Suor Angelica
| Work data | |
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| Title: | Sister Angelica |
| Original title: | Suor Angelica |
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| Shape: | thoroughly composed |
| Original language: | Italian |
| Music: | Giacomo Puccini |
| Libretto : | Giovacchino Forzano |
| Premiere: | December 14, 1918 |
| Place of premiere: | Metropolitan Opera , New York City |
| Playing time: | about an hour |
| Place and time of the action: | A monastery in Italy towards the end of the 17th century |
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Suor Angelica ("Sister Angelica") is an opera in one act by Giacomo Puccini . The libretto written Giovacchino Forzano . Puccini combined them with the two one-act plays Il tabarro and Gianni Schicchi to Ilertrico ("The Triptych"). The joint premiere took place on December 14, 1918 at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City.
background
Giacomo Puccini wanted to write a cycle, the Trittico , which would perform a tragic (Il tabarro) , a lyrical and a cheerful piece (Gianni Schicchi) in one evening. Suor Angelica forms the lyrical second act.
action
The opera is set in Italy, towards the end of the 17th century.
Location: in a monastery near Siena; in the background the church, on the right the cemetery, on the left the kitchen garden, in front of it a fountain
The service is celebrated in the monastery church. After the service, Sister Zeal punishes two lay sisters, Sister Lucilla and Sister Osmina; the teacher explains her offenses to the novices: the lay sisters came too late to the service, but, unlike Sister Angelica, who was also late, did not perform the prescribed penitential exercise; Sister Lucilla laughed during the service; Sister Osmina kept roses hidden in her sleeves.
While Angelica tends the herb garden, Sister Genovieffa notices that the three “Evenings of the Gilded Fountain” are starting again. The teacher explains to a novice that only three days a year the sun shines on the fountain in the cloister courtyard and makes its water jet appear gold after the service. Everyone remembers that another year has passed and the death of Sister Bianca Rosa. Sister Genovieffa suggests pouring a bucket of the “golden water” over her grave. The others agree, as this would certainly be their wish. Angelica says that there are no wishes in death, because there the Mother of God fulfills every wish before it arises. The sister zeal objects that they must not have any wishes in life either. Genovieffa contradicts: She used to be a shepherdess and would like to see a lamb again. Sister Dolcina, who also wants to make a wish, is maliciously accused of voraciousness by the others. Angelica, like most of the other sisters, claims to have no wish. Some sisters whisper that Angelica is lying and that she wants nothing more than to see her family again. She was once a noblewoman and was sent to the monastery as a punishment.
The nurse comes to Angelica and lets her give her herbs for Sister Chiara, who was stung by wasps. Two sisters who have collected alms come back with a loaded donkey and hand over the groceries to the sister who is serving them, while the sisters make fun of Dolcina's craving for food again. One of the alms seekers said that there was a magnificent carriage in front of the monastery. Angelica asks excitedly about the coat of arms and the appearance of the carriage, hoping it is someone from her family. While the sisters go to the cemetery with a bucket of water, Angelica learns from the abbess that she has a visitor: her aunt, the princess. The abbess exhorts Angelica, who has been waiting in vain for a visit for seven years, to calm down and leads her to the consulting room with her sister.
The princess is very distant and cool towards Angelica. She explains that Angelica's parents hired her to distribute their children's fortunes before she died. Since Angelica's younger sister Anna Viola is to be married, it is time to fulfill this obligation and Angelica must sign the deed to give up her property claims. Her sister has found a man who, despite Angelica's defiled family honor, takes her as a wife. Angelica accuses her aunt of relentlessness, who then declares that she feels united in prayer with Angelica's deceased mother in pain and then has only one word for her niece: Atonement. Angelica asks the princess to tell her about her illegitimate child who was taken from her shortly after the birth. The princess is silent at first and then says curtly that it died two years ago. Angelica falls to the ground sobbing. The princess prays in silence in front of an image of a saint and has her sister, who brings in an oil lamp, and the abbess bring pen and ink to her. Angelica signs and the princess leaves the monastery without saying a word to her niece.
Back at the farm, Angelica longs for death, for her son. Genovieffa and the other nuns return from the cemetery and praise Our Lady for fulfilling Angelica's wish to visit relatives. Angelica pretends to be happy and everyone goes to their cells.
During the night, Angelica builds a stove in the courtyard and cooks a poisonous drink on it to kill herself. When she has drunk the poison, she becomes aware of the sinfulness of her deed and asks the Mother of God for mercy. Meanwhile the church begins to glow, opens up and reveals a host of angels. The Queen of Consolation comes out of the church with a blond boy who slowly takes three steps towards Angelica, accompanied by the choir of angels. Angelica dies.
Web links
- Suor Angelica , Opera Guide
- Suor Angelica : Sheet music and audio files in the International Music Score Library Project
- Suor Angelica (Giacomo Puccini) in the Corago information system of the University of Bologna
Individual evidence
- ↑ Ernst Krause: Oper - Ein Opernführer , 3rd edition, Deutscher Verlag für Musik, Leipzig, p. 403
Le Villi (1884) | Edgar (1889) | Manon Lescaut (1893) | La Bohème (1896) | Tosca (1900) | Madama Butterfly (1904) | La fanciulla del West (1910) | La rondine (1917) | Iltretico (1918) consisting of Il tabarro , Suor Angelica and Gianni Schicchi | Turandot (1926)