La notte di un nevrastenico
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| Title: | La notte di un nevrastenico |
| Shape: | "Dramma buffo" in one act |
| Original language: | Italian |
| Music: | Nino Rota |
| Libretto : | Riccardo Bacchelli |
| Premiere: | Radio: November 19, 1959, scenic: February 8, 1960 |
| Place of premiere: | Radio: RAI , scenic: Piccola Scala, Milan |
| Playing time: | about 40 minutes |
| Place and time of the action: | Hotel in a big city, present day |
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La notte di un nevrastenico (German roughly: 'The night of a neurasthenic ') is a Farsa (original name: "Dramma buffo") in one act by Nino Rota (music) with a libretto by Riccardo Bacchelli . After a radio broadcast by RAI on November 19, 1959, it was premiered on February 8, 1960 in the Piccola Scala in Milan.
action
Eugenio Montale , who later won the Nobel Prize for Literature , summarized the content in his review of the premiere in the Corriere d'informazione as follows:
«Il libretto di Bacchelli ci fa conoscere un nevrotico che spera di dormire in pace avendo affittato, all'albergo, also le camere comunicanti, nell'illusione che esse restino vuote. Ma siamo in tempo di fiera, l'albergatore introduce rumorosi clienti anche nelle camere riservate e solo dopo varie colluttazioni il nevrotico può liberarsi dai disturbatori; senza però trovare il sonno, perché ormai è giorno fatto e il cameriere bussa alla sua porta col “caffè ben caldo”. »
“Bacchelli's libretto shows a neurotic who hopes to have secured a peaceful night's sleep in the hotel because he has also taken the neighboring rooms, in the mistaken belief that they would remain empty. But there is a trade fair and the hotel manager leads loud guests into the reserved rooms, and only after a few arguments does the man finally manage to get rid of the troublemakers; but without finding sleep, because it is already morning and the housekeeper is knocking on his door with 'hot coffee'. "
Scene 1. The scene shows three adjoining rooms of a hotel in a large city, which are connected by closed doors. From the middle room there is a door to the hallway and a smaller one to the bathroom. The two adjoining rooms also have locked entrance doors. Access is via the stairwell and the elevator on the right-hand side. The two rooms on the sides are dark, while the middle one is brightly lit. The neurasthenic enters this room and examines it, as well as the two adjoining rooms, before withdrawing into the bathroom. A little later the concierge and the commander step out of the elevator, followed by a valet with a suitcase. The concierge reminds his guest to move as quietly as possible, because in the next room there is a crazy neurasthenic who suffers from insomnia and should not be disturbed under any circumstances. He sends the maid downstairs to shut down the hotel.
Scene 2. As they enter the room, the concierge explains that the neurasthenic has rented the two neighboring rooms in addition to his own to ensure his peace and quiet. He must therefore not notice that the rooms have been assigned to someone else anyway because the whole city is overcrowded because of the fair.
Scene 3. The neurasthenic instructs the concierge to wake him up punctually at six in the morning and have a coffee brought over. He goes to sleep.
Scene 4. The commander first carefully unpacks his suitcase, but then he is annoyed by the behavior of the hotel manager and throws one of his shoes on the floor angrily.
Scene 5. The commander has calmed down and goes to bed. The neurasthenic, however, is startled by the sound of the shoe and begins to count slowly in order to be able to fall asleep again. However, this does not work because he is compulsively waiting for the other shoe to fall off as well. He rings for the staff.
Scene 6. Hotel servants rush in and all enter the madman's room under the direction of the concierge. He threatens her with a gun, chokes the concierge and furiously demands information about the source of the noise.
Scene 7. The neurasthenic wakes the commander and tells him to show him his shoes. Since both are there, he is reassured for now.
Scene 8. The neurasthenic sends the staff away again. Then the phone rings next to his bed. It's the hotel manager. The neurasthenic hangs up the phone with a curse and tries desperately to fall asleep with his head under the pillow.
Scene 9. In the other adjoining room, a couple is spending a night of love and is gradually getting louder. The neurasthenic begins to count again, then jumps up, opens the door and insults the couple loudly.
Scene 10. The neurasthenic calls the concierge.
Scene 11. He insists that the people in the neighboring rooms be removed. The concierge has no choice but to obey. In the face of the neurasthenic raging with rage, everyone sees that escape is best for them too.
Scene 12. At last the neurasthenic can sleep in peace. But just as he has made himself comfortable in bed, there is a knock on the door. It is six o'clock and the housekeeper brings the coffee that has been ordered.
layout
In La notte di un nevrastenico , the composer Nino Rota combined a variety of different styles from Igor Stravinsky , Sergei Prokofiev , Giacomo Puccini and Franz Lehár to jazz and mambo . In addition, as in many of his works, he quoted his well-known film scores, here for example the blues from La dolce vita .
The orchestra needs the following instruments:
- Woodwinds : flute piccolo , two flutes , oboe , cor anglais , two clarinets , two bassoons , alto saxophone
- Brass : two horns , two trumpets , trombone
- Timpani , jazz - drums , xylophone , vibraphone
- Celesta , piano
- Carillon
- harp
- Strings : violins 1, violins 2, violas , cellos , double basses
Work history
Nino Rota's short Farsa or "dramma buffo" La notte di un nevrastenico was written in 1959 on a libretto by Riccardo Bacchelli . After the success of his opera Il cappello di paglia di Firenze in 1958 at the Piccola Scala in Milan , Rota received the order from the theater management there. It was first broadcast as a radio opera on November 19, 1959 by the Italian broadcaster RAI from the auditorium of RAI-TV. Bruno Maderna was in charge . It sang Italo Tajo (neurasthenic), Paolo Montarsolo (Concierge), Francesco Albanese (commander), Rena Gary Falachi (you) and Luciano Soldari (He and room servants). The composer was awarded the Premio Italia RAI for this work.
The scenic premiere took place on February 8, 1960 together with Igor Stravinski's Mavra (1922) and Gian Francesco Malipiero's Sette canzoni (1925) under the direction of Nino Sanzogno at the Piccola Scala in Milan. Directed by Franco Enriquez . Théodore Stravinsky , Lorenzo Ghiglia and Gianfilippo Usellini were responsible for the stage . The singers were Paolo Montarsolo (neurasthenic), Carlo Badioli (concierge), Carlo Franzini (commanding officer), Renata Ongaro (she), Nicola Monti (he) and Angelo Mercuriali (room servant). The success did not quite reach that of Il has paglia di Firenze.
In 2016 the Biel Solothurn Theater Orchester presented the work together with Giacomo Puccini's Gianni Schicchi in a production by Andreas Zimmermann.
Recordings
- 1995 - Denise Fedeli (conductor), Orchestra Sinfonica Calabrese.
Nicola Ulivieri (neurasthenic), Andrea Papi (concierge), Paolo Pellegrini (commander), Monica Colonna (she), Walter Omaggio (he).
Live recording.
La Bottega Discantica 9 (1 CD). - November 28th and 30th, 2003 - Flavio Emilio Scogna (conductor), Gabbris Ferrari (production), Orchestra Filarmonica Veneta GF Malipiero, Coro del Teatro Sociale di Rovigo.
Paolo Drigo (neurasthenic), Lorenzo Battagion (concierge), Nunzio Galli (commanding officer), Sabrina Testa (she), Shin Young-Hon (he), Giuliano Scaranello (room servant).
Live from Rovigo.
Bongiovanni GB 2367 / 68-2 (2 CDs). - September 30th / 1. October 2017 - Gabriele Bonolis (conductor), Cesare Scarton (director), Michele Della Cioppa (stage), Anna Biagiotti (costumes), Andrea Tocchio (light), Reate Festival Orchestra.
Giorgio Celenza (neurasthenic), Carlo Feola (concierge), Daniele Adriani (commanding officer), Sabrina Cortese (she), Antonio Sapio (he), Vincenzo Carnì (room servant).
Audio and video; live from the Reate Festival from the Teatro Flavio Vespasiano in Rieti .
Dynamic CDS7830.02 (2 CDs), Dynamic DYN-37830 (DVD).
Web links
- Title page and first page of the score manuscript in Ricordi's archive
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d Danilo Prefumo, Daniela Pilarz (trans.): "A vein of inspiration that seems within anyone's reach but is actually his alone". In: Supplement to CD Dynamic CDS7830.02, pp. 8-10.
- ↑ a b c Birgit Pauls: The heirs of Belcanto. In: Udo Bermbach (Ed.): Opera in the 20th century. Development tendencies and composers. Metzler, Stuttgart 2000, ISBN 3-476-01733-8 , p. 278.
- ↑ a b Andrew Mellor: Review of the CD and DVD Dynamic CDS7830.02 and DYN-37830 on Gramophone , accessed on April 30, 2020.
- ↑ a b Ulrich Schreiber : Opera guide for advanced learners. 20th Century II. German and Italian Opera after 1945, France, Great Britain. Bärenreiter, Kassel 2005, ISBN 3-7618-1437-2 , p. 318.
- ^ Work information in the Nino Rota Catalog, accessed on June 14, 2020.
- ↑ a b information on works at IRCAM , accessed on April 29, 2020.
- ↑ November 19, 1959: “La notte di un nevrastenico”. In: L'Almanacco di Gherardo Casaglia .
- ↑ 8 February 1960: "La notte di un nevrastenico". In: L'Almanacco di Gherardo Casaglia .
- ↑ Silvia Rietz: Rota and Pucchini in a double pack. Review of the performance in Solothurn 2017. In: Solothurner Zeitung , January 1, 2017, accessed on April 30, 2020.
- ↑ a b Nino Rota. In: Andreas Ommer: Directory of all complete opera recordings (= Zeno.org . Volume 20). Directmedia, Berlin 2005.
- ↑ Information on the DVD from Rieti 2017 at Naxos .