Sly ovvero La leggenda del dormiente risvegliato
| Opera dates | |
|---|---|
| Title: | Sly, or The Legend of the Sleeper Resurrected |
| Original title: | Sly ovvero La leggenda del dormiente risvegliato |
Title page of the libretto, Milan 1928 |
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| Shape: | Opera lirica in three acts |
| Original language: | Italian |
| Music: | Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari |
| Libretto : | Giovacchino Forzano |
| Literary source: | Prologue from The Taming of the Shrew |
| Premiere: | December 29, 1927 |
| Place of premiere: | Milan's Teatro alla Scala |
| Place and time of the action: | London in 1603 |
| people | |
Sly ovvero La leggenda del dormiente risvegliato (Eng .: Sly or The Legend of the Resurrected Sleeper ) is an opera in three acts and four pictures by Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari and a libretto by Giovacchino Forzano . It was premiered on December 29, 1927 at the Teatro alla Scala and later translated into German by Walter Dahms . The material is based on the idea from the prologue of The Taming of the Shrew , which Wolf-Ferrari gave a dramatic ending. The main actor, Sly, has the characteristics of François Villon .
action
Sly is a poet who lives as such only understood by his comrades in the tavern "Zum Falken". One evening a lady called Dolly, the mistress of the Earl of Westmoreland, arrives there, along with the Earl and his friends, who remain uncomfortable about these ugly surroundings for the sake of the lady alone. Dolly wants to escape the strict etiquette here and indulge in the joys of a pleasant and free life.
After a while Sly starts the funny "bear song", but followed by a plaintive outburst of emotions, how he suffers from his miserable existence and longs for happiness and love, whereupon he falls to the ground as if in a drunkenness and passes out.
As a result, Westmoreland brings Sly to his castle and instructs everyone there to treat Sly as he would a great, powerful and noble lord when he wakes up. When the latter perks up, he initially thinks he is still dreaming, but is told that he has just been cured of a ten-year illness, during which he fell under the illusion that he was the poet Sly, which he finally believes . He meets Dolly, who allegedly had prayed for him as a wife for ten years. She plays the role pretty well at first, but soon moves on to true love with Sly, which he also lets himself into. The count has had enough of the antics and lets the curtains open in the background, behind which numerous noblemen begin to clap and laugh. Westmoreland then has Sly snatched from his dolly and thrown into the wine cellar.
After sleeping for a while, Sly wakes up and first thinks of Dolly, but is immediately reminded of his poor life by the look at his ragged clothes. Desperate and hopeless, he takes a wine bottle, breaks it, grabs a piece of broken glass and uses it to open his wrists. Dolly comes into the cellar and wants to tell him that she would like to flee with him so that she can start a new life elsewhere in tender love and togetherness. But Sly is so weakened that he can hardly raise his arms as if to hug. Dolly then sees all the blood and understands. She rushes over the dead Sly, screaming.
literature
- Wilhelm Zentner (Ed.): Reclam's opera guide. In: Reclams Universal Library Volume No. 6892, 32nd, revised edition, Reclam, Stuttgart 1988, ISBN 3-15-006892-4
