Stiffelio
is an opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi, from an Italian libretto by Francesco Maria Piave, based on the play Le pasteur, ou L'évangile et le foyer
by Émile Souvestre and Eugène Bourgeois. The opera was first performed on 16 November, 1850 at the Teatro Grande, Trieste.
The original plot of Stiffelio
excited vigorous censorship, since it involved a Protestant minister of the church with an adulterous wife, and a final church scene in which he forgives her with words quoted from the New Testament.
There were two reworkings of the opera, the first in 1851 as Guglielmus Wellingrode
(with the hero a German Prime Minister), and the second, in 1857, as the four-act opera Aroldo
, a more radical alteration with the hero as an English Crusader, and with the final scene entirely replaced by a wholly new fourth act.
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STIFFELIO TICKETS
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Performance history
Stiffelio
is believed to have received its first British performance in an English language production at the Collegiate Theatre, London by the
University College London Music Society, on 14 February 1973.
[1]. Although vocal scores were known, no full score existed until the discovery of a copyist's score at Naples Conservatory, and a new performing edition was prepared for Messrs Barenreiter. This edition was the basis of performances at Naples and Cologne, but it cut material (especially from the Act 1 overture and choruses), and added in sections from
Aroldo
which were not in the original score. For the University College production microfilm of the copyist's score was obtained to restore the composer's intentions as far as possible. Since even the original premiere was partly cut by the censors, therefore this was probably one of the first ever authentic performances of the work.
[2]
The first US performance is said to have been presented on 17 February 1978 in
Boston, although it is claimed that
Vincent La Selva (now of the New York Grand Opera) gave the US premiere of the opera in 1976
[3]. However, it was presented as part of their comprehensive and chronological "Viva Verdi" series from 1994 when it launched the "Verdi Cycle" of all of Verdi's operas.
While not widely performed in modern times, the
Royal Opera in
London presented the house premiere on 25 January 1993 and it was given at the
Metropolitan Opera between October 1993 and 1999, where it has received eighteen performances in all. Both productions are preserved on DVDs with
Placido Domingo (New York) and
Jose Carreras (London) in the title roles.
However, it was the Met's production which presented the first complete production from the critical edition prepared by the University of Chicago's Kathleen Kuzmick Hansell and utilizing all the material which Verdi actually wrote.
[4]
The
Sarasota Opera presented
Stiffelio
in 2005 as part of its "Verdi Cycle" of all of the composer's operas to be completed by 2013.
Roles
Role
| Voice type
| Premiere Cast, 16 November 1850 [5] (Conductor: - )
|
Stiffelio, a Protestant priest
| tenor
| Gaetano Fraschini
|
Lina, his wife
| soprano
| Marietta Gazzaniga
|
Stankar, her father, an elderly colonel
| baritone
| Filippo Colini
|
Raffaele, Lina's lover
| tenor
| Ranieri Dei
|
Jorg , an elderly minister
| bass
| Francesco Reduzzi
|
Dorotea , Lina's cousin
| mezzo-soprano
| Viezzoli De Silvestrini
|
Federico, Dorotea's lover
| tenor
| Giovanni Petrovich
|
Synopsis
Place: Stankar's castle by the River Salzbach, Germany''
Time: Early 19th Century
Act 1
Scene 1: A hall in Count Stankar's castle
Stiffelio, a priest, is expected to return from a mission. His wife Lina, her father Stankar, his cousins Dorotea and Federico are waiting for him. In addition, there is Raffaele who, unknown to all, is Lina 's lover. Stiffelio arrives and recounts how the castle's boatman has told him the strange story of having seen a man and a woman escaping from a castle window and, as they did so, dropping a packet of letters, which Stiffelio now holds. Refusing to learn by opening the package who was involved, he throws the letters into the fire much to the relief of Lina and Raffaele. Secretly, Raffaele communicates to Lina that he will leave instructions as where they may next meet inside a locked volume in the library.
After he has been greeted by friends, Lina and Stiffelio are left alone: (
Non ha per me un acento
– "She has no word for me, not a glance”) . He tells her of the sin he has witnessed (Aria:
Vidi dovunque gemere
– "Everywhere I saw virtue groan beneath the oppressor’s yoke") and then notices that her wedding ring is not on her finger. Angrily, he demands to know why (
Ah v'appare in fronte scritto
– "Ah, clearly written on your brow is the shame that wages war in your heart"), but Stankar arrives to escort him to the celebrations being arranged by his friends. Alone, Lina is filled with remorse (
A te ascenda, O Dio clemente
- "Let my sighs and tears ascend to thee, O merciful God…")
Scene 2: The same, later
Deciding to write a confession to Stiffelio, Lina begins to write, but her father enters and grabs the letter, which he reads aloud.
Dite che il fallo a tergere
- "Tell him that your heart lacks the strength to wash away your sins”, he tells her, but Stankar is determined to preserve family honor and cover up his daughter's behavior:
Ed io pure in faccia agli uomoni
- "So before the face of mankind I must stifle my anger". In their duet, father and daughter come to some resolve:
O meco venite
- "Come now with me; tears are of no consequence" and they leave.
Now Raffaele enters to place the note in the volume, which has been agreed to. Jorg, the elderly preacher, observes this just as Federico arrives to take the volume away. Jorg's suspicions fall upon Federico and he shares what he knows with Stiffelio. Seeing the volume and realizing that it is locked, he is told that Lina has a key. She is summoned, but when she refuses to unlock it, Stiffelio grabs it and breaks it open. The incriminating letter falls out, but it is quickly taken up by Stankar and torn into many pieces, much to the fury of Stiffelio.
Act 2
A graveyard near the castle
Lina has gone to her mother's grave at the cemetery to pray (
Ah dagli scanni eternei
- "Ah, from among the ethereal thrones, where, blessed, you take your seat"), but Raffaele joins her. She immediately asks him to leave.
Lina, Lina! Perder dunquevoi volete
- "Lina, then you wish to destroy this unhappy, betrayed wretch" he responds:
Io resto
- "I stay". When Stankar arrives, he demands that his daughter leave and then challenges Raffaele to a duel. With Stiffelio's arrival, announcing that no fighting can take place in a cemetery, there is an attempt at conciliation whereby the priest takes Stankar's hand and then Raffaelo's, joining them together. However, Stankar reveals that Stiffelio has touched the hand of the man who betrayed him! Not quite understanding at first, Stiffelio demands that the mystery be solved. As Lina returns demanding her husband's forgiveness, Stiffelio begins to comprehend the situation:
Ah, no! E impossibile
- "It cannot be. Tell me at least that it is a lie". Demanding an explanation, he challenges Raffaelo to fight but, as he is about to strike the younger man, Jorg arrives to summon the priest to the church from which the sound of the waiting congregation can be heard. Filled with conflicting emotions, Stiffelio drops his sword, asks God to inspire his speech to his parishioners, but, at the same time, curses his wife.
Act 3
Scene 1: A room in Count Stankar's Castle
Alone in his room, Stankar reads a letter which tells him that Raffaele has fled and that he seeks to have Lina join him. He is in despair over his daughter's behaviour:
Lina pensai che un angelo in te mi desse il cielo
- "Lina, I thought that in you an angel brought me heavenly bliss". For a moment, he resolves to commit suicide and begins to write a letter to Stiffelio. But Jorg enters to give him the news that he has tracked down Raffaele who will be returning to the castle.
O gioia inesprimibile, che questo come irondi!
- "Oh, the inexpressable joy that floods this heart of mine!", Stankar exclaims, as he sees revenge being within reach.
Scene 2: Stiffelio's house
Stiffelio confronts Raffaele and asks him what he would do if Lina were free, offering him a choice between "a guilty freedom" and "the future of the woman you have destroyed". The younger man does not respond, and the priest tells him to listen to his encounter with Lina from the other room. Stiffelio lays out the reason that their marriage can be annulled:
Oposto è il calle che in avvenire
- "Opposite are the paths that in future our lives will follow". Lina's reaction, when presented with the divorce decree, is to swear an on-going love for her husband: "I will die for love of you". Appealing to Stiffelio more as a priest than as a husband, Lina confesses that she has always loved him and she still does. Stankar enters to announce that Raffaele is dead and Jorg tries to convince Stiffelio to come to the church service:
Ah si, voliamo al tempio
- "Ah, yes, let us flee to the church".
Scene 3: A church
In the church, Stiffelio mounts the pulpit and opens the bible to the story of the adulterous woman. As he reads the words of forgiveness -
perdonata
- he looks at Lina and it is clear that she too is forgiven.
Selected recordings
Year
| Cast (Stiffelio, Lina, Stankar, Jorg)
| Conductor, Opera House and Orchestra
| Label
|
1979
| José Carreras, Sylvia Sass, Matteo Manuguerra, Wladimiro Ganzarolli
| Lamberto Gardelli, ORF Symphony orchestra and chorus
| Audio CD: Philips ASIN: B00000E3VV
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1993
| Plácido Domingo, Sharon Sweet, Vladimir Chernov, Paul Plishka
| James Levine, Metropolitan Opera orchestra and chorus
| DVD: Deutsche Grammophon Cat: 00440 073 4288
|
1993
| Jose Carreras, Catherine Malfitano, Gregory Yurisich, Gwynne Howell
| Edward Downes, Royal Opera House orchestra and chorus
| DVD: Kultur Cat: D1497
|
Note:
"Cat:" is short for catalogue number by the label company; "ASIN" is amazon.com product reference number.
Notes
References
- Holden, Amanda, ed., ''The Penguin Opera Guide'', New York: Penguin Puttnam, Inc, 2001, p. 990
- Programme, February 1973 (University College London).
- NYGO's web site claim
- Notes on the critical edition of ''Stiffelio'' at uchicago.edu: "All previous modern editions, including the score prepared by Edward Downes and first performed in January 1993 at Covent Garden, were based largely or entirely on secondary sources, such as the early printed vocal score and defective 19th-century manuscript copies of the full score. For the Covent Garden performances, with Jose Carreras as Stiffelio, Philip Gossett made preliminary corrections of the vocal parts only, based on the newly recovered autograph materials. Those materials had been exhumed by the Carrara Verdi family with the Metropolitan Opera production in view, and only happenstance permitted the Verdi edition to share some of the most important aspects with Downes. Verdi's autograph was not utilized, however, for any of the orchestral fabric, for which Downes's edition relied entirely on a 19th-century copy".
- List of singers taken from Budden, Julian: ''The Operas of Verdi'' (Cassell), vol 1, p. 448.