Rita (opera)
| Work data | |
|---|---|
| Title: | Rita |
Title page of the libretto, Milan 1885 |
|
| Shape: | Opéra-comique in one act |
| Original language: | French |
| Music: | Gaetano Donizetti |
| Libretto : | Gustave Vaëz |
| Premiere: | May 7, 1860 |
| Place of premiere: | Opéra-Comique , Paris |
| Playing time: | Around 1 hour |
| Place and time of the action: | Pub in Bergamo, 19th century |
| people | |
|
|
Rita ou Le Mari battu (German: Rita or the beaten husband ) is a one-act opera-comique by Gaetano Donizetti . In it, two husbands of one and the same woman try to get rid of them through gambling and trickery to the other man. The original French libretto was written by Gustave Vaëz . The work was only premiered posthumously on May 7, 1860 at the Opéra-Comique in Paris.
action
Rita appears and introduces her small, thriving inn (Arie Van la casa e l'albergo ). In a spoken monologue, she reports that she is married to the feeble Beppe for a second time after her first husband, who hit her, has been missing since a shipwreck. In order to avoid a repetition of this marriage yoke, she now regularly beats her Beppe. Beppe appears and has something on his mind. Rita first encourages him to speak out with flattering words (duet Ah tu sei qui ). But when he confesses that he accidentally broke a cup in the kitchen, the peace at home is quickly over and Beppe gets his ration of beating again.
A guest appears and asks for board and lodging. He quickly grasps the situation and explains to Beppe that in a good marriage the man wears his pants and is allowed to hit his wife, not the other way around (Aria La mia casa per modello ). In the following dialogue the guest tells that he is a sailor who found a new home in Canada after a shipwreck and now wants to get married there for the second time. To do this, he needs the death certificate of his first wife, who allegedly died in a fire. During the ID check, Beppe realizes that the guest is Gasparo, Rita's first husband. When he realizes that Rita is still alive, he wants to leave again quickly, but Beppe holds him back because he senses his chance to get rid of Rita at her first husband. The two men decide to play Rita: whoever wins has lost because he has to take Rita (duet Per me chi perde vince ). You play mora , a variant of scissors, stone and paper that is widespread in Mediterranean countries . The mutual attempts at fraud alone quickly lead to a dispute, so that ultimately the decision has to be brought about by pulling a straw: Gasparo pulls the shorter one and has to take Rita back. Beppe is in high spirits and packs his suitcase (Arie Allegro io son ).
Rita arrives and recognizes her first husband, Gasparo. He, who is playing the wrong game with both Beppe and Rita, now wants to get the only surviving copy of his marriage certificate with Rita in order to destroy it and then move back to Canada. In addition, he flatters Rita with wrong words and promises her never to hit her again if she takes him back (duet Cara gioia, moglie mia ). Rita doesn't believe him and refuses indignantly. Gasparo now resorts to a ruse: He lets himself be challenged to a duel by Beppe, only to admit that he cannot duel because his right hand has been paralyzed since an attack. This completely changes the situation, and under these circumstances Rita is inclined to take Gasparo back, since he can no longer hit her with his paralyzed hand (trio È moncherin ). As a token of her trust, she gives him the marriage certificate, whereupon Gasparo drops his mask and declares that he will leave immediately and destroy the certificate. He beats Beppe until Beppe promises to keep Rita. Rita promises her Beppe peace and harmony for the future if he takes her back. In the finale, Beppe lets Gasparo give him a few tips for a good marriage (trio Ma tu déi la mia ricetta ).
music
With a light hand, Donizetti scattered a wealth of wonderful bel canto melodies. The division is extremely fair: each figure has a solo aria , every possible combination of two a duet , plus two trios . The numbers are composed through and designed to increase, partly broken down by short Accompagnato recitatives . The highlight is Beppe's joyous aria Allegro io son , a brilliant piece for every tenor buffo .
Work history
In March 1841 Donizetti went to Paris to negotiate a new opera for the Opéra-Comique , where he was enjoying increasing popularity. After a suggestion from his librettist Eugène Scribe did not appeal to him, he began doing odd jobs and French translations of earlier operas. Since this work did not fill him, he asked the librettist Gustave Vaëz (pseudonym for Jean-Nicolas-Gustave van Nieuwenhuysen, 1812-1862), who had already worked with him on the French version of Lucia di Lammermoor and La favorite , for a Libretto. Vaëz then worked out the charming story of the two men who play for their wife under the opposite sign. It is probably Vaëz's own idea, at least no literary source of the material is known. The Revue et gazette des théatres reports on this period:
“He [Donizetti] went for a walk […] one evening. He was in a melancholy mood - he hadn't composed anything for eight days, and composing was really a necessity for Donizetti. When he met Gustave Vaëz […] he said to him: 'Save my life and give me some act very quickly so that I have a job!' They agreed on a comic subject, and Donizetti soon went home with the text of the first aria, the music of which had been written when Vaëz brought him the second piece the next morning. [...] At the end of the week everything was ready - libretto, voices and instrumentation. "
Vaëz himself confirms this report, which gives an insight into Donizetti's frantic way of working.
Since there was no prospect of an immediate performance of Rita or of further contracts in Paris, Donizetti left for Milan and Rita disappeared in the drawer. On September 8, 1846, Andrea Donizetti, a nephew of the composer, left his sick uncle in the mental hospital Ivry-sur-Seine near Paris and carried Rita in his luggage .
Although completed in 1841, the work was only premiered posthumously on May 7, 1860, twelve years after Donizetti's death, at the Paris Opéra-Comique with Caroline Lefèbvre Faure in the title role, Victor Warot as Beppe and Barielle as Gasparo.
The Italian version that can be heard on most of the recordings is by Enrico Colosimo. Joachim Popelka arranged for a transmission in German. The autograph is in the library of the Naples Conservatory .
Web links
- Rita : Sheet music and audio files in the International Music Score Library Project
- Rita, ou le mari battu score, Paris 1860. Digitized by the Munich digitization center
- Rita. Libretto (Italian), Milan 1885. Digitized in the Corago information system of the University of Bologna
- Full text libretto (Italian / Spanish) on karol.es
- Rita, ou Le Mari Battu (Gaetano Donizetti) in the Corago information system of the University of Bologna
- Discography about Rita at Operadis
literature
- Herbert Weinstock: Donizetti and the world of opera in Italy, Paris and Vienna in the first half of the nineteenth century. Adliswil / Switzerland: Edition Kunzelmann, 1983, ISBN 3-85662-011-0 .
- William Ashbrook: Donizetti and His Operas. Cambridge University Press, 1982, ISBN 0-521-23526-X .
Individual evidence
- ^ William Ashbrook: Donizetti and His Operas. Cambridge University Press, 1982, ISBN 0-521-23526-X , p. 594.
- ^ Herbert Weinstock: Donizetti and the world of opera in Italy, Paris and Vienna in the first half of the nineteenth century. Adliswil / Switzerland: Edition Kunzelmann, 1983, ISBN 3-85662-011-0 , p. 160.