Pia de 'Tolomei

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Work data
Title: Pia de 'Tolomei
Title page of the libretto, Venice 1837

Title page of the libretto, Venice 1837

Shape: Opera seria in two parts
Original language: Italian
Music: Gaetano Donizetti
Libretto : Salvadore Cammarano
Literary source: Novella Pia de 'Tolomei by Bartolomeo Sestini, 1822, based on the 5th song from the Purgatorio by Dante Alighieri
Premiere: February 18, 1837
Place of premiere: Teatro Apollo , Venice
Playing time: about 2 hours
Place and time of the action: Siena , 1260
people
  • Nello della Pietra ( baritone )
  • Pia de 'Tolomei, his wife ( soprano )
  • Rodrigo de 'Tolomei, her brother ( old )
  • Ghino degli Armieri, Nello's cousin ( tenor )
  • Piero, a hermit ( bass )
  • Bice, Pia's maid (soprano)
  • Lamberto, an elderly follower of the Tolomei family (bass)
  • Ubaldo, Nello's servant (tenor)
  • The keeper of the tower of Siena (bass)
  • Maidservants, members of Nello's household, Guelph and Ghibelline soldiers and hermits ( choir )

Pia de 'Tolomei is an opera seria (original name: "tragedia lirica") in two parts by Gaetano Donizetti . The libretto was written by Salvadore Cammarano . The story is based on the novella Pia de 'Tolomei by Bartolomeo Sestini from 1822, which in turn relates to the 5th cant from the Purgatorio of the Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri . The opera was first performed on February 18, 1837 at the Teatro Apollo in Venice .

action

Panel with the quote from Dante at the Palazzo Tolomei in Siena

The action takes place in Italy around 1260 at the time of the power struggle between the Guelfs and Ghibellines . The Guelfin Pia is happily married to the Ghibelline woman Nello della Pietra and lives with him in a castle outside the city of Siena . Nello's cousin Ghino tries to seduce Pia, but was turned down by her. When Pia receives an unsigned letter from her brother Rodrigo in which he writes that he will visit her that night, Ghino suspects that the letter came from a lover of Pias. He informs Pia's husband, who is on a campaign. Furious, he seeks revenge.

Rodrigo is captured by the Sienese but is able to escape and rush to Pia. Before Nello and Ghino arrive, she helps him escape. Nello, who still sees Rodrigo as a rival, threatens Pia with bloody retribution and orders his servant Ubalodo to kill Pia if the order is not revoked by morning. Ghino presses Pia again, she rejects him again.

Ghino falls in battle. Before his death, he confesses to Nello that it was not a lover, but Pia's brother Rodrigo, whom she freed from dungeon. When Nello arrives at the castle to prevent Pia's death, she has already been given the poison. Dying she succeeds in reconciling her brother and Nello.

layout

The pia is a typical "opera of the new brevity" with numerous cavatines and rhythmic cabalets . In terms of content, it resembles the Imelda de 'Lambertazzi , here too a criminal is portrayed as a tortured person. Thematically it is a continuation of Il castello di Kenilworth . In the case of the Castello , the librettist Tottola prevents the protagonist's death, in the case of Pia, however, the villain Ghino kills the Pia he desires.

Work history

Fanny Tacchinardi-Persiani (Pia), Giorgio Ronconi (Nello), Antonio Poggi (Ghino), Rosina Mazzarelli (Rodrigo) and Alessandro Meloni (Hermit) sang at the premiere on February 18, 1837 at the Teatro Apollo in Venice . A revised version with a conciliatory ending was performed on September 30, 1838 at the Teatro San Carlo in Naples.

Since the premiere of the Pia provided Teatro La Fenice in Venice in the night of 12 destroyed by fire on 13 December 1836 the premiere took place at the Teatro Apollo instead. The premiere had to be postponed because bassist Celestino Salvatori, who should have sung the role of Nello della Pietra, fell ill and Donizetti had to rewrite the role for baritone Giorgio Ronconi. Apart from the finale of the first part, which was accompanied by whistles, the opera was popular. In the spring of 1837 Donizetti rewrote the opera with the help of Salvadore Cammarano; this version was performed on July 31, 1837 in Senigallia . After another makeover, Pia was performed in Rome on May 19, 1838, with Giuseppina Strepponi in the lead role. In the second half of the 19th century the opera fell into oblivion; it has only been performed now and then since the 1960s.

  • Fanny Tacchinardi-Persiani, the first pia

  • Giorgo Ronconi, the first Nello

  • Illustration for Dante Alighieri's Purgatorio by Gustave Doré

  • Pia de 'Tolomei; Representation by Carlo Arieni

literature

  • Robert Steiner-Isenmann: Gaetano Donizetti. His life and his operas. Hallwag, Bern 1982. ISBN 3-444-10272-0 .
  • Booklet for the opera, Opera Rara , 2005.

Web links

Commons : Pia de 'Tolomei (Donizetti)  - Collection of images, videos and audio files