Siberia (Opera)

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Opera dates
Title: Siberia
Opera poster

Opera poster

Shape: Opera in three acts
Original language: Italian
Music: Umberto Giordano
Libretto : Luigi Illica
Literary source: presumably
Tolstoy's resurrection
Premiere: December 19, 1903
Place of premiere: Teatro alla Scala , Milan
Playing time: approx. 1 ¾ hours
Place and time of the action: St. Petersburg and Siberia , early 19th century
people
  • Stephana, hetaera ( soprano )
  • Nikona, her servant ( mezzo-soprano )
  • Ivan, caretaker ( tenor )
  • Gléby, coupler ( baritone )
  • Vassili, lieutenant (tenor)
  • Walitzin, captain (baritone)
  • Prince Alexis (tenor)
  • Miskinsky, banker (baritone)
  • Ipranivick (tenor)
  • Walinoff (bass)
  • La fanciulla (soprano)
  • Il capitano (bass)
  • Il sergente (tenor)
  • Il cosacco (tenor)
  • Il governatore (bass)
  • L'invalido (baritone)
  • L'ispettore (bass)
  • Nobles, officers, soldiers, guards, men and women ( choir )

Siberia is an opera in three acts by Umberto Giordano based on a libretto by Luigi Illica . On the occasion of the premiere at La Scala in Milan in 1903, it was received with a frosty reception despite a first-class cast, but subsequently achieved at least respectable success in Genoa , Paris , New York and New Orleans .

Characteristic

Siberia stands in the Italian tradition of the holy whore operas, which was founded by Giuseppe Verdi with La traviata in 1853 and continued by Giacomo Puccini with Manon Lescaut in 1893. In spite of her past, the protagonist flares up in innocent love for a young, dashing tenor and remains loyal to him in her own way. It is a major work of the so-called Giovane Scuola , the young school that fought against Verdi's dominance and omnipresence.

Although it seems quite likely that Illica's libretto is an original creation, the assumption was made at the New York premiere that it might be an adaptation of a motif from Tolstoy's Resurrection . Thematic similarities were noted to the earlier operas Manon and Manon Lescaut by Massenet and Puccini, both of which are based on the novel Histoire du Chevalier Des Grieux et de Manon Lescaut by Antoine-François Prévost from 1731, as well as to the later Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk by Shostakovich.

Originally the opera should have had a different title, La donna, l'amante, l'eroina [The woman, the lover, the heroine], characterizing the various phases of the eponymous heroine's life. Today the individual acts have their respective names. The opera was revised by the composer and the new version was presented at La Scala in 1927.

action

Scene from the third act, Paris 1911, with Henri Dangès (Gléby), Lina Cavalieri (Stephana), Lucien Muratore (Vassili)

Russia, first half of the 19th century.

First act: the woman

Saint Petersburg , August, Feast of Saint Alexander

Stephana was made a whore by the matchmaker Gléby and sold to Prince Alexis. She lives in an elegant palace and Gleby moves into a princely pension. Stephana has fallen in love with a young lieutenant, Vassili, who knows nothing about her past life and who considers her a simple working-class girl. Before Vassili has to go to war, he wants to say goodbye to his nurse Nikona. There he meets Stephana, whom Nikona now serves, and learns the truth. Still, he can't leave her. The prince appears and demands an explanation, a fight develops between the opponents. Vasilli kill the prince with his sword. He is arrested and handed over to the police.

Second act: the lover

Border between Russia and Siberia , winter

Prisoners march through the snow to the Siberian mine, where they will have to do forced labor. Vassili has been arrested and exiled. He is one of the prisoners. The commandant of the border station and some traders await the prisoners' train. Exhausted from the long march, the exiles arrive. Women and children wait along the street to say goodbye to the prisoners. The bell rings. Stephana, wrapped in furs, arrives with her troika. She left everything behind to share the fate of her lover. Vassili implores them to return, but in vain. The procession of the exiles continues into the vastness of Siberia, including Vassili and Stephana.

Third act: the heroines

Prison camp near the mines of Transbaikal , shortly before the Russian Easter festival

Gléby comes to the camp, he too was convicted. But he had been allowed to see Stephana. He knows a way to escape and would like to go this way together with her. However, she refuses. Easter is approaching, the prisoners are preparing a celebration. Gléby lets everyone know that Stephana was a courtesan. This drives Vassili to a frenzy, but he is held back by the others. Now Stephana is defending herself. She calls Gléby an exploiter, usurer, forger and liar. Now she wants to dare to escape, together with Vassili. Church bells ring and the prisoners begin to pray. The lovers leave the camp on Easter Vigil, but Gléby discovers this and alerts the guards. The refugees are being followed, a shot can be heard. The guards bring Vasily and carry Stephana. Fatally hit, she wishes her lover luck and dies.

Instrumentation

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

Work history

Occupations in Milan, Paris and New York

Rosina Storchio , the Stephana of the world premiere
role Pitch First performance
Teatro alla Scala
December 19, 1903
Paris
Théâtre Sarah-Bernhardt
May 4, 1905
New York
Metropolitan Opera
December 19, 1908
Stephana soprano Rosina Storchio Amelia Pinto Adelina Agostinelli
Nikona, her servant Mezzo-soprano Palmira Maggi Emma Zaccaria
Ivan, caretaker tenor Emilio Venturini Emilio Venturini
Gleby, matchmaker baritone Giuseppe De Luca Titta Ruffo Mario Sammarco
Vassili, lieutenant tenor Giovanni Zenatello Amedeo Bassi Giovanni Zenatello
Walitzin, captain baritone Vittorio Pozzi Camola Vittorio Pozzi Camola Crabbe
Prince Alexis tenor Oreste Gennari Leone Cazauran
Miskinski, banker baritone Antonio Pini-Corsi Vincenzo Reschiglian
Ipranivick tenor Federico Ferraresi Nicolò Fossetta
Walinoff baritone Pozzi-Camola Fossetta
Commissario bass Antonio Volponi Fossetta
conductor Cleofonte Campanini Cleofonte Campanini Cleofonte Campanini

Performance history

From the piano reduction

The world premiere of Siberia took place - instead of the originally planned world premiere of Madama Butterfly by Giacomo Puccini - in December 1903 at La Scala in Milan . Despite the first-class cast, the work was received rather coolly. In March 1904 further productions followed at the Teatro San Carlo in Naples and at the Teatro Giuseppe Verdi in Trist, on May 4, 1905 at the Théâtre Sarah-Bernhardt in Paris. Cleofonte Campanini conducted there , as well as at the world premiere in Milan and later in New York. The composer Gabriel Fauré , who had heard a performance in Paris, praised the first act, in particular. He considered the work to be a prime example of the Giovane Scuola .

Lucien Muratore and Lina Cavalieri making sound recordings in Paris, 1913

In 1906 performances at the Teatro Regio in Parma, at the Teatro Costanzi in Rome and at the French Opera House in New Orleans (all in January) as well as at the Teatro Regio in Turin, conducted by the young Arturo Toscanini , and at the Teatro Metastasio in Prato. In quick succession there were further performances in Buenos Aires, again conducted by Toscanini, in Lisbon, Santiago de Chile, Cairo and Mexico City. In 1908 the work was premiered at the Metropolitan Opera in New York, and in 1911 it was performed for the first time in the Palais Garnier in Paris , with Lina Cavalieri and Lucien Muratore as lovers and Henri Dangès as Gléby. Paul Vidal conducted it . The revised version was presented at La Scala in Milan in 1927. In 1941 there was a new production at the Roman Opera , in 1947 a resumption at La Scala.

In October 2015, the Teatro Grattacielo presented the work in a concert performance in New York. Israel Gursky conducted it .

Audio documents

Some of the singers in the premiere cast ( Storchio , Zenatello , De Luca and Pini-Corsi) recorded arias and scenes on sound carriers. The recordings were made around the turn of the year 1903/1904 in Milan for gramophones . Also Titta Ruffo , the gleby the Paris premiere, took cuttings on the opera. In 1949 Arturo Toscanini conducted the prelude to Act 2 of Siberia for NBC .

Recently, Renée Fleming in particular has repeatedly integrated the arias “Nel suo amore” and “No, se un pensier” into her concert programs and television appearances. Also José Cura sang an excerpt of the opera.

Recordings

  • 1951: With Adriana Guerrini ( Stephana ), Aldo Bertocci ( Vassili ), Luigi Borgonovo ( Gleby ) - Conductor: Pietro Argento - EJ Smith "The Golden Age of Opera" EJS 320 (LP)
  • 1974: Live recording from February 5, 1974, with - Luisa Maragliano ( Stephana ), Amedeo Zambon ( Vassili ), Walter Monachesi ( Gleby ), Mario Ferrara ( Principe Alexis ), Laura Londi ( Nikona ), Mario Guggia ( Ivan ), Gino Calò ( Walinoff ) - conductor: Danilo Belardinelli - choir and orchestra of RAI Milano. Opera D'Oro
  • 1999: Live recording from the Wexford Festival , October 1999, with Elena Zelyenskaya ( Stephana ), Dario Volonté ( Vassili ), Walter Donati ( Gleby ), Massimo Giordano ( Principe Alexis ), Claudia Marchi ( Nikona ), Darren Abrahams ( Ivan ), Eldar Aliev ( Walinoff ) - Conductor: Daniele Callegari - Orchestra of Radiotelefis Eireann, Wexford Festival Opera Chorus. Premiere Opera Ltd. CDNO 105-2
  • 2003: Live recording, with Francesca Scaini ( Stephana ), Jeon-Won Lee ( Vassili ), Vittorio Vitelli ( Gleby ), Nicola Sette ( Principe Alexis ), Eufemia Tufano ( Nikona ), Domingo Stasi ( Ivan ), Pietro Naviglio ( Walinoff ) - Conductor: Manlio Benzi - Orchestra Internazionale d´Italia. Bratislava Chamber Choir. Dynamic

The cast of the recordings was taken from the following source:

literature

  • Franca Cella: Siberia, "santa terra di lacrime, e d'amor." Soggetti russi nell'opera italiana tra Ottocento e Novecento. In: Johannes Streicher (Ed.): Ultimi splendori. Cilea, Giordano, Alfano. Ismez, Rom 1999, pp. 80-124 (on Siberia pp. 100-109, Italian).
  • Raffaele Manica: Siberia . In: Piero Gelli (ed.): Dizionario dell'opera. Baldini Castoldi Dalai, Milan 2007 (ninth edition), ISBN 978-88-6073-184-5 (Italian).
  • Heinz Wagner: The opera. The large standard work with almost 2,300 work titles and over 750 composers. 3rd revised and expanded edition. Nikol, Hamburg 1999, ISBN 3-933203-11-2 , pp. 359-360.
  • John Warrack and Ewan West (Eds.): The Oxford Dictionary of Opera , 1992, ISBN 0-19-869164-5 (English).

Web links

Commons : Siberia (Giordano)  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ The New York Times : "GIORDANO'S 'SIBERIA' FIRST TIME HERE , Another New Opera Produced by Mr. Hammerstein at the Manhattan. MR. BASSI INDISPOSED. His Place Taken by Mr. Zenatello at Short Notice. Mr. Sammarco and Mme. Agostinelli in Other Parts, ”February 6, 1908, accessed December 17, 2016
  2. Operamanager: Siberia, Melodramma in tre atti di Luigi Illica , accessed on December 18, 2016
  3. Magia dell'opera: GIORDANO UMBERTO, Compositore italiano (Foggia 28 VIII 1867 - Milano 12 XI 1948) , accessed on December 17, 2016
  4. ^ Egon Voss : Siberia. In: Piper's Encyclopedia of Musical Theater . Volume 2: Works. Donizetti - Henze. Piper, Munich / Zurich 1987, ISBN 3-492-02412-2 , p. 396.
  5. ^ Teatro Grattacielo: Umberto Giordano's presents: Siberia , accessed December 18, 2016.
  6. Zachary Woolfe: Review: 'Siberia,' Umberto Giordano's Opera, Unfolds at a Russian Prison Camp , New York Times , October 26, 2015, accessed December 18, 2016.
  7. YouTube: Titta Ruffo - O bella mia - Siberia - Umberto Giordano , accessed on December 18, 2016.
  8. YouTube: Giordano: Siberia, Preludio 2 ° atto - Toscanini NBC 1949 , accessed on December 18, 2016.
  9. YouTube: Renee Fleming “Nel suo amore” Giordano's Siberia , accessed on December 18, 2016.
  10. YouTube: Renee Fleming - Giordano "Siberia" "No, se un pensier ........" - Cortona August 3, 2010 , accessed on December 18, 2016.
  11. YouTube: José Cura - Vassili áriája - Siberia, Giordano , accessed on December 18, 2016.
  12. ^ Discography on Siberia at Operadis, accessed December 17, 2016.