Il campiello
Encyclopedia
Il campiello is an opera
in three acts by Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari
. The Italian
-language libretto
was by Mario Ghisalberti, after the famous comedy of the same name written for the 1756 Venetian Carnival by the great Venetian playwright, Carlo Goldoni
.
Referred to as a commedia lirica, it is an ensemble opera influenced by Mozart, as well as Giuseppe Verdi
's last opera Falstaff
. It is concerned with the public lives of the volatile inhabitants of Venice and is sung in the local dialect (except for two Neapolitan roles).
, Milan
on 11 February 1936 under Gino Marinuzzi
.
It has remained in the Italian repertory and occasionally been performed abroad. The Fujiwara Opera
gave the Japanese premiere in Tokyo
in July 1978. They revived it in July 2001 under Marco Titotto, including some Italian singers from the 1992 Trieste
production.
Mid 18th century. Throughout the opera the setting is the same: a small square ('campiello'). In one corner there is an inn where Astolfi (baritone role), an amiable Neapolitan gentleman, spendthrift, and ladies' man, is staying. In the houses around the inn live a number of single women, all of them in search of men or husbands. Gasparina (soprano) is a comically pretentious young woman who lives with her bookish uncle Fabrizio (baritone), also a Neapolitan as it turns out. Luçieta (soprano), is a young beauty in love with a haberdasher called Anzoleto (bass). She lives with her mother Dona Cate (tenor). Luçieta's rival is another attractive girl called Gnese (soprano) who lives with her mother Dona Pasqua (tenor). Both the mothers are comic roles played by men. Gnese is in love with a boy called Zorzeto who also lives in the square with his mother Orsola (mezzo-soprano).
Act 1
Gasparina appears first, then Astolfi: they greet each other with mutual interest. Luçieta enters next, impatient because Anzoleto is late. Astolfi flirts with her as well. When Anzoleto appears peddling his haberdashery, the stranger offers to buy Luçieta a present and Anzoleto becomes jealous. Gnese appears, wanting to buy some needles or thread, and calls Anzoleto over. Luçieta in turn becomes angry. Astolfi also offers to buy something for Gnese! He is delighted to find so many beautiful women all in one place! While Anzoleto is with Gnese, Astolfi renews his interest in Luçieta and encounters her mother Dona Cate. He offers Luçieta a ring which her mother deftly intercepts, while Gnese spurns his offer to pay for her purchases.
Dona Pasqua and Orsola talk about the future marriage of their children, Gnese and Zorzeto. Luçieta and Gnese appear, quarrelling again, and then Zorzeto. Anzoleto challenges Astolfi who denies having designs on Luçieta. Anzoleto decides he must marry Luçieta as soon as possible - to her delight! Gasparina appears again and this time Astolfi has a long conversation with her, trying to find out, in spite of her dialect, if she is available. She encourages him.
Act 2
Luçieta, Gnese, Zorzeto and their three parents are having a loud party in the square to the annoyance of Fabrizio. Anzoleto comes in and presents his ring to Luçieta. Astolfi offers to be best man at the wedding - and to pay for dinner at the inn! He invites Gasparina and Fabrizio to join them but Fabrizio refuses. A ballet follows: waitresses, beggars, and a polenta procession. Gasparina tells Astolfi about her uncle's appalling behaviour. Just then Fabrizio appears and confronts Astolfi. He is also Neapolitan. He knows who Astolfi is, and that he is bankrupt! Astolfi in turn recognizes Fabrizio as a famous lottery winner! Fabrizio tells him that he wants to marry off Gasparina - and there will be a big dowry!
The drinking party spreads onto the square but their high spirits once again turn into quarrelling before they return to the inn. Fabrizio is determined once and for all to leave the noisy square and find somewhere else to live. Astolfi concentrates his attention on Gasparina, while clutching the dinner bill in his hand and wondering how he is going to pay it. The party once again erupts into the square singing and dancing.
Act 3
Fabrizio's removals are in progress. Astolfi asks him for Gasparina's hand. Fabrizio admits it may be negotiable and they go away to talk over the details. The young women enter. Luçieta will get married that evening, Gnese in two year's time. Orsola and Luçieta go off talking. Anzoleto comes in looking for Luçieta and is furious that she has gone to Orsola's house. When she emerges he slaps her. Dona Cate suggests she can find a better son-in-law and Anzoleto tries to take back his ring, but Luçieta refuses to give it to him. She knows that he hit her because he loves her. Anzoleto blames Zorzeto. It's all his fault. They leave but Gnese recounts the incident to Zorzeto, to Orsola's dismay. Zorzeto throws stones at Dona Cate's house hitting the old lady, and general pandemonium breaks out with Anzoleto and Zorzeto threatening to kill each other, and Dona Cate and Dona Pasqua insulting one another.
Astolfi appears and orders them all to be quiet. They are invited to have dinner with him. He and Gasparina will be married that evening - and they will be gone in the morning! Gasparina sings a final farewell to the leading member of the cast, the city of Venice ('Bondi, Venezia cara'), which swells into a final chorus.
[This synopsis by Simon Holledge was first published on Opera japonica http://www.operajaponica.org and appears here by permission.]
in Milan under Gracis Ettore in 1973, and at a live performance at the Teatro Comunale Trieste under Bareza Niksa in 1992.
Opera
Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...
in three acts by Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari
Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari
Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari was an Italian composer and teacher. He is best known for his comic operas such as Il segreto di Susanna...
. The Italian
Italian language
Italian is a Romance language spoken mainly in Europe: Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City, by minorities in Malta, Monaco, Croatia, Slovenia, France, Libya, Eritrea, and Somalia, and by immigrant communities in the Americas and Australia...
-language libretto
Libretto
A libretto is the text used in an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, oratorio, cantata, or musical. The term "libretto" is also sometimes used to refer to the text of major liturgical works, such as mass, requiem, and sacred cantata, or even the story line of a...
was by Mario Ghisalberti, after the famous comedy of the same name written for the 1756 Venetian Carnival by the great Venetian playwright, Carlo Goldoni
Carlo Goldoni
Carlo Osvaldo Goldoni was an Italian playwright and librettist from the Republic of Venice. His works include some of Italy's most famous and best-loved plays. Audiences have admired the plays of Goldoni for their ingenious mix of wit and honesty...
.
Referred to as a commedia lirica, it is an ensemble opera influenced by Mozart, as well as Giuseppe Verdi
Giuseppe Verdi
Giuseppe Fortunino Francesco Verdi was an Italian Romantic composer, mainly of opera. He was one of the most influential composers of the 19th century...
's last opera Falstaff
Falstaff (opera)
Falstaff is an operatic commedia lirica in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi, adapted by Arrigo Boito from Shakespeare's plays The Merry Wives of Windsor and scenes from Henry IV. It was Verdi's last opera, written in the composer's ninth decade, and only the second of his 26 operas to be a comedy...
. It is concerned with the public lives of the volatile inhabitants of Venice and is sung in the local dialect (except for two Neapolitan roles).
Performance history
Il campiello was first performed at La ScalaLa Scala
La Scala , is a world renowned opera house in Milan, Italy. The theatre was inaugurated on 3 August 1778 and was originally known as the New Royal-Ducal Theatre at La Scala...
, Milan
Milan
Milan is the second-largest city in Italy and the capital city of the region of Lombardy and of the province of Milan. The city proper has a population of about 1.3 million, while its urban area, roughly coinciding with its administrative province and the bordering Province of Monza and Brianza ,...
on 11 February 1936 under Gino Marinuzzi
Gino Marinuzzi
Gino Marinuzzi was an Italian conductor and composer, particularly associated with Wagner and the Italian repertory....
.
It has remained in the Italian repertory and occasionally been performed abroad. The Fujiwara Opera
Fujiwara Opera
The is an opera company located in Tokyo, Japan and is notably that nation's first and oldest professional opera company. It was founded in 1934 by operatic tenor Yoshie Fujiwara...
gave the Japanese premiere in Tokyo
Tokyo
, ; officially , is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan. Tokyo is the capital of Japan, the center of the Greater Tokyo Area, and the largest metropolitan area of Japan. It is the seat of the Japanese government and the Imperial Palace, and the home of the Japanese Imperial Family...
in July 1978. They revived it in July 2001 under Marco Titotto, including some Italian singers from the 1992 Trieste
Trieste
Trieste is a city and seaport in northeastern Italy. It is situated towards the end of a narrow strip of land lying between the Adriatic Sea and Italy's border with Slovenia, which lies almost immediately south and east of the city...
production.
Roles
| Role | Voice type | Premiere Cast, 11 February 1936 (Conductor: Gino Marinuzzi) |
|---|---|---|
| Astolfi, a Neapolitan gentleman | baritone | Salvatore Baccaloni Salvatore Baccaloni Salvatore Baccaloni was an Italian operatic bass, often regarded as the greatest buffo artist of the 20th century.- Life and career :Baccaloni was born in Rome... |
| Gasparina, an affected young woman | soprano | Mafalda Favero Mafalda Favero Mafalda Favero was an Italian operatic soprano.Mafalda Favero was born in Portomaggiore, near Ferrara. When she was 17, she started studying with Alessandro Vezzani at the Conservatory in Bologna and attracted the notice of Franco Alfano... |
| Fabrizio, Gasparina's uncle and guardian, a Neapolitan |
bass | Franco Zaccarini |
| Dona Cate, a widow | tenor | Luigi Nardi |
| Luçieta, Dona Cate's daughter | soprano | Iris Adami-Corradetti |
| Orsola, a fritter seller | mezzo -soprano |
Giulia Tess |
| Zorzeto, Orsola's son | tenor | Luigi Fort |
| Dona Pasqua, a widow | tenor | Giuseppe Nessi Giuseppe Nessi -Life:Nessi was born in Bergamo, near Milan in Italy. He made his debut in Saluzzo in 1916, in the role of Alfredo in La Traviata. However, on the advice of renowned Italian conductor Tullio Serafin, the majority of his career was focussed on character tenor roles... |
| Gnese, Dona Pasqua's daughter | soprano | Margherita Carosio Margherita Carosio Margherita Carosio was an Italian operatic soprano. She was one of the most remarkable light lyric sopranos of her generation. Her warm, expressive and expertly produced voice is preserved in many Parlophone and Ultraphon recordings made before World War II, as well as a memorable series made for... |
| Anzoleto, a haberdasher | bass | Fernando Autori |
Synopsis
SettingMid 18th century. Throughout the opera the setting is the same: a small square ('campiello'). In one corner there is an inn where Astolfi (baritone role), an amiable Neapolitan gentleman, spendthrift, and ladies' man, is staying. In the houses around the inn live a number of single women, all of them in search of men or husbands. Gasparina (soprano) is a comically pretentious young woman who lives with her bookish uncle Fabrizio (baritone), also a Neapolitan as it turns out. Luçieta (soprano), is a young beauty in love with a haberdasher called Anzoleto (bass). She lives with her mother Dona Cate (tenor). Luçieta's rival is another attractive girl called Gnese (soprano) who lives with her mother Dona Pasqua (tenor). Both the mothers are comic roles played by men. Gnese is in love with a boy called Zorzeto who also lives in the square with his mother Orsola (mezzo-soprano).
Act 1
Gasparina appears first, then Astolfi: they greet each other with mutual interest. Luçieta enters next, impatient because Anzoleto is late. Astolfi flirts with her as well. When Anzoleto appears peddling his haberdashery, the stranger offers to buy Luçieta a present and Anzoleto becomes jealous. Gnese appears, wanting to buy some needles or thread, and calls Anzoleto over. Luçieta in turn becomes angry. Astolfi also offers to buy something for Gnese! He is delighted to find so many beautiful women all in one place! While Anzoleto is with Gnese, Astolfi renews his interest in Luçieta and encounters her mother Dona Cate. He offers Luçieta a ring which her mother deftly intercepts, while Gnese spurns his offer to pay for her purchases.
Dona Pasqua and Orsola talk about the future marriage of their children, Gnese and Zorzeto. Luçieta and Gnese appear, quarrelling again, and then Zorzeto. Anzoleto challenges Astolfi who denies having designs on Luçieta. Anzoleto decides he must marry Luçieta as soon as possible - to her delight! Gasparina appears again and this time Astolfi has a long conversation with her, trying to find out, in spite of her dialect, if she is available. She encourages him.
Act 2
Luçieta, Gnese, Zorzeto and their three parents are having a loud party in the square to the annoyance of Fabrizio. Anzoleto comes in and presents his ring to Luçieta. Astolfi offers to be best man at the wedding - and to pay for dinner at the inn! He invites Gasparina and Fabrizio to join them but Fabrizio refuses. A ballet follows: waitresses, beggars, and a polenta procession. Gasparina tells Astolfi about her uncle's appalling behaviour. Just then Fabrizio appears and confronts Astolfi. He is also Neapolitan. He knows who Astolfi is, and that he is bankrupt! Astolfi in turn recognizes Fabrizio as a famous lottery winner! Fabrizio tells him that he wants to marry off Gasparina - and there will be a big dowry!
The drinking party spreads onto the square but their high spirits once again turn into quarrelling before they return to the inn. Fabrizio is determined once and for all to leave the noisy square and find somewhere else to live. Astolfi concentrates his attention on Gasparina, while clutching the dinner bill in his hand and wondering how he is going to pay it. The party once again erupts into the square singing and dancing.
Act 3
Fabrizio's removals are in progress. Astolfi asks him for Gasparina's hand. Fabrizio admits it may be negotiable and they go away to talk over the details. The young women enter. Luçieta will get married that evening, Gnese in two year's time. Orsola and Luçieta go off talking. Anzoleto comes in looking for Luçieta and is furious that she has gone to Orsola's house. When she emerges he slaps her. Dona Cate suggests she can find a better son-in-law and Anzoleto tries to take back his ring, but Luçieta refuses to give it to him. She knows that he hit her because he loves her. Anzoleto blames Zorzeto. It's all his fault. They leave but Gnese recounts the incident to Zorzeto, to Orsola's dismay. Zorzeto throws stones at Dona Cate's house hitting the old lady, and general pandemonium breaks out with Anzoleto and Zorzeto threatening to kill each other, and Dona Cate and Dona Pasqua insulting one another.
Astolfi appears and orders them all to be quiet. They are invited to have dinner with him. He and Gasparina will be married that evening - and they will be gone in the morning! Gasparina sings a final farewell to the leading member of the cast, the city of Venice ('Bondi, Venezia cara'), which swells into a final chorus.
[This synopsis by Simon Holledge was first published on Opera japonica http://www.operajaponica.org and appears here by permission.]
Recordings
Il campiello has been recorded at least twice: by RAIRAI
RAI — Radiotelevisione italiana S.p.A. known until 1954 as Radio Audizioni Italiane, is the Italian state owned public service broadcaster controlled by the Ministry of Economic Development. Rai is the biggest television company in Italy...
in Milan under Gracis Ettore in 1973, and at a live performance at the Teatro Comunale Trieste under Bareza Niksa in 1992.