Pietro il grande
Encyclopedia
Pietro il Grande zar di tutte le Russie or Il falegname di Livonia (The Livonian Carpenter) also known as Pietro, il grande, tsar delle Russie (Peter the Great, Tsar of Russia) is a comic melodrama
(opera buffa
) in two acts (1819) by Gaetano Donizetti
to a libretto
by Gherardo Bevilacqua-Aldobrandini.
Pietro il Grande or Il falegname di Livonia was premiered at the opening of the 1819-1820 Carnival season
at the Teatro San Samuele
in Venice
. The premiere took place on 26 December 1819. It was the fourth of Donizetti’s operas to be performed during his lifetime and the first to achieve "more than one production". It had about seven stagings until 1827, when its last known performance in the 19th century took place.
In 2004, the opera was presented by the Festival della Valle d'Itria
in Martina Franca
. Those performances were recorded.
The action takes place in some unnamed town in Livonia
(now Latvia
and Estonia
), which was that time under Russian rule. Carlo, a carpenter is in love with the orphan Annetta. Carlo claims to be of noble origin and shows that he has a bit of a temper when the tsar and his wife, Catherine, arrive, both travelling incognito. They are looking for the tsarina’s lost brother, and have reason to suspect that it might be Carlo. The tsar asks the hotelier, Madame Fritz, about this carpenter, when Carlo enters. Carlo, who doesn’t know who the stranger is, is rather insolent to him, and an argument ensues, with Peter threatening Carlo with dire consequences. The town magistrate, Ser Cuccupis, also gets into an argument with Peter. This magistrate has pretensions of grandeur. He goes so far as to threaten him with his friend, the tsar. Peter decides to pull rank on the magistrate, and tells him that he is Menshikov
, a high officer of the tsar. The magistrate has Carlo imprisoned. The latter is about to be convicted when Madame Fritz runs in with some documents proving that he is Catherine’s brother.
Carlo is not told this until Act 2, at which time he introduces his girl (Annetta) to the imperial couple. He warns them that the tsar must never see her since she is the daughter of the traitor hetman
Ivan Mazepa
. When told that Mazepa is dead, the false Menshikov pardons the girl. The captain of the troops tells the magistrate that Menshikov is actually the tsar. The magistrate sees an opportunity to advance himself, but since the tsar has already recognized him for what he is, he fires him from his position of authority and orders him to pay a fine. Peter, Catherine, Carlo and Annetta leave happily for St Petersburg.
Note: The Act 2 sextet is included in A Hundred Years of Italian Opera, 1810-1820,(Opera Rara
; Cat: ORCH103).
Melodrama
The term melodrama refers to a dramatic work that exaggerates plot and characters in order to appeal to the emotions. It may also refer to the genre which includes such works, or to language, behavior, or events which resemble them...
(opera buffa
Opera buffa
Opera buffa is a genre of opera. It was first used as an informal description of Italian comic operas variously classified by their authors as ‘commedia in musica’, ‘commedia per musica’, ‘dramma bernesco’, ‘dramma comico’, ‘divertimento giocoso' etc...
) in two acts (1819) by Gaetano Donizetti
Gaetano Donizetti
Domenico Gaetano Maria Donizetti was an Italian composer from Bergamo, Lombardy. His best-known works are the operas L'elisir d'amore , Lucia di Lammermoor , and Don Pasquale , all in Italian, and the French operas La favorite and La fille du régiment...
to a 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...
by Gherardo Bevilacqua-Aldobrandini.
Pietro il Grande or Il falegname di Livonia was premiered at the opening of the 1819-1820 Carnival season
Carnival of Venice
The Carnival of Venice is an annual festival, held in Venice, Italy. The Carnival starts 40 days before easter and ends on Shrove Tuesday , the day before Ash Wednesday.-History:...
at the Teatro San Samuele
Teatro San Samuele
Teatro San Samuele was an opera house and theatre located at the Rio del Duca, between Campo San Samuele and Campo Santo Stefano, in Venice. One of several important theatres built in that city by the Grimani family, the theatre opened in 1656 and operated continuously until a fire destroyed the...
in Venice
Venice
Venice is a city in northern Italy which is renowned for the beauty of its setting, its architecture and its artworks. It is the capital of the Veneto region...
. The premiere took place on 26 December 1819. It was the fourth of Donizetti’s operas to be performed during his lifetime and the first to achieve "more than one production". It had about seven stagings until 1827, when its last known performance in the 19th century took place.
Performance history
The opera was neglected until 2003 when it was given a performance in St Petersburg, thanks to the artistic director of the St Petersburg Chamber Opera, Yuri Alexandrov, who spent three years in search of the score for the opera, which, so it appeared, had been lost forever. The painstaking work yielded results: the score was restored fragment by fragment. The Russian premiere took place on 27 May 2003 at the St Petersburg Chamber Opera, with staging by Yuri Alexandrov and the Russian and Italian versions of the libretto by Yuri Dimitrin.In 2004, the opera was presented by the Festival della Valle d'Itria
Festival della Valle d'Itria
The Festival della Valle d’Itria is a summer opera festival held in the south eastern Italian town of Martina Franca in the Apulia region. The Festival was founded in 1975 and performances are given in July and August each summer on a specially constructed stage in the outdoor courtyard of the...
in Martina Franca
Martina Franca
Martina Franca is a town and comune in the province of Taranto, Apulia , Italy. It is the second most populated city of the province after Taranto....
. Those performances were recorded.
Roles
| Role | Voice type | Premiere Cast, 26 December 1819 (Conductor: - ) |
|---|---|---|
| Pietro il Grande (Peter the Great) | bass | Pio Botticelli |
| Caterina (Catherine I of Russia Catherine I of Russia Catherine I , the second wife of Peter the Great, reigned as Empress of Russia from 1725 until her death.-Life as a peasant woman:The life of Catherine I was said by Voltaire to be nearly as extraordinary as that of Peter the Great himself. There are no documents that confirm her origins. Born on... , his wife) |
soprano Soprano A soprano is a voice type with a vocal range from approximately middle C to "high A" in choral music, or to "soprano C" or higher in operatic music. In four-part chorale style harmony, the soprano takes the highest part, which usually encompasses the melody... |
Adelaide Raffi |
| Madama Fritz, innkeeper | mezzo-soprano Mezzo-soprano A mezzo-soprano is a type of classical female singing voice whose range lies between the soprano and the contralto singing voices, usually extending from the A below middle C to the A two octaves above... |
Caterina Amati |
| Annetta Mazepa, innkeeper | soprano | Angela Bertozzi |
| Carlo Scavronski, carpenter of Livonia | tenor Tenor The tenor is a type of male singing voice and is the highest male voice within the modal register. The typical tenor voice lies between C3, the C one octave below middle C, to the A above middle C in choral music, and up to high C in solo work. The low extreme for tenors is roughly B2... |
Giovanni Battista Verger Giovanni Battista Verger Giovanni Battista Verger was an Italian operatic tenor and impresario. He particularly excelled in the operas of Gioachino Rossini and Gaetano Donizetti.-Biography:... |
| Ser Cuccupis, magistrate | bass | Luigi Martinelli |
| Firman Trombest, in the role of the usurer | bass | Giuseppe Guglielmini |
| Hondediski, muscovite captain | baritone | Gaetano Rambaldi |
| Mayors, couriers, followers of the Czar | ||
Synopsis
- Time: Late 17th dentury
- Place: The Baltic State of LivoniaLivoniaLivonia is a historic region along the eastern shores of the Baltic Sea. It was once the land of the Finnic Livonians inhabiting the principal ancient Livonian County Metsepole with its center at Turaida...
The action takes place in some unnamed town in Livonia
Livonia
Livonia is a historic region along the eastern shores of the Baltic Sea. It was once the land of the Finnic Livonians inhabiting the principal ancient Livonian County Metsepole with its center at Turaida...
(now Latvia
Latvia
Latvia , officially the Republic of Latvia , is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by Estonia , to the south by Lithuania , to the east by the Russian Federation , to the southeast by Belarus and shares maritime borders to the west with Sweden...
and Estonia
Estonia
Estonia , officially the Republic of Estonia , is a state in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea, to the south by Latvia , and to the east by Lake Peipsi and the Russian Federation . Across the Baltic Sea lies...
), which was that time under Russian rule. Carlo, a carpenter is in love with the orphan Annetta. Carlo claims to be of noble origin and shows that he has a bit of a temper when the tsar and his wife, Catherine, arrive, both travelling incognito. They are looking for the tsarina’s lost brother, and have reason to suspect that it might be Carlo. The tsar asks the hotelier, Madame Fritz, about this carpenter, when Carlo enters. Carlo, who doesn’t know who the stranger is, is rather insolent to him, and an argument ensues, with Peter threatening Carlo with dire consequences. The town magistrate, Ser Cuccupis, also gets into an argument with Peter. This magistrate has pretensions of grandeur. He goes so far as to threaten him with his friend, the tsar. Peter decides to pull rank on the magistrate, and tells him that he is Menshikov
Aleksandr Danilovich Menshikov
Aleksandr Danilovich Menshikov was a Russian statesman, whose official titles included Generalissimus, Prince of the Russian Empire and Duke of Izhora , Prince of the Holy Roman Empire, Duke of Cosel. A highly appreciated associate and friend of Tsar Peter the Great, he was the de facto ruler of...
, a high officer of the tsar. The magistrate has Carlo imprisoned. The latter is about to be convicted when Madame Fritz runs in with some documents proving that he is Catherine’s brother.
Carlo is not told this until Act 2, at which time he introduces his girl (Annetta) to the imperial couple. He warns them that the tsar must never see her since she is the daughter of the traitor hetman
Hetman
Hetman was the title of the second-highest military commander in 15th- to 18th-century Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, which together, from 1569 to 1795, comprised the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, or Rzeczpospolita....
Ivan Mazepa
Ivan Mazepa
Ivan Stepanovych Mazepa , Cossack Hetman of the Hetmanate in Left-bank Ukraine, from 1687–1708. He was famous as a patron of the arts, and also played an important role in the Battle of Poltava where after learning of Peter I's intent to relieve him as acting Hetman of Ukraine and replace him...
. When told that Mazepa is dead, the false Menshikov pardons the girl. The captain of the troops tells the magistrate that Menshikov is actually the tsar. The magistrate sees an opportunity to advance himself, but since the tsar has already recognized him for what he is, he fires him from his position of authority and orders him to pay a fine. Peter, Catherine, Carlo and Annetta leave happily for St Petersburg.
Recordings
| Year | Cast (Pietro il Grande, Caterina Madame Fritz, Annetta, Carlo) |
Conductor, Opera House and Orchestra |
Label |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2004 | Vito Priante Eufemia Tafuro, Rosa Anna Peraino, Rosa Sorice, Alessandro Codeluppi |
Marco Berdondini, Orchestra Internazionale d’Italia and the Coro da Camera di Bratislava (Recorded at performances in the Atrio di Palazzo Ducale, Martina Franca Martina Franca Martina Franca is a town and comune in the province of Taranto, Apulia , Italy. It is the second most populated city of the province after Taranto.... as part of the Festival della Valle d'Itria Festival della Valle d'Itria The Festival della Valle d’Itria is a summer opera festival held in the south eastern Italian town of Martina Franca in the Apulia region. The Festival was founded in 1975 and performances are given in July and August each summer on a specially constructed stage in the outdoor courtyard of the... . There were performances on 27, 28 July) |
Audio CD: Dynamic Cat: CDS 473-1/2 |
Note: The Act 2 sextet is included in A Hundred Years of Italian Opera, 1810-1820,(Opera Rara
Opera Rara
Opera Rara is a British record label, founded in the early 1970s by Americans Patric Schmid and Don White to promote concerts of rare and/or forgotten operas by Giacomo Meyerbeer and Donizetti and such other "bel canto" composers as Giovanni Pacini, Saverio Mercadante, and Federico Ricci.The...
; Cat: ORCH103).