano )
  • Tracollo, drifters ( bass )
  • Faccenda, Tracollos Kumpan (silent role)
  • Fulvia, Livietta's girlfriend (silent role)

La contadina astuta (English: the cunning peasant woman ) or Livietta e Tracollo is an operatic intermezzo in two parts by Giovanni Battista Pergolesi (music) with a libretto by Tommaso Mariani . The premiere took place on October 25, 1734 between the acts of Pergolesi's opera Adriano in Siria at the Teatro San Bartolomeo in Naples.

action

First part

The peasant girl Livietta plans to catch a crook who disguised as a Pole under the false name Baldracca makes the area unsafe. He had already robbed her brother and almost killed her. In order not to be recognized, Livietta has put on men's clothes (Livietta: "Vi sto ben? Vi comparisco?"). Her friend Fulvia plays the decoy wearing fake jewelry. The two lie down and pretend to be asleep while their friends hide. Tracollo soon appears dressed up as a pregnant Polish woman with his friend Faccenda. He first begs the audience for alms (Tracollo: “A una povera polacca”) and then discovers the two sleeping people. His desire for the jewelry is immediately aroused. He first sends Faccenda to steal the chain from Fulvia. But since he is too clumsy, Tracollo tries it himself. Livietta seems to wake up and confronts him in Italian, interspersed with French language. Then her friends overwhelm him. Livietta asks her to undress Tracollo. Tracollo moans, Livietta threatens to be beaten, and finally they agree that it is not the farmers but her alleged sister Fulvia who should strip him. After Tracollo's exposure, Livietta also reveals herself. She demands her revenge. Tracollo asks for forgiveness in vain. Livietta is also unimpressed by his promise to marry her (Livietta: “E voi perché venite”). She is determined to hand him over to the authorities. Tracollo already sees himself on the gallows (Tracollo: "Ecco il povero Tracollo"). In the final duet of the first part, Livietta's determination and Tracollo's pleadings face each other (Tracollo / Livietta: “Vado, vado… ed avrai cor”).

Second part

Tracollo has escaped from the authorities and disguised himself as an astrologer (Tracollo: "Vedo l'aria che s'imbruna"). He already meets Livietta, who recognizes him immediately. So Tracollo is talking nonsense to make her believe he's gone mad. Livietta decides to play along for a while to find out how things are really going with him. Tracollo introduces himself to her as Don Chiaravalle from Milan and asks her for her name. Livietta replies that, as an astrologer, he should know that. Since Tracollo talks her way out, she declares that she is a better astrologer than him, because she knows his real name: Tracollo. Tracollo replies that he is just his ghost. You yourself are to blame for his death. Therefore she must now lead him into the realm of the dead. He takes her arm and runs with her across the stage until she throws herself on a rock, completely breathless. She pretends to die and begs him to forgive her and not to forget her (Livietta: “Caro perdonami”). Then she remains motionless. Tracollo, who by now knows her tricks, doesn't believe her at first. He looks at her worried to convince himself of her death (Tracollo: “Non si move, non rifiata”). Then he bursts into tears and confesses to the supposedly dead man that he had only faked his madness. Livietta immediately comes to life again. Tracollo gives up when beaten. He promises to face the authorities and also makes her the heiress of his treasures buried under a tree. Livietta realizes that he actually loves her. She is ready to marry him if he promises to change his life and be honest. Both swear to remain true to each other (Livietta / Tracollo: "Semper attorno, qual palomba").

layout

The work is peppered with jokes, disguises and slapstick elements. In contrast to Pergolesi's previous intermezzo La serva padrona , the text has a crude language. The two silent roles Faccenda and Fulvia act in pantomime. Musically, the burlesque character of the piece is supported by the lively rhythmic motifs of Pergolesi.

Instrumentation

The orchestra of the intermezzo consists of two oboes , two trumpets , strings and basso continuo : the wind instruments are only used in Tracollo's aria “Vedo l'aria che s'imbruna” in the second part. The musical language is kept simple. The two violin parts as well as viola and bass are often performed in unison or in thirds or sixths parallels.

Music numbers

The intermezzo contains the following musical numbers:

First part

  • Livietta: “Vi sto ben? Vi comparisco? "
  • Tracollo: "A una povera polacca"
  • Livietta: "E voi perché venite"
  • Tracollo: "Ecco il povero Tracollo"
  • Tracollo / Livietta: "Vado, vado ... ed avrai cor"

Second part

  • Tracollo: "Vedo l'aria che s'imbruna"
  • Livietta: "Caro perdonami"
  • Tracollo: "Non si move, non rifiata"
  • Livietta / Tracollo: "Semper attorno, qual palomba"

Work history

Title page of the libretto, Venice 1750

The first performance of the two parts of La contadina astuta took place between the three acts of Pergolesi's opera Adriano in Siria on October 25, 1734 at the Teatro San Bartolomeo in Naples. The soprano Laura Monti sang as Livietta and the bass Gioacchino Corrado as Tracollo. The performance was part of the celebrations for the 42nd birthday of Queen Elizabeth of Spain . The opera and the intermezzo have no contextual references to each other and were also performed by different interpreters.

The intermezzo had a far greater success than the opera Adriano in Siria. With La serva padrona and some works by Johann Adolph Hasse ( La contadina from 1728, La serva scaltra from 1729 and Il tutore from 1730), it is one of the most popular interludes of its time. In the following two decades it was combined with different operas and played with different titles such as Il ladro finto pazzo , Il Tracollo , La finta polacca , Il ladro convertito per amore , Tracollo medico ignorante or Intermezzo del Tracollo at most of the important European theaters. It was constantly revised and given music numbers by other composers, for which the respective singers were often responsible, who liked to insert arias from the operas they were singing at the time. However, parts of the original have always been retained. Two versions by Carlo Goldoni and Pietro Chiarini were presented in Venice in 1741 as Il finto pazzo and in 1742 as Amor fa l'uomo cieco . A French version by Jacques Lacombe appeared in Paris in 1756 under the title Le Charlatan .

The work was performed again and again in the 20th and 21st centuries. In 1914 and 1920 piano reductions were published. There were possibly related performances in 1917 in Treviso, 1925 in Trieste and 1927 in Rome. A version by Wolf Ebermann and Manfred Koerth from 1963 was played at the Vienna Chamber Opera in 1975, at the Schwetzingen Festival in 1978 at the Karlsruhe State Theater and in 1985 at the Berlin Chamber Opera . The 1985 edition of Gordana Lazarevich became the basis of a production of the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino .

Recordings

  • unknown (live): Delio Cassetta (conductor), Orchestra da Camera Di Belluno. Kikko KC052.1 (1 CD).
  • 195 ?: Franco Gallini (conductor), Orchestra della Scuola di Arzignano. Graziella Sciutti (Livietta), Marcello Cortis (Tracollo). Black Disc - Italian Fonit LP 2005 (1 LP).
  • 1959 (live): Alfredo Simonetto (conductor), Orchestra A. Scarlatti della RAI di Napoli. Angelica Tuccari (Livietta), Sesto Bruscantini (Tracollo). Cetra CD: CDE 1070.
  • May 1961 (studio): Ennio Gerelli (conductor), Compagnia del Teatro Musicale da Camera di Villa Olmo. Elda Ribetti (Livietta), Dino Mantovani (Tracollo). Cetra CD: CDO 31.
  • 1975 (studio): Marcel Borusiac (conductor), Orchestra de Chamber Audonia Saint-Ouen. Anna Maria Bondi (Livietta), Bruno Renzi (Tracollo). SFP LP: 91,044 (1 LP).
  • 1996 (live; version by Giuseppe Sellitti, 1753): Alfonso Saura Llacer (conductor), Orchestra Benedetta Marcello di Terrarno. Giuseppina Brienza (Livietta), Alessandro Calamai (Tracollo), Sunhae Im (Sulpizio). Bongiovanni GB 2211 1 CD.
  • November 23, 1996 (video; live from the Lunatheater Brussels): Sigiswald Kuijken (conductor), Ferruccio Soleri (staging), La Petite Bande . Nancy Argenta (Livietta), Werner van Mechelen (Tracollo). TDK DVD, Accent 96123 (1 CD).
  • 1997 (live): Massimo Zanetti (conductor), Orchestra da Camera Milano Classica. Liliana Olivieri (Livietta), Davide Rocca (Tracollo). La Bottega Discantica 08 (1 CD).
  • 2010 (video; live from the Teatro GB Pergolesi in Jesi, together with Adriano in Siria ): Ottavio Dantone (conductor), Accademia Bizantina. Monica Bacelli (Livietta), Carlo Lepore (Tracollo). Opus Arte - OA1065D (2 DVD's), Opus Arte OABD7098D (BR).

literature

  • Franco Piperno: Pergolesi autore di intermezzi: Livietta e Tracollo. Fondazione Pergolesi Spontini, Jesi 2010 ( online ).

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Gordana Lazarevich:  Livietta e Tracollo [La contadina astuta]. In: Grove Music Online (English; subscription required).
  2. ↑ a b c d e f Gordana Lazarevich: Livietta e Tracollo / La contadina astuta. In: Piper's Encyclopedia of Musical Theater. Vol. 4. Works. Massine - Piccinni. Piper, Munich and Zurich 1991, ISBN 3-492-02414-9 , pp. 686-688.
  3. ^ Livietta e Tracollo. Libretto on librettidopera.it , accessed September 20, 2016.
  4. ^ Record of the performance on October 25, 1734 in the Teatro San Bartolomeo in the Corago information system of the University of Bologna .
  5. ↑ a b c d e f g Giovanni Battista Pergolesi. In: Andreas Ommer: Directory of all opera complete recordings. Zeno.org , volume 20.
  6. ↑ Details on Franco Gallini's recording on Operadis , accessed on September 21, 2016.
  7. ↑ Nicolas Mesnier-Nature: Pergolèse: Adrien en Syrie - Livietta et Tracollo (Jesi 2010) Blu-ray. Review. In: tutti-magazine.fr, accessed on September 21, 2016.