Luigi Illica was an Italian librettist who wrote for
Giacomo PucciniGiacomo Antonio Domenico Michele Secondo Maria Puccini was an Italian composer whose operas, including La bohème, Tosca, Madama Butterfly, and Turandot, are among the most frequently performed in the standard repertoire...
(usually with
Giuseppe GiacosaGiuseppe Giacosa was an Italian poet, playwright and librettist.He was born in Colleretto Parella, now Colleretto Giacosa, near Turin. His father was a magistrate. Giuseppe went to the University of Turin, studying in the University of Turin, Faculty of Law...
),
Alfredo CatalaniAlfredo Catalani was an Italian operatic composer. He is best remembered for his operas Loreley and La Wally...
,
Umberto GiordanoUmberto Menotti Maria Giordano was an Italian composer, mainly of operas.He was born in Foggia in Puglia, southern Italy, and studied under Paolo Serrao at the Conservatoire of Naples...
, Baron Alberto Franchetti and other important Italian composers. His most famous opera
librettoA 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...
s are those for
La bohèmeLa bohème is an opera in four acts,Puccini called the divisions quadro, a tableau or "image", rather than atto . by Giacomo Puccini to an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa, based on Scènes de la vie de bohème by Henri Murger...
,
ToscaTosca is an opera in three acts by Giacomo Puccini to an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa. It premiered at the Teatro Costanzi in Rome on 14 January 1900...
,
Madama ButterflyMadama Butterfly is an opera in three acts by Giacomo Puccini, with an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa. Puccini based his opera in part on the short story "Madame Butterfly" by John Luther Long, which was dramatized by David Belasco...
and
Andrea ChénierAndrea Chénier is a verismo opera in four acts by the composer Umberto Giordano, set to an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica. It is based loosely on the life of the French poet, André Chénier , who was executed during the French Revolution....
.
Illica was born at
Castell'ArquatoCastell'Arquato is an Italian town located on the first hills of Val D’Arda in the province of Piacenza, in Emilia-Romagna, approximately 30 km from Piacenza and 35 km from Parma...
. His personal life sometimes imitated his libretti. The reason he is always photographed with his head slightly turned is because he lost his right ear in a duel over a woman. When
silent filmA silent film is a film with no synchronized recorded sound, especially with no spoken dialogue. In silent films for entertainment the dialogue is transmitted through muted gestures, pantomime and title cards...
s based on Illica's operas were made, his name appeared in large letters on advertisements because distributors could only guarantee that his stories would be used, and not that they would be accompanied by the music of the appropriate composer.
Librettos
The dates given are those of creations.
- Il vassalo di Szegith (Smareglia
Antonio Smareglia was an Austro-Hungarian opera composer of Italian ethnicity.-Life:Antonio Smareglia was born in the town of Pola , in a house on Via Nettuno which still stands and in which there is now a small museum of his life and work...
, 1884)
- La Wally
La Wally is a four-act opera by Alfredo Catalani, composed on a libretto by Luigi Illica, and first performed at La Scala, Milan on 20 January 1892....
(CatalaniAlfredo Catalani was an Italian operatic composer. He is best remembered for his operas Loreley and La Wally...
, 1892)
- Cristoforo Colombo
Cristoforo Colombo is an opera in four acts and an epilogue by Alberto Franchetti to an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica...
(FranchettiAlberto Franchetti was an Italian opera composer.-Biography:Alberto Franchetti was born in Turin, a Jewish nobleman of independent means. He studied first in Venice, then in Dresden under Felix Draeseke, and finally at the Munich Conservatory under Josef Rheinberger. His first major success...
, 1892)
- Manon Lescaut
Manon Lescaut is an opera in four acts by Giacomo Puccini. The story is based on the 1731 novel L’histoire du chevalier des Grieux et de Manon Lescaut by the Abbé Prévost....
(Puccini, 1893)
- Cornelius Schütt (Smareglia, 1893)
- Le martire (Samaras
Spyridon-Filiskos Samaras was a Greek composer particularly admired for his operas who was part of the generation of composers that heralded the works of Giacomo Puccini...
, 1894)
- Nozze istriane
Nozze istriane is an opera in three acts by Antonio Smareglia to an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica. It premiered on 28 March 1895 at the Teatro Comunale in Trieste.-Roles:-Synopsis:...
(Smareglia, 1895)
- La Bohème
La bohème is an opera in four acts,Puccini called the divisions quadro, a tableau or "image", rather than atto . by Giacomo Puccini to an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa, based on Scènes de la vie de bohème by Henri Murger...
(Puccini, 1896)
- Andrea Chénier
Andrea Chénier is a verismo opera in four acts by the composer Umberto Giordano, set to an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica. It is based loosely on the life of the French poet, André Chénier , who was executed during the French Revolution....
(GiordanoUmberto Menotti Maria Giordano was an Italian composer, mainly of operas.He was born in Foggia in Puglia, southern Italy, and studied under Paolo Serrao at the Conservatoire of Naples...
, 1896) |
IrisIris is an opera in three acts by Pietro Mascagni to an original Italian libretto by Luigi Illica. Its first performance was at the Teatro Costanzi in Rome on 22 November 1898.The opera is through-composed and set in Japan during legendary times...
(Mascagni, 1898)
ToscaTosca is an opera in three acts by Giacomo Puccini to an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa. It premiered at the Teatro Costanzi in Rome on 14 January 1900...
(Puccini, 1900)
Anton (GaleottiCesare Galeotti was an Italian composer, conductor, and concert pianist. He is best known for his opera Anton which he conducted at its highly lauded premiere at La Scala on 17 February 1900...
, 1900)
Medioevo Latino (PanizzaEttore Panizza was an Argentinian conductor and composer, one of the leading conductors of the early 20th century. Panizza possessed technical mastery and was popular and influential during his time, widely admired by Richard Strauss.- Biography :Panizza was born in Buenos Aires, of Italian parents...
, 1900)
Le maschereLe maschere is an opera in a Prologue and three acts by Pietro Mascagni to an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica.The work was Mascagni's homage to Rossini and to the Italian opera buffa and commedia dell'arte traditions...
(Mascagni, 1901)
Il cuore della fanciulla (Buongiorno, 1901)
Lorenza (MascheroniEdoardo Mascheroni was an Italian composer and conductor. He is remembered for conducting the world premiere of Giuseppe Verdi's Falstaff; he also composed two operas of his own, to libretti by Luigi Illica. His brother Angelo was also a composer.-Sources:* at italianopera.org...
, 1901)
GermaniaGermania is an operatic dramma lirico consisting of a prologue, two acts, an intermezzo and an epilogue by Alberto Franchetti to an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica...
(Franchetti, 1902)
Nadeya (Cesare Rossi, 1903)
SiberiaSiberia is an opera in three acts by Umberto Giordano from a libretto by Luigi Illica. There is no direct source for the plot of Siberia and it is quite possible that this is an original work by Illica...
(Umberto Giordano; 1903) |
Madama ButterflyMadama Butterfly is an opera in three acts by Giacomo Puccini, with an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa. Puccini based his opera in part on the short story "Madame Butterfly" by John Luther Long, which was dramatized by David Belasco...
(Puccini, 1904)
Cassandra (Gnecchi, 1905)
Tess (Erlanger, 1906)
AuroraAurora is an opera in three acts by the Argentine composer Héctor Panizza set to an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Hector Quesada. Composed in 1907, Aurora became the second national opera of Argentina, after Felipe Boero's more popular El Matrero. Although its plot is set in Argentina,...
(Panizza, 1908)
Il principe Zilah (Franco AlfanoFranco Alfano was an Italian composer and pianist. Best known today for his opera Risurrezione and above all for having completed Puccini's opera Turandot in 1926. He had considerable success with several of his own works during his lifetime.- Biography :He was born in Posillipo, Naples...
, 1909)
Hellera (Italo MontemezziItalo Montemezzi was an Italian composer. He is best known for his opera L'amore dei tre re , once part of the standard repertoire....
, 1909)
La Perugina (Edoardo Mascheroni, 1909)
IsabeauIsabeau is a leggenda drammatica or opera in three parts by Pietro Mascagni, 1911, from an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica. Mascagni conducted its first performance on June 2, 1911 at the Teatro Coliseo, Buenos Aires....
(Mascagni, 1911)
Giova a Pompei (Alberto Franchetti & Umberto Giordano, 1921) |
External links