Le cinesi (Gluck)

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Work data
Title: The Chinese women
Original title: Le cinesi
Performance at Piccola Scala, Milan 1973

Performance at Piccola Scala, Milan 1973

Shape: Azione teatrale in one act
Original language: Italian
Music: Christoph Willibald Gluck
Libretto : Pietro Metastasio
Premiere: September 24, 1754
Place of premiere: Hof Castle
Place and time of the action: In a Chinese city, Lisinga apartments
people
  • Lisinga, distinguished Chinese woman and sister of Silango ( mezzo-soprano )
  • Sivene, friend of Lisinga and lover of Silangos ( soprano )
  • Tangia, friend of Lisinga ( mezzo-soprano )
  • Silango, young Chinese, brother of Lisinga and lover of Sivenes, recently returned from Europe ( tenor )
Gluck performs his opera “Le Cinesi” in front of Kaiser Karl in the pleasure seat “Schlosshof” ( Liebig picture from 1914–1917)

Le cinesi , in German the Chinese women , is an Azione teatrale in one act by Christoph Willibald Gluck . The Italian libretto comes from the Viennese court poet Pietro Metastasio . Gluck wrote this opera on the occasion of Maria Theresa's invitation by the Prince of Saxony-Hildburghausen to his Schloss Hof estate , where a festival lasting several days was celebrated. The first performance took place there on September 24, 1754. It is a playful aesthetic discussion in the guise of a chinoiserie , which compares the tragedy, the pastoral and the comic opera.

action

Lisinga, Sivene and Tangia spend the afternoon together in Lisinga's chambers, bored, without thinking of anything interesting to do. ("E ben: stupide e mute par che siam diva! ...")

But then Silango, Lisinga's brother, who has just returned from Europe, enters the girls' room and breaks a Chinese ban. ("Dirò, Ninfe, anchor io il parer mio, se non vi son malesto ...")

Although the friends ask him to leave, Silango, who is in love with Sivene, hesitates. When the girls make sure that no one has seen Silango when they walk in, Lisinga decides that he has to stay until dark to avoid detection. ("È miglior consiglio differir, che tu parta, infin che affatto s'oscuri il ciel.")

At Silango's suggestion, they want to pass the time until evening with theater plays. But everyone wants to play a different piece:

Lisinga chooses the Greek tragedy and plays Andromache with her son. ("Questa d'Epiro è la real città. D'Ettore io sono la vedova fedele.")

Sivene and Silango, as shepherdess Licoris and shepherd Tirsis, perform a pastoral. ("Qui al consiglio d'un fonte il crin s'infiora Licori pastorella semplice, quanto bella. Ha Tirsi al fianco ...")

Tangia annoyed notices that Silango is in love with Sivene (“Quel titolo di bella è assai frequente!”) And indirectly makes fun of Silango, who recently returned from Europe, in the comedy she has chosen. ("Il vago Tirsi accomodar vogl'io!")

Thereupon again disagreement flares up about who played best. Finally, Silango tries to mediate and suggests dancing, since in ballet there would be no crying, no yawning and no offense. ("Concertate un balletto! Ognunne gode, ognuno se ne intende; non fa pianger, non secca e non offende.")

The piece closes with a joint dance by the four. ("Voli il piede in lieti giri! ...")

libretto

The libretto of the same name by Pietro Metastasio was first performed in Vienna during the carnival season of 1735 in a setting by Antonio Caldara .

reception

Title page of the libretto, Saint Petersburg 1761

After the Vienna premiere in 1754, the work was given in 1761 at the Teatro del Giardino della Corte in Saint Petersburg .

There have been several performances and CD releases in recent times:

In 2010 the composer Karsten Gundermann edited the work and added intermezzi in the style of the Beijing opera of the 18th century. This version was performed at the Potsdam Sanssouci Music Festival and in Beijing with the Ensemble L'Arte del mondo and the China National Peking Opera Company under the direction of Werner Ehrhardt .

Web links

Commons : Le cinesi  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d Christoph Willibald Gluck. In: Andreas Ommer: Directory of all complete opera recordings, Zeno.org , Volume 20, pp. 5485 ff.
  2. ^ Contrasti ad "Amore e Psiche". Corriere della Sera , March 1973.
  3. ^ Christoph Willibald Gluck: Le Cinesi - Lamberto Gardelli. CD information from Allmusic , accessed March 1, 2015.
  4. ^ Christoph Willibald Gluck: Le Cinesi - René Jacobs, Isabelle Poulenard. CD information from Allmusic , accessed March 1, 2015.
  5. ↑ Thomas Molke: Le Cinesi - the winner is the dance. Review in Online Musik Magazin, accessed on March 1, 2015.
  6. ↑ Le Cinesi in Schlosshof ( memento of April 2, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) on the website of the International Gluck Society, accessed on March 1, 2015.
  7. ↑ Website for the performance of Karsten Gundermann's adaptation of the opera ( memento of October 11, 2015 in the Internet Archive ), accessed on March 1, 2015.