La scala di seta

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Opera dates
Title: The silk ladder
Original title: La scala di seta
Title page of the libretto, Venice 1812

Title page of the libretto, Venice 1812

Shape: “ Farsa comica” in one act
Original language: Italian
Music: Gioachino Rossini
Libretto : Giuseppe Maria Foppa
Literary source: Eugène de Planard :
L'échelle de soie
Premiere: May 9, 1812
Place of premiere: Teatro San Moisè , Venice
Playing time: approx. 1 ½ hours
Place and time of the action: In the countryside near Paris, in Dormont's house
people
  • Dormont, Guardian Giulias ( tenor )
  • Giulia, his "apple of the eye" ( soprano )
  • Lucilla, her cousin ( mezzo-soprano )
  • Dorvil, Giulia's secret husband (tenor)
  • Blansac, friend of Dormont and admirer of Giulias ( bass )
  • Germano, servant of Dormont (bass)
  • A servant
  • Servants, Venetians ( choir )

La scala di seta (German title: The silk ladder ) is a “ farsa comica” in one act by Gioachino Rossini ( music ) with a libretto by Giuseppe Maria Foppa based on the comedy L'échelle de soie by Eugène de Planard . The premiere took place on May 9, 1812 in the Teatro San Moisè in Venice.

action

Giulia, the ward of the wealthy Dormont, has secretly married her lover Dorvil. He always climbs at midnight with the help of a silk ladder onto her balcony in order to spend the night with her unnoticed.

Scene 1. Giulia impatiently urges the servant Germano to leave the room (introduction: “Va ', sciocco, non seccarmi!”). When he's finally gone, her cousin Lucilla comes and tells her that Dormont wants to speak to her. Germano also returns with the same order.

Scene 2. When Giulia is finally alone, she fetches Dorvil from an adjoining room in which he was hiding. He tells her that the arrival of Blansac is expected, who has been designated by her guardian as her husband. She reassures him that they are already married and that their aunt supports them. Dorvil walks away up the silk ladder.

Scene 3. Dormont and Lucilla enter the room. Dormont accuses Giulia of having already closed her room, although her groom is expected at any moment. Lucilla raves about the beauty and elegance of Blansac.

Scene 4. Germano arrives excitedly and announces Blansac's arrival. Dormont and Lucilla go to see him. Giulia came up with the idea of ​​pairing Blansac with her cousin. She persuades Germano through flattery - which the latter immediately misunderstands - to find out whether Blansac might be interested in Lucilla (duet: “Io so ch'hai buon core”).

Scene 5. Blansac, Dormont and Dorvil, who is to be the best man, are planning the wedding for the following day. Dormont goes with a servant to tell Giulia about it.

Scene 6. To dissuade Blansac from the wedding, Dorvil tells him that Giulia secretly loathes him and will only marry him on the orders of her guardian. Blansac, however, is convinced of Giulia's affection and wants to prove Dorvil. He should therefore overhear his following conversation with Giulia. To test her loyalty, Dorvil agrees and hides (aria: “Vedrò qual sommo incanto”).

Scene 7. Germano arrives unseen and also hides to carry out Giulia's mission. Giulia also enters the room. Blansac greets them with flattery. Giulia, however, wants to find out whether Blansac is worthy of her cousin. Therefore, it appears to respond to his advertising. Blansac assures her that he will always be loyal to his future wife and love her. Germano discovers Dorvil in his hiding place and draws Giulia's attention to him. Blansac triumphantly opens his hiding place, since he already believes that Giulia's love is safe. Dorvil actually got jealous and blames her. Giulia is angry. Blansac explains that Dorvil listened to the conversation at his request. Finally, the anger of all those present is directed against the servant Germano. The general confusion is at its peak (quartet: “Sì che unito a cara sposa”). Giulia and Germano go.

Scene 8. While Blansac triumphs, Dorvil leaves the room jealous.

Scene 9. Lucilla joins them. She thought she would find Giulia here, but meets Blansac. He is immediately captivated by her beauty and courted her. She goes flattered (aria: “Sento talor nell'anima”).

Scene 10. Blansac is happy to have found not just one beautiful woman, but two. Germano comes back with a lamp, which he turns off. He tells Blansac that the others are in the drawing room. Blansac makes fun of Germano and goes out laughing.

Scene 11. Germano is left alone. He doesn't think he's really as fooled as the others think. He closes the doors and windows and goes tired into the next room.

Scene 12. Giulia is saddened by Dorvil's jealousy. Germano comes back unnoticed and overhears her self-talk. Soon it will be midnight - time for a secret meeting with Dorvil. Giulia talks about lowering the silk ladder from the balcony. She also mentions the name Blansacs, who she secretly feels sorry for. Germano misunderstands her and believes that she is now awaiting his arrival. Giulia finally notices him (recitative and aria: “Il mio ben sospiro e chiamo”). She goes into an adjoining room.

Scene 13. Germano is proud to have finally found out the truth: Giulia and Blansac are already lovers. He is dead tired and sits down. Blansac comes into the room. Half asleep, Germano speaks of the planned rendezvous for Giulias and Blansacs (aria: “Amore dolcemente”). He is surprised. To find out more, he shakes Germano awake, who tells him about the ladder and then goes out.

Scene 14. Blansac is confused about having a secret meeting with Giulia without knowing about it. He can't wait for midnight. Dormont and Lucilla come to him looking for Giulia. Blansac and Dormont go. Germano now also tells Lucilla about the planned rendezvous in confidence. At a call from Dormont, he follows it. Lucilla decides to eavesdrop on the meeting and goes into hiding.

Scene 15. Germano is also hiding. He wants to watch the meeting to learn from Blansac how to deal with women.

Scene 16. It's midnight. Giulia comes back and lets Dorvil in via the ladder (Finale: "Dorme ognuno in queste soglie"). Germano is amazed to see this one instead of Blansac. But shortly afterwards, Blansac also uses the ladder and enters the room. Dorvil can hide just in time. Blansac explains to the surprised Giulia that he found out about the meeting from Germano. Giulia cannot clear up the misunderstanding because the ladder is still hanging.

Last scene. Blansac now has to hide too, because Dormont has also found the ladder. He comes in angry and discovers the hidden Lucilla, Germano, Dorvil and Blansac one after the other. Dorvil and Giulia now confess that they have already married with their aunt's consent. They show Dormont a letter from this aunt as evidence. Blansac, however, declares that he wants to marry Lucilla. She happily agrees. All ask Dormont for forgiveness. Inevitably, he accepts the situation.

layout

Instrumentation

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

Music numbers

Like the other four Farse Rossini's, La scala di seta contains nine musical numbers:

  • Sinfonia
  • No. 1. Introduction (Giulia, Germano, Lucilla): "Va ', sciocco, non seccarmi!" (Scene 1)
  • No. 2. Duet (Giulia, Germano): "Io so ch'hai buon core" (scene 4)
  • No. 3. Aria (Dorvil): "Vedrò qual sommo incanto" (scene 6)
  • No. 4. Quartet (Blansac, Giulia, Germano, Dorvil): "Sì che unito a cara sposa" (scene 7)
  • No. 5. Aria (Lucilla): "Sento talor nell'anima" (scene 9)
  • No. 6. Recitative and aria (Giulia): "Il mio ben sospiro e chiamo" (scene 12)
  • No. 7. Aria (Germano): "Amore dolcemente" (scene 13)
  • No. 8. Finale: "Dorme ognuno in queste soglie" (scene 16)

Work history

La scala di seta is the third of the five one-act “farse” that Rossini composed for Venice between 1810 and 1813. The others are La cambiale di matrimonio , L'inganno felice , L'occasione fa il ladro and Il signor Bruschino .

Giuseppe Maria Foppa's libretto for La scala di seta is based on the comedy L'échelle de soie by Eugène de Planard . This had already been set to music by Pierre Gaveaux in 1808 . The premiere of Rossini's opera on May 9, 1812 at the Teatro San Moisè in Venice was preceded by the first act of Stefano Pavesi's “dramma giocoso” Ser Marcantonio . Then a ballet by Caterino Titus was played. The vocal parts were performed by Gaetano Del Monte (Dormont), Maria Cantarelli (Giulia), Carolina Nagher (Lucilla), Raffaele Monelli (Dorvil), Nicola Tacci (Blansac) and Nicola De Grecis (Germano). The performance was not an unanimous success. This was probably due to the original text, the content of which was somewhat similar to Domenico Cimarosa's 1792 opera Il matrimonio segreto, which was very popular at the time. After twelve performances at the Teatre San Moisè, the work was largely forgotten. There were few attempts to revive it, such as in Senigaglia in 1813, in Siena in 1818, in Barcelona in 1823 and in Lisbon in 1825. In addition, there were misjudgments of some of Rossini's biographers such as Stendhal and Francis Toye, as well as the greater popularity of his later works. In the 20th century there were initially some performances in Italy, for example at the Festival Maggio Musicale Fiorentino in 1952 and at the Piccola Scala in Milan in 1961. The German premiere took place in Schwetzingen in 1965 in a translation by Walter Panowsky.

The manuscript of the score was considered lost for a long time. It turned out that it had been acquired by Rudolf Nydahl, a Swedish musician and ship's officer, for his collection of musical manuscripts. After his death in 1973, this collection was scientifically evaluated and the Fondazione Rossini was able to publish a critical new publication created by the Swedish scientist Anders Wiklund. A preliminary version of this version was first performed at the Rossini Opera Festival Pesaro in the summer of 1988 with great success before it was released three years later. In 2000 there was an equally successful new production in Pesaro. The German premiere of this original version took place in 1989 at the Rossini Festival in Wildbad . In March 2002 a “puppet house production” by Luca de Fusco was performed at the Teatro Malibran in Venice.

For a time, a false version of the overture was played, which was in fact a potpourri of themes from other Rossini operas. This was used by the conductor Herbert Handt as the introduction to the second part of his two-act version of the opera.

Recordings

  • 1953 (abridged). Giuseppe Morelli (conductor), Orchestra de la Società del Quartetto Roma. Piero Besna (Dormont), Angelica Tuccari (Giulia), Giuseppina Salvi (Lucilla), Giuseppe Gentile (Dorvil), Nestore Catalani (Blansac), Tommaso Dolciotti (Germano). Nixa PLP 591 (1 LP).
  • 1962 (shortened recitatives). Franco Ferrara (conductor), Orchestra Filarmonica di Roma. Manlio Rocchi (Dormont), Graziella Sciutti (Giulia), Margherita Rinaldi (Lucilla), Fernando Iacopucci (Dorvil), Boris Carmeli (Blansac), Ferdinando Li Donni (Germano). RCA LP: VL 325 12 (2), RCA MC: VKS 32512 (2).
  • 1983 (live from Lugana, video). Filippo Crivelli (production), Marc Andreae (conductor), Orchestra della Radiotelevisione della Svizzera Italiana Lugano. Tullio Pane (Dormont), Carmen Lavani (Giulia), Tiziana Tramonti (Lucilla), Ernesto Palacio (Dorvil), Mario Chiappi (Blansac), Roberto Coviello (Germano). House of Opera DVD 1643 (1 DVD), Opus Arte OAF4023D (1 DVD).
  • September 2nd, 1988 (live from Pesaro). Gabriele Ferro (conductor), Orchestra del Teatro Comunale di Bologna. Oslavio di Credico (Dormont), Luciana Serra (Giulia), Cecilia Bartoli (Lucilla), William Matteuzzi (Dorvil), Natale de Carolis (Blansac), Roberto Coviello (Germano). Homage CD: 7001839. HOM, Ricordi CD: 2003.
  • May 1990 (live from Schwetzingen, video). Michael Hampe (production), Gianluigi Gelmetti (conductor), Symphony Orchestra of the SWR Stuttgart. David Griffith (Dormont), Luciana Serra (Giulia), Jane Bunnell (Lucilla), David Kuebler (Dorvil), Alberto Rinaldi (Blansac), Alessandro Corbelli (Germano). Teldec VI: 9031-73828 3, Teldec LV: 9031-73828-6, EuroArts 2054978 (1 DVD).
  • 1992. Marcello Viotti (conductor), English Chamber Orchestra . Fulvio Massa (Dormont), Teresa Ringholz (Giulia), Francesca Provvisionato (Lucilla), Ramón Vargas (Dorvil), Natale de Carolis (Blansac), Alessandro Corbelli (Germano). Claves CD: 50-9219 / 20, Brilliant Classics 92399 (8 CD).
  • August 6, 2000 (live from Pesaro). Alberto Zedda (conductor), Orchestra del Teatro Comunale di Bologna. Enrico Facini (Dormont), Elisabeth Norberg-Schulz (Giulia), Claudia Marchi (Lucilla), Antonio Siragusa (Dorvil), Lorenzo Regazzo (Blansac), Alfonso Antoniozzi (Germano). House of Opera CD 706.
  • December 2001 (live from Arezzo). Giovan Battista Varoli (conductor), Orchestra I Solisti diu Fiesole. Andrea Carboni (Dormont), Gaia Mattini (Giulia), Silvia Valente (Lucilla), Samuele Simoncini (Dorvil), Andrea Sari (Blansac), Mario Cassi (Germano). Bongiovanni GB 2316 / 7-2 (2 CD).
  • July 2007 (live from Bad Wildbad). Annette Hornbacher (production), Antonino Fogliani (conductor), Czech Chamber Soloists Brno. Leonardo Silva (Dormont), Marina Zyatkova (Giulia), Luisa Islam-Ali-Zade (Lucilla), Ricardo Mirabelli (Dorvil), Ugo Guagliardo (Blansac), Gioacchino Zarrelli (Germano). Naxos i. V.
  • 2009. Claudio Scimone (conductor), Orchestra Haydn di Bolzano e Trento. Daniele Zanfardino (Dormont), Olga Peretyatko (Giulia), Anna Malavasi (Lucilla), José Manuel Zapata (Dorvil), Carlo Lepore (Blansac), Paolo Bordogna (Germano). premiereopera.net (2 CD).

Web links

Commons : La scala di seta  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ La scala di seta. Notes on the critical edition by Anders Wiklund , accessed November 9, 2015.
  2. ↑ La scala di seta (1812) - Sommario on librettidopera.it.
  3. ↑ a b c La scala di seta. In: Reclam's Opernlexikon. Digital library volume 52. Philipp Reclam jun., 2001, p. 2297.
  4. ↑ a b c d e La scala di seta. In: Harenberg opera guide. 4th edition. Meyers Lexikonverlag, 2003, ISBN 3-411-76107-5 , pp. 758 f.
  5. ^ La scala di seta (Gioachino Rossini) in the Corago information system of the University of Bologna . Retrieved August 28, 2015.
  6. ^ A b c Philip Gossett : Divas and Scholars: Performing Italian Opera. University of Chicago Press, 2008, pp. 54 ff ( limited preview on Google Books ).
  7. ↑ a b c d e f g h i Gioacchino Rossini. In: Andreas Ommer: Directory of all opera complete recordings. Zeno.org , volume 20
  8. ^ Admission by Claudio Scimone (2009) in the discography of La scala di seta at Operadis.