VERISM0
FROM
LITERATURE
TO
Matten Sansone
Ph. D.
University
of Edinburgh
1987
OPERA
ABSTRACT OF THESIS
The present study is mainly concerned with a comparative
analysis of the libretti
and the literary
sources of some Italian
operas
composed between 1890 and 1900, that is in the decade commonly idenRusticana and closed by
tified
as 'veristic',
opened by Cavalleria
Tosca.
It also attempts a reassessment of the connections
between
literary
verismo and the musical theatre
of the late nineteenth
century in Italy.
The controversial
of some 'veristic'
evaluation
operas has often
led to wrong assumptions concerning
the characteristics
of literary
While the positive
contributions
of the movement to the musiverismo.
have, on the whole, been overlooked,
cal theatre
major shortcomings
1890s,
in
the
such as excess and sensationalism
noticeable
operas
of
literature.
The essential
have been blamed on veristic
features
of
literary
adaptverismo could not, and did not, pass into any operatic
A comparative
of the source and the libretto
ation.
analysis
of MasCavalleria
Rusticana shows the limited
extent to which Verga's
cagni's
innovative
conception
was preserved in the musical transposition.
literary
The major figures of Italian
verismo, Giovanni Verga
and Luigi Capuana, happened to be personally involved in the adaptation of some works of their own for the musical theatre, namely La
The outcome
Lupa and I1 Mistero by the former, Malia by the latter.
partly because Verga
of the experiment was altogether disappointing,
to challenge the estaband Capuana were not able, nor indeed willing,
lished conventions of a versified
operatic text, partly for the modest
(P. Tasca, D. Monleone,
level of the composers who set their libretti
F. P. Frontini).
The prevailingly
literary
approach chosen in this study accounts
for the exclusion of Leoncavallo's
Pagliacci from a detailed textual
libretto
1.
Its
is
Chapter
in
though
the
to
analysis,
opera
referred
from
was written by the composer himself on the basis of recollections
his childhood.
On the other hand, the inclusion of a totally
neglectby the literary
source of
ed opera, Giordano's Mala Vita, is justified
(a play by Salvatore Di Giacomo).
the libretto
The analysis of a libretto
would not be exhaustive if it did not
This has not been
take into account the musical treatment of the text.
neglected in the examination of the operas selected for the present
Musical illustrations
from the vocal scores have been included
study.
sources and the libretti.
along with excerpts from the literary
CONTENTS
Pace
1
Introduction
Chapter 11.
2.
Towards a definition
of verismo in late
century Italian
opera
The offspring
Chapter 2-
of Mascagni's Cavalleria
The Verismo of Cavalleria
1.
From Verga's "Scene popolari"
2.
Gastaldon's
Rusticana
3.
Verga, Mascagni and the critics
Chapter 3-
School
Verismo and the Young Italian
Literary
nineteenthRusticana
4
20
31
Rusticana
to Mascagni's opera
Mala Pasqua! and Monleone's Cavalleria
31
49
62
76
Verga and Capuana as Librettists
Chronicle
Lupa:
La
and
4
76
1.
Puccini
2.
3.
The short story, the play and the libretto
of La Lupa
I1 Mistero by G. Verga, Giovanni and Domenico Monleone
109
4.
Malia by L. Capuana and Francesco Paolo Frontini
123
Chapter 4-
Salvatore
of an abortive
Di Giacomo and Neapolitan
project
Verismo
1.
The poet of colours
2.
Mala Vita by Nicola Daspuro and Umberto Giordano
Musical postcards from Naples: A Santa Lucia and
A Basso Porto
3.
and sounds
83
141
141
156
173
Conclusion
186
Notes
189
Bibliography
206
INTRODUCTION
The present study is mainly concerned with a comparative analyand the literary
operas
sis of the libretti
sources of some Italian
composed between 1890 and 1900, that is in the decade commonly idenas 'veristic',
opened by Cavalleria Rusticana and closed by
Tosca. It also attempts a reassessment of the connections between
literary
verismo and the musical theatre of the late nineteenth century in Italy.
tified
The controversial
evaluation of some operas, labelled as 'verihas often led to wrong assumptions concerning the characterisstic',
tics of literary
While the positive contributions
verismo.
of the
movement to the musical theatre
have, on the whole, been overlooked,
major shortcomings - such as excess and sensationalism - noticeable
in second-rate operas of the 1890s, have been blamed on veristic
litThe essential features of literary
erature.
verismo could not, and
did not, pass into any operatic adaptation of the 1890s. A comparative analysis of the source and the libretto
of Mascagni's Cavalleria
Rusticana shows the limited extent to which Verga's innovative concepwas preserved in the musical transposition.
The major figures of Italian
literary
verismo, Giovanni Verga
and Luigi Capuana, happened to be personally involved in the adaptation of some works of their own for the musical theatre, namely La
tion
Lupa and Il Mistero by the former, Malia by the latter.
The outcome
of the experiment was altogether disappointing,
partly because Verga
to challenge the estaband Capuana were not able, nor indeed willing,
lished conventions of a versified
operatic text, partly because of
the modest level of the composers who set their
0. Monleone, F. P. Frontini).
The prevailingly
for
the exclusion
textual
analysis,
libretti
(P. Tasca,
literary
approach chosen in this study accounts
of Ruggero Leoncavallo's Pagliacci from a detailed
though the opera is often referred to in Chapter 1.
paired with Cavalleria Rusticana as the best-known operas of
trend, Pagliacci has a libretto
the 'veristic'
written by the composer
from his childhood.
If a case were
himself and based on recollections
Usually
the libretto
to be made of 'verismo from opera to literature',
lgiacci should be classified
as a sensational feuilleton
with
1
of Paliterary
(the
pretensions
tics of verismo;
own aestheprologue with a statement of the author's
the old device of the play within
the play).
On the other
hand, the
Umberto Giordano's
opera,
inclusion
is justified
Mala Vita,
(a
libretto
the
play by Salvatore
of
comparison it makes with Cavalleria
ness to the original
text
and the
of a totally
neglected
veristic
by the literary
source
Di Giacomo) and the interesting
Rusticana
impact
as regards
the faithful-
the opera had on contemporary
audiences.
Some guidelines
have been followed
in setting
the limits
and ob-
jectives
of this study.
The analysis of a libretto
would not be exhaustive and critically reliable
if it did not take into account the musical treatment of
the text which is not only relevant for a comprehensive assessment of
in a comparative study of the literary
an opera but also instrumental
The ultimate classification
sources of a libretto.
of an opera is actually a problem of musical dramaturgy in which the literary
connections of the libretto
are of secondary importance.
dramatic shape, number
Linguistic
versification,
registers,
and casting of vocal roles, function and frequency of choral sections,
in a literary
text, the libmaterialize
elements which first
determining their best
retto; but the aesthetic and formal criteria
In the
arrangement belong to the conventions of the musical theatre.
are all
choice of subjects, different
trends, tastes and education
sheer expediency.
The practical,
factors interfere:
cultural
non-literary
influence,
of the public, the publisher's
business-like
approach of the composers of the
Young Italian
School in the choice of their libretti
is a sign of the
Verdi claimed that a composer should look askance when writtimes.
ing an opera: the reasons of art and the demands of the public were
Puccini, more cynically,
believed that:
to be equally considered.
'I1 faut frapper le public'.
Verdi lived and worked through the RiWhatever the subjects of his operas, we detect a solid
sorgimento.
A sneering court-jester
could
ethical code underlying his dramaturgy.
say to his daughter in the privacy of their home: 'Culto, famiglia,
a
/Il
in tel' Faith in God, the family and the
universo
mio
patria,
fatherland pertained to Rigoletto no less than to Rolando about to
fight
tion
Barbarossa at Legnano and entrusting
his wife with the educa'Digli ch'e sangue mio, /... /E dopo Dio la Patria/
of their child:
2
Gli apprendi a rispettar.
'
The composers of the Young Italian
math of the Risorgimento.
years of the fin-de-siecle
the new social
reality
They reached
crisis
which
School
their
of ethical
grew up in the after-
artistic
in the
maturity
and aesthetic
emerged from the political
In
values.
unification,
the function
'melodramma' as a unifying
of the nineteenth-century
cultural
and ideological
medium had come to an end.
In literature,
the iconoclastic
of
and regenerating
experience
the 'Scapigliatura'
by a number of contrasting
tendencies
was followed
providing
herence
ism,
did
cultural
to one or other
exoticism
not imply
influences,
Verdi
to young composers.
As for
aesthetics.
to Massenet and down to the drawing-room
production
ad-
decadentism,
symbolverismo,
in the last quarter
of the century,
ranged from Wagner to the French
of cultural
The occasional
of the trends
- which were rife
a commitment to their
they
wide spectrum
dictory
incentives
and musical
of the Young Italian
School
the musical
song style.
references
in variable
from
grand-opera,
Such a
had an impact
and often
on the
contra-
ways.
opera is therefore
a 'verismo' composer or a 'veristic'
An examinasimplifications.
no easy matter and may lead to arbitrary
tion of the connections between literary
verismo and late nineteenthcentury Italian
opera seems to be a step in the right direction.
Defining
3
Chapter 1
LITERARY VERISMO AND THE YOUNG ITALIAN SCHOOL
1.
Towards a definition
Italian
opera
The expression
tion
of verismo in late
'operatic
of a fundamental
verismo'
nineteenth-century
originated
work of the short-lived
from the associa-
veristic
theatre
Ver-
"Scene popolari
(1884)
Cavalleria
Rusticana
siciliane"
- with
Mascagni's
'melodramma' based on it.
The year 1890, when the opera
date of birth
was first
performed in Rome, was assumed as the official
ga's
was supposed to be the archetype.
of which Cavalleria
In the 1890s there was a limited
production
of operas based on veris-
of a new tendency
tic
and Mala Vita,
and a large number of
such as Pagliacci
In the course of the decade, however, literary
imitations.
subjects,
mediocre
verismo
ceased to be a source
for
of subjects
any major
opera.
So,
Iris,
Tosca,
when works such as La Wally, La Boheme, Andrea Chenier,
had to be accounted for, the problem of defining
a new compositional
style
on purely
grounds
musico-dramatic
Alternative
denominations
were suggested: 'naturalistic',
'of the Young School'.
cinian',
became crucial.
to the misleading 'operatic verismo'
'Puc'postverdian',
'late-romantic',
The last
one proved the most comprehensive and the least compromising as it is mainly based on a histoThe term 'School' should be understood as a convenrical criterion.
tional grouping of composers with different
trainings
and cultural
backgrounds and, indeed, with distinct
artistic
ni, Mascagni, Leoncavallo, Giordano, Franchetti,
Puccipersonalities:
Cilea and others.
born round the decade 1855-65 and, in their formative
years, were exposed to the same sort of national and foreign influences
(Ponchielli,
Verdi, Gounod, Massenet, Bizet, Wagner) which they assiThey were all
Puccini
for
been
has
made
case
milated
but
inclinations,
in terms of outstanding achievements and cultural
his stylistic
references are not all that far apart from the common
ground of the group.
in various
degrees.
A special
the operas of the
The established practice of categorizing
School according to whether the libretti
Young Italian
are derived
4
thematic,
from veristic
uistic
works or contain similar
led
laborious
has
to
elements,
ings.
The term first
with
the Young School
that
degrees
'verismo'
variable
of
exercise
evolution
is
Cavalleria
is
It
are still
at pains
to assess
to stress
necessary
as it
that
to connect
attempts
the
a literary
in opera with
features
and vocal
linked
composers or in different
hardly
pursuit
group-
unsatisfactory
has become so closely
in different
a frustrating
of new musical
and largely
some critics
by the same composer.
operas
this
used for
and ling-
structural
drive and
movement which, in the 1890s, had exhausted its innovative
tendencies
was losing ground to other contrasting
such as D'Annunzio's
decadentism and Fogazzaro's
in turning
Verga himself,
spiritualism.
his
short
1891-94,
story
moved away from the verismo
which eventually
essay "Verismo
interested
Puccini
in der Oper",
'Verismo
literature.
in veristic
they
which
from veristic
all
for
As Egon Voss states
It
should
is
ironical
be labelled
by either
rejected
a hybrid
in his
composers were not immediately
'1
School
in the years
Puccini,
of the 1880s and created
to set.
refused
sers of the Young Italian
verismo
a libretto
"La Lupa" into
the compo-
that
one term to set libretti
with
refusing
the uncongenial
nature of
works or pronouncing
CaMascagni's
Even
to
that movement to their
applied
art.
when
own
is not entirely
'operatic
the definition
satisfacverismo'
valleria,
derived
tory
for
play
on the musico-dramatic
two reasons:
firstly,
it
overstates
characteristics
the
impact
of Verga's
of the opera which was,
on the whole, less innovative than the "Scene popolari siciliane";
tendency
secondly, it does not accommodate the notion that a realistic
pre-existed to Mascagni's Cavalleria
and stemmed from the erosion of
the ideological
and musico-dramatic structures
of the romantic
dramma', irrespectively
of the veristic
movement in literature.
ever,
tents
the real problem is not so much one of denominations
and historical
perspectives.
'meloHow-
as of con-
Although literary
verismo is best represented by Southern Ita(Verga and Capuana), it was in Milan that the movelians and Sicilians
1870s.
in
It was partly the positive outcome of
the
originated
ment
the non-conformist,
movement which involved
subversive 'Scapigliatura'
The
in
Milan.
its
had
centre
and
painters, musicians, poets, critics
term 'Scapigliatura'
'boheme' by Cletto
was introduced
Arrighi
as a translation
of the French
in his novel La Scapigliatura
5
e it
6 feb-
braio
(Milano,
of the movement, illustratof manifesto
Leading
life
of young 'scapigliati'.
adventurous
1862),
ing the irregular,
a sort
Arrigo
the
the
poets
young
movement
were
of
members
Tranquillo
Cremona, the musician
Praga, the painter
critic
-close
Cameroni.
Felice
to the
presented
by the playwright
rana and the novelist
Igino
and Emilio
Franco Faccio,
the
were also
and the young Catalani
2
A Piedmontese section was re-
Ponchielli
'Scapigliatura'
Boito
circle.
Giuseppe Giacosa,
the poet Giovanni
Came-
Ugo Tarchetti.
The aspiration
to free themselves from cultural
provincialism,
an urgency to move beyond the extenuated romanticism of much secondto look outside Italy
rate literary
production led the 'scapigliati'
towards France, in particular,
and Germany. French naturalism and Zola
became major cultural
models introduced
references and authoritative
by the critical
writings of Cameroni and made widely accessible by the
Verga's arrival
of Emilio Treves.
open-minded publishing activity
Milan, in 1872, came at the right moment in his literary
career.
in
He
Cameroni.
In
Giacosa
the stimulating
Boito,
and
enwith
in
Italy,
Verga
tried
the
cultural
centre
most progressive
vironment of
subject matter
out his new style and began to deal with a different
His vefrom his early novels set in fashionable high-society
circles.
made friends
Sicihis
the
of
rural
ethical
world
of
popular,
rismo was a rediscovery
ly which he contemplated and described with the detachment and nostalgia
of a transplanted intellectual.
Verga's
feature
dominant
be
the
of
singled
out
as
may
stories and novels of the 1880s: restraint
of passion and emotion in
in
the portrayal of Sicilian
peasants and fishermen; formal restraint
Restraint
the elaboration of a terse, self-effacing,
sapid prose style which almost lets the story tell itself
and the characters speak their minds
in their own way. Sensationalism and excess are banished on principle.
Violence may occur in the form of murder and is set within the natural
is
it.
A
the short
the
example
community
good
of
which
endorses
ethics
in
Turiddu
Rusticana"
has
to
"Cavalleria
Alfio
challenge
where
story
Lu"La
kill
in
In
him
duel.
the
then
story,
next
a
rustic
public and
from
liberates
kills
Pina
the
Nanni
a sort of
village
and
whole
pa",
But it is more often the case that violence manifests
enchantress.
itself
in the form of natural
to improve material
efforts
In this
by the 'defeated'.
calamities,
acts of God thwarting
all
way
wellbeing and endured in a dignified
fatal struggle with the elements of a hos-
6
life,
Verga's
hardships
the
of
an
unrewarding
and
with
nature
Such is
epic dimension.
peasants and fishermen acquire a universal,
A deep pessithe moral world of I Malavoglia, Verga's masterpiece.
tile
mism inspires
condition.
or desirable
of this apparently inescapable
prevents him from envisaging any possible
His austere, unmitigated presentation fixes the
the novelist's
His conservatism
change.
vision
predicament of his people in a mythical
red by the pounding pace of history.
tragic
As for
tive
in the Italian
verismo
in the sense that
character
theatre,
Verga,
dramatized
their
Rusticana,
La Lupa and Di Giacomo's
compromises
different
cilian
with
own narrative
artistic
world
medium.
being
displayed
panying
adjective
of Verga's
indicated
of the scenes.
the
That
implied
which were not simply
due to the
had to be adequately
of behaviour were to be fully
Cavalleria
low-class
The psychological
"Scene popolari"
and of most veristic
environment
and dramatic
and the choral
identity
between the
was focused through the interaction
fellow
the social
group (neighbours,
workmen).
racters
This technique
certain
own society
customs or patterns
Hence the denomination
appreciated.
the title
have a deriva-
In the case of Verga's first
play, the Sifor the first
time to unfamiliar
audiences
the relationship
and dramatically
relevant;
certain
correctly
stir-
Capuana, Di Giacomo usually
Malavita.
works,
had to be made intelligible
between the individuals
and their
cused if
most plays
hardly
Such is the case of Cavalleria
works.
the original
stillness
foand
accomThe
plays.
structure
of the main chaindividual
and
and pithiextreme liveliness
ness in the dialogues; secondly, a reduction of the plot to one basic
situation
containing in itself
a fasta logical denouement; thirdly,
moving action leaving no space for melodramatic claptrap but relying
entailed:
on unambiguous, striking
strophe (e. g. Santuzza's
firstly,
to mark the progress towards the cata'Mala Pasqua a te! ', in
curse to Turridu:
signals
Cavalleria).
The combination of these elements never reached a fully satisfactory balance in any veristic
play, with the exception of Cavalleria
Rusticana (though some reservations
should be made about Santuzza's
In minor
long speech in Scene 1 and a certain slackening in Scene 6).
indilike
Giacomo,
Di
the
the
tended
to
environment
outweigh
authors,
The overabundance of spectacular and folkloric
details turndramatic build-up into a series of
ed verismo into picturesqueness,
three-dimensional
vignetcharacters into colourful
sensational jolts,
viduals.
7
tes.
nents
It
is
because of the emphasis on the environmental
that the veristic
number of "Scene popolari"
also
in a large
more than the narrative
of Italian
further
e. g.,
dialects
to the marked localization
contributed
como's Neapolitan
the characteristic
evidences
The use of regional
verismo.
Capuana's
works,
three
volumes of Teatro
instead
compotheatre,
regionalism
of Italian
plays:
of most veristic
dialettale
siciliano,
Di Gia-
plays.
Although the Italian
did not match up to the artistic achievements of the narrative works, it had a strong, positive
effect on the stale national repertory of romantic and bourgeois subjects.
The language also benefited from the new veristic
models of a
veristic
theatre
full-blooded,
straight medium. Lastly, a new acting style elow-class
volved in the theatre in order to render the unsophisticated
Away from the grand, heroic, highcharacters of the "Scene popolari".
interpreters
flown postures, veristic
tried to be simple, down-to-earth,
supple,
The greatest of them all was Eleonora Duse (1858-1924), the
natural.
first
Santuzza. Restraint and naturalness distinguished
her approach
to the interpretation
Reporting on
peasant character.
of the Sicilian
the successful Turin premiere of Verga's play (Corriere della Sera, 1516 January 1884), Eugenio Torelli-Viollier
wrote about Duse's acting:
Nella parte della fanciulla
sedotta e che denuncia
1'amante, restando sempre sobria, frenata, semplice,
senza mai un grido, senza mai un gesto violento,
produsse effetti
di alta commozione e fece fremere e piangere gli spettatori.
Duse's new acting technique largely accounts for the veristic
interpretative
approach of great sopranos such as GemmaBellincioni
(1864-1950) and the French EmmaCalve (1858-1942).
In her book of
memoirs, Sous tous les ciels j'ai
chante (Paris, 1940), Calve recalled
the deep emotion she felt the first
time she saw E. Duse act in La
dame aux camelias in Florence: 'Quelle revelation!
Voilä fart
auquel
il faut aspirer....
Elle semble appartenir ä une humanite plus vibrante
(p.
la
Quels
emotion
41).
'
Quelle
nötre.
accents!
que
communicative!
Calve also saw Duse act in Verga's Cavalleria
in Bologna.
Spontaneity, truthfulness,
emotional restraint,
were qualities
Verga tried
hard to retain
in his plays.
Cavalleria
to his great prose works of the early
in the highest degree.
qualities
closest
8
Rusticana was the
1880s and retained
those
In the 1890s,
be experimented
lari".
And it
so happened that
were incompatible
the reduction
of the plot,
background,
the social
the risk
The operatic
apprehensible
compression
roles
providing
in-
Chorus,
to an operatic
and sensationalism.
Cavalleria,
for
effaced
a start,
of the play and emphasized
feelings
of love, jealousy
and re'exotic'
of the low-class
environ-
peculiarities
veristic
universal
on the novelty
capitalizing
venge,
of the minor
picturesqueness
of Verga's
transposition
of the vocal
nature
indispensable
the
aggregation
into
of the aesthe-
and impersonality
subjective
or elimination
of lapsing
from the prose theatre
restraint
Moreover,
or their
the non-melodramatic,
the easily
formal
only
of the "Scene popo-
impoverishment
the essentially
with
in the music drama.
expression
creased
Verga's
of verismo.
premises
level
the transition
in a further
one resulted
could
of verismo
inferior
at the artistically
to the musical
tic
transposition
the operatic
ment.
The casual
quence in Mascagni's
before
pressing
Menasci,
gives
for
literary
subsequent
search
of Cavalleria
the premiere
already
with
encounter
his
a new libretto.
us an idea of his
would do, provided
it
for
His letter
practical,
feasible
texts.
Four weeks
in Rome, the composer was
G. Targioni
Tozzetti
and G.
Rusticana
friends,
Livornese
would be of no conse-
verismo
to them, dated
uncommitted
had a good dramatic
19 April
approach.
1890,
Anything
potential:
Ii genere? A piacere.
Qualunque genere per me e buono,
purche ci sia veritä,
che ci sia
passiýne e soprattutto
il dramma, il dramma forte.
Mascagni's production in the years following Cavalleria Rusticain the choice of libretti.
His operas inna proves his eclecticism
clude the light idyll L'Amico Fritz (1891) and the romantic tragedy
(1895), the long-cherished project of his youthful
Guglielmo Ratcliff
years;
the ludicrous
'dramma marinaresco'
copy of Cavalleria arranged by the faithful
the exotic Iris (1898), the first
of Luigi
Mascagni. In 1901 there follows a revival
Silvano
(1895),
Targioni
Illica's
a carbon
Tozzetti,
and
three libretti
for
of the commedia dell'arte
The opera was preby Illica).
theatres (Genoa, Milan, Turin,
with Le Maschere (libretto
sented simultaneously in six Italian
Venice, Verona, Rome) thanks to an unprecedented publicity
Illica
libretto
by
The
Sonzogno.
third
Edoardo
by
mounted
tradition
9
operation
is the 'leg-
(1911),
Godiva
Lady
Isabeau
the
drammatica'
of
an
adaptation
genda
legend.
In 1910, during the composition of the opera, Mascagni was
interviewed by Arnaldo Fraccaroli
for the Corriere della Sera ("Sotto18 October 1910).
Being asked whether he had fallen back on
Mascagni made one of his memorable statements on the aes-
voce",
romanticism,
thetics of music:
Completamente; e pure ho cominciato col verismo! Ma
il verismo ammazzala musica. E' nella poesia, nel
romanticismo, che la ispirazione
pub trovare le ali.
Verismo
kills
If
music!
is the case,
that
much verismo
managed to seep into
the operatic
not a lethal
dose.
however,
With
Isabeau,
decadentism
ter
and living
to the composer twenty
Il
(2-3
(see below,
lirica
in quattro
written
In one thousand
the poet dramatized
the tragic
Mascagni
later
most of his
production.
Guido Maria
Gatti
those
long-winded
story
D'Annunzio,
an abusive
cut
"Il
finally
in
article
capobanda"
(La Scala,
by D'Annunzio
as a libretto
hundred ornate
and musical
love
of Ugo d'Este's
III,
and their
for
acts,
it
decent
music.
serious
4
for
lines
execution
endeavour
at
Ferrara.
faded
in an essay on D'Annunzio's
Mascagni's
15
his
in fifteenth-century
the opera to three
Yet,
into
Parisina
atti'
Malatesta,
Niccolb
acknowledged
verses
four
Parisina
young stepmother
the command of Ugo's father,
Although
after
the very mas-
Ch. 2, p. 66).
December 1913) was expressly
beautiful
but
apprenticeship
with
September 1892) had dubbed Mascagni
The 'tragedia
the composer.
a useful
collaboration
years
presumably
was not romanticism
symbol of the movement, Gabriele
reconciled
Mattino
Cavalleria;
it
It'was
Mascagni subscribed
to.
Jotthe
him
which prepared
gratifying
wonder how
one might
out
like
libretti,
to turn
Such a wide range of subjects and styles shows how every literary movement or fashion which evolved in Italy in the last quarter of
the nineteenth century left its mark on the libretti
set by Mascagni.
The same could be said, to a certain extent, for the production of
other composers of the Young School. The Orientalism of Iris antici(1904); Il piccolo Marat, written by Mascagni
pates MadamaButterfly
as late as 1921, is in line with Giordano's
both are French Revolution subjects treated
Unfortunately
Andrea Chenier (1896):
in a 'veristic'
style.
for Mascagni, only a few excerpts from these ope-
10
included
in
have
recordings and
still
are
and
escaped oblivion
ras
from
"Intermezzo"
Duet"
"Cherry
the
and
concert programmes: e. g.,
"Dream", the "Hymn to. the Sun"
Guglielmo Ratcliff's
L'Amico Fritz,
Mascagni's operas, forming ideal
An attempt at 'editing'
made by Giannotto Bastianelli
suites with its best parts, was first
in his Pietro Mascagni (Napoli, 1910), perhaps the-earliest
compre-
from Iris.
hensive study on the 'plebeian musician',
called him. In
as the critic
more recent times, John W. Klein devoted an essay to "Pietro Mascagni:
(Musical
Enigmatic
Figure"
Opinion, February 1937) in which he dean
known operas and stated that: 'There can be little
doubt that Mascagni's finest music is not to be found in the early oneact opera that made him world famous and that he himself regards as
fended those lesser
sentimental
and distinctly
The major
sustained
ture
inspiration
With all
its
throughout
musical
pace which effectively
strophe
and secures
to some of his later
in Mascagni's
in fatal
which results
ness.
fast
flaw
inferior
stylistic
forgotten
a three-
lapses
or four-act
of tension
'primitivism',
leads
operas
is
operas'.
an inadequately
dramatic
and in stylistic
Cavalleria
to the veristic
patchi-
Rusticana
shout
struchas a
of the cata-
consistency.
When the whole of Mascagni's production is considered - fifteen
operas from Cavalleria to Nerone (1935) - it becomes clear how misrepresented he is under the label of 'verismo' composer. That early
and unrenewed choice cannot be assumed as a permanent aesthetic position as regards both the libretti
and the musico-dramatic features of
the composer's works.
Literary
verismo recorded its highest achievements in the early
1880s, that is in the years which witnessed the renewal of Verdi's
Verga's first
after the long pause following Aida (1871).
activity
of veristic
collection
short stories Vita dei Campi appeared in Milan
in the summer of 1880; his best novel, I Malavoglia, in 1881. In 1883
Verga turned one of those short stories into the successful play Cavalleria Rusticana (Turin, 14 January 1884). Towards the end of the decade, Verga published the second novel of the cycle of the 'Defeated',
Mastro-don Gesualdo (1889) which coincided with the appearance of D'AnAs for Verdi, in 1880 he planned the revision of
nunzio's I1 piacere.
Simon Boccanegra which was to bring together
for
the first
time the age-
ing composer and the former 'scapigliato'
In the followArrigo Boito.
ing years, they worked on Otello (La Scala, 5 February 1887).
11
There is a well-known letter by Verdi to Giulio Ricordi, dated
20 November 1880, with an interesting
reference to the new veristic
Verdi is discussing the possible improvements to the second
trend.
the
the
old verBoccanegra
of
cabalettas
mentioning
after
and,
act of
in
harmony
fashions
the
he
and
new
on
comments
makes
sarcastic
sion,
digression
launches
into
then
on verismo:
a
and
orchestration
Ahi, ahi!
Ah, il progresso, la scienza, il verismo...!
Verista finche volete, ma... Shakespeare era un verista,
noi sima non lo sapeva. Era un verista d'ispirazione;
Allora tanto fa:
amo veristi
per progetto, per calcolo.
I1 belsistema per sistema, meglio ancora le cabalette.
lo si e che, a furia di progresso, 1'arte torna indietro.
di naturalezza e di semL'arte che manca di sponaneitä,
plicitä,
non e piü arte.
In Charles
Osborne's
which isnot
literary
in the cultural
took
innovation
in his
he made that
quite
Once more,
pressions
stance
save that
his
own way.
clear
ideas
for
something
seemed to challenge
the next moment he would be pursuing
For Verdi,
'copying
on 'truth'
of admiration
whenever
in an earlier
between
distinction
subtle
who was by then a well-known
6
In his characteristic
way,
of Milan.
circles
or orthodoxy
'realism'
in particular,
a conservative
tradition
with
must have had in mind the new
the same because Verdi
and Verga,
trend
figure
Verdi
quite
is rendered
'verismo'
translation,
'vero'
meant artistic
letter
to Clara
and 'inventing
the truth'
in conjunction
7
'Father'.
were put forward
Shakespeare,
the
Maffei
truth,
and
about the
the truth'.
with
ex-
The evolution
Italian
opera is marked,
of late nineteenth-century
among other events, by Verdi's realistic
approach to Shakespeare tin(the
Boito
by
ged with 'Scapigliatura'
morbid and
elements contributed
in Otello,
The musico-dramatic and
the grotesque in Falstaff).
references
vocal novelties of Otello were to become one of the stylistic
of the Young School.
the evil
The heyday of 'operatic verismo' - 1890-92, i. e. the period of
Mala Vita and Pagliacci - comes half way between the 'dramCavalleria,
(1893).
(1887)
In
lirica'
Falstaff
'commedia
Otello
the
lirico'
and
ma
the search for musical precedents, the widespread belief that the realiits
libretto
than
depends
the
on
rather
on
stic character of an opera
'Shakespearean'
the
has
led
to
treatment,
overlook
many
writers
musical
Verdi in favour of the earlier
Traviata
12
(1853),
often
seen as a pre-
the
its
the
risand
subject
contemporary
of
on
grounds
work
for
Leibowitz,
Rene
femme
the
theme
example, stated:
entretenue.
of
que
'veristic'
le
La
I1 est clair
traviata
sinon
preconstitue,
que
la
1'etape
du
plus radicale
opera
veriste,
moins
mier
Et si, de la sorte,
sur la voie qui devait y mener.
le verisme a contracte
envers
une dette inneffagable
etrange et paradoxal
la musique de Verdi,
n'est-il-pas
ä un certain
de voir,
moment, cette musique condamnee
dire au nom de cette esthetique
si j'ose
meme?'8
In the rich
tic
it
verismo',
is significant
du neant'
'l'usine
on its
vallo
Both works,
do without
being
The realism
tify
a 'veristic'
stressed
having
borrowed
Murger's
argued the fastidious
tarted
'operaas
of an adverse
re-
in 1903.
Puccini
Next
and Leonca-
Scenes de la vie
Debussy,
'could
de
certainly
up in music. '9
of the French
reading
of Dumas's play
treatment
structures
in the context
at the Opera-Comique
revival
of it
definition
who had dared to use La Dame aux camelias,
were blamed for
Boheme.
comments on Italian
Debussy's
that
be coined
should
view of La Traviata
to Verdi
of French derogatory
repertoire
source
is certainly
of La Traviata.
Verdi's
is consistently
respectful
not enough to jusmusico-dramatic
of the formal
have
Some modern scholars
'melodramma'.
of the romantic
10
in his essay
One of them, Giovanni Ugolini,
this point.
"La traviata
ei
rapporti
di Verdi
con 1'opera
between the harmonic
pointed out similarities
11
Otello
and the style of the Young School.
verista",
and vocal
has also
writing
of
In a later
"Umberto Giordano e it problema dell'ocontribution,
Ugolini discusses in detail the whole problem of definpera verista",
ing a 'veristic'
opera and concludes that it is a question of musical
12
dramaturgy and vocal writing.
He also singles out the main characteristics
of a 'veristic'
style which could be taken as representative
School
in
Young
in
the
Italian
and
operas
composed
verifiable
most
of
The chanineteenth century, whatever their subject matter.
can be summedup as follows:
racteristics
with sentimental languor;
a) passionate tension alternating
b) violent contrasts or extreme delicacy in the vocal line,
the late
c)
the orchestra following
and supporting;
equal treatment of the various components of the operatic
);
(recitative,
solo pieces, ensembles, etc.
structure
13
of dramatic and vocal differentiation
elimination
parts in ensemble pieces;
no bel canto coloratura.
d)
e)
These stylistic
features
tion
of new structures
to dramatic continuity.
pieces, b) a flexibility
in late
should be considered within the evoluItalian
opera tending
nineteenth-century
That means: a) a gradual obliteration
of set
of the duet form to accommodate musical discopresence of the orchestra providing textural
c) a pervasive
In this respect,
course,
hesion.
of
Otello
and Falstaff
are much more innovative
than the modest products of the Young School, with the exceptions of
Puccini's Manon Lescaut (1893) and La Boheme (1896).
In the limited
Rusticana,
of operas based on veristic
subjects (Cavalleria
Mala Vita, and their imitations)
features
the stylistic
(one or two
mentioned above are emphasized by the small proportions
acts) and the sensational events of the libretti.
production
Pagliacci,
In those
esteem:
Alfredo
untimely
death
Italian
School
itinerary
tic
stage.
fruitful
Catalani's
(1893)
another opera won success and critical
La Wally (La Scala, 20 January 1892).
The
years,
of the unfortunate
of a gifted
musician
heeding
the noisy
without
13
Lucchese deprived
who proceeded
irruption
on his
of verismo
the Young
own artistic
on the opera-
In 1891, the music critic
journal Nuova Antoloof the literary
Gazzetta Musicale for listyia, Girolamo A. Biaggi, quoted Ricordi's
ing fifty-two
new Italian
operas premiered in 1890, each classified,
according to the outcome, in one of four
'mediocre',
'cattivo'.
Only two operas
Loreley and Mascagni's
namely Catalani's
'Ma (vedi giuochi
commented with regret:
grades:
'buonissimo',
'buono',
were entered under 'buonissimo',
Cavalleria Rusticana.
Biaggi
della
) a galoppo didi mezza Europa,
fortuna!
steso la Cavalleria Rusticana ha giä Corsi i teatri
e la povera Loreley, dagli applausi e dalle acclamazioni
Regio di Torino, passb alla quiete dell'Archivio
Ricordi
del teatro
e non si mosliterary
Mascagni could, at least, work on a valuable
would not have. In the following years,
source which his imitators
the rise of 'operatic
verismo' was marked by a progressive degenera-
se piü! '14
starting with the
excess, sensationalism,
picturesqueness,
Paone and only opera which has survived to our days, Leoncavallo's
A derogatory implication
was attached to the expression and,
gliacci.
in the process of time, it affected any consideration
of the literary
tion
into
14
movement in relation
stic' decade.
'veri-
to the operas of the 1890s, the so-called
School, GiacoTurning to the major figure of the Young Italian
literary
his
be
that
veit
Puccini,
with
contacts
emphasized
must
mo
Mascaby
inaugurated
decade
In
the
totally
unproductive.
rismo were
two attempts were made to involve Puccini in the comVerby
Giulio
Ricordi
a
wanted
who
operas: one
position of veristic
the
Sonzogno,
his
House
for
his
to
owner
rival
antagonize
opera
ghian
Bracco
Roberto
by
Neapolitan
the
Cavalleria;
the
playwright
other
of
gni', s Cavalleria,
who was willing
(1895).
The first
to adapt his veristic
one-act play Don Pietro Caruso
led to a libretto
derived from
project actually
Verga's short story "La Lupa" but Puccini found it uncongenial and
dropped it in favour of La Boheme. Bracco's play was a psychological
with
set in a drab interior,
study of contemporary Neapolitan life,
folklore
to
three
or picturesqueand
no
concessions
characters
only
in
for
treatment
the
It
an
operatic
unsuitable
certainly
was
ness.
fashionable 'veristic'
style of the 1890s unless Puccini were to exPietro
Don
technique.
Straussian
conversation-piece
periment with a
idea
the
of a possible
so
not
consideration,
was refused after careful
Ricordi's
In a letter to Carlo Clausetti,
with Bracco.
collaboration
Bracco
the
between
in
Naples
composand
and
middleman
representative
er, Puccini outlined his own requirements in terms which remind us of
Mascagni's instructions
wanted libretti
Tozzetti
to Targioni
containing
sensation
quoted above.
and drama:
Puccini
(Torre del Lago, 10 November 1899)
drammatiche,
forti
sensaziosensazioni
e
grandi,
...
nali, dove it sentimento si eleva e cozzandosi, urtandosi, produce attriti
drammatici, quasi epici; insommanon desidero essere terra terra (non a questa
Mi euna allusione ne censura ai lavori di Bracco).
sprimo male, ma tu mi avrai capito: "il faut frapper
he public"!
Ci vuole qualcosa di insolito,
sempre,
in teatro.
Il pubblico ha sete di nuovo, c. vogliono
trovate musicali,
essenzialmente musicali.
The subject matter of an opera did not have to be 'terra
is to say simple, down-to-earth;
we might say veristic.
terra',
that
Puccini
wan-
and great passions; above all, something musical'il teatro melodrambecause, he continued in the letter,
ly effective
The
di
it
altra
teatro
a
whole paragraph
ben
prosa'.
the
cosa
matico
Tosca,
illustrate
the
of
be
to
letter
characteristics
used
might
of the
ted dramatic tension
15
the opera which had just been finished by Puccini and was about to be
1900).
in
To14
January
Nothing
(Teatro
Costanzi,
in
Rome
premiered
it is sensational and full of dramatic
sca is 'terra terra';
it has all the suitable ingredients to 'frapper le
tations;
The case of Tosca exemplifies a false idea of verismo
negatively on the literary
movement of that name.
reflected
confronpublic'.
which has
As late
dediGarner
1985,
in
Cambridge
Opera
Tosca,
Mosco
Handbook
the
on
as
After defining
cated a chapter to "Naturalism in opera: verismo".
opera as a 'milestone
of verismo', he stated:
Puccini's
in the relatively
short-lived
history
At the heart of verismo is excess
- excess of passion
and emotion leading to brutal
murder and/or suicide;
climax follows
climax in quick succession,
and no soonthan it is destroyed by a coner is a mood a '6tablished
trasting
mood.
context, Garner meant by 'verismo' the musico-dramatic
School, a denomination he accepted in
techniques of the Young Italian
As such, 'verismo' might
the sense specified in the present study.
be as good as any other label to identify
a known product, and Garner
In that
would be in agreement with other scholars who adopted that term to
identify
But
an autonomous aesthetic trend in the musical theatre.
Carner also connected that meaning with the literary
movement which
he saw as partly springing from 'a certain tendency to realistic
treatin the national character. ' He mentioned
ment, reflecting
a trait
Verga, Capuana and, in retrospect,
Boccaccio's Decameron and Dante's
Inferno (Manzoni's realistic
novel I promessi sposi was unaccountably
At such a high level of generalization,
a similar comparison could be tried for many other 'isms' (romanticism, symbolism,
)
in the case of a complex text
using the same works, especially
etc.
like Dante's Inferno.
missed out).
Leaving aside a discussion of realism as a general trend in
it must be pointed out that a misunderstanding of verismo
literature,
far-fetched
in
to
Verga's
such
a
seems
particular,
underlie
art,
and
been
has
Formal
excess,
and
not
emotional
restraint,
evaluation.
Tosca
dominant
feature
Verga's
the
works.
veristic
of
singled out as
shocker' of Joseph Kerman's catchy
might even be the 'shabby little
definition,
but,
with verismo.
if
that
Puccini,
is the case, the reasons have nothing to do
Illica
and Giacosa contrived a melodramatic
16
free
to
'veristic'
play
sentiand
allowing
pace
a
at
mechanism working
frenzy,
Scarpia's
ingredients:
decadent
sexual
sadism
and
mental and
Giuseppe Giacosa, himself a
Tosca's sensual and possessive nature.
text
the
the
of
artistic
quality
of
modest
aware
was well
playwright,
French play and
He disliked the original
he was handling for Puccini.
Sardou. In a letter to Ricordi writits shrewd manufacturer Victorien
ten in 1896, he pointed out as the major fault of the play the contriexpansion: 'I1
with no space for lyrical
guaio piü grande sta in cit, the la parte dirt cos! meccanica, cioe it
17
vi ha troppa prevalenza a scapito della poesia'.
congegno dei fatti,
Nevertheless the final result of the laborious process of creation was
facts
vance of sensational
which has so far
an effective,
musically poignant operatic thriller
defied slashing criticism
and snobbishness.
The musico-dramatic
techniques
by the Young Italian
the ones practised
certainly
'veristic'
may be applied
and the vocal
to themin
that
sense.
of Tosca are
style
School,
and the, term
On the other
hand,
the lack
background,
keep Tosca miles
of social
away from literary
verismo and, to a large extent,
also from the early
Pagliacci,
veristic
operas of the 1890s.
with all the sensation
of
the decadent
the double
elements,
murder on stage,
of the interaction
stead,
is
still
an opera with
even in their
absence.
literation,
of the historical
Sardou's play is particularly
Cavaradossi.
indulging
the fundamental
between environment
stage
ter
respects
in vocal
He is just
exploits
'big'
The compression,
and political
noticeable
a 'signor
like
the
roles
dominating
which
in the character
'Vittoria!
the
and sometimes the ob-
references
tenore',
in-
Tosca,
and main characters.
individual
principle
veristic
of the pain-
in Puccini's
Vittoria!
lengthen
own words,
' of Act
II
or his prophetic statement in Act I: 'La vita mi costasse, vi salvert! ',
hitting
A generous aesthete rather
on the B natural above the stave.
Cavaradossi dies gracefully,
'con scethan a committed 'volterriano',
Rome is 'heard' in the
nica scienza', contemplating his dream of love.
introduction
'veristic'
of Act III with the Shepherd's song and the Matin bells, but even the Eternal City is under the spell of the perverse
Baron Scarpia as Tosca tells us after stabbing him to death ('E avanti
The whole opera hinges on these two perAll
the
female
figures:
the
the
antagonist.
male
protagonist,
vasive
BonaAngelotti,
the
of
the
the
news
prisoner
political
escape of
rest,
in
is
instrumental
Marengo,
battle
the
setting
of
parte's victory at
a lui
tremava tutta
Roma!').
17
the melodramatic clockwork in motion.
The preconception about sensationalism and excess as distinctive
investigatheir
led
to
has
traits
concentrate
many writers
of verismo
of musical realism on operas such as Tosca, often reaching oppohave
tried
denigrators
In
the
this
case,
particular
site conclusions.
hard to coin sensational abuse (Kerman); the supporters have overstated
tion
In his
character of the opera's undisputed 'verismo'.
Cambridge Opera Handbook, Carner defined Tosca as 'the opera prophetic
(p. 9).
of the modern music-theatre'
the innovatory
Musical
realism
suitable
representative:
not with
a bang like
as 'low-life'
in these
La Boheme (1896).
Tosca,
discussing
seen in Puccini's
ers of doubtful
Mimi dies
La Boheme, which
virtue
brings
on to the stage'
with
a whimper,
the recurrence
Carner mentions
in veristic
operas,
'Pre-veristic
opera already shows this
characters
terms:
but
opera as a quieter
as 'pre-
the opera qualifies
and apparently
In the Tosca Handbook,
veristic'.
Puccini
has an earlier
of artists
La Boheme
best
tendency,
poor artists
with
(p. 9).
Classifying
lov-
their
as 'pre-
veristic'
an opera completed in 1895 seems to dispose of the notion of
1890 as the Anno Domini for 'operatic
unless it is targeted
verismo',
on Puccini's
own progress towards the 'verismo'
of Tosca, which is just
La Boheme does not lead to Tosca but to the 'roman
Louise (1900) by Gustave Charpentier,
bein which the milieu
musical'
than the individual
comes more important
characters
and the big city
as questionable.
(Paris)
noises.
is
18
a real
musical
presence
with
all
its
variegated
voices
and
The affinity
with opera comique for its blend of pathos and humour and the sugar-laden sentimentalism make La Boheme a late-romantic
opera with some of the youthful irreverence and exuberance of the Milanese 'Scapigliatura'
which Puccini,
Illica
and Giacosa had personalThe connection between the
ly experienced in their earlier years.
French 'bohemiens' and the Milanese 'scapigliati'
by Felice Cameroni in his preface to the Italian
had been stressed
translation
of Mur-
ger's Scenes de la vie de Bohemepublished by Sonzogno with the title
La Boheme: scene della scapigliatura
parigina (Milano, 1872). La Bolibretin
the
heme is not, strictly
speaking, a veristic
opera either
to or in its
certain
social
musical treatment.
(chilly
winter
ambience
background (poor artists
Yet, the careful
in a big city),
and room-mates),
18
illustration
the delineation
the low profile
of a
of a
of
and the avoidance
the characters
tic
display
able
rative
they
of the romantic
'operatic
broke the continuity
in traditional
(relationship
daily
routine,
of the dramatic
The reduction
operas.
Mimi/Rodolfo
the poetry
the conversation
style,
true
and his
each of the four
within
role'
no less
and violent
Puccini
verismo'.
dimension
'melodramma'
feelings
of passionate
'big
likely,
the bohemian life
to-
point
of the fashion-
gestures
introduced
build-up
of the plot
a nar-
and, in so doing,
tableaux,
which was still
to one basic
used
situation
+ poor health
of small
of Mimi), the lyricism
of the
(e. g., Mimi's pink bonnet),
things
the opera a realistic
to life,
the bohemian life
and girls
all
than from the empha-
librettists
give
artists
logic,
La Boheme moves away from the heroism
conception.
wards a new operatic
and idealism
of the
in Milan
make those
character,
in Paris,
or,
more
or Turin.
In conclusion,
the advent of realism in the musical theatre is
best understood as the development of new musico-dramatic structures
and a new vocal style which marked a radical departure from the styliItalian
zation of nineteenth-century
derived from contemporary literature,
The choice of subjects
possibly dealing with low-life
opera.
does not in itself
stories,
make one opera more realistic
Nor can an opera be identified
because it
as 'veristic'
Too often assumed as typifying
cess and sensationalism.
than another.
exhibits
ex-
verismo,
such
do, in fact, belong to a minor genre which originated
characteristics
from Mascagni's prototype and can conventionally
be defined as 'operatic verismo'.
This genre had little
bearing on the evolution of late
nineteenth-century
Italian
opera and slowly petered out in the early
Leoncavallo's
years of our century.
Pagliacci is the only survivor
of the numerous offspring
of Cavalleria.
The influence of literary
verismo - exercised through'theatriin the pithiness of
cal more than narrative works - manifested itself
dialogue, the more realistic
language often enriched by vernacular
interpolations,
simple and fast-moving stage actions,
background in dramatic characterization,
a new relevance
emphasis on the
of the social
importance of acting skills
along with good singing in performance.
The term 'verismo' may well be used with reference to the new
School - for operas based on realistic
style of the Young Italian
subjects
or simply exhibiting
vided no undue connection
that name.
realistic
is implied
19
musico-dramatic
with the literary
features
- pro-
movement of
2.
and its
subjects
unequalled
a strong
with
and folkloric
customs
South,
Sicily
life
of Italy's
peculiarities
and Sardinia
inherent
ness and sensationalism,
irreversible
trend
those
with
popularity
19
in Germany.
particularly
in the veristic
plebeian
a tremendous
enjoyed
of meretricious
gatherings
in village
became an
theatre,
but also
jealousy
rural
picturesque-
in Italy
were quickly
squares,
into
This
source with
ingredients:
the
by mediocre comregions
melodramas.
not only
In the absence of a literary
the libretti
of Verga's Cavalleria,
ful
poorer
- were eagerly exploited
The tendency to lapse
and shrewd versifiers.
posers
sorts
Many operas were
and are today more a subject for
The
than for musical analysis.
studies
and statistical
veristic
characterization.
regional
composed which had an ephemeral
sociological
for
a fashion
started
success
Cavalleria
caused by Mascagni's
1890s the sensation
In the early
Rusticana
Rusticana
of Mascagni's Cavalleria
The offspring
the artistic
minor
genre
abroad,
qualities
assembled with
and contrasted
surroundings
love,
all
joy-
or urban derelict
Violent
death was an obareas, superstitions,
curses and swear-words.
ligatory
device to round off a story with an effective
coup de theatre.
Knives were by far the most popular weapon, but there was also the ocSilvano).
Some librettists
casional
to sophgun (Mascagni's
resorted
isticated
forms of suicide
such as asphyxia from coal fumes (Samara's
La martire)
or from the smoke of a hay-barn
set
on fire
(Floridia's
Maruzza).
From a sociological
point
of view, these operas were nothing more
than consumer products for middle-class
audiences whose conservatism
was clearly mirrored in the portrayal of peasants and workers indulging in individualistic
vendettas but quite harmless in social and political
terms.
A tribal
sensitivity
and no class-consciousness
made up
the most exciting operatic peasant. Regional costumes, idioms and
1890s
In
the
the
the
enhanced
picture.
witreal
world,
words
slang
in
heavy-handed
mainly
social
and
repression,
unrest
nessed growing
SoIn 1892 the Italian
the 'Mezzogiorno' but also in Northern Italy.
1894
'Sici1892
the
founded
in
Genoa.
Between
Party
and
was
cialist
lian
Fasci'
developed into
an organized working-class
movement which
heavy
hundreds
sentences.
and
of
arrests
with
repressed
ruthlessly
was
In Milan, in May 1898, popular protest for the high price of bread was
20
by troops
crushed
hint
ches de vie'
operas
of those years
romantic
geance.
The different
together
with
a veneer
of modernity.
themes of passionate
guise
love,
in fact,
betrayal
variand ven-
of the new 'heroes',
ingredients,
have invented
musicologists
The 'tran-
classes.
were,
and
is never the
there
language
and the hybrid
and folkloric
environmental
Some Italian
in the lower
in the libretti,
as pretexts
adopted
on the old
ations
hundreds
discontent
at social
of demonstrators
and killing
In the veristic
passers-by.
slightest
shooting
gave these
humorous definitions
operas
for
look-alikes:
the 'aesthetics
such a noisy pack of Cavalleria
of the
(Rubens Tedeschi);
knife'
'the melodrama of depressed areas' (Rodolfo
20
Celletti).
One could chart the problem areas of post-Risorgimento
Italy
by simply grouping these operas according
to their
setregional
tings.
The list,
far from being exhaustive,
to the decade
and limited
1890-1900,
would read as follows:
SICILY:
Frontini,
(1894);
Bimboni,
Un mafioso
NAPLES:
Floridia,
Santuzza
(1895);
Maruzza
Mineo,
(1896).
CALABRIA: Leoncavallo,
PUGLIA:
(1893);
Malia
Pagliacci
(1892).
Mascagni, Silvano. (1895).
Giordano, Mala Vita (1892);
Tasca, A Santa Lucia
(1892); Spinelli,
A Basso Porto (1894); Sebastiani,
A San Francisco (1896).
ABRUZZO: De Nardis,
TUSCANY: Luporini,
Stella
(1899).
La collana
di Pasqua (1896),
dealing
with coal-miners.
SARDINIA: Cellini,
Vendetta sarda (1895).
A few more operas might be added dealing
with particular
themes rather
than exhibiting
a specific regional characterization:
(1892), set in the bush around FrosinoCilea's
Tilda
Francesco
(halfway between Rome and Naples) and dealing
ne in Ciociaria
with brigands and French troops at the end of the eighteenth
century but with a clear reference to a contemporary problem.
In the aftermath of the Risorgimento, the new Italian
state
had to cope with widespread brigandage in the South. The
problem was tackled with heavy-handed repression by the army.
21
Carmen:
in
has
with
common
something
of the opera
The plot
hide-out
to the one of the smugglers'
is
a sensuous
na di
strada')
in the mountains;
Tilda
gipsy.
(1896;
Stellina
trice'
(an ironer),
environment.
of the score.
room where Stellina,
receives
operaio',
and surrenders
Gastaldon
was also
to his
which marked a false
(see Ch. 2).
free
a in
The setting
renewed passionate
Rusticana,
start
'L'azione
Luigi,
the composer of the very
Cavalleria
with
is
'stira-
a twenty-year-old
her boyfriend
1905
until
not performed
in one act dealing
lirica'
in an urban working-class
Italia'
is the vague indication
little
of
Bizet's
love
a tidy
e canteri-
and has a couple
who dances two Saltarelli
Gastaldon's
Stanislao
in Florence),
a 'novella
on Verga's
similar
('saltatrice
streetsinger
and wilful
songs like
popular
in the wood is
headquarters
the scene of the brigands'
'giovane
a
advances.
first
opera based
namely Mala Pasqua! (1890),
in the history
of operatic
verismo
(1895),
Smareglia's
Antonio
in
Istriane
Nozze
the
set
village
of Dignano in Istria,
a problem area because of its position
at ethnic
1Y
and political
crossroads
between Yugoslavia
and Ita-
As for
the music of these operas, popular songs accompanied by
guitars and mandolines, tarantelle
and saltarelli
or other local dances,
drinking songs, litanies
hymns, were inserted on the slighand religious
The vocal style and the musico-dramatic structures had
test pretext.
three major references: the scrap-yard of the dismantled romantic melodrama, the contemporary 'verisit^'
School and
style of the Young Italian
The third stylistic
the drawing-room song style.
reference, the 'romanItaly and
was a popular genre in late nineteenth-century
za da salotto',
had its
such as Francesco Paolo Tosti (1846-1916), but
by operatic composers. Sentimentalism and langit was also cultivated
uor, a mild sensualism and a melancholy pose borrowed from contemporary
decadentism, characterized the texts which were set to plaintive
melodies
own specialists
The
the pleasure of dreamy young ladies and their patient suitors.
has a good
second most famous veristic
opera, Leoncavallo's Pagliacci,
hybrids.
The composer-librettist
gave the unexample of such stylistic
for
Silvio,
in the love duet with Nedda (I, 3), a piece in
couth villager
the style of a 'romanza' both for the words and the music. Over 'mur-
muring'
semiquavers,
voluttuosamente',
him only to leave him with
mezza voce,
ed'
ardent
Ex. 1-
melody 'sempre a
a graceful
has 'bewitchthat the girl
complaining
the baritone
sings
memories of
(Ex.
1):
spasms of voluptuousness'
Leoncavallo,
I,
Pagliacci,
)
Andante appassionato. (i.:
s+.
to
trying
(lovingly,
and
'warm kisses'
given
'amid
3
semfýss a mezzo voce, voluluosamenle
move her)
ý
8
hast
Why
E al
lor
-
Andante appassionato. (:.. a+)
p"
e lrgrile'ssiýno semýse
.
thoutaught
ýet chä,
me_
di,'..::
"
's 1
ýý
h
---=
ýýý
S
loves
I'm
do Ii
if,
ma_gie stor
w'Aui slre. ga
=i
i
la
to
_
-1
$e
leave
thou wilt
la : sciga
auoi
_
02
-
C79-P Zo
is no exception as regards the mixture of compositionoperas.
registers,
commonto most veristic
al styles and linguistic
Echoes from contemporary literature
can be found in many of them. At
the very end of Pagliacci Leoncavallo thought it appropriate to show
Pagliacci
Sicilian
by
borrowing
Verga's
his
typical
most
cultural
awareness
off
'Santo diavolone! ', to give an unmistakably veristic
mark to
oath,
23
me
Mai
Silvio's
steps
last
to defend
forward
he exclaims:
erary
noticeable
Decadent
After
an affair
man.
The 'dishonoured'
fire
with
to the hay-barn
his
beloved
diavolo!
'Santo
echo is
Floridia).
As the Calabrian
line.
Fa davvero...
ingredients
a peasant
peasant
killing
lures
herself
His words might
into
a veristic
marries
lit-
a rich
story.
wo-
the man to her house and sets
Before the catastrowith him.
how her memory haunts
in D'Annunzio's
remarkable
words and music by Pietro
a landowner
girl,
love
Giorgio
Another
are inserted
the girl
bid fantasies
'
in Maruzza (1894,
phe, the man tells
to his wife.
peasant draws his knife and
Nedda from the enraged Canio,
well
express
him when he makes
Andrea Sperelli's
mor-
I1 piacere:
E' strano! Mi perseguita
al suo fianco 1'imagine
di te... Non solo! Ascoltami!
(molto sommesso, come sognando)
Al mio seno stringendola
ho tentato,
illudendomi,
pensar te stessa stringere...
Ed ho chiuso le palpebre,
mentre il labbro a reprimere
il tuo nome sforzavasi!
Apart from Leoncavallo's
Pagliacci,
which has survived,
and Gior-
dano's Mala Vita,
wnich might be worth reviving,
most other veristic
operas were written by obscure musicians who, in their own time, made
a good career as conductors in opera houses in Italy and abroad (PieOreste Bimboni) or as song writers (Stanislao Gastaldon,
tro Floridia,
Francesco Paolo Frontini).
An illustrious
name should be added to the
list as in the 1890s the veristic
trend in the musical theatre won ocJules Massenet with La Navarcasional proselytes also outside Italy:
(1894;
libretto
by Jules Claretie and Henri Cain).
raise
The inspiring
in two acts was the
muse of the 'Episode lyrique'
soprano EmmaCalve, the great veristic
singer mentioned above (par. 1),
She
who could join vocal resources with unusually good acting skills.
Suzel in Mascagni's L'Amico Fritz (1891) and sang Sanwas the first
tuzza in the premiere of Cavalleria Rusticana at the Opera-Comique on
19 January 1892. The libretto
of La Navarraise was derived from a
La Cigarette,
story by Jules Claretie,
set in Spain during the Carlist war of 1874. In order to create a main role for Miss Calve, the
24
kilBasque
instead
the
peasant
of
a
story was reversed:
of
situation
to get a reward and marry his girlling the leader of the Carlists
Navarraise'),
friend,
the opera has a peasant woman, Anita ('la
who
the enemy lines
steals
through
caraga
in order
to let
Araquil
she finds
goes mad.
Two irreconcilable
lyricism
only
The short
cognac and bubbling
vintage
much like
any Mascagnian
gun-fire
(Ex. 2):
underlines
Ex. 2-
big
;
bit
plaintive
l*
- could
of
cocktail
is
difference
at the beginning
statement
----
an unpleasant
The only
tune.
the first
is
and she
The loud motto-theme
lambrusco.
Massenet, La Navarraise,
a.......................?i
opera
of the
He dies
Massenet's
calligraphic,
'verismo'
rough-hewn, full-blooded
a hybrid.
demands
the money,
with
styles
and Mascagni's
produce
returns
wounded by the Carlists.
mortally
The amount
a young sergeant
But when Anita
in Biscay.
stationed
regiment
son Araquil,
his
Zuc-
captain
of the dowry Remigio
the same as that
her marry
their
'douros'.
of two thousand
to get a reward
happens to be exactly
from Anita
and kills
at night
is
very
heavy
that
of the opera
I
--.....
---------------------------------+'
--
do.
-i
ji
---...
:ý
"ý
ý
fff
bo-
P.d. 'a
Pwl.
f
Ae-7-ý
a;
ý
g --------------------------=ý'
a
I
In the lyrical
passages, the Basque peasant woman sings in the
idiom of Manon. The most remarkable piece is the love duet Anita/Araquil in Act I, of which Ex. 3A reproduces the opening motive and Ex.
3B a lovely
phrase of Anita's:
25
Ex. 3A - Massenet, La Navarraise,
I
Allegro.
AH.11)1:1L.
J
A
(avou dial. ur wt brandu rapru.o-iou)
92_J
q'.'-
J."
Allegro.
llCll.
aJl*
lUl,
IlU'71
FI'JU1PC J. tllllý
FZ-=
ý_
A
"
"i
A!%
/ýu.
-.
rýýý
.-
" pulpiluill
--
L.
f, 0--4, ýs
-lr
cl bicit r/auik:
--
c
-W
ýýr
_.ý
f
". "
-'
I?
- --
ffr*
Ex. 3B - Massenet,
La Navarraise,
ANITA.
(U'iý erre*Mnl)
p_
Love
unu lcndre%*a iufini. ý)
A.
liultu
Va. quill
,1.
piu leutu.
luis. ru -
wui
lua
3tlull
Jý
r_ Ný
I
U)
t
ti_
I.
1"
I
ill
Io,
Pcr. tucr
hUUli
ula
Id
..
I
ý
t,
26
Iru,
Coll-
%eu\
was first
performed at Covent Garden on 20 June
1894 with EmmaCalve in the title
G.B. Shaw wrote a humorous
role.
review of the successful performance describing the impressive noise
La Navarraise
of the opening 'symphonie descriptive'
as follows:
The inhabitants
of Covent Garden and the neighbourhood
by a most tremendous cannonade.
It was
were startled
As one who has relievthe beginning
of La Navarraise;...
by the amuseed the serious work of musical criticism
I can testify
to the great
ment of dramatic authorship,
difficulty
of getting
artillery
and musketry fire
of
really
good tone for stage purposes; and I can compliment Sir Augustus Harris unreservedly
on the thundering
amplitude of sound an5lvigorous
attack of his almost
smokeless explosives.
Shaw then praised
who cleverly
the expressive and dramatic acting of EmmaCalve
exploited the situations
of the role tailor-made for her,
and concluded:
As to the work itself,
there is hardly anything to be
said in face of the frankness with which Massenet has
He has not composed an omodelled it on Cavalleria.
pera: he has made up a prescription.
In October 1895 La Navarraise made its French debut at the Theatre de l'Opera-Comique and was reviewed by Camille Bellaigue in the
Revue des Deux Mondes (15 October 1895). Like Shaw, the French critic
pointed out that, though it was the work of a 'maitre',
the opera could
only be ranked among the poor imitations
the work of an
of Cavalleria,
'ouvrier',
but with stylistic
consistency and genuine artistic
vitality:
A peine ebauchee, et par la main d'un ouvrier,
non d'un
maitre; oeuvre d'instinct
plutot,
qu'oeuvre d'art,
eile
etait du peuple, mais eile etait vivante.
Qu'elle semble pale, la Navarraise, aupres de sa soeur de Sicile!
Yet, French chauvinistic
critics
would not admit Massenet's failRaymond Bouyer, writing on "Pie-
ure in tackling an uncongenial genre.
Musicale" in the Revue Politigue
tro Mascagni et la Jeune Italie
et Lit(28 January 1905), commented on reciprocal
influences and quoteraire
ted La Navarraise and Sapho (also composed by Massenet for EmmaCalve):
Par un tre's curieux
choc de retour,
27
la violence
de Mascagni
n'a pas laissd que de sdduire la souplesse de Massenet:
la Sapho du maitre frangais pourrait t4moigner; et sa
Navarraise... aparaissait
commeune Cavalleria espanöla,
volontairement decoupee sur le patron mascagniste, mais
ä
1'original!
superieure
combien musicalement
A survey
of the
of Cavalleria
imitations
later
Rusticana
would
At the end of the line,
not add much to what has already been said.
melodrama
and at the lowest level of the genre, we find a distasteful
I
kitsch
in
the
theatre:
the
musical
of
quintessence
which represents
(1911)
libretto
by Carby Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari;
della
Madonna
gioielli
It was the last of a series of
lo Zangarini
and Enrico Golisciani.
'postcard
operas'
and extremely
ta Lucia
all
exploiting
successful
the trite
Its
in Germany.
and A Basso Porto
commonplaces about Naples
direct
in Chapter
discussed
precedents were A San4.
I gioielli
della
performed in German at the Kurfürstenoper
of Berlin
In a few months it was presented to enthusiastic
on 23 December 1911.
Opera,
audiences in Chicago (16 January 1912), New York (Metropolitan
Madonna was first
5 March 1912, with Toscanini conducting the orchestra and Wolf-Ferrari
as guest of honour), and in London (Covent Garden, 30 May 1912).
The picturesqueness and sensationalism of the genre were pushed
to their extreme limits by the inclusion of all possible ingredients
the morbid curiosity
which might titillate
of an audience: spaghettieaters, 'morra' players, ragged urchins
Piedigrotta
instruments ('zerre-zerre',
playing trumpets and other
'triccabalacche'),
street'e giardino! '), a religious
proces-
('A pizza caudal',
'Sciure
fireworks and folkloric
sion accompanied by ritualistic
(a
sort of clown shouting and miming witty
zariello'
cries
music, a 'Pazadvertisements
of local
rists
shops and products) with his scratch band, a gang of camor('guaglione
della mala vita'),
and their extrovert
girlfriends
assorted songs and dances.
A ludicrous and feeble
from that
story unfolds with difficulty
The blacksmith Gennaro loves Maliella;
load of garish trappings.
she
The camorra boss Rafaele fancies
does not reciprocate his feelings.
the girl and Maliella falls for him. The camorrist boasts that he
would even steal the jewels from the statue of the Madonna to please
her. The desperate Gennaro actually does so; the moment Maliella
wears the shiny junk she is seized by an erotic frenzy and the two
make love on the spot.
Loud bells
announce the sacrilegious
28
theft.
fear they may be accused and abandon their
hide-out.
The camorrists
in despair,
in the sea and the wretMaliella,
rushes to drown herself
by shame and remorse,
ched Gennaro,
overwhelmed
of a painting
of the Madonna.
The most disturbing
light-hearted
also
dealing
camorrists
with
as a bunch of despicable
presented
just
Madonna,
violence
ness and a sinister
and intimidation
charm which
induces
to the camorrist's
knife
in front
himself
is the sympathetic,
and their
'values'.
In
and women, the gang is
thugs.
In I gioielli
are accompanied
There is no shade of irony
cence.
in the opera
of the camorrists
presentation
A Basso Porto,
cated
ingredient
stabs
indulgence
by self-righteousand almost
or humour in the coarse
by one of the girls
della
of
acquies-
song dedi-
'mala
vita'
in
Act III:
Concetta
del camorrista,
Viva it coltel
e di conquista,
segnal d'assalto
e del valore the insegna e impone
colla ragione!
Chi pub sperar
con not lottar?
in coro
Strilliamo
la forza a it sole del mondo inter!
Tutti al macel i cor d'agnel!
Noi sempre siam the in cima andiam!
The camorrists'
in Act I, consists
strength, Rafaele states explicitly
in being above the law: 'Sal la
osiamo tutto se not vogliamo!
mia forza?
La legge non citocca! ' At the
end of the opera, a chorus of camorrists
comments on the outrageous theft of the jewels:
Sacrilegio!
Noi siamo gente onorata!
Noi la bella Madonna rispettiamo!
Viva sempre Maria!
(Rafaele e camorristi
si sberrettano
superstiziosamente
devoti)
Their sense of outrage is easily shared by a superstitious
and bigotin
the isolation
results
which
of the blasphemous, workaudience,
ed
ing-class Gennaro as the only villain
His suicide is a
of the story.
necessary atonement.
The opera contains
more noise than music, and the sheer number
dwarfs
the
few
lyrical
ingredients
'veristic'
episodes in each of
of
The London premiere of I gioielli
della Madonna rethe three acts.
(31
Times
The
May
1912)
in
long
review
expressing appreciaceived a
29
tion
tion,
for
the performance:
and it
was well
comments on the plot
'On the whole it
cheered
by the large
and music could
was an admirable
audience'.
produc-
The specific
but expose the basic
flimsi-
ness of the opera:
It stakes everything on the capacity to make it all seem
true, from the festival
antics of the Neapolitan crowd
to the contrasted characters of the chief personages. So
during large parts of the first
act the music is literally crowded out in order to make real the shouts of the
people, the whistles and drums and bands playing in different keys... When at last we do get to the music which
belongs to the essentials of the drama and not to its
trimmings, it is disappointing.
I gioielli
della Madonna was recently revived at the Wexford
Festival (October 1981). For Elizabeth Forbes who reviewed it in
Opera (January 1982), this squalid farce exhibits the 'verismo' pioneered by Mascagni in Cavalleria
gredients...
of sex and religion
based on the 'staple inin proportions of about three to one. '
Rusticana,
30
Chapter 2
THE VERISMO OF CAVALLERIA RUSTICANA
1.
From Verga's "Scene popolari"
to Mascagni's
opera
Giovanni Verga's "Scene popolari in un atto" Cavalleria Rusticana (1884) marked a turning point in the theatre of post-Unity Italy
for the originality
of the subject-matter
and the innovatory dramatic
of the work. With Verga's Sicilian
peasants, an entirely
time
new world with its ethics and customs was displayed for the first
on the stage. The village square replaced the bourgeois drawing-room
conception
A well-defined
of the comedies of P. Ferrari and A. Torelli.
social
background for the behaviour of the
context provided the ideological
the final resort to violence.
characters and justified
Apart from the environment and the characters,
the novelty of
the play was in the technique of close-knit
dialogues and clear-cut
scenes strung together by a tense rhythm leading quickly and effecNo less importance had the language, detively to the catastrophe.
vised as a means of self-characterization
and instant localization
of
and social behaviour.
moral attitudes
The work was the dramatization
of a short story from the collection Vita dei Campi (1880), based on discarded material from an early
1
draft of Verga's novel I Malavoglia (1881).
In rewriting
Cavalleria
for the stage, the novelist kept most of the original
features of the
story, but he eliminated the economic motivations for the behaviour
of Turiddu and Lola,
and expanded the role of Santa, making her the
'dishonoured'
and jealous girl desperately in love with an unscrupulous
young man. Verga also upgraded Turiddu's mother, Nunzia, turning her
into the owner of a tavern.
In the short story, while Turiddu is away
in the army, his mother has to sell their mule and a little
vineyard, with the result that they are very poor. Lola, formerly engaged to Turiddu, marries Alfio who owns four mules, has a good job
serving
dresses for her. Turiddu enand can buy golden rings and beautiful
vies Alfio's
wealth and tries his luck courting Santa whose father is
house. However, the girl is
a. rich man and lives opposite Alfio's
soon forgotten when Lola, hurt in her pride, opens her door to her
31
former
fiance.
body else's
In the end Turiddu is punished for trespassing
on some(Alfio's
woman) and his last thought is for his
property
He is
poor old mother.
a loser
in economic
Verghian
characters;
the handful
into
eyes before
striking
his
Alfio
of dust
the fatal
like
terms,
many other
treacherously
blow is just
throws
as much as Turiddu
is worth.
By developing
his
story,
Sicilian,
exotic
Verga intended
bourgeois
impact
it
of a betrayed
although
chances of success.
to a non-
more acceptable
husband.
of
his
with
friend
Even so,
In a letter
and sceptical
who trig-
about
French
pecuits
Giuseppe Gia-
and unfailing
to his
in an
the structural
and playwright
enthusiasm
set
a seduced girl
of his work made Verga apprehensive
on the public,
the economic theme of
became a case of adultery,
the complication
cosa welcomed the experiment
in its
than
rather
to make the play
audience:
with
environment,
gers the revenge
liarities
the sentimental
confidence
translator
Edouard Rod, written from Turin a few days before Cavalleria
his faith
formed, Verga voiced his anxiety while reaffirming
was perin his
art:
di commedia, chiamiamola
La mia commedia (tentativo
fa
in
e
che
a pugni
arrischiatissimo
un
genere
meglio,
inosservata
del
passer!
attuale
pubblico)
gusto
col
le
in
Italia,
spalle come a
ei
alzeranno
piü
anche
di
E'
pubblicare
che
prima
sbagliata.
vero
un'idea
le novelle di Vita dei Campi nello stesso genere e di
sperimentare la prima volta lo stesso metodo artistico
io ebbi le stesse esitain un altro campo letterario
il
le
successo
che
poi
apprensioni
medesime
e
zioni
smenti; .... Basta, vedremo quel che sarl, sar! una
il
5i
soltanto
affermare
a
me
preme
certo;
caduta
genere.
Arrigo Boito, one of Verga's closest friends in Milan, and
had expressed their scepticism after a
Emilio Treves, his publisher,
his
had
Cesare
by
to
test
the
play;
so
author
arranged
session
reading
Rossi, the actor-manager of the company Giacosa had contacted in order
Fortunately,
Eleonora Duse, a
to have the play performed in Turin.
shared Giacosa's
member of the company and the best actress in Italy,
in convincing Rossi to stage the play.
enthusiasm and was instrumental
However, Rossi would not risk the expenses for costumes and setting,
which were met by Verga, and would only act in the minor role of Zio
Brasi, leaving Turiddu to be played by Flavio Andb coupled with Eleo-
32
nora Duse's Santuzza.
In an article
in the Gazzetta Piemontese,
the day before
written
14 January 1884), Giacosa stressed the
the premiere (Teatro Carignano,
importance
of the event
was to expect
fare
It
di piü,
ma, forse,
of Emile
Sicilian
Treves
against
nel
fare
all
Cavalleria
del
Verga non consiste
nel fare
and together
Verga received
abreast
the public
of novelty
di meno, certo
the odds,
and Cesare Rossi,
Zola who was keeping
'confrere'.
From Turin,
the kind
'La novitä
from the play:
was a success
of Boito,
and explained
of the
Rusticana started
diversamente.
'
the apologies
the congratulations
latest
its
with
nel
venture
of his
successful tour of
to the new 'genere'
the major Italian
cities winning over proselytes
in the country: not only, as could be
Verga was so keen to establish
expected, did Capuana, De Roberto, Di Giacomo follow in Verga's foot-
steps, but Giacosa himself, Northern and bourgeois as he was, somewhat departed from his usual style and, with L'Onorevole Ercole Mallardi (1884), Tristi
Amori (1887) and other plays, experimented with
his own brand of verismo tinged with sentimentalism which would characterize his contributions
(1896).
to some libretti
for
Puccini,
e. g. La Boheme
less than a month
A special recruit was to be made by Cavalleria
appeared in Milan, at the Teatro
after the Turin premiere when it first
Manzoni, on 11 February 1884: a 21-year-old,
obscure musician, Pietro
Mascagni. But neither at that time nor five years later - when the
composer started his work on the libretto
the structural
and linguistic
peculiarities
choice of Cavalleria was not even entirely
he
fully
could
appreciate
The actual
of the play.
his own. In July 1888,
Il
the publisher Edoardo Sonzogno advertised in his own periodicals
Teatro Illustrato
and La Musica Popolare his second Competition for a
composer aged not more than
one-act opera to be written by an Italian
1889.
May
After a series of adventurous
be
by
to
submitted
and
tours as the conductor of an operetta company, Mascagni had ended up
in Cerignola, a small agricultural
town in Puglia, where he was liv-
thirty
ing in hopeless misery, giving music lessons and entertaining
the loHis youthful dreams of success and glory were concencal opera fans.
trated on the composition of a four-act romantic melodrama, Guglielmo
Ratcliff,
Maffei.
a tragedy by Heinrich Heine translated
and adapted by Andrea
It was a project he would never be able to realize unless he
33
first
made a name for himself with something more
of all, until he got himself out of Cerignola and
3
So, having decided to run for the top
of opera.
Competition, his first
problem was to get hold of
feasible and, most
back into the world
prize of the Sonzogno
a suitable libretto,
possibly free of charge. There was only one person, Mascagni reckoned,
he could turn to for help: his Livornese friend Giovanni TargioniTozzetti,
to whom he suggested the adaptation of a short story by the
Calabrian
writer
Nicola Misasi.
Targioni-Tozzetti
started
working on
that but, shortly afterwards, he went to see a performance of Verga's
Cavalleria and immediately relayed his enthusiasm to his friend in
Cerignola.
On 14 December 1888, Mascagni wrote back:
Era inutile
the mi scrivessi,
essendomi rimesso completaFa quello the vuoi...
La Cavalleria Rustimente in te.
cana era giä nei miei progetti da quando si esegui per la
4
Milano...
prima volta a
In the five
following
months, Mascagni composed and orchestrated
exchange of letters
and postcards took
his opera while a feverish
place between Livorno and Cerignola: down came bits of the libretto
and up went Mascagni's objections and
produced by Targioni-Tozzetti
It all worked out
delirious
outbursts of gratitude
and optimism.
very well
in the end.
passioned,
emotional
However, the composer's enthusiasm, his imadherence to Verga's story, did not entirely
of a longsupersede a sense of expediency, of painful renunciation
harsh
Such
in
face
the
the
necessities of life.
of
project
cherished
is the mood of a long and curiously apologetic letter Mascagni wrote
Gianfranceto his closest friend in Livorno, Vittorio
on 7 March 1889, when he was about to finish his opera. Cavalis only a drowning man's straw; his heart is still
with Ratcliff:
from Cerignola
schi,
leria
Io poi abbandonai malauguratamente Milano e... continuai
ad immaginare il mio Guglielmo; ... Il mio Ratcliff
era
per me una necessitä, una fede!... Forse la fiamma della
mia fede si e spenta?!... No! Ma adesso abbandono 1'idea
del Ratcliff
Cos'e
Togliermi
di
che
urge
adesso?
....
qua! Potrö ottenere la mia resurrezione con Guglielmo?
No! Dunque?... 1'idea di tentare un nuovo lavoro, a poco
a poco si radicö in me; ma attendevo sempre un'occasione
Oggi quest'occasione c'e: il concorso Sonzogno
propizia.
Hai fede nei concorsi?
Io inper un'opera in un atto.
tanto lavoro alla mia Cavalleria,...
sono un naufrago e
E se riuscissi
credo che ogni molecola sia una tagola.
Ah! il mio Ratcliff!
vincitore?
34
Clearly,
motivations or innovatory aspirations
were
to set Cavalleria.
The play stirred
his
no aesthetic
behind Mascagni's decision
imagination,
suited his purpose and was also recommended by his libAs to Giovanni Targioni-Tozzetti,
he had no previous experettist.
rience as a librettist,
and, with Mascagni pressing unrelentingly
from Cerignola, he decided he needed help; so a third young Livornese with literary
their collaboration
joined
ambitions
in:
Guido Menasci.
On the whole,
from a purely
produced a very good libretto,
operatic point of view; but a comparative analysis of the play and
the new text shows, beyond an apparent structural
similarity,
serious
distortions
of the sociological
and ethical characteristics
of the
story, and hybrid combinations of linguistic
registers
rowed from contemporary poetry or the melodramatic tradition.
bor-
original
Verga's
two choral
is organized
play
The action
scenes.
which do not modify
up tension
provide
the dynamic thrust:
Turiddu
(scenes
the antecedents
Two shorter
dialogues
in dramatic
psychological
(scene
Lola/Turiddu
the function
7).
the third
(scene
The first
and provoking
This purely
Alfio
dialogical
to challenge
his
but build
3),
exposes
the confrontation
shows the challenge.
(scene
Alfio/Santuzza
5) - have respectively
heightening
of
the confrontation
which mounts to Santuzza's
curse
te! ',
confrontations
positions
the second contains
her seducer;
encompassed by
Three main dialogues
(scene 1); Santuzza/
Nunzia/Santuzza
Turiddu/Alfio
with
of duets
in the catastrophe.
of the story;
of the seduced girl
consists
the characters'
to be released
2-4);
as a series
wife's
the tension
'Mala
of
Pasqua a
lover.
is put under pressure by an
external and objective circumstance over which the characters have
no control and must reckon with in timing their actions and working
out their response to what is being said: it is Easter day. That
structure
seems to be everybody's
main concern: it is time for Mass, for cleansing one's own conscience, it is time for rejoicing
and celebrating
In Scene 1, the longest in the play, Verga creates a vast,
together.
choral movement using all his minor characters (Zio Brasi, the stableman, Camilla, his wife, Zia Filomena, a neighbour, Pippuzza, a woman
in the dialogue between Nunzia and Santuzselling eggs) to interfere
towards the special significance
za and divert attention
of the day.
Alfio's
first
entry is also used to this purpose.
His arrival
wine from Nunzia for the Easter lunch.
35
He drops in to buy
prevents
Santuzza
from answering a crucial
past few hours:
Gnä Nunzia
Compar Alfio
Compar Alfio
seems to answer that
remark
So, when Santuzza
our curiosity.
misery
to Gnä Nunzia,
she says.
It
beginning,
we realize
movements in the
Dunque lo sai dov'e stato Turiddu?
(dalla prima stradicciuola
a destra,
con un fiasco in mano). Che ne avete
ancora di quello buono da sei soldi,
Gnä Nunzia?
Vado a vedere. Turiddu doveva portarne oggi da Francofonte.
e ancgra qui.
Vostro figlio
L'ho
visto stamattina...
Gnä Nunzia
Alfio's
about Turiddu's
question
question,
is
at last
we are eager to take
long
is the only
that
allowed
every
increases
to pour out her
single
speech of the play,
the protagonist
it
and yet
word of what
and, from the very
is no longer
the
'defeated'
young man of the short story but Santuzza, the seduced and abandoned
for
It was Giacosa who advised Verga to provide a 'gran parte'
girl.
The speech in
Eleonora Duse as a guarantee of success for the play.
desperate confession
1 and Santuzza's
(sc.
5) gave Duse good opportunities
exit
sc.
Mascagni
capitalized
GemmaBellincioni,
on the melodramatic
the first
the Duse of the musical
operatic
to Alfio
before
her final
to show her dramatic
potential
Santuzza,
of the role
was rightly
talent.
and
seen as
theatre.
The emotional climax of Scene 1 is immediately cooled down by
Gnä Nunzia: she does not want to be late for the 'funzioni
sacre' and
makes for the church, soon followed by Zio Brasi who has time to tease
Santuzza for her unusual reluctance to go to Mass. The loose texture
of the prinscene allows for the quick characterization
of the first
Alfio,
for example, in just a few
cipals as well as the minor roles.
lines, impresses us as the 'man of honour', the discreet and stern
believer
in an unwritten code of conduct which empowers a wronged
into his own hands with no need of intermediaries.
man to take justice
Characteristically,
in all
his language is elementary and straight
circumstances, except when his honour is challenged: then, he resorts
7
to the use of metaphors and innuendoes in a mafioso style.
Compare,
for example, his down-to-earth answer to Comare Camilla with the one
to Zia Filomena who insinuates that Alfio is far too often away from
home for
his young wife:
36
Comare Camilla
(a Compar Aifio)
E vostra moglie,
che vi vede soltanto
a Pasqua ea
Natale,
cosa dice?
Compar Alfio
Io non lo so cosa dice.
Questo e
il mio mestiere, comare Camilla. Il
mio mestiere e di fare il vetturale
e di andare sempre in viaggio di qua
e di lä.
Zia Filomena
Non e bello quello che avete detto,
compar Alfio;
che avete la moglie
giovane.
Compar Alfio
Mia moglie sa che la berretta
la
porto a modo mio; (battendo
sulla
tasca del petto)
e qui ci porto il
giudizio
per mia moglie,
e per gli
(Due carabinieri
in
altri
anche.
tenuta escono dalla caserma e si
allontanano
pel viale della chiesa)
I miei interessi
me li guardo io,
da me, senza bisogno di quelli
del
E in paese tutti
lo
pennacchio.
sanno, grazie a Dio!
The presence of the 'carabinieri',
in their
uniforms complete with
8
Alfio's
disparplume, acquires a special relevance in the context.
del pennacchio' is tacitly
aging reference to them as 'quelli
endorsed
by the other villagers
as they accept his omertä or manliness: Alfio's
(symbolized by the knife he carries in his breast pocket)
own justice
is set against the personification
of law and order established by the
Later on, in Sc. 7, after the formal ritual
state.
new Italian
of the
challenge with the kiss and the bite on the ear-lobe, Alfio speaks with
the authority of the man of honour when he says:
Forte avete fatto,
compare Turiddu...
parola di giovane d'onore.
Confronted with his natural judge,
fights for Santuzza's sake:
Sentite,
compar Alfio,
Questa si chiama
Turiddu pleads guilty
and then
come e vero Dio so che ho torto...
His killing
is accepted by the villagers
as the right punishment for
having infringed
the commonlaw which defends the family as the nucleus of society
and condemns adultery
37
as a threat
to its
integrity.
The mafioso component in the psychology of Alfio and Turiddu is explito Menotti Bianchi-Paola,
dated
citly mentioned by Verga in a letter
14 June 1886:
Compar Alfio
Rusticana
e Turiddu della mia Cavalleria
non sono mafiosi,
ma uomini che seguono le leggi della
mafia, quando 1'ira
e le passioni
parlano,
come l'omýrRiflesso
di costumi e non indole propria.
tä detta.
should be borne in mind that the word 'omertä' is not used in the
positive
modern derogatory sense of connivance but in its originally
meaning. Giuseppe Pitre, in his Usi e Costumi, Credenze e Pregiudizi
devotes a chapter to "La mafia e l'omertä",
del Popolo Siciliano,
and
It
the second term as 'omineitä,
qualitä di essere omu, cioe
10
As to
to be likened to the Latin virtus.
serio, sodo, forte',
Pitre writes:
'mafioso',
explains
I1 mafioso vuol essere rispettato
e rispetta
quasi
e
Se
offeso, non ricorre
alla Giustizia,
sempre.
non si rimette alla Legge; se lo facesse, daýýbbe
prova di debolezza, e offenderebbe 1'omertä.
derived from the play, we
As we turn to examine the libretto
Scene at
immediately realize the complete wreckage of Verga's first
the hands of Targioni and Menasci. The haunting sense of the relicoordinated movement of well indivand the skilfully
gious festivity
Of course, Mascagni does manage to
are lost.
villagers
suggest the festive atmosphere in musical terms, opening with resounding church bells and adding, later on, organ music and Latin songs.
But these devices tend to remain exterior
they do not
and decorative;
idualized
In fact, Gnä Nunzia's neighbours are
permeate the people on stage.
peasants
gone. Their place has been taken by a Chorus of blissful
who are made to sing an incongruous, anodyne 'canto the i palpiti
'mirti
in fior',
raddoppia al cor', embellished with 'augelli',
'spighe
From the crude dialect of
opre'.
the opening "Siciliana"
folkloric
is
token
sort
of
of
what
about
-a
to unravel on stage - we move back into the world of Arcadia, where
This expression was lifted
womenmay well be 'belle occhi-di-sole'.
from a poem by Severino Ferrari,
a follower of the Carduccian school.
In its original
the shining
context, the charming image qualifies
d'oro',
eyes of little
'spole',
girls
'rustiche
listening
to a fable
38
told
by their
grandmother:
La nonna fila e dice.
Suggon le sue parole
12
i bimbi coloriti,
le belle occhi-di-sole.
In a veristic
libretto,
were from the spirit
carter,
unpretentious
braves
in the
icy
winds,
and Menasci
The bogus peasants
dis-
of whip and jingles
the formerly
compar Alfio,
among cracks
local
hero,
into
metamorphosed
rain
Targioni
of the play.
later,
minutes
to usher
cart-bells,
shows how far
only
and style
to reappear,
perse
it
of
Escamillo,
a vociferous
who
and snow:
Soffi il vento gelido
cada 1'acqua o nevichi
a me che cosa fa?
and boasts about his wife's
faithfulness:
Waspetta a casa Lola
che m'ama e mi consola
ch'e tutta fedeltä.
Turiddu's
mother underlines
and high spirits
such a show of vitality
with her comment:
Beato'voi,
compar Alfio,
sempre allegro cosi!
ironic
The unwittingly
'Mamma Lucia'
wine from
though
no wine is traded
as he does with
in the opera.
a hero's
welcome before
be explained
by the operatic
be given
only
is Alfio's
remark
light
and a chorus
of witnesses
those
preposterous
lines
which does render
might
suit
well
banalized
'rude
Alfio's
by the trivial
the carter's
cue for
his
Gnä Nunzia
That the
convention
on the entry
rhythme'
segmented song.
which
response
0 the bel mestiere
fare it carrettiere
andar di qua e di 11.
39
alshould
can
demands a spot-
a drab,
Yet,
schematic
motive
of Compar Alfio.
Escamillo's
effect
of the elated
job:
in the play
of the baritone.
for
Its
to buy
transaction,
and sombre character
et bien
request
'carrettiere'
such an ordinary
prompt from Mascagni
the wilful
indication
Bizet's
the Biete
couplets
is unfortunately
peasants
praising
The lines stem from Alfio's
matter-of-fact
in the play, Sc. 1 (see above):
remark to Comare Camilla
I1 mio mestiere e di fare il vetturale
sempre in viaggio di qua e di 1ä.
e di andare
While the 'Alleluja'
departs after
giving
is heard from the church, the noisy intruder
to the women:
unwanted instructions
Io me ne vado, ite
voi altre
in chiesa.
13
So the character whose psychological,
dramatic and linguistic
identity
was integrally
preserved by Verga in working out the play from the
into an operatic cliche.
novella, is partly disfigured
Alfio's
last
linguistic
different
line
provides
registers:
a good example of the mixture
the colloquial
'me ne vado'
of
and the
'ite',
Linguistic
side by side.
clashes also occur in
(Scene
4), where the veristic
romanza
account of Turiddu's
is interspersed
with stilted
expressions
as in the line:
antiquated
Santuzza's
behaviour
Turiddu aveva a Lola eterna fe'
and more strikingly
giurato
in:
M'amö, 1'amai.
Quell'invida
d'ogni delizia
del suo sposo dimentica, arse di gelosia....
Me 1'ha rapito.
mia,
where Verga has:
lo seppe lei, quella mala femmina diventö
come
....
gelosa a morte; e si mise in testa di rubarmelo.
Mascagni's
librettists
'mala femmina',
would not accept the veristic
in 'Quell'invida',
that ena slut, and found a decorous alternative
vious woman; but then, they polished the expression for Santuzza's
line
in Scene 5:
Quella cattiva
femmina ti
tolse
a me.
Mascagni found everything fully satisfactory.
One of his postcards
from Cerignola (17 January 1889) informs Targioni very concisely:
40
Ho ricevuto
Impossibile
fare
ottimamente.
meglio.
Impossibile
indovinare
Romanmaggiormente mio gusto.
finale
Sorza sop. indovinatissima;
grande efficacia.
14
forte,
tita
Giä
carrettiere
originale.
musicata.
The four scenes the librettists
derived
from Verga's Scene 1
if examined with the logic of
and well constructed,
operatic conventions, as they are in contrast with the verismo of the
Apart from the additions and distortions,
the elimination
play.
of
are as effective
Verga's minor characters - with their proverbs, jokes and digressions
to the melodramatization
of the main roles and a stiffencontributes
ing of the action.
The rest of the libretto
ing eight scenes of the play:
is modelled very closely
OPERA
PLAY
Scene
+ Nunzia/
1
villagers
Santuzza
2
Santuzza/Turiddu
3
Santuzza/Turiddu
4
Santuzza/Turiddu
on the remain-
+ Lola
5 Alfio/Santuzza
Scene
1 Chorus of peasants
2 Lucia/Santuzza
3 Al fio&
Chorus
4 Lucia/Santuzza
5
Santuzza/Turiddu
6
Santuzza/Turiddu
7
Santuzza/Turiddu
8
Alfio/Santuzza
+ Lola
Intermezzo
9
6
villagers
7
same + Alfio/Turiddu
(Lola) Turiddu/Nunzia
8
9
catastrophe
(Lola)
Chorus + Turiddu's
drinking
song
10
same + Alfio/Turiddu
11 Turiddu's farewell to Lucia
12 catastrophe (Santuzza)
The dialogues,
apart from the obvious compression required by
the musical medium, are transposed almost literally;
yet, psychologican be found in the duets as well as in the solo
cal distortions
In Scene 8, the defiant 'carrettiere'
pieces.
received an extra
from the composer himself.
Less than two weeks before
the premiere of the opera in Rome, Mascagni wrote to his friend in
Livorno asking for a few more lines to round off the Alfio/Santuzza
brush-stroke
duet without too many repetitions
of words. Targioni sent two lines
for each part, which could be printed only in the second edition of
(August 1890). Alfio's
lines were:
the libretto
41
-
No, giusta siete stata io vi condono:
in odio tutto
1'amor mio fin!.
Mascagni did not like
the first
Io sangue voglio,
one and made up his own endecasillabo:
all'ira
m'abbandono
to be sung 'con forza' over the thumping, syncopated rhythm of the
Once more, the logic of the opera which demanded an effecorchestra.
before the melodious "Intermezzo",
tive 'finale'
clashed with the techplay where Alfio,
on being told of his wife's
outburst of anger and incredulity,
after the first
unfaithfulness,
is seized by a sudden calm, full of menace and cold-blooded determin-
nique of the veristic
ation:
Santuzza
Piangere non posso, compar Alfio;
e questi occhi non hanno pianto neppure quando hanno visto Turiddu Macca
Vonore,
che m'ha tolto
andare dalla
gnä Lola vostra moglie!
Compar Alfio
His last
line,
(tornando calmo tutto ad un tratto)
Quand'e cos9, va bene, e vi ringrazio,
comare.
before he goes home to fetch
his knife,
has a chilling
innuendo:
Ora, se vedete mia moglie che mi cerca, ditele che
il regalo pel suo compare
vado a casa a pigliare
Turiddu.
is the instrument of his. vendetta.
where the 'regalo'
A good example of thematic modification,
from the novella to
hybrid in the operatic adaptation,
is
the play, and of linguistic
confession to Alfio before the duel (Scene 7 in the play;
Scene 10 in the libretto).
In the original
short story, Turiddu's
Alfio,
to kill
though he admits his wrongmotivation for fighting
Turiddu's
doing,
is his concern for
his old mother:
Compar
Alfio,
Turiddu
dopo
cominciö
che ebbe
fatto un pezzo di strada accanto al suo compagno,
il quale stava zitto,
e col berretto sugli occhi, come e vero Iddio so che ho torto e mi lascierei
ammazzare. Ma prima di venir qui ho visto la mia
vecchia che si era alzata per vedermi partire,
col
pretesto di governare il pollaio,
quasi il cuore
42
le parlasse, e quant'e vero Iddio vi ammazzerö come
un cane per non far piangere la mia vecchierella.
Cosi va bene, - rispose compar Alfio,
spogliandosi
del farsetto
due.
tutt'e
picchieremo
sodo
-e
In the play, Turiddu's concern is for Santuzza, the girl
honoured' and feels obliged to protect:
he has 'dis-
Turiddu (chiamando in disparte compar Alfio)
Sentite,
compar Alfio,
come a vero Dio so the ho torto, e mi
lascierei
Ma ci ho
scannare da voi senza dir nulla.
un debito di coscienza con comare Santa, the Sono io
the l'ho fatta cadere net precipizio;
e quantle vero
Dio, vi ammazzerb come un cane, per non lasciare quella
poveretta in mezzo alla strada.
Compar Alfio - Va bene. Voi fate l'interesse
vostro.
Turiddu's
In the libretto,
lines
are compressed into
six endecasillabi:
Compar Alfio....
Lo so the it torto a mio,
e ve lo giuro nel nome di Dio
the al par d'un cane mi farei sgozzar,
ma, s'io non vivo, resta abbandonata...
povera Santa... lei the mi s'e data....
(con impeto)
Vi saprö in core it ferro mio piantar!
(freddamente)
Compare, fate come piü vi place,
io v'aspetto qui fuori dietro l'orto.
Turiddu
Alfio
The contrast between the loquacious young man and the cool, determined
terms but for Turidavenger is rendered in very much the same veristic
in with the rest:
does notfit
du's last line which, linguistically,
'core' and 'ferro'
are too overtly catchwords for the tenor's cadence.
Scene 10 is,
the only one, of the three reserved to Alfio
identity.
in the opera, where this character is restored to his original
In one case Mascagni showed a better understanding of verismo
Soon after the challenge with the kiss
than his Livornese friends.
and ear-biting,
at any rate,
Targioni
and Menasci had placed an old-fashioned
Turiddu, Lola and the chorus; then Alfio
en-
and
semble piece for Alfio,
Turiddu rushed away to have their rustic duel, and, on the announce15
ment of its outcome, the chorus knelt down invoking God's mercy.
Mascagni suggested, instead, that Verga's text should be respected.
So the absurd concertato was scrapped and, in Scene 12, the chorus
was given only one loud 'AhI' in unison with Santuzza and Lucia to
43
the cry 'Hanno ammazzato compare Turiddu! '.
scene contains an incongruity
which distances,
once more, the opera from the play in terms of psychological
consisLola goes off in Scene 10, accompanied by some women, and Santency.
express their horror
Yet, this last
after
tuzza reappears at the very end of the opera, throws herself into LuThen, on hearing of Turiddu's
cia's arms and sings '0h! madre mia! '.
The reappearance of
killing,
the two women scream and fall senseless.
Turiddu's last wish that his mother should
Santuzza apparently fulfils
16
But that is not
take care of the girl in case he were not to return.
In the last Scene of the play, Verga leaves Turiddu's moththe point.
keeps
Santuzza
but
Lola
the
well out
stage
on
minor
characters
and
er,
of the way. She exits at the end of Scene 5, making for the church on
her own while everyone else is coming out of it after the end of the
her last line is a reply to Zio Brasi who
Easter Mass. Significantly,
notices
her strange behaviour:
comare Santa, the va in chiesa quando
non c'e piü nessuno!
in
Brasi!
Sono
zio
mortale,
peccato
-
Zio Brasi -0
Santuzza
Santuzza is now
alone with her shame and sense of guilt.
has
just
'scellerata',
but
'dishonoured'
since
she
wicked,
only
not
Turiddu
death.
indirectly,
to
Lola's
sentenced
and,
adultery
exposed
She is left
Her expiation begins with her feeling an outcast in her own village.
different
Her despair is of a totally
nature from Gnä Nunzia's motherly grief,
and her remorse could hardly concern the mother of the man
lines
before
The
last
the
killed.
the
be
to
has
of
play,
caused
she
naturalistic
shout,
Gnä Nunzia
Gnä Lola
are for Gnä Nunzia and Lola:
(sempre di piü in piü smarrita) - Ma dov'e
dire
Turiddu?
Ma
figlio
che
vuol
mio
andato
tutto questo?
la
facciamo
dire
Pasqua,
Vuol
che
mala
gnä
Nunzia. E il vino che abbiamo bevuto insieme
ci andrä tutto in veleno.
The echo of Santuzza's curse 'mala Pasqua a te! ' still
rings ominously in Lola's words.
justice
As remorse and isolation
await Santuzza, institutional
Before the curtain drops, 'Due carabithe murderer.
pursues Alfio,
nieri attraversano correndo la scena', the very same policemen whose
44
presence at the beginning
of the play (Scene 1) silently
embodied the
firm authority
of the Italian
to the self-made
state in juxtaposition
justice
'man of honour'.
In the opera, the presence
of the Sicilian
of a police
station
with the 'carabinieri'
the square would
patrolling
spoil
the picturesqueness
realistic,
is
so there
of the Sicilian
no trace
setting
and make it
all
too
of that.
Having removed or distorted
some essential,
realistic
components
introduced their own pseudoof the story, Mascagni and his librettists
ingredients:
the "Siciliana",
Lola's stornello
veristic
and Turiddu's
drinking song. The idea was to provide on-stage music which would help
to characterize
the rustic
environment
and give the principals
a natu-
ral medium of expression.
In the original
st Lola
sotto
'coll'andare
la finestra
short
a cantare
della
Turiddu
story,
tutte
bella'.
wreaked his
le canzoni
The 'canzoni
resentment
again-
di sdegno the sapeva
di
sdegno'
were one of
the four categories of Sicilian
subject or use: love, jealousy,
popular songs classified
according to
17
Two months after
parting and spite.
the successful Turin premiere of the play, Verga himself thought of
some sort of 'small symphony and musical epilogue of the comedy' to
be performed before raising the curtain.
On 22 March 1884 he wrote
to his Catanese friend and composer Giuseppe Perrotta commissioning
the piece and outlining
a programme or summary of the moods to be
musically portrayed with a truly Sicilian
colour:
Un canto d'amore che sospiri nella notte, quasi il
caldo anelito di Turiddu che va a lagnarsi sotto la
finestra
della Gnä Lola e il lamento di Santuzza che
Poi la vita nel Villaggio
attende invano.
che si
desta, il suono delle campane a festa, la nota di
gelosia e di amore che torna ed insiste a forma di
pedale, ed infine lo scoppio furibondo dell'ira
della gelosia, A grida dell'accorruomo,
della madre e
dell'amante.
The passionate feelings - love, jealousy, anger
the
festive
and
by Verga in his request are also the leading
atmosphere highlighted
motives in Mascagni's melodrama. In particular,
the 'canto d'amore...
sotto
la finestra
della
Gnä Lola'
the "Siciliana".
But
anticipates
the three Livornese associates did not bother to consult one of the
many collections
of Sicilian
popular songs (see below, ch. 3, p. 100).
to choose a suitable
'canzone di sdegno'.
It was a fortuitous
cir-
45
cumstance that was to give Mascagni the idea of a serenade for Lola.
him in Cerignola and showed the composer
A friend happened to visit
Mascagni found one particularly
some poems of his in Neapolitan.
'Brunetta ca si mmaniche ncammisa', and thought the lines
attractive:
he
Sicilian,
he
Unfamiliar
Lola.
be
to
as
was
with
put
adapted
might
together a text in a mixture of Neapolitan and Sicilian
which was subsequently amended by the Palermo-born tenor Roberto Stagno, the first
(May 1890),
Turiddu.
However, in the first
edition of the libretto
the "Siciliana"
'Supra',
contained
two Latinisms
which are hard to account for,
'occisu':
Turiddo
la cammisa,
di latti
0 Lola ch'hai
si' russa e janca comu li cirasa,
fai la yucca a risa,
quannu t'affacci
beatu ppi lu primu cui la vasa!
Supra la porta to' lu sangu e spasu,
si cci moru occisu,
ma nun m'importa
ma si cci moru e vaju 'n paradisu,
si nun cci vidu a tia
mancu cci trasu.
('0 Lola,
bianca come fior di spino') was
Cavalleria
for
the
in
the
premiere
of
second
edition
prepared
added
19
'supra' and
in Livorno (August 1890). Turiddo became Turiddu,
'occisu' were replaced by 'Ntra' and 'accisu'
and besides other ad-
The Italian
justments,
translation
four words were again given a Neapolitan
spelling:
la cammisa
0 Lola c'hai di latti
si bianca e russa comu la cirasa,
la
fai
t'affacci
yucca a risa,
quannu
biatu pi lu primu cu ti vasa!
Ntra la puorta tua lu sangu e spasu,
orta si ce muoru accisu...
ma nun me m up
e si ce muoru e vaju 'n paradisu
mancu ce trasu.
si nun ce truovo a ttia,
This version was also kept in the 1891 edition of the libretto.
final text of the "Siciliana"
was left with a better Sicilian
but an odd rhyming scheme (ABCDDCCD):
la cammisa,
0 Lola ch'hai di latti
si bianca e russa comu la cirasa,
fai la yucca a risu,
quannu t'affacci
biatu cui ti dä lu primu vasul
Ntra la porta tua lu sangu e sparsu,
46
The
spelling
e nun me mporta si ce muoru accisu...
e s'iddu muoru e vaju mparadisu
si nun ce truovu a ttia,
mancu ce trasu.
(Cavalleria
Rusticana,
Sonzogno, Milano,
1981)
The concluding hyberbole ('and if I die and go to paradise/if
I don't
find you there, I won't even go in') is recorded by Alessandro D'Ancona
20
in several regional versions.
The Prelude with the "Siciliana"
was
written after the completion
by Mascagni to the selecting
of the opera and was handed in personally
Committee when he was summonedfor the
in Rome.
audition of Cavalleria
It has often been stressed that what ultimately
matters in a
libretto
is not so much the literary
quality of the text as the potenIn this
tial effectiveness
of its metamorphosis into song and music.
has always had a tremendous impact on listen'canto d'amore'.
Luigi Capuana
ers as if it were an authentic Sicilian
love songs of his
was aware of this when he wrote of the plaintive
island:
respect,
the "Siciliana"
Sotto il cielo limpidissimo ma senza luna, nel vasto
silenzio notturno appena appena agitato dal basso
stormire degli ulivi,
una voce bene intonata cantava
la lamentosa cantilena preferita
dai contadini siciliani nei loro canti d'amore.
Non pensino alla canzone di Cavalleria Rusticana del Mascagni, imitazione
artistica
non spregevole certamente, ma ibrida fusione
di due accenti, se si pub dire, il siciliano
e il to21
inadeguata.
scano; avrebbero un'idea
Its Tuscan flavour has
The same could be said for Lola's stornello.
already been noted by several critics.
As to the drinking song, it stems from the rather weak Scene 6
of the play, where the tension drops as the general conversation dion the philandering
gresses towards unnecessary considerations
attiTuriddu's final lines:
tudes of soldiers away from their fiancees.
Alla vostra salute,
Bevete, zio Brasi.
conia.
Voi, comare Camilla!
gnä Lola!
Oggi vogliamo uccidere la malin-
to the 'umor nero' of the song. The toast to Lola is
converted into an empty-headed bravado - 'Ai vostri amori! ' - which,
taken seriously,
would publicly
endorse Santuzza's branding Lola as
point
directly
47
('Ai nostri
A curious misprint
kept in
amori'),
turns the insolent
insinuation
of the libretto,
a 'mala femmina'.
the modern edition
into
an open admission,
rus.
The operatic
Turiddu
In conclusion,
by the joyful
underlined
was definitely
the dramatization
despite
thetics
the thematic
the only
ty of the subject,
in the libretto
shouts
the local
colour,
tering
letter
claim
in all
and dramatic
Sonzogno's
enhanced by Mascagni's
to Verga,
honesty
that
and sincerity
it
boundaries
Apart
veristic
aes-
extreme
from the novel-
elements
preserved
the two forceful
There remained,
elemental
dei
of his
was pushed to its
the
was largely
of the subject
colour'
trouble.
music.
of course,
In a flat-
on 27 March 1890, the composer could
written
and that
of the cho-
from Vita
of the dialogues,
pace of the action.
the play,
reproduced
authentically
for
story
and Menasci.
were the vividness
and the quick
of the
adjustments,
by Targioni
of melodramatization
looking
the formal
Campi, which Verga had kept within
'Viva'
if
libretto
had faithfully
the merit
the opera
of the
'strong
had been selected
by
Committee:
L'assicuro che il libretto
ha riprodotto
quasi alla
la Sua Cavalleria.
lettera
conservando per tal modo
e quell'ambiente
che hanno reso immorquel colorito
Anche la Commissione teatrale
tale il Suo lavoro.
dette un voto di lode a quel libretto,
non certo. per
la parte inventiva ma soltanto per la fedeltä della
trascrizione....
e se i Commissari sono venuti nella
decisione di scegliere la mia opera per la prima,
della mia musica ed al
ciö si deve alla teatralitä
forte e drammatico, ispiratomi
da un sHcolorito
getto cos! vero, cos! umano, cos! appassionato.
The overall result of the 'faithful
transcription'
shows the
limited extent to which literary
transverismo could be successfully
The conventional choruses, Alfio's
ferred on to the operatic stage.
the veneer of musical exoticism
entry song, Turiddu's 'brindisi',
provided by the "Siciliana"
and Lola's
the stilted
vocabulary of standard operatic practice were all as essential to the sucThe
cess of the opera as they were alien to Verga's "Scene popolari".
invented a new recipe with their sagacious blending
two librettists
of old ingredients
and the fresh
stornello,
aromas of Sicily;
and the enterprising
Mascagni devised
Sonzogno dished up
a well-timed pressure cooker,
the prototype of operatic verismo with the authoritative
endorsement
24
of the two selecting Committees of his Competition.
48
2.
Mala Pasqua! and Monleone's Cavalleria
Gastaldon's
Rusticana
In a detailed article
The Musical
on Mascagni's 'great hit',
Times (1 September 1890) referred to Sonzogno's Competition and sta'No less than sixty-seven MS. operas were sent in,
ted inaccurately:
and several of these treated the subject of Cavalleria Rusticana'.
There was, in fact, one other opera based on Verga's play.
Its auth'Signor Gastaldon,
or was, to quote again the English periodical,
a year or two ago reigned
whose melodious song, "Musica proibita",
supreme in every Italian
easy victory by spinning
drawing-room,
and who expected to gain an
out Verga's play into an opera of three long
style as
acts, written in much the same pleasing, though superficial
the song which brought his name before the public'.
and hopeless
The diffuseness
opera from
this
unnecessary to consider
(Turin,
Gastaldon
nislao
of Mala Pasqua! make it
mediocrity
a musical
point
of view.
Sta-
1861
to his
1939)
Florence,
had
made a good repu25
to stick
writer,
and would have done better
as a parlour-song
languorous
of
repertory
and plaintive
romanze, comcongenial
peting
with
Adolfo
Tirindelli
tation
instead
a literary
point
of view,
comparison
with
Mascagni's
libretti
Paolo Tosti
of venturing
to write
Mala Pasqua!
offers
Cavalleria,
a "Dramma lirico"
operas.
interesting
particularly
at the same time
were written
Mala Pasqua!,
and for
in two acts,
and Pier
However,
from
elements
of
because the two
the same competition.
was no. 33 of the 73(! )
Committee set up by Sonzogno.
It
to the selecting
and performed
withdrawn (presumably because of its length)
submitted
scores
was later
with
as Francesco
such renowned people
a moderate
1890, five
received
success
weeks before
very
unfavourable
at the Teatro
Costanzi
in Rome on 9 April
Mascagni's
Although Mala Pasqua!
opera.
26
it was revived
in the autumn
reviews,
Perugia,
in
Teatro
Morlacchi
the
the
of
a revised
at
same
year
of
three-act version, and even managed to arrive in Portugal (Lisbon,
2 February 1891).
is its length: the tense and
with this libretto
gripping structure of Verga's play is completely shattered, and dialogues are slackened by pointless and wordy speeches. The revised
The major fault
version
interrupts
the action
after
Santuzza's
curse 'Mala Pasqua a
te! ' and starts Act III with Alfio's
thus cooling all the imarrival,
petus of Santuzza's confession to Alfio soon after the break up with
49
Turiddu.
A superfluous
dawn, and introduces
Turiddu
opera),
returning
home for
Easter.
two.
Almost
left
out.
from
parting
scene by scene,
stable,
I sets
detail
very
wife
after
for
Verga's
are kept,
villagers
a few hours earlier,
at
(renamed Carmela in this
love,
a night's
and Alfio
to the one act of the
long Scene 1 reshaped into
corresponds
of the setting
Camilla
Ahis
The colourful
Lola
Act II
except
the clock
Santuzza
a restless
play,
his
Act
is reproduced:
Zio Brasi
'carabinieri'
station
the
who make for
the church
and
is
or group
in front
of Gnä Nunzia's wine-shop sing exactly the same sort of Arcadian platitudes
as in Targioni and Menasci's libretto
or even worse
if 'possible:
Sorride la natura
pits giovane e feconda;
l'aria
si fa pits pura,
si fa piü bella l'onda,
e sona alto nel ciel
il canto dell'augel!
27
I1 sole getta fiori
e sui verzieri;
sui prati
il cielo di splendori
i pensieri,
c'imporpora
e piü giocondo in core
1'amore.
ci palpita
of the opening chorus, Scene 1 of Act II
closes with a procession - church bells and organ music are de rigueur - and the chorus on their knees sing two stanzas of decasillabi
(I
libretto
Verdian
Lombardi):
early
of
an
reminiscent
After
the trivial
settenari
0 Signore, gli schiavi redenti
si volgono al Re!
palpitanti
ma i dolori de' cuori fidenti
tutti
aduna ed accoglie la fe
dei venti
e li porta sull'ali
come incenso, Signore, per te!
...
.....
e, propizio a la pace feconda,
benedici la cuna e Pavel!
This is followed
immediately
(Scene 2) by a veristic
dialogue
between
Carmela and Nunzia:
Carmela Gnä Nunzia
Carmela
Gnä Nunzia
Gnä Nunzia!
0 tu, che vuoi? Vado alla chiesa!
Non temete, Gnä Nunzia, me ne vado,
Ma ditemi dov'e compar Turiddu!
Non c'e!
The contrast between the melodramatic register
of the choruses and
the verismo of Verga's dialogues is much more striking
than in Tar-
50
and Menasci's
gioni
linguistic
libretto.
coherence
metres,
operatic
as this
extract
Mascagni's
Quite
often,
are disfigured
of the dialogues
cliches,
ensemble pieces,
from Scene 4 of Act
even the texture
II
and
by antiquated
producing
such absurdities
to Scene 6 of
corresponding
Cavalleria:
Lola (ironica)
Turiddu
Santuzza
Lola (ironica)
Santuzza (tetra)
Lola
Lola
Turiddu
Carmela
Lola
Turiddu
Lola
Carmela
Lola
Cavalleria
le funzioni
E... voi... sentite
Santuzza mi narrava...
in piazza?
Gli dicevo
the oggi a Pasqua e it Signor vede ogni cosa!
Non venite alla messa?
Io no, ci deve
andar chi sa di non aver peccato.
Io ringrazio
it Signore e bacio in terra!
Mala Pasqua!
Ma alla funzione
voi non ci
Vengo.
Carmela mi diceva....
Gli dicevo ch'e solenne
venite?
questa Pasqua gloriosa,
the it Signor legge nei cuori,
the it Signor vede ogni cosa.
Cos! parlano, comare,
le coscienze timorate,
ma, nel giorno del Signore,
dite! in chiesa non ci andate?
Mi dicea the a vigilare
la lascio la mammamia,...
o Gnä Lola, concedete
ch'io vi faccia compagnia.
Andiamo via, Gnä Lola.
Voi non avete fretta!
(con intenzione)
In chiesa deve andare
chi ha la coscienza netta!
Per me ringrazio
Iddio
e bacio in terra.
opera to be derived from Verga's play was a "Dramma
in un prologo e un atto" largely moulded on Targioni and Melirico
nasci's libretto,
with some ideas borrowed from Mala Pasqua!, but
this was the third Cavallesensibility:
exhibiting
a finer literary
The last
Rusticana
(1902),
a deservedly
forgotten
work because of a remarksometimes bordering on plagiarism,
able lack of musical originality
although, in its day, it was well received in Italy and abroad.
Its authors were two young Genoese brothers, Giovanni (1879-
ria
1947) and Domenico (1875-1942) Monleone: the former adapted the lib-
51
retto, the latter
composed the music. The opportunity was provided
28
by the 1903 Sonzogno Competition for a new one-act opera.
A comparison
the weak points
best
duction
Act
to the first
before
we find
Turiddu's
a Wagnerian
But,
under Lola's
chromatic
'Pastori'
the breaking
as life
the villagers
evitable
rection
chorus
tive
acter
slowly
lines
a long-winded
to a climax
line
'0 del
the orchestra
is
of the action
from
to the
and useless
piece which incorporates
window (sung with the curtain
up) and
a D'Annunzian
retire,
of
derived
orchestral
passage soaring
in unison
singing
(Ex. 1).
As they
portray
instead
as an intro-
is clearly
and so is the back-dating
and tense
a short
serenade
Nunzia/Santuzza
shows
play
and used to their
varied
The idea of a 'Prologo'
one.
Sunday.
Easter
based on Verga's
being
texts
dialogue
I of Mala Pasqua!,
night
act,
of the earlier
in the third
advantage
libretti
of the three
with
labbro,
the two lovers
o del
cor voluttä!
and an off-stage
chorus
of dawn and the religious
fervour
resumed on the festive
day.
'
of
of
The in-
images of the 'Resurthan in Mascagni's
hymn' are more acceptable
opera since the
is kept out of sight and used as an ingredient
of the descripneo-Arcadian
music.
with
The libretto
references
and the doleful
and the conventional
also
provides
to a torrent
guidelines
murmuring
hoot of a nocturnal
sadly
of a romantic
char-
in the deep valley
bird:
Un'aura tiepida e leggera passa a quando a quando tra
le fronde novelle riempiendole di fremiti
e di susurri.
Qualche uccello notturno getta nell'aria
il suo grido
lamentevole; e le mille voci indefinite
della notte corin collina,
rono di collina
mentre il torrente ripete il
suo triste
cantare nel cupo della valle.
......
Sulle cime orientali
la
sovrasta un chiarore incerto;
luna impallidisce...
E' 1'alba che s'appressa, e l'aurora che arriva gioconda, toccando con le sue dita di rosa
ogni prato, ogni albero, ogni casa! E' l'alba di Pasqua!
I
PASTORI
lontanamente
Recinta d'aurora la vetta riluce;
gli augelli risvegliansi
e cantan d'amore.
E' 1'alba; il tuo gregge sospingi, pasto
e il sole che giubilo agli animi induce.
The musical style of the piece - and, indeed, of the whole opera does not come up to the ambitions of the literary
The young comtext.
poser blends in an uneven sequence Wagnerian reminiscences, tuneful
52
Ex. 1-
Monleone, Cavalleria
Allegro
Rusticana
wosso 1J, wl
LOLA
1 4441.46osJr4
1sow Ysuter)
)
,. -Ah,...
11ý2yT#*
r--, z;-;
I
erix.
riJ
u.
du 1...
.
id
/ala wnrl. º
rrw.
. ,
...
0
0
TURIDCY
ý'
1»
Jwcrw'/surMd
(btrt
LOLA
talM
Mrontr
tt4 tdrtt
out
brtttiw
wsb b64
)
)
Arms TrrliJw
i
Quanta cof
W swig"
li p
L.
fri
re
.
G!a
. tool..
..
At. ten
ar. wf*
1
Lkb bra L.
.
LIr. /WIJ
Le luc
%II.
M
1
,.,.,.
i9J
,
call
jur. a
...
a"
gccrlaraw4o
.P
12
/"
ýj,
53
.
de
"..
.
vo....
bi....
ý"9,.
or US
id Ii*
Ex. 1-
Monleone, Cavalleria
Rusticana (cont. )
Assaf eoeteauto(J. 4o)
-At
L
Sem
Ara?..
.
r.
rw(Y..
qual.
i.....
0
del
ýýYY am/
lab
Lir
0
d; l
<i/Y/r 9N/
lab
LiY
.
bra, o Jul
p.. Cww rr
.
.
bro, 'o del
/Y,! 'r. r rI
T
Tut
01"n.
Ia mi. al
. II. (ila, {l
Prima
rA. p
mo
M.
ri
. MM
.
.
rel...
bal...
#
pncu rrrll.
,
ay..
o'
ced cnwlo
.
J
ý7ýý
<r.q.
:J
ýýýf1-.
ý=-ýý-"ý'
ý
I.
cor.. _...._ _
r
o,
Lý.
del
. kr
cor
.
vo
.
.w
ýr+
,rlrll
lut
º1
_,
tä t__
. P.,
r/
o,
V
T
cor . ý_
! rw
###E
del
o_
6w,
-
oý.,ý V
lug
vo
it
ýý
1
cor
r
ý
-.
ý
aesai.
ý
.
-. ---- p
adiu
ý
ý
#-
54
ý su[ aobtenuto (J.. o)
melodies with conventional
arpeggio accompaniment, plain and robust
harmonies ä la Mascagni to sustain the
However,
chorus.
religious
the
'Prologo'
Turiddu/Lola
section
'Resurrection
hymn',
atonement.
It
atmosphere
30
Unico'.
for
to the religious
heightening
the following
and the chorus
of the concluding
and the need for
the action
play
with
sparingly.
and slightly
dialogue
in the two earlier
is employed very
is reinstated:
the festive
of Verga's
opera than
Monleone does not interrupt
apotheosis
Nunzia/Santuzza
structure
in this
mood of the initial
the sense of guilt
does manage to create
The dialogical
reproduced
from the erotic
moves steadily
ominous
of the
'Atto
is much more faithfully
ones.
a melodious
Very sensibly,
intermezzo,
One of Verga's
minor
char-
Zio Brasi,
the stableman.
His presence
in Mala
Pasqua! was a mere encumbrance;
on the contrary,
in Cavalleria
he is
acters
given
'basso
with
musical
a specific
comico'
his
and,
proverbs
like
and psychological
the original
or provides
some relief
characterization.
Verghian
with
character,
his jokes
He is
a
he interferes
and questions:
Oggi ch'ý Pasqua fanno pace suocera e nuora!
..........
I1 Carnevale falb o con chi vuoi;
Pasqua e Natale f alli con i tuoi.
............
Ehi, 'compar Alfio!
0 che volete prenderlo
un viaggio per Mineo?
......
......
Zio Brasi
Allegri!
tracanniamo! faccio io la spesa.
(allo Zio Brasi)
Nunzia
A queste sagre, poi,
ci siete sempre voi!
Zio Brasi
Dice il vecchio dettato:
"santifica
be feste. "
to 1'ho sempre osservato.
(Scene 3),
the bad example of Mascagni's Cavalleria
Monleone does keep Alfio's
spectacular entry with loud cheers of
but there is no song either for him or for the
'Evviva compar Alfio',
(Mascagni's
di
bel
'0
il
the
mestiere/fare
carrettiere/andar
chorus
Following
Giovanni Monleone felt the absurdity of that sudden
qua e di lä').
to the return of the village
shift of focus from the Easter festivity
carter and made up a plausible reason for the villagers'
enthusiasm:
on his way home, in the night, Alfio was attacked by two robbers and
he scared them off with his whip. So the villagers
him
congratulate
55
and then
Zio Brasi
go, while
suggests:
e regola
E' regola.
Su quest'incontri
beverci sopra...
Although
Alfio's
is dramatically
story
weak, it
at least
brings
out
his readiness
to look after
psychology:
one aspect of the carter's
his own interests
and safety in any circumstance.
The only serious weak point of this otherwise
is
good libretto
duet Santuzza-Alfio.
The Monleones
to be found soon after the crucial
must have felt
the need for
big Scene 9 with
so,
its
a spectacular
famous drinking
at the end of the Easter
people
are being
to decorate
cheers
and
intro-
of wild
of the linguistic
register:
di guazza.
Son molli
Oh i bei biancospini!
Se pungono!...
............
Tutti
Voci lontane
good-natured
chime merrily
Che olezzo!
Le fanciulle
Le donne
Le fanciulle
flowery
spumeggiante';
handed out to the villa31
homes.
The mannerism
their
a sudden alteration
Alcune donne
vino
bunches and garlands
di Pasqua! ')which
of the scene determines
to Mascagni's
of whip and joyful
cracks
with
in order
il
the bells
of young peasants
gers in the square
During this
song 'Viva
Mass, while
come out of the church,
duce a cart full
flowers ('I fiori
alternative
........
Fiori
fiori
sulle soglie;
sui balconi;
fiori
all'ostello
April
e amor!....
di Nostro Signor!
only Zio Brasi keeps his usual tone of
sarcasm, and comments with Nunzia:
Zio Brasi
Nunzi a
frenzy,
Nunzia, v'adornano
oggi la bettola
come un altar!
Gioventü!
Gioventü!
idea is that the young
The worst consequence of this brilliant
composer seems to have exhausted his personal resources and makes extensive use of Grieg's theme of the 'Morning mood' from Peer Gynt,
not just for the flower scene but also during the Easter celebration
(Ex.
2).
Only
Gnä
Nunzia's
Turiddu
to
offering
wine
everyone
with
at
brings the Easter morning mood to an end and Monleone
Alfio's
arrival
56
Ex. 2-
Monleone, Cavalleria
Rusticana
BRASI
b
LA
Di ce
.
Be!
.U.
ii
..
ge
det
go
vec . chio
Vor. ochrift.
.
.
ji
le
/e: Yte. »
ca
4184itL
.
A denFcsttag Eel. ere.»
u du164)U
to:
lri
to
die
6A
to Pho sempre osser.
Doriarh u lil fat adük
1m=
P
(eucoao can Is prime)
mit den anders ab)
diam I
rAa,
( Frattanto, tra schiocchl dl trustee giuato in piazza us biroeclo parato a feite; e an di eisa
gruppo di coatadigl recants mazzi dl fiorisilveatri, fraacbe eghlrlaade)
Aleuai uomiai (a TEN. )
un
00
Eisige
Manner)
( Durch die Mitte bereis ein festlich seacbmuckter
Maultierkarres.
Auf ihm junge Bauers mit Blumen, Ranken und Zweigen)
f
F-
bf
-
Ogg 8 bal
.
Ber. leýrAl's
6
L
lop
OP
v
ä
to.
va
.
rtesltar..
(a sop.)
Alcune donne (accurresdo)
(
Einige Frauen (eilen herbei)I
lo . ri
OA "At
rskA1
MoIU altri (s TEN. ) vicle andre
ý
-
Ä?
siqoA
ýe1len
accorresdo
Igiovanl
herbei;
3 HASSI)Die Bauern b
di
is
Pasqua!
AIM. awn!
.
_
_
I
flu
OA swat
dorA!
rii
Pa. squa!
l1l.a. aHSe/
I:
Ehi, gun to,
.
s$nt d'ouwt roe,b
b"ýý
1
_
No;
Wir
qual
tuýwwtl
bon
frld.
no
ý
il bi
.
nasirw
Mae!
b
p'
61,
d,
r
Altri'uomiai(a quelll ase rieaaagoao)
(A TEN. )
of
L+idge Mi *ser
4
MS.
Sa. lu
)
I
roc. clo.
. Ker.
?we.
OP
Wlltoa
LA
m's
11C
Sa lu
.
cres.
la comps gnl
tut
to
to
a
.
.
lie. MA .
i01u1Oo.
MM#
04
.
LA
.
64
LA
LJ
-LA-'d
tea tut . to la compa gnl
.
"
býý
ý
al
.
e'sI
r
to his own range of thematic
resorts
A better
follows
change can be found
material.
where Monleone
at the catastrophe
Verga's
than Targioni
play much more closely
and Menasci did
for Mascagni (see above, par. 1).
Santuzza is made to go to church
after the end of the Mass; that is noticed
and commented on by Zio
Brasi:
(accorgendosi di lei che entra furtivamente)
Santuzza che va in chiesa
Zio Brasi
quando gli
She feels
We find,
tical
an outcast
instead,
Nunzia
Lola
In spite
Paleis
Cavalleria
whose last
lines
are almost
iden-
(sempre pith smarrita)
Dove mio figlio?
Ma dov'e andato?... Che vuol dir cib?...
Vuol dir the il vino ci andrä in veleno!
in Turin
had its
voor Volksvlyt,
and the borrowings,
style
and, earlier
world
paired
A. Puccio,
with
This move irritated
verismo operas, so that,
bought
on,
the opera made
in Amsterdam,
where Mon-
on 5 February
1907,
European cities
until
at the
32
Mascagni's
It
famous prototype.
(Het Volk, De week,
to Dutch-papers
premiere
was an enormous success, according
Then the opera toured
Het niews).
ese publisher,
at the end of the opera.
not reappear
and Lola
of the patchy
a good impression
se n'escono!
ones in the play:
to the equivalent
Nunzia
leone's
and will
altri
other
it
and organized
an Italian
a Milantour.
Edoardo Sonzogno, the number one patron of
when the new Cavalleria was scheduled for the
Emanuele of Turin on 10 July 1907, he started a legal
action to stop it and sued the Monleone brothers, the publisher Puccio
The embittered and vinand Giovanni Verga for unlawful competition.
Teatro Vittorio
novelist had not forgiven Mascagni and Sonzogno for the lengthy
he had had to go through in order to claim his share of royalties,
trial
and had given his consent to the new adaptation of his play after seeking advice from the 'Societä Italiana
degli Autori'.
dictive
Verga never had a chance to hear the opera and assess the modest
merits of the music, but he was impressed by Monleone's growing success
to the extent that he was willing
to give him the libretto
of La Lupa.
A few days after Verga had given his consent,
Dina di Sordevolo (20 March 1907):
58
he wrote to his friend
Peccato che il Ricordi
il Monleone per dargli
il successo
darö
gliela
to, il suo
cordi come
non abbia subito preso a cuore
La Lupa. Ma se, come spero,
di cotesto maestro continua
ad affermarsi,
io La Lupa, se non gliela
Tanda Ricordi.
cammino 13ha fatto
senza le grucce del RiPuccini.
The novelist's
sympathy for the young musician, who was making
'crutches',
his way without the help of Ricordi's
was strengthened by
his grudge against Puccini for failing
to come up to his expectations
Almost a month after that letter,
in a
about La Lupa (see Ch. 3).
rare outburst of enthusiasm and optimism, as he felt involved in Monleone's project of having his Cavalleria performed in Italy,
Verga
(18
April 1907):
Dina
to
wrote again
Aspetto notizie di Monleone che mi ha promesso di informarmi delle trattative
che sono in corso per Cavalleria.
Pare che cotesto suo nuovo Editore sappia fare
meglio dei vecchi; ad ogni modo se ne occupa con ferSperiamo bene, e che venga il successo anche per
vore.
la Cavalleria,
la Lupa,
La Lupa. Allora fra i verdelli,
la Duchessa, che California!
Vedo tutto color di rosa scrivendo questa lettera e
Tanti tanti saluti di
correndo col pensieSý costl.
Giovannino.
cuore.
On the night of the successful premiere in Turin, a telegram informed
Verga in Catania and he immediately relayed the good news to Dina:
Catania, giovedi, 11 mattina (July 1907)
Ricevo or ora questo dispaccio da Torino, che mi
a comunicarti sapendo di farti
piacere:
affretto
"Cavalleria
completo successo malgrado diffidenza.
Fratelli
Monleone, Puccio,
Saluti cordialissimi.
e C. " Ma com'b che la Stampa che ho seguito giorno per giorno sino a ieri non annuncia neppure la
E' del complotto Sonzogniano?..
rappresentazione?
Ad ogni modo son contento
Se son rose fioriranno...
del risultato
ottenuto sinora, per dare una lezione
a quel famoso Mascagni, che non scrive piü opere
accluso, e non ha fatto piü nulla
vedi bullettino
dopo la Cavalleria,
cM5hanno fatto gli strozzini
con me, lui e Sonzogno.
It
is clear
from this
letter
Verga's resentment against
Of course, there was no Sonzognan
that
Mascagni was still
running high.
La Stampa
plot with the press and Mascagni was anything but idle.
did announce the performance of Monleone's opera on 10 July in a
59
It would be conducted by one of Italy's
sympathetic
way.
most presAntonio Guarnieri;
Turiddu would be sung by Alfredo
tigious
artists,
Cecchi
and Santuzza
ed a favourable
in assessing
by Linda
Micucci.
and detailed
review.
the composer's
abilities:
On 11 July
Its
critic
the
paper publish-
was really
generous
Disinvolto,
dell'effetto,
conoscitore
non di rado
ha chiare vedute e serietä
d'inconciso,
efficace,
Ma il guaio principale
difettenti.
si e ch'egli
ta di personalitä
e di idee originali,
e per quandi liberare
lo spartito
to gli sia riuscito
da reminiscenze mascagnane, - il che non e poco merito,
influenze
di noti autori
altre
e non lievi
vi sono,
purtroppo,
palesi.
delight
Verga's
long.
Sonzogno argued that,
In court,
lire
of 143,000
and the Monleones'
for
Mascagni's
on Cavalleria;
copyright
by accepting
the novelist
opera,
Monleone's
therefore,
did
satisfaction
not last
the settlement
had forfeited
libretto
his
was an arbit-
its
to authorize
and Verga had been ill-advised
appropriation
The publisher
seemed to have a good case and the opera
publication.
Moreover, Verga was made to pay the legal costs
had to be withdrawn.
(1,500 lire)
but also for the penniless
Monleone
not only for himself
rary
Puccio
and the publisher
part
in the arrangements
tangled
who claimed
to Dina document Verga's
36
al settlement.
As to Monleone and Puccio,
order.
they
and mild
were undeterred
They simply
which took
moved abroad and started
the opera to Budapest (17 January
En-
of the opera.
and more money.
frustration
anger,
he had had no
Verga had to sue his
a long time
took
which
since
to the composition
prior
as he was in the dispute,
reimbursed,
exemption
to be
partners
Several
letters
hopes for
a fin-
by the court
a long European tour
1908, sung in Hungarian),
On 10 May 1909 the new Cavalleria
Rusticana was performed in London, at the Coronet Theatre (paired with
Acts 2 and 3 of Rossini's Barbiere),
and repeated on the 15th together
Vienna, Breslau,
Marseilles,
Paris.
Sonnambula. In the same week Covent Garden was showing
with Bellini's
Mascagni's Cavalleria with Pagliacci,
and both operas had been previously staged at the Coronet (end of April 1909). So there were plenty of
opportunities
for
immediate comparison,
ne's opera obviously
May wrote:
insisted
on this
60
and all
point.
the reviews of MonleoThe Times' critic
on 12
[between the
Still,
in spite of these differences
libretti
it all comes very
of the two operas]....,
much to the same thing in the end. In both operas
the melodies are either laden with sugar or torn
to the usual shreds with the usual passion, and in
is the conventional
both operas the orchestration
mixture of harp and muted strings and very much unmuted brass.
Reviewing
the second performance
of the opera,
The Times (17 May 1909)
concluded:
Before Bellini's
opera the "new" Cavalleria Rusticana
was repeated with the same cast as before, convincing
everybody that there is not much to choose between the
two versions of the work, except that Monleone's falls
intensity.
short of Mascagni's hysterical
The comment, albeit inaccurate and unfair to Mascagni, betrays a widespread dislike for verismo operas as such. The Musical Times (1 June
1909) took a different
view which implied a favourable evaluation of
Monleone's setting:
differs
little
The libretto
from that used by Mascagni,
but the musical treatment is more advanced in its means
of expression, and often makes appeal to the musical inFor this reason
tellect
rather than to popular taste.
the opera is not likely
to achieve so great a vogue as
its predecessor.
The Monthly Musical Record (1 June 1909) limited
matter-of-fact
its
comment to a
consideration:
Mascagni's
opera having achieved so great and so prolonged a success, it seemed somewhat bold on the part
of the young composer Monleone to challenge
comparison
but on
with a work not only based on the same story,
The rendering
the same libretto.
of this opera, though
there were good moments in it, proved that Mascagni had
nothing to fear from his rival.
the opera was 'buried
by the ruthlessness of the mighty publisher Sonzogno, the new
alive'
Cavalleria would not have had a long life of its own. Perhaps the
most interesting
statement about this otherwise negligible
critical
Although Monleone's biographer
claims that
opera can be found in La Stampa's review of the 1907 Turin premiere.
It is not so much a comment on the opera in itself
as on Monleone's
61
late
adherence to the verismo fashion which had by then exhausted its
innovative potential
The critic
and turned into a threadbare cliche.
defining Monleone's 'major wrong' as follows:
concluded his article
il
torto maggiore fu di non voler credere,
suo
...
egli solo, agli inganni del verismo,
quando questi
sono ormai conosciuti
anche dal grosso pubblico.
Infatti
dei conper far guerra al pith biasimevole
di trent'anni
fa,
scenici-musicali
venzionalismi
i nostri giovani
......:..
..
maestri, apostoli del cosidetto verismo, con le
i parossismi, le nevrosi superacute
convulsioni,
della loro musica, non sono riusciti
a salvare se
stessi.
3.
Verga, Mascagni and the Critics
The pathos
lic,
and emphasis of Mascagni's
image of the Sicilians
reassuring
peasants
who might
ualistic
point
of honour.
view would win full
comforting
of the striving
cities
Rusticana
heralded
bourgeois
world
large
by the
the entry
moderate
of the play,
merits
of his
itself.
Vera"
Rome 'paper
the
gling
the
'Sicilian
of the
the aristocratic
as a revolutionary
or branded
libretto
Don Chisciotte
Fasci',
for
decent
which was often
large
estates
on 7 January
wages and better
of the
island.
the popular-
the distinctive
regret,
1894.
organized
Under the
with
confused
Verista
published
of
movement strug-
in the sulphur
impression
e
in the
was the period
working-class
conditions
62
It
artistic
of the pat-
"Sicilia
Eduardo Boutet,
critic
the first
as a cynical
elites.
Such is the case of the article
by the theatre
and
masterpiece
in the harsh criticism
work were obliterated
the play
into
Italy
audiences
Cavalleria
the opera soon superseded
and, much to Verga's
conservatism
unrest in the
1890s, such a
So, Mascagni's
and progressive
for
social
the middle-class
with
of the public
strata
some individ-
for
in the early
and was hailed
acclaim
ronizing
Sicilia
support
of rural
intellectual
The universal
of growing
Italy
of
and God-fearing
but only
of the peninsula.
of opera
by the
travesty
ity
At a time
in the rest
and, indeed,
island
as harmless
to violence
resort
well
an idyl-
music established
mines and
of the alarm-
ing dispatches
from Sicily
of the
reporting the appalling situation
striking
miners and peasants, Boutet launched an attack on Verga and
Sicilians
Capuana for misrepresenting
or ignoring the 'true'
and their
instead, 'Arcadian' pictures of 'noble sasufferings,
and offering,
It was a generalized charge against the whole production of
vages'.
but the specific examples quoted by Boutet to supthe two Sicilians,
port his argument were taken from Cavalleria Rusticana, the libretto
of the opera being confused with the play:
Altro che compari Turiddu e compari Alfio,
e morsetti
e male pasque a te ea me! Basta la stoall'orecchio
per sentirria squadernata al sole della sola zolfara
Invece compare Alfio
se ne vesi spezzare 1'anima....
Oh,
bel
che
alla
ribalta:
cantare
allegramente
a
niva
dei vile sulle piazzette
mestiere fare il carrettiere;
brindisi
faccio,
da brindisi
laggi si trovava un vinetto
Lagrimucfaccio;...
rose, fiori.
e chitarre,
stornelli,
o tormenti
alla prima attrice;
per 1'applauso
ce fatte
lo
in
di un tenore.
sfoghetto
note
per
raggruppati
And Boutet concluded, with heartfelt
sympathy for the wronged Sicilian
was only an unrealistic,
manpeople, that the Sicily of the 'veristi'
true
the
one:
of
picture
nered
Vuol dire the la Sicilia
degli scritEcco, a chiaro.
tori the riproducevano dal vero, 6 diversa, assai digli
vera: popolo the soffre tutti
versa, dalla Sicilia
i soprusi, e the cerca nella morte la
strazi e tutti
Vuol
fine de' patimenti piü infami e piü ingiusti.
Cavalleria
Rusticana,
dire the la Sicilia
quanella
le si pub riassumere la macchietta, it bozzetto e la
letteraria.....:
Sicilia
esercitazione
era
una
novella,
di maniera.
Apart from the material inaccuracy concerning the texts of Cavalleria,
what could be true for the opera was grossly unfair to Verga's works.
In an open letter published two days later in the same newspaper, it
Capuana to refute Boutet's charges by simply
had not done his homework if he could credit
stating that the critic
Verga with the 'melodramatic nonsense': Oh, the bel mestiere, fare it
came
it
But
to the dramatic reality
of the 'Fasci'
carrettiere.
when
was all
too easy for
Capuana gave away his own
conditions of the Sicilians,
social conservatism by writing that Verga and his likes had created
in istato normale, in istato di
works of art 'osservando la Sicilia
Moving from opposite ideologisanitä e non di eccitazione morbosa'.
and the actual
63
Capuana chose the same wrong approach adopted by Boutet
cal premises,
to criticize
Verga's works: their
connection
with contemporary events
in Sicily.
On the one hand, Capuana historicized
and heroic
verismo,
and 'sane'
mal'
reducing
therefore
state,
quo; on the other
status
the agitation
abnormal
a shameful
37
island.
subservient
of the
as insane
censured
and mineworkers
Boutet
and
to shake off
in the
discrimination
and political
but superficial
in a 'nor-
and respectful
hand, he implicitly
system of exploitation
emblematic
of Sicilians
to a portrayal
of the labourers
The progressive
his
it
Verga's
can hardly
be excused for
blunder
at a time when pamphlets,
articles
and reviews on Mascagni's
Cavalleria
were being poured out almost as quickly
as the opera appeared in the theatres
all over Europe, and any assessment of its musical
the relQvance of the original
the overplay
on
Ue
ft0.
}t1..
of
The peak period for such a frenetic
all dramatic effectiveness
outin
put was September 1892, during the Theatre and Music Exhibition
merits
was set
against
Vienna where Edoardo Sonzogno,
along with
Mascagni's
Cavalleria
his
House, presented
Since the gentle
after
anticlimax
Eduard Hanslick,
success
the
idyll
impetuous
other
veristic
and L'Amico
of Erckmann and Chatrian
Cavalleria,
the major
commented on the importance
operas
of
Fritz.
had come as an
Viennese
of the subject
critic,
in the
of the opera:
In Cavalleria
of all impressed by the
we were first
happy choice of material.
Without
extraordinarily
doubt this libretto
brought out the best in Mascagni
importance in the opera's sucand it is of decisive
A popular,
lively
setting,
cess.
sharply delineated
an excellent
exposition
and heightening
characters,
well motivated,
of the action,
everything
natural,
And finally
the "heavenly brevity",
realistic.
seeing how everyone has had a bellyful
of 4-5 hour operas and Gutzkow's novels in 9 volumes! ... Mascagni's
one-act tragedy surpised
and gripped us because it
was something quite new. It was not as if the musioriginal,
cal ideas were in themselves particularly
but combined with the shattering
events and the pasinvolved
they contributed
sionately
orchestra
withto the impression
out question
of something new. 39
The echoes of Mascagni's
tic
say
comments of the Viennese
'ß$
in
5i
parts,
popularity
press
in Vienna
prompted,
"I1 Fenomeno Mascagni",
64
and the enthusias-
among others,
published
a long
es-
in the Corriere
(25-30
di Napoli
September 1892).
Its
author was the editor
of the
F
Neapolitan
daily,
Arturo Colautti,
theatre
to
a
critic
who was
wx.
5oLGiordano
(1898)
libretto
the
of Fedora
and Adriana Lecouvreur
(1902) Joi. Francesco Cilea.
In a humorous but wordy style,
he ask-
ed, tongue-in-cheek:
Come si spiega questo fenomeno clamoroso,
questo
vivente
paradosso, questo assurdo umanato, che fa
la Germania e mette nell'imbarazzo
sorridere
1'Italia?
Colautti's
answer seemed to be: Verga's play.
But he soon added,
insight
than his colleague
with a better
Boutet,
that the success of
the opera was mostly due to the embellishments
introduced
by the librettists:
La parte della Cavalleria
lirica
che e meglio piaciuta ai pubblici
pit diversi
e pit remoti e preciNon basta ancora. Ben
samente quella senza parole...
Cavalleria
altre
parti
sono di questa insalubre
che
si sottraggono
alla paternitä
nominale del signor
Verga.
Occorre citare
la siciliana,
la canzone di
Lola, il doppio coro di introduzione,
il concertato
il brindisi,
la preghiera
di Turiddu,...
religioso,
Ebbene, il successo fu determinato
in massima parte
da questi hors
d'oeuvre poetici,
a cui il novelliere-drammaturgo
incolsi dichiara
assolutamente
pevole.
Consequently,
the success
due to the play
only
for
of the opera,
one quarter.
of any responsibility
for
one of the greatest
operatic
of his
third
part
fined
Mascagni
composer's
in Colautti's
The journalist
the embellishments
hits
which
of the century,
essay to a musical
'an exaggeration
as
.
sources:
analysis
of Bizet'
assessment,
cleared
Verga
had made his
and devoted
of Cavalleria.
and elaborated
was
story
the
He deon the
Senza pregiudizi
di scuola e senza ubbie di nazionalitä,
egli passa indifferentemente,
attraverso il
corpo di Bizet, da Meyerbeer a Verdi, da Gounod a
Ponchielli,
da Schumann a Massenet. Questi con
preferenza: il giovane premiato ha un debole per
l'ex timpanista dell'Opera.
Cavalleria non pare
troppo spesso una parafrasi del Roi de Lahore?
After
decrying
the limited
originality
65
of the music, Colautti
could
only
single
sweeping
of the opera.
musicale'
By that
for
factor
the
decisive
a
as
he meant the all too frequent
the restless
rhythms,
the over-abundant
'dinamismo
out the
success
changes of tempo,
dynamics
contrasting
it
remia musicale,
delirium
The disparaging
essay could
only
D'Annunzio.
It
daily
politan
in his
or,
on Mascagni which
be matched by an earlier
founded
on the front
of 1892.
In "Il
defined
as 'il
velocissimo
(2-3
Capobanda"
fabricatore
'lesto
estemporaneo',
vitriolic
pen did not spare Mascagni's
Edoardo Sonzogno,
just
The only
ness.
publisher
linguistic
serious
and publicity
The article,
virtuosity
made in it
point
'vanaglorioso
and the pamphleteer's
manipolatore',
of D'Annunzio's
Serao in the
September 1892) Mascagni was
dubbed 'Barnum musicale'.
a showpiece
the new Nea-
and Matilde
di melodrammi',
musicante
of Gabriele
article
I1 Mattino,
page of
long
Colautti's
spiced
abusive
by Edoardo Scarfoglio
spring
l'ipe-
lirica,
nevrosi
sonans'.
remarks
appeared
'la
own words:
and sharply
concerned
agent
however,
was
and snobbishthe gigantic
com-
operation
mounted by Sonzogno on the unpredictably
successful
(e. g. its much publicized
Cavalleria
presentation
at the Vienna Exhi-
mercial
Mascagni will
bition).
his
ed D'Annunzio,
always
unique
the intensive
machine for
out of the realm
being
concern
production
business,
of pure art,
big
of melodramas,
business.
that's
statA
what he was,
detractor:
the flamboyant
concluded
stay
In veritä,
il signor Sonzogno dev'essere molto sodEgli favorisce le prodella sua creatura.
disfatto
duzioni rapide, abondanti e mediocri... Ora, come i
suoi gusti inclinano alla musica, qual meccanico prodigioso avrebbe mai potuto costruirgli
una macchina
di melodrammi pits largamente e rapidamente produttiva?
Twenty years
Lorenzo,
lime
dia
later,
would mastermind
poet
and the
lirica'
against
country
that,
a fruitful
'prodigious
Parisina
outrage
member of the Sonzogno family,
another
(1913).
the countless
a few days after
spondence from Venice
appeared
collaboration
mechanic'
which
In 1892 "I1
admirers
its
between the sub-
resulted
of the composer all
in the Corriere
the following
di Napoli:
Ovazioni a Mascagni
Venezia, 9- ore 10,20 pom.
Stasera, mentre la musica suonava in piazza la
66
in the
Capobanda" proved
publication,
the young
'trage-
such an
over
the
corre-
Mascagni
la folla
Rusticana,
Cavalleria
riconoscendo
la
diPoi
lo
vivamente.
acclamb
seduto ad un caffe,
I
diventando
molentusiastica....
crebbe,
mostrazione
lo
fecero
in
stesso.
ti forestieri,
piazza
convenuti
dalla
Circondato
i fazzoletti.
Le signore agitavano
le mani a tutti,
folla,
Mascagni stringeva
ringrai presenti
ai
si associarono
ziando commosso. Tutti
del
dimostranti,
unarticolo
contro
quale protesta
dai giorD'Annunzio aggressivo
per Mascagni, riportato
imd'oggi.
La
dimostrazione
piü
sempre
seguitö
nali
ponente per le vie della cittä,
accompagnando il maestro all'albergo.
Popular
enthusiasm
such seems tobe
and divisive
lian
School
slashing
versus
the general
count
In France,
friends
fewer
with
to Mascagni's
response
in Italy.
Cavalleria
could
criticism:
than
few exceptions,
controversial
where the Young Ita-
anywhere else
in Europe,
the opera caused an uproar on its premiere at the Opera-Comique (19
39
A strikingly
January 1892).
approach to the one chosen by
similar
in a review signed Rene de
in his essay, is noticeable
A. Colautti
Recy which
1892.
bourgs;
tions
slashed
de sentiment
oü l'absence
dans la recherche',
of the opera:
success
'la
legende
'melodies
the
pretentieuse
une platitude
banalite
none;
appeared
The critic
et Litteraire
in the Revue Politique
'le
qui
du concours';
dans nos fau-
des series de modulaä chaque mesure; la
se trahit
et bruyante;
musical
and pointed
bruit',
ont traine
of 23 January
for
out three
reasons
for
the
which Mascagni was second to
and Verga's
play:
la
dont
de
Verga,
le
drame
conLa troisieme,
c'est
le
but,
hate
tragique
sans embarrasser
vers
se
cision
d'habiles
de
menageoiseuses,
marche
preparations
sa
Chevalerie
Cette
de
savantes.
complications
ments,
d'honneur
le
Point
villac'est
proprement
rustique,
et
ois: comment ils aiment, comment ils trahissent
eq
ä
brutalement,
brusquement,
ils
se vengent;
comment
Tous cela, sans la partition,
brüle-pourpoint...
sans
les hors
d'oeuvre obligatoires:
serenade, priere,
de
du
choeur
charretier,
couplets
scene religieuse,
buveurs, - remplirait
vingt minutes ä peine, et voiindiscretes...
lä qui coupe court aux questions
pour
40
du musicien.
le plus grand profit
to strike indiscrimidid not miss the opportunity
d'Italie
'Certes,
pas
nous n'attendions
composers:
the ItaloA few days later,
bien dcrite'.
ddlicate,
The French critic
nately at Italian
une partition
phile and influential
Camille Bellaigue,
67
reviewing
Cavalleria
for
the Revue des Deux Mondes (1 February 1892), admitted that Mascagni's
durement
le
tres
'froidement
been
had
public et
par
received
opera
par la critique',
and picked
at his
country's
chauvinism:
bloc la premiere oeuvre d'un
en
on
a
condamne
...
ecolier,
chefs d'oeuet remontant de lä jusqu'aux
1'ecole
italienne
tout envre des. maitres,
c'est
tiere
et
qu'une fois de plus a paru meconnaitre
Voila ce qu'il
calomnier.
ne faut pas faire.
And Bellaigue
quoted the latest
composer,
of his favourite
He
Verdi's Otello, as an example of vitality
in the Italian
school.
Like
also gave a more objective and analytic evaluation of Cavalleria.
Colautti,
he pointed out the musical reminiscences (Gounod, Bizet,
masterpiece
harmony, rhythm and instrumentation,
he criticized
and singled out as bad items: 'La tres vulgaire chanson du charretier,
l'oiseuse et banale priere oü se rencontrent le Massenet du Roi
....
La chande Lahore et l'Adam du trop fameux Noel... l'intermezzo,....
Massenet, Verdi);
son ä boire,
connaitre:
frangaises ne pouvaient pas ne pas reoü des oreilles
But then Bellaigue illustrated
the
J'ai du bon tabac'.
intensity
Mascagni
by
of expression and
achieved
which
sparing means
('Je l'aime,
dramatic effectiveness in such pieces as the "Siciliana"
la
de
tache
tragique,
pour
populaire,
son
parfum
pour
cette serenade
fait
sang qu'elle
('d'une
stornello
au seuil
du drame'),
Santuzza's
romanza, Lola's
A
toscane').
special mention was
allure
gentille
de
('Autant
de
Santuzza/Lucia
dialogue
autant
the
questions,
made of
detresse
d'une
dune
humilite,
qui attendrit'),
phrases expressives,
quoted the authoritative
and to support his view, Bellaigue
of Eduard Hanslick:
opinion
d'un de nos conNous partageons absolument l'avis
M. Hanslick,
freres allemands, et non des plus petits,
ecrivait
ä
"Dann
tout
Cavalleria:
de
cet
propos
qui
les
declarer
parties
excellentes
on
opera
pourrait
de conversation musicale, de dialogue anime41plutöt
dit".
les
le
proprement
chants
ou
chant
que
In this
way, two of the major music critics
in Europe specifically
parts of Mascagni's opera, sorting
acknowledged the truly veristic
them out from the 'bruit'
of the melodrama.
Most other reviewers, in Italy and elsewhere,
minimizing the novelty of the opera and the grossly
68
were too busy
overstated im-
portance of Mascagni as an innovator
or, even worse, as the successor
The major literary
journal
in Italy,
Nuova Antologia,
of Verdi.
was
in slashing
the exaggerated enthusiasm aroused by Cavalconsistent
leria.
One exception
was the first
review of the opera (Nuova Antologia,
1 June 1890),
of the selecting
by Francesco
written
D'Arcais
who was a member
of the Sonzogno Competition.
committee
Alfio's
negative
comments concerned
and the duet Santuzza/Alfio,
song,
'il
piü
The only
scadente
pezzo',
disproportionwhich D'Arcais
considered
At the end of 1891, the music critic
ately long.
the
of the journal,
Girolamo A. Biaggi stated drily:
old conservative
e quegli scrit.. non siamo per nulla con que' critici
tori
(un'opera
Rusticana
che per la Cavalleria
di un
bellissimo,
solo atto,
e non tutto
ne bello,
ne lodeil Mascagni un grande, un
dissero
vole, per giunta)
di proclamarlo
sommo, un genio, e non dubitarono
continuatore
e successore del piü ill4ýtre
compositore
del Verdi ne piü ne meno.
vivente,
A similar
caratteri
Ippolito
del
musicali
Valetta
and, like
tore'
for
opinion
can be found at the end of an article
on "I
(Nuova Antologia,
Falstaff"
15 June 1893) by
who defined
Bellaigue,
Mascagni
indicated
as 'un avventurato
Verdi
improvvisa-
as a 'luminoso
esempio'
everybody.
In Britain,
19 October,
bury Theatre,
brothers
Ricci's
more or less
where Cavalleria
the same: popular
In those
the witty
reviews
Mascagni's
with
comic opera Crispino
caution.
what he wrote
paired
arrived
after
years,
a condensed version
e la comare),
enthusiasm
a London weekly,
of an exceptional
the mild
in 1891 (London,
of the
the response
The World,
benefited
G. B. Shaw.
had partially
from
This
disappointed
fans:
I was not taken in by Cavalleria;
and now that everybody finds L'Amico Fritz
deficient
in firstobviously
I am in
rate promise and first-rate
accomplishment,
the pleasing
position
of being able to say, "I told
Let us therefore
you so".
clear the discussion
of all
nonsense about genius of the highest order,
and of the
ridiculous
comparisons with Verdi and Wagner which were
last year, and give Mascagni fair
rife
play as an interesting
talent,
young composer with a vigourous
and
it,
plenty of courage in asserting
ourcongratulating
selves meanwhile on the fact that Bellini
has at last
69
was
checked by the critics'
music critic,
Amico Fritz
Shaftes-
is
found a disciple,
4d
master.
In the early
years
the veristic
against
by new literary
in opera
Mascagni's
trends,
to his
as the critical
of our century,
fashion
inferior
and Verga's
tide
art
rose
was eclipsed
Cavalleria
faring
was still
well.
of the opera in Paris,
under the direction
of the author,
in the Revue Politigue
(28 January
an article
et Littdraire
A revival
prompted
1905) on "Pietro
Mascagni
Bouyer which exhibits
review
one far
albeit
la Jeune Italie
et
a remarkably
in the same journal.
Wagner's
influence,
Musicale"
different
from the 1892
attitude
In the progressive
argued the author,
by Raymond
from
emancipation
two tendencies
had emerged,
and naturalism,
which might also be identified
as Debussysme and Mascagnisme (! ), and, with ease and little
sense of proBouyer juxtaposed
'le novateur de Pelleas et Melisande'
to
portion,
'le novateur de Cavalleria
Rusticana':
symbolism
Debussy, nest-ce
pas l'extreme
reve, ultima Thule?
Le mystere quasi muet des nuits sans etoiles
ou 1'etrange murmure des jours neigeux?
L'equivalent
musical des nocturnes ebauches par James Whistler?......
Mascagni, c'est
le jour criard,
la lumiere crue, sans
demiteintes;
la vie latine
c'est
qui reprend conscienle document qui
ce en face de la feerie
germanique,
veut reagir contre le symbole, le Midi qui lutte sourdement contre le Nord, sous couleur de continuer ses innovations.
But Bouyer's
pictorial
ly concerned
the subject
for
was appreciated
esqueness ('Le
tique
jeune
vallo
qui
ce qui
hative'),
haletants
which,
(Iles
le Paillasse
Bouyer concluded
suffit
and played
off
that
70
ce drame rus-
we find
again
the usual
according
sous la trame
charges
de l'un,
to Bouyer,
of
was influendes Leonca-
la Tosca de l'autre,
sans avenir
'tranche
against
ininter-
denigration
de Boheme paral leles
'la
d'or
beaucoup de reminiscences,
travestis
Mascagni
and pictur-
drape dans le plis
et superficiels,...
surprisingly,
plus',
Vies
dramatique'
sensualism
and the indiscriminate
musicale',
Mascagnisme'
'etude
actual-
Italien
du bruit,
adroitement
of Mascagni
ä propos
rehausse
le verisme
de l'entrain,
et des Puccini,
ouvrages
healthy
conciseness,
des airs,
Italie
ced by 'le
Verga's
As to the music,
rompue de l'action
'la
of Cavalleria;
voilä
de la jalousie,
des choeurs,
definition
its
decor,
du soleil
natal').
('De la facilite,
and atmospheric
et sans art').
de vie'
D'Annunzio
Not
ne nous
whose fame
had crossed the Alps and had comfortably
settled
in France:
Diversement latins,
Pietro Mascagni et Gabriele D'Annunzio peignent tous deux la Vie sans bannir le pasFrance artiste
tiche;
toumais la nouvelle
preferera
jours celui-ci,...
D'Annunzio nous attire
beaucoup en
nous effrayant
un peu, par sa hauteur d'aristocrate
par sa nature de Parnassien frenetique..
et de lettre,
Mascagni apparalt
et plus simple; mais
plus populaire
il ne suggere pas cette subtilite
dans la sensualite,
dans la passion;
son ideal borne ne
cette distinction
egoisme ou de
promet point ces caresses de voluptueux
beaute fatale;
sa muse plus honnete ignore ces perversites de sirene;
Italy was actually
If France preferred the 'perverse sir6ne',
Verga's austere
raving about the exquisite and exuberant Gabriele.
and his best-selling
art had never been 'popular'
and pessimistic
had often been appreciated for the wrong reasons as was the
On his 80th birthday,
L'Illustracase with Cavalleria Rusticana.
(29
1920)
August
dedicated
issue
the
to the
Italiana
entire
zione
stories
novelist,
pointed
and G.A. Borgese, in an article
out the superficial
understanding
on "La Fortuna di Verga",
of that play:
Cavalleria Rusticana e, senza contrasto,
un capolaMa
voro; e, sebbene sia un capolavoro, e popolare.
di materia e d'argoE' popolaritä
non c'illudiamo.
il
di
bellezza
d'arte.
Quella
e
novella
non
mento,
drammaincui fu allargata
piacquero per sbaglio....
In Cavalleria Rusticana si bearono del pittoresco.
C'era un po' di Sicilia
barbara, folk-lore,
usi e
costumi, fichi d'India e coltelli.
of
could be added to Borgese's words that the melodramatization
the play not only strengthened the 'wrong' factors in the popularity
It
but added a further bias against a full and correct apThe awareness of that was a source of reof Verga's art.
preciation
in his last years.
sentment for the novelist
After Verga's death (27 January 1922), in a celebrative
article
of the story,
published
in Nuova Antologia
(1 April
1922), Francesco Paolo Mule re-
he had paid to Verga in Catania some ten years earlier
outburst of the novelist
about Cavalleria:
and quoted a bitter
called
a visit
Una volta,
chiedendogli
the Cosa preparasse...
insolitamente,
buiö e uscl,
in queste parole:
71
si rabPer
chi
-
dovrei scrivere?
Di ciö che ho scritto
sopravvive
la Cavalleria
Rusticana,
soltanto
ne per virtü
mia,
Mascagni.
Le porto,
ma di Pietro
quelle paginette,
come un cappio al collo.
Amarezza, ma dignitosa,
indulgente.
rassegnata,
A few months later,
Verga was also remembered by the Revue des
Deux Mondes (15 October 1922) with a perceptive
article
significantly entitled
let,
"L'Auteur
opened his
de Cavalleria
Rusticana".
Its
author,
that
of Verga's works regretting
of the opera had overshadowed the novelist's
popularity
survey
Louis
Gil-
the tremendous
name:
de Cavalleria
Rien nest
plus cdl8bre que l'opera
Depuis plus de vingt-cinq
Rusticana.
ans, dans
du monde, cette musique brutoutes les capitales
le nom de Mascagni, et l'aventale a popularize
de Turiddu Macca et de Santuzza
ture tragique
des amants immortels,
au repertoire
s'est jointe
ä cöte de l'histoire
de Manon Lescaut et de Carmen. Mais le roman de l'abbe Prevost continue
de vivre au dehors de la musique de Massenet, et
1'eclatant
de Bizet n'a pas fait
talent
oublier
Au contraire,
la gloire
de Merimee.
combien d'aude Cavalleria
diteurs
connaissent,
au moins a 1'ele nom de Giovanni Verga?
tranger,
for confusing the
In 1894 Eduardo Boutet had no justification
libretto
of Cavalleria with the text of the play: how much more re1928,
late
happen,
to so experienced
this
that
as
should
as
markable
the
ignorance
it
Lawrence!
Whether
D.
H.
of
complete
was
as
a writer
had
for
fact
he
that
took
the
simply asothers
granted
what
opera or
to his own
sumed as possible, Lawrence concluded the introduction
translation
credible
of Cavalleria
Rusticana
and Other stories
with this
in-
statement:
Everybody knows, of course, that Verga made a
Rusticana,
dramatized
and
version of Cavalleria
is the libretto
that this dramatized
of
version
little
the ever-popular
opera of the same name.
So that Mascagni's
feeble music has gone
rather
to immortalize
a man like Verga, whose only popular claim to fame is that he wrote the aforeBut that is fame's fault,
not
said libretto.
44
Verga's.
Although Verga's
'popularity'
had been vindicated
by Luigi
to come, his claim to fame
was still
Russo with a fundamental essay (Giovan-
72
ni Verga,
Napoli,
narratore
(Palermo,
Mastro-don
1920),
1923).
Gesualdo,
in accepting
ed, the operatic
ity
critical
Yet,
of Mascagni's
1963),
John W. Klein
'for
reversed,
to open hostility
tinged
dignity
ity
with
in Verga's
times,
Mascagni
even contempt,
and even gratitude.
recollection
'
long
part
into
meeting
with
to
position
between novel-
in the end, completely
was gradually
musician
something
popular-
One example will
(Music and Letters,
whereas Verga's
At the end of his
of his
and not particular-
Verga"
were,
an 'obscure'
subsides
to the biographical'
in the relationship
positions
for
as Verga is concern-
distorted.
on Mascagni's
condescension
Campi and
the controversial
and Giovanni
that,
claims
and
on Verga
more cautious
caused Verga's
evidence
the initial
and, finally,
F. P. Mule's
as far
be relegated
should
even in recent
veneration
dei
have been at least
perspective,
and factual
and composer,
of Vita
opera has occasionally
In "Pietro
suffice.
study
attribution.
incident
as an unfortunate
be misrepresented
ist
Lawrence might
adaptation
ly happy life.
by A. Momigliano's
As a translator
such an arbitrary
In a correct
notes
followed
closely
article,
turned
initial
in-
sympathy
becomes outraged
akin
to humil-
Klein
misquotes
Verga (see above)
and
concludes:
Verga was beginning to recognize that his strange
with Mascagni had been, after all, the
relationship
one supreme stroke of good luck in a somewhat harasan almost ideal partnership that
sed existence....
had benefited both men beyond their wildest expectations....
far from being 'ideal',
did,
On the contrary,
the 'partnership',
in fact, damage both men: after his first
sensational success, Mascagni
remained forever a one-opera composer, though some of his later works
(Ratcliff,
Iris) would testify
Verto a richer and finer personality;
dragged into the controversy about operatic veriga was unwittingly
smo and often blamed for 'faults'
excess, pictures- sensationalism,
queness - which were none of his own.
As for Mascagni's 'contempt',
an episode related by an eye-witthe composer's last word on his 'strange
ness hands down to posterity
It was the spring of 1922, two monrelationship'
with the novelist.
ths after Verga's death. Mascagni was travelling
to Catania to conduct I1 Piccolo Marat at the Teatro Bellini.
Giuseppe Patane and
73
some friends
on the last
late
went to meet the composer at Messina to keep him company
The conversation
touched on the
stretch
of his journey.
novelist
and Mascagni expressed his sincere regret
at not having
been able to make it
up to Verga:
Ci domandb, a un certo momento: "E Verga? Lo cercai
E quante volte mi
sempre nei miei viaggi
a Catania.
domandai: - Se andassi a sonare il campanello di casa sua... Perche non potremmo essere amici, Verga ed
io? " Ne era crucciato,
mentre guardava
attraverso
il finestrino
la riviera
di Acitrezza
e il treno scendeva tra gli agrumeti,
della mariverso le ciminiere
La evocazione era sincera;
il rimpianna di Catania.
le amicizie. 45
Altri
tempi. Difficili,
to, vivo.
In his
ship'
age, Mascagni
old
Verga as yet
with
bed by Italy's
another
on reactionary
entrenched
Mascagni found
little
of his most popular
("Il
cinquantenario
ignored
positions
for
reason
della
he wrote
and music
for
in general,
anniversary
the Nuova Antologia
in musics",
Rusticana
Snub-
by the critics,
on the fiftieth
rejoicing
Cavalleria
'partner-
and grudge.
or censured
about opera
An article
work.
of bitterness
source
composers,
younger
his youthful
came to consider
16 January
1940) is full
reminiscences
and acrimonious
comments on
of nostalgic
(for not including
his operas in their
directors
season pro-
artistic
Cavalleria
Verga's
from
made
was
to authorize
felt
article,
'il
that
ii
siastic
bel filme'.
Isa Poli,
use of
'splendid
of Verga's
his
work better
resentment,
hatred
for
popular
his
than
Mascagni
'poor'
quoted
Cortese,
Carlo
as befitting
'worn
about
put
societä
(featuring
detecting
in the unsympathetic
in
contamihad enthu-
first-rate
and welcomed the
character
46
In
formulas'.
a long-nourished
reviewer:
Per Dio!
Che razza di milza debbono avere i redatdel Mattino di Napoli se per cinquant'anni
tori
si
corpo
in
tenuti
tanto odio per la mia povera
son
74
it
the original
out melodramatic
a Nea-
produttrice
by Mascagni
Ninchi),
'for
refused
the avrebbe
and the film
over-reacted,
opera
della
Cavalleria
review
story
music'
asked Mascagni
as Mascagni
claimed,
d'onore
titolo
The Mattino
Leonardo
the producer
but then he complained
which
maggior
In 1939 a film
reviewers.
The composer firmly
music.
reasons';
comments on Verga's
artists:
which
la musica della
t di non aver voluto
nato
for
I1 Mattino,
newspaper,
politan
his
the use of his
and deeply
personal
and even film
critics
grammes), malevolent
in questo moCavalleria
e si sono sfogati
proprio
mento in cui qualche anima buona e generosa intende
antipatica
commemorare una data che non pub riuscire
al nostro popolo.
And people would still
acclaim Mascagni as the author of Cavalleria
when he conducted anniversary performances of his opera in Rome
(Teatro dell'Opera,
5 March 1940), Milan (La Scala, 12 April 1940)
had
1929,
Accademia
d'Italia
Mussolini's
In
in
theatres.
and
other
in the company
welcomed the composer as a member and vice-president,
of Umberto Giordano and Lorenzo Perosi.
75
Chapter 3
VERGA AND CAPUANAAS LIBRETTISTS
1.
Puccini
and La Lupa:
Chronicle
of an Abortive
Project
The project
between Verga and Puccini goes back
of collaboration
to 1891, in the wake of the ever-growing
popularity
of Mascagni's CaThe publisher
Rusticana.
valleria
man as well
as a refined
after
all,
promote,
and, wishing
to beat
Verga in order
and have it
At that
zogno and Mascagni over
leria
ize the arrogant
ing himself
Verdi's
with
with
was to go smoothly
but it
cerned,
Europe,
a finer
he undertook
as far
with
desolate
fields
and scorched
glorious'House
from Vita
story
musician
to
with
SonCaval-
earnings
too happy to antagoncomposer by provid-
and Verga signed
of the fatal
and colla-
The project
and Ricordi
irresoluteness
of
a contract
the story
versification.
the agonizing
Campi
to Puccini.
under the auspices
to dramatize
the character
dei
in the controversy
and was only
in its
opera
a verismo
Sonzogno at his.. own game, he
as the two colleagues
soon met with
when he came to grips
his
and the ungrateful
De Roberto
Federico
that
share of the substantial
for
by which
a shrewd.. business-
to be offered
La Lupa was chosen,
publisher.
borate
his
entrepreneur
a libretto
Ricordi
rival
to choose another
over
all
was reaping
his
Verga was involved
time,
for
thing
a libretto
into
turned
Ricordi,
realized
connoisseur,
a disreputable
was not,
contacted
Giulio
were conof Puccini
woman from the
of Sicily.
and second thoughts are well documented
by the correspondence between Verga and De Roberto on one side, and
Puccini and Ricordi on the other, covering a large part (14 April
Negotiations,
decisions
1893-13 July 1894) of the delicate transition
phase, in the composer's
(Turin,
Manon
Teatro
from
Lescaut
the
success
of
great
production,
Regio, 1 February 1893) to the composition of La Boheme. The proof La Lupa and Bohemewere carried on simultaneously for some
time until Puccini decided to drop the former and completed Murger's
jects
"Scenes" in December 1895.
as he was with the lengthy and unpredictable
process
of an opera, Verga set himself to work and, by the end of
Unfamiliar
of creation
76
1891, he finished
the first
draft
Meanof his "Scene drammatiche".
while, Ricordi was shopping around for more options to store up for
his favourite
composer. On 13 January 1892, Verga wrote to De Roberto
somewhat resentfully:
I1 Commendatore [Ricordi]
a piü fine the mai. Non
solo non so piü nulla dells Lupa, ma so the ha acdi trarre un libretto
dalla
quistato it diritto
Tosca pel Puccini...
(Verga-De Roberto-Capuana, p. 124)1
During 1892, while Verga and De Roberto worked on the libretto,
Puccini was entirely
taken by the composition of Manon Lescaut, comThen came the premiere of the opera in February
pleted in October.
1893, so it was not until the spring that Verga could inform De Roberto that contacts
friend:
had been resumed.
On 14 April
1893 he wrote to his
Puccini mi ha scritto
the delle modificazioni
the
desidera alla Lupa ne parleremo al mio ritorno a
Milano, in giugno, e the adesso sta musicando la
Boheme.
(Verga-De
Roberto-Capuana,
p. 28)
As time passed, Verga's scepticism about Puccini's willingness
On the other hand, the changes requirto set his play grew stronger.
ed by the composer already betrayed his uneasiness with Vergas artisAfter
Ricordi, the novelist
a meeting with the solicitous
reported his impressions to De Roberto and expressed his conviction
that they were wasting time with Puccini:
tic
world.
Tabiano,
15 luglio
1893
Sono stato dal Commendatore... mi ha chiesto qualla
che mutamento al libretto
meno
proverbi,
e
parte di Maricchia allargata
e resa piü tenera
Risposi si sul primo punto, ma
nel 20 atto.
quanto al secondo, se Maricchia al 20 atto non e
finisce
il dramma. E Rigelosa e non si ribella
Ad ogni modo siccome qualche
cordi ne conviene.
piccola modificazione volevo giä fare al taglio
delle scene, promisi di occuparmene qui, e di conMa intanto gli
certare poi al ritorno con lui.
dissi il fatto mio. Son persuaso che Puccini non
sente quel dramma, e che perderemo il tempo inutilmente con lui.
(Verga-De
Roberto-Capuana,
77
p. 125)
Ricordi
he and Verga would corner
that
promised
e non vuole",
and force
the meantime,
Puccini
the opera at La Scala
Puccini's
interest
in February
he was still
Londonin
May),
In April
the correspondence
frequent
as the novelist
travelling
and pestering
on to the premiere
following
In the four
of
months,
with
Luigi
momentum,
up a certain
Manon Lescaut (Budapest in March,
Illica
of Boheme.
about the libretto
between Verga and De Roberto
became more
came under pressure from the volatile
composQ.
Verga had gone a long way
0h( his willingness
to make "qualche
piccola
modificazione...
pletely
rearranged
original
April
1894.
ever more tri-
supervising
leading
In
all.
in La Lupa seemed to pick
although
er.
extensively
of Manon Lescaut
umphant performances
mind once and for
him to make up his
travelled
"che vuole
Puccini,
his
al taglio
first
draft
play led to a completely
1894 Verga wrote from Milan
ni da fare
al libretto"
delle
scene".
of La Lupa.
new layout
impatience
in fact,
com-
The new form of the
of the
to De Roberto
and Puccini's
He had,
libretto.
about
"le
On 7
modificazio-
to start:
Prima di tutto datti la pena di leggere attentanella
mente il manoscritto del dramma originario,
nuova forma che ho voluto dargli e che sembrami
d'assai preferibile
alla prima .... Confronta poi
il
libretto
nuovo schema di
the ti unisco al vecraccapezzarti
chio, e dopo un pol ti sari facile
sui brani da omettere e sulle aggiunte da fare...
Per le trasposizioni
ti sari di norma lo schema
i
mio... Nel nuovo cerca di variare
al possibile
Per
metri,
come dice il Puccini.
e farli
rotti,
di
ha
furia
accontentarlo,
adesso
se vuoi, giacche
cominciare,
potresti
mandarmi di mano in mano ciascuna scena, a misura che ti esce dalla penna.
(Verga-De Roberto-Capuana, p. 126)
So, each successive stage in the elaboration of the play was motivatinto
a feasible
ed and largely conditioned by its parallel
conversion
libretto
for Puccini.
It is also clear from this letter that De
limited to the versificaRoberto's part in the project was strictly
of the material elaborated or altered by Verga. Less than a
by De Roberto, Verga put more pressure
answering a letter
week later,
on his collaborator
who shared his own scepticism about Puccini's
real intentions:
tion
Milano, 13 Aprile '94
Puccini.
to ci devo credere a forza adesso, perchb
mi ha messo in stato di assedio, e viene alle 9 di
78
Ci credo
mattina a chiedere se hai mandato nulla.
tanto che mi son messo a lavorarvi
intorno,...
Dunque fa presto, e manda quello che hai fatto,
magari
di scena in scena, subito.
Toglimi quest'incubo.
(Verga-De Roberto-Capuana, p. 127)
As to the final
outcome of their joint venture, in case Puccini should
drop out, Verga stated, in the same letter,
his firm intention
to go
ahead with the play and get it performed anyway, even before the opera:
impegnarmi...
far
non
voglio
a
non
rappresentare
...
il mio dramma prima che vada in scena l'opera.
AnI mutamenti
zi, farö il possibile per darlo prima.
li ho fatti
e stavo per dire gli abbellimenti
al mio
lavoro a questo scopo, e non vorrei farli
seppellire
sotto il pan-pan della musica.
By this
pi
time,
had acquired
the dramatization
importance
of the author,
merits
and artistic
such as to make him wish that
the pan-pan
ated without
of the story
of the music,
from Vita
its
of
they
Cam-
own in the eyes
be appreci-
should
Puccini's
whether
dei
or anyone
Anyway, in a third
in the month
letter
to De Roberto, later
else's.
(28 April
1894), Verga, about to leave Milan for Catania,
confirmed
that
things
were going
smoothly:
il Puccini va via anche lui in Toscana, e siamo
...
perfettamente intesi con lui e il Ricordi sul da
fare.... Stavolta la cosa sembra the vada seriamente.
(Verga-De Roberto-Capuana, p. 128)
Verga was to get together
De Roberto
with
and work on the
in Catania
second act of La Lupa and the revision
of the first.
sion of the libretto
would then be sent to Ricordi.
er's
quarters
right
way.
at Torre
With his
was constantly
del
Lago,
half-hearted
in touch
by a postcard
ing during
they
the
"Latin
things
sent
had discussed
for
to
In the composLa Lupa,
in Milan
the second tableau
after
Torre del Lago, 9 giugno 1894
Avrai veduto Ricordi
79
e gli
His
a meet-
of the opera,
Quarter":
Caro Gigi,
grazie tua letters.
the
Puccini
of Boheme.
the libretto
Illica
ver-
were not going
towards
attitude
Illica
with
mood is revealed
which
however,
The final
Pensa al finale
avrai comunicato trovata latina.
lo per ora lupeggio.
e all'ultimo.
The curious
sort
neologism
that
suggests
of amusing experiment
rather
the composition
than
the end of that
month,
Sicily
to see Verga in Catania
in order
libretto
local
him.
with
gate Sicilian
the natural
folklore.
habitat
ic transfiguration
towards
He also
take
atmosphere,
further
Puccini
wanted to familiarize
concessions
of La Lupa until
after
the
with
places,
investi-
realization
of
sensed behind
the artist-
than Verga's
reluctance
no less
on the text,
of the
himself
must have been the full
that
finally
convinced the
VQ
i ofký
tt
-o rv Wf
del Lago, he wrote an apo-
He
composer to drop the project.
ka1t but
to Torre
as soon as he returned
logetic
letter
to Ricordi
in which he motivated
the composition
details
of characteristic
of the libretto,
by
to go down to
and discuss
of La Lupa, previously
Yet,
pursuit.
decided
unexpectedly
photographs
It
a serious
of La Lupa was a
his
decision
the performance
to delay
of Verga's
play:
Dopo ritornato
dalla Sicilia
e dopo le conferenze
La Lupa le
con Verga, invece di essere animato-per
dubbi mi hanno assalito
confesso che mille
e mi fanla decisione
no decidere a temporeggiare
di musicarlo sino all'andata
in scena del dramma. Le ragioni
del libretto
sono "la dialogicitä"
spinta al massimo grado, i"caratteri
antipatici,
senza una sola
figura
luminosa,
Speravo
simpatica,
che campeggi.
che Verga mi mettesse piü in luce e considerazione
il personaggio
di Mara, ma ý stato impossibile
dato l'impianto
del dramma... Solo t il tempo perduto
che mi accuora, ma lo riprenderb
buttandomi
a Bohýme
il
a corpo morto. .. Per La Lupa e meglio attendere
3
il
darä del dramma.
giudizio
che
pubblico
According to Puccini's
friends
and early
biographers,
Guido
Marotti
and Ferruccio Pagni, a chance meeting on board the ship which
took the composer back to Livorno from Sicily may have had some in4
fluence on his decision to drop La Lupa.
During the voyage he made
the acquaintance of Wagner's stepdaughter, Countess Blandine Gravina,
the second child of Cosima Liszt and Hans von Billow. In the conversation, Puccini was questioned about his projects and he mentioned La
Lupa, much to the horror of the distinguished
lady who reportedly
urged him to give it up: "Guardatevene, maestro: vi porterebbe dis-
80
Mischiare-la
grazia!
gue, con quello
di lussuria
e di sanmusica a un fatto
della processione! " Be as it may,
religioso
vostra
sfondo
his
the composer would never risk
From that
ture
and Giacosa
on a subject
he found
on the public.
of definiV
the struc(with
became
Puccini's
La
Boheme
sole occupation
of
5
as his victims
and Rico rdi as their moderator).
moment the excruciating
and incidents
Illica
to be tested
and which was yet
uncongenial
reputation
process
As to Verga, he returned to Milan in Augus. 1894 and, still
unaware
of the latest turn in his operatic venture, he announced the completion of his play in an interview given to the young writer Ugo OjetIt was not until December 1895 that Puccini completed La Boheme
and, by a curious coincidence, the two works were premiered in the
same city, Turin, within days of each other: the opera at the Teatro
ti.
Regio on 1 February, La Lupa at the Teatro Gerbino on 26 January 1896.
Neither Puccini nor Ricordi ever informed Verga or De Roberto that
Verga's growing disillusionment
their project was definitely
off.
is documented by a letter
he complains
to De Roberto,
about Puccini's
dated 25 June 1895,
in which
elusiveness:
fatto e non
it
Puccini
ha
vedo
anch'io
the
non
..
farä mai nulla per la Lupa. Ma perche non parlar
chiaro e confessare the non a nelle sue corde?
[e]
Ho riletto
it contratto,
sino al
e visto the
giugno dell'anno venturo not dobbiamo aspettare
it buon estro the non gli verrä mai. E cos! sia.
(Versa-De Roberto-Capuana, p. 29)
The contract
libretto
by Verga with
signed
the exclusive
Fortunately
the play
text.
As pressure
mounted for
audience,
Verga realized
could
that
four
years
of the publishing
property
1896.
Ricordi
before
June
house until
go ahead independently
his
made the
second confrontation
the chances of seeing
of its
with
twin
a Turin
La Lupa as an ope-
His last letter
to De Roberto on the matter was writra were now nil.
ten from Turin on 16 January 1896, a few days before the opening night
of the play.
Almost
with
relief,
Verga informed
his
friend:
Giacosa e stato a Parigi per combinare con Sardou,
d'incarico
di Ricordi, circa la Tosca, the deve ese
sere versificata
e ridotta
per musics da Illica
e
Giacosa, e musicata dal Puccini.
I1 contratto
fissato,
e addio Lupa di conseguenza. to concludo
the tutto il male non viene per nuocere, poiche il
Puccini non la sentiva - non dico non se la sentiva.
(Verga-De Roberto-Capuana, p. 130)
81
sense of the
and his unfailing
led him to keep clear of
tastes and moods of the public had finally
Verga's uneven drama of lust and incest only to fall,
within a few
years, into the coils of Sardou's gruesome melodrama of sex and sadism.
Puccini's
In 1895 Ricordi
his
colleague's
grounds
of its
libretto
candidates
play
instinct
theatrical
offered
declared
La Lupa to Mascagni who, well
aversion
monotony and lack
of La Lupa was still
the libretto,
refused it on the
6
As late as 1908 the
of lyricism.
for
waiting
for
seemed to be coming from France
had in the meantime been performed.
mentioned
in aletter
Verga wrote
aware of
a composer,
and the only
and Germany where Verga's
Two foreign
to Dina di Sordevolo
librettists
are
on 25 January
1908:
infatti,
Da Parigi
dopo la Lupa mi scrive Cain ii
librettista
della Cabrera, se non erro, o dell'altra opera premiata dal concorso Sonzogno, e librettista
pure di altre
opere di Massenet, per chiedermi
di collaborare
della stessa Lupa per
a un libretto
un giovane maestro francese 1. o premio di Roma. Anche l'Eisenschitz
mi scrive nello stesso senso per
e
Io rispondo the it libretto
un maestro tedesco.
di tradurlo,
se mai,
giä fatto
e si potrebbe parlare
ma intanto
passo le due lettere
a Ricordi
per decidere; poiche non a giusto the se il libretto
non sia
robs pel dente di Puccini,
non possa giovare ad al7
tri.
Some time later,
the libretto
composer,
was set by a modest Sicilian
8
La
The "Tragedia lirica"
Pierantonio Tasca from Noto (Siracusa).
Lupa may have been written around 1910, not later than 1915 (March
7), the date of a letter
by Verga to Dina di Sordevolo who must have
inquired about Tasca's opera; Verga answered:
La Lupa e stata musicata infatti
dal maestro Tasca
di Noto, ma non potevo parlarvene perche sinora maldel Maestro, nessun Teatro ha
grado ogni tentativo
accettato di darla, e il successo di cui vi parlö
vostra cognata deve essere stato un successo di piain audizione privata,
noforte soltanto,
purtroppo.
(Verga-De Roberto-Capuana, p. 29)
succeeded in having his opera performed at the Teatro
Massimo of Palermo in May 1919, with Elvira Magliulo in the title
role, but it all came to nothing because the composer was dissatis-
Tasca nearly
82
fied
with the general standard of the rehearsals
and withdrew his ope9
It
A libretto
for that occasion.
ra at the last minute.
was printed
was not until
in Noto,
premiered
open-air
1932, two years
theatre
thanks
Tasca's
to the generosity
of the Littoriale,
of the libretto
new edition
before
with
was published
death,
that
of a local
the opera was
patron,
in the
Giulia
Tess as la Lupa.
(Rosario Caruso, Noto,
A
1932)
and the first
audience
performance on 21 August was acclaimed by a sympathetic
from every corner of the island.
The sucof 10,000 Sicilians
cess was renewed on two more nights,
di Sicilia,
retto
2.
and the Catania
of the event with
10
of the opera.
gave ample coverage
and favourable
The short story,
reviews
the play and the libretto
daily,
articles
Il
Popolo
on the
lib-
of La Lupa
Between the story and the play of Cavalleria Rusticana there are
less than four years, whereas the play and the libretto
of La Lupa
10
over
years after the publication
written
of the short story.
were
At the time of the dramatization
the concessions made
of Cavalleria,
few:
by the author to the requirements of the stage were relatively
more edge to the sentimental contrast between Santuzza and Turiddu,
to provide a social background
of the chorus of villagers
and adequate response to the main action, toning down of the economic
The basic ingredients
component in the psychology of the characters.
freshinto
their
the
the
exotic
story
original
of
passed
play with all
introduction
As such they were underof an avantgarde piece.
stood and appreciated by the public at large, while the specialists,
like Giacosa, admired the vividness of the dialogues and the quick
ness and the novelty
and atonement were impressively portrayed
pace at which transgression
in the nine "Scene popolari".
In the intervening years Verga had to realize the nature and
limits of the success of Cavalleria,
and the fiasco of In portineria
(1885) was to strengthen his mistrust in the theatre as an art form
his
This brought to a standstill
as well as in actors and audiences.
for the theatre which, besides the "Scene popoproject of a trilogy
dealing with the Milanese urban
lari siciliane",
and In portineria
83
proletariat,
was to include a play set in an upper class environment.
At the time'of
the first
performance of La Lupa his mood was one of
Writing
to the playwright
Sabatino Lopez
regret and apprehension.
about the rehearsals
in Turin,
of the play
Verga expressed
his
own
anxiety:
ho una paura puttana,
1'uvi
confesso
che
visto
...
more del pubblico...
e i precedenti
che mi ha lasciati il successo morboso della Cavalleria,
che mi e riY-1
masto sullo stomaco.
Since the
project
'morbid'
success
of reforming
the
ic theories
applied
and theatre
critic
tion
in his
Felice
to prove
"coi
fatti,
was finally
plot
lection
14
91).
cises
of bourgeois
As usual,
for
Verga's
had started
of the
last
short
After
dealing
of La Lupa,
dramatization
of Vita
dei
That
largely
of La Lu a, discussed
with
the objective
interview
completion
the theatre,
with
of the trilogy
opened by
del
providing
the
in the new col(18d'Arce
capitano
in a way, preparatory
Gesualdo
of the
novel
a return
and consequently
to cope with
although
Verga
of the Defeated",
The
aristocracy.
represented
scale
(1889),
exer-
"Cycle
the Sicilian
the substantial
below,
how
of the public's
Mastro-don
with
adapted
for
accounts
e le chiacchiere"
Campi at a time when Verga's
were being
in
experiments
and the story
were,
therefore,
moving upwards in the social
and language
his
regardless
I ricordi
on the third
La Duchessa di Leyra,
at the same time
as "Dramma intimo",
stories
novels.
play
in 1890,
stories
the short
working
ly verismo
be pursued,
he reiterated
while
with
teorie
should
was included,
and characters
But,
to continue
dropped
aesthet-
of the theatre
as 1884,
as early
pits the colle
of the theatre
13
The writing
response.
of the
inferiority
the novel.
with
to Zola
a renewal
Cavalleria
intrinsic
determination
his
in the light
his
In a letter
to his friend
works.
in 1888, he described
that inten-
Cameroni,
expressed
already
Verga had reconsidered
theatre
narrative
form in comparison
Verga stressed
order
Italian
because of the
as a 'whim'
as an art
ideas
of Cavalleria,
interests
his
a different
alterations
Verga implicitly
to the ear-
style,
were
imagery
subject-matter.
in the character
justified
them
limitations
In the
of the theatre
as an art form.
(August 1894), after the announcement of the
Ugo Ojetti
of La Lupa,
being
asked whether
Verga replied:
84
he now wrote
preferably
for
Ho scritto
ma non lo credo certamente
pel teatro,
superiore
una forma d'arte
al romanzo, anzi lo stiinferiore
mo una forma d'arte
e primitiva,
sopra
Due
tutto
per alcune ragioni
the dirb meccaniche.
dell'intermediario
tra
massimamente: la necessitä
la necessitä
di scridell'attore;
autore e pubblico,
ideale come avviene nel rovere non per un lettore
manzo, ma per un pubblico
radunato a folla
cos! da
dover pensare a una media di intelligenza
e di gusE
to, a un average reader,
come dicono gli inglesi.
fuori
questa media ha tutto
the gusto e intelligenza:
eosT5poco ne ha, 6 variabilissima
col tempo e col luo-
No matter how questionable the idea of the inferiority
of the theatre
may be, and even allowing for the inadequacy of actors to cope with
to come), and the existence
unconventional works (producers were still
of half-witted
is artistically
audiences, there is no doubt that the play of La Lupa
inferior
to the short story, and the libretto
even
more so.
The project of an opera libretto
place, motiwhich, in the first
the original
vated Verga's work, posed two main problems: retaining
elements of the story while making them palatable to an 'average'
theatre audience of the-1890s; providing genuine folkloric
material
A
for a veristic
musical characterization
avoiding spurious and dialect
song or the "Siciliana".
pieces like Mascagni's carter's
the story of La Lupa belongs to the long creative process of I Malavoglia, though not in terms of thematic affinity - as the subject was entirely
original
and was suggested to Verga
by Capuana - but rather for the aura of mythical remoteness, for the
data in a legendary,
transfiguration
of the circumstantial
artistic
Like Cavalleria,
The genesis
originality.
primeval ambience, and for the linguistic
of the character of Pina, la Lupa, was disclosed by Capuana in his enthusiastic
review of Vita dei Campi where he defined La Lupa as the
best story in the collection:
Quella Lupa io 1'ho conosciuta. Tre mesi fa, tra le
colline di S. Margherita, su quel di Mineo, passavo pel luogo dov'era una volta il pagliaio di lei,
fra gli ulivi....
Ella abitava 11 per dei mesi interi, specie nel settembre e nell'ottobre,
quando i
fichi d'India erano maturi....
Ora il pagliaio e diMa
di collina deserto.
strutto,
e quell'angolo
...
non era il ricordo della vera Lupa che mi faceva
evocare con tanta emozione la sua pallida figura
85
dagli occhi neri come it carbone, dalle labbra fresche e rosse the vi mangiavano, no; era la Lupa dell'arte,
la Lupa creata dal Verga the sopraffaceva
quella della realtä
e me la metteva sotto gli occhi
Tanto a vero the
piü viva della viva quand'era viva.
16
Parte
non sarä mai la fotograf i a!
In his
description
of la Lupa, Capuana singled
which most frequently
as coal',
recur
lips,
and the
'so fresh
hanced by the woman's pale
obsessive
ity
recurrence
and the red lips,
together
Verga's
with
her
'firm
the symbols of the woman's elemental,
restrained,
vitalistic
drive
women dread her presence
traits
which
Fury.
of rural
all-pervasive
la Lupa the fixThe black
breast',
sensuality,
her victims.
themselves
and cross
gives
17
enThe
stillness.
and vigorous
enthralls
'black
they would eat you',
and her habitual
referential
a sort
the eyes,
story:
and red that
complexion
of those
figure,
of an archetypal
throughout
out the two attributes
eyes
become
an un-
The village
whenever she is
around
husbands and sons from her evil charm, because la
dietro
Lupa 'se li tirava
alla gonnella solamente a guardarli
con que18
Those eyes enslave Nanni, the young man
gli occhi di satanasso'.
in love with, until
he finds the strength
to exorcise
she has fallen
to protect
this
their
demonic creature
by killing
her with
his
axe,
still
spellbound
by her black eyes. As she walks defiantly
towards her executioner,
in the middle of the green corn fields,
the red of her lips recedes
into sheaves of poppies the woman holds in her hands:
La Lupa lo vide venire, pallido e straCu%ato, colla scure che luccicava al sole, e non si arretrö
di un sol passo, non chinb gli occhi, seguitö ad
andargli incontro, colle mani piene di manipoli
di papaveri rossi, e mangiandoselo cogli occhi neri.
is the scene of a sacrificial
ritual
of purification:
red and black
have now become metaphors of sinful love and death, or better, of transgression and atonement. Nanni is as much a victim as he is an execuIt
tioner,
looking
'pale
and distraught'
as he raises
his axe to fulfil
la Lupa's final
wish of self-destruction.
As Capuana put it in his review,
'la
Lupa dell'arte',
Verga's
transcends the real-life
own creation,
adventure'
womanwhose 'tragic
the writer purports to narrate.
The verismo of the story consists,
in fact, in its artistic
truthfulness
which makes the protagonist
86
'more real
than the real
environmental
conjure
mediately
and uses them as an identity
the presence of any of them can im-
details
and psychosomatic
so that
card of the protagonist,
up the eerie
figure
of
la Lupa.
Sicilian
the immense and desolate
country,
('greco
di
e levante di gennaio, oppure scirocco
by the sun ('Nei campi immensi, dove scoppiettava
tat
is
dei
like
quando it
grilli
a 'hungry
hazy wildnerness
misty
volcano,
batteva
sole
she-wolf'
a piombo').
when the fields
whose only
is set
Verga combines
woman when she was alive'.
co-ordinates
as a backdrop
for
habi-
Her natural
swept by the winds
agosto')
soltanto
or scorched
it
volo
There she roves
are ablaze
A
and deserted.
are the sky and Etna,
the seduction
about
the
of Nanni:
la gnä Pina era la cola anima viva the si vedesse
delle
errare per la campagna, sui sassi infuocati
fra le stoppie riarse dei campi immensi,
viottole,
lontan lontano, verso
the si perdevano nell'afa,
l'Etna nebbioso, dove il cielo si aggravava all'orizzonte.
disse
la
Svegliati!
Lupa...,
ho
ti
the
portato
la gola.
il vino per rinfrescarti
Nanni spalancA gli occhi imbambolati, fra veglia
pallida,
col
e sonno, trovandosela dinanzi ritta,
petto prepotente, e gli occhi neri come il carbone,
mani.
e stese brancolando'le
With unique mastery, Verga brings together the almost supernatural image of the lonely 'living
soul'x4detit1l
n the immense fields
ditch,
harvester
in
dusty
the
the
a
of
asleep
picture
realistic
with
in the afternoon heat of a summer day. La Lupa appears to him in all
him wine as an aphrodisiac.
The young man,
her awful beauty, offering
exhausted and bewildered, as if he were in the presence of a Gorgonlike creature, hides his face in the dry grass of the ditch, sobbing
'Andatevene! Andatevene! ', inexorably bewitched by those
desperately:
le
trecAnd
her
'riannodando
she
away,
walks
sure
of
conquest,
eyes.
ce superbe, guardando fisso dinanzi ai suoi passi nelle stoppie calde,
The woman is at one with the natucogli occhi neri come it carbone'.
ral environment; she is almost an anthropomorphic emanation of the
'hot stubbles' from which she emerges to tempt Nanni and into which
she disappears.
Living
hard daily
on the fringe of the rural community, la Lupa shares the
labour which brutalizes
men and women ('la Lupa aff astel-
lava manipoli
su manipoli,
e covoni su covoni,
87
senza stancarsi
mai,
le labbra al
senza accostare
un momento sulla vita,
senza rizzarsi
fiasco'),
but she is naturally
of the comexcluded from the rituals
('Per
la Lupa non veniva mai in chiesa,
fortuna
ne a Pasqua, ne
munity
a Natale,
an outcast
ter
and socially
who feels
She is morally
on her daughreflects
messa, ne per confessarsi').
ne per ascoltar
Her condition
a misfit.
discriminated
against
in the village:
Maricchia, poveretta, buona e brava ragazza, piandella Lupa, e
geva di nascosto, perche era figlia
nessuno 1'avrebbe tolta in moglie, sebbene ci avesse la sua bella roba nel cassettone, e la sua buona
terra al sole.
Consistently
the scanty
with the psychology of the characters,
dialogues of the story are like sudden flashes in the uniform and subBreaking her beguiling silence, La Lupa utters
dued narrative context.
pronounced as they are
curt, final statements which admit no retort,
tone: 'Se non lo pigli ti ammazzo!', she says
in a peremptory, wilful
to accept the man her
between her teeth to Maricchia who is reluctant
mother wants to impose on her; 'Ammazzami, the non me ne importa; ma
says la Lupa to Nanni who threatens to
senza di to non voglio starci',
kill
her if she comes back to tempt him. The best line in the story,
example of the mythical language of la Lupa, is
and the most striking
her answer to Nanni's question: 'Che volete, gnä Pina? ' She has been
loves.
One
keep
heels
frantically
the
to
the
hay
at
of
she
man
cutting
dozing
floor,
the
the
threshing
she
other
men
are
on
while
evening,
answers him:
Te voglio! Te the sei bello
Voglio te!
come il miele.
come il
sole,
e dolce
The specular structure of the phrase, with the repetition
of the verb
'voglio'
conveys the
and the postponement of the object pronoun 'te',
in
Pina's
for
the
the middle, the phrase
of
passion
man;
weight
whole
being a popular
poetic similes - the first
opens up to two archaically
Sicilian
expression - which colourand soften the 'te' with tenderness
la
For
harsh
figure
the
of
sensual
yearning.
once,
sullen
and
and
Lupa is tinged
but her soft approach only prowith sentimentalism,
la
light-hearted
from
the
so
and
man,
a
mocking
response
vokes
young
Lupa falls back into her reticence:
88
e
figlia,
Ed
io
invece
vostra
che
voglio
vitella;
rispose Nanni ridendo.
La Lupa si caccib le mani nei capelli,
grattandosi
le tempie senza dir parola,
e se ne andö; ne piü
comparve nell'aia.
Just as the space dimension of the story creates a sense of
and stillness,
so time references provide the
vastness, isolation
necessary pauses to release the tension built up by the segments of
to define the mythical character of the
speech, or contribute
la
After
introduce
the
three
opening
paragraphs
which
narration.
Lupa, Maricchia and their relation
with the social environment of
'Una
the actual narration begins in a fairy tale style:
the village,
direct
la Lupa si innamorb di un bel ragazzo the era tornato da solda' It is June, harvest time, and the summer heat is used as a
After
brief
Pina's
desire.
the
sexual
exchange of propoof
metaphor
sitions between Pina and Nanni quoted above, she leaves him. The next
volta
to....
to him is in October,
tempo the cavavano f'olio',
The first
section of the story cloand she offers him her daughter.
lo
Maricchia:
'Se
la
Lupa's
terrible
threat
to
non
pigli ti
ses with
ammazzo!'.
time she talks
'al
time reference introduces the second section which
No explicit
it
is
key:
Lupa
but
'La
',
in
clear
era
quasi
malata....
a
minor
starts
Maricchia and Nanni have been married
that a few years have elapsed.
la Lupa lives with them and seems to
for some time and have children;
have changed her life
style
because of her lovesickness:
Non andava piü di qua e di lä; non si metteva piü
Suo
con quegli occhi da spiritata
gesull'uscio
piantava in faccia quegli
nero, quando ella glieli
occhi, si metteva a ridere.
Pina has been
period of apparent subjugation,
brooding over her passion for her son-in-law which ultimately
exin
la
in
heat
Lupa
finds
her
the
summer
old
self
when
again
plodes
the sultry fields and moves to the seduction of Nanni. Here the time
in
is
Sicilian
'In
fra
e
nona,
a
proverb:
quell'ora
vespero
reference
In fact,
during
this
cui non ne va in volta femmina buona', meaning the early afternoon
hours, the hottest time of the day, haunted by evil spirits,
accordThe incestuous relationship
ing to popular superstition.
goes on for
some months, bringing
jealousy
and despair
89
to Maricchia:
Maricchia piangeva notte e giorno, e alla madre le
piantava in faccia gli occhi ardenti di lagrime e
di gelosia, come una lupacchiotta
anch'essa, quando
la vedeva tornare da' campi pallida e muta ogni volta.
She even goes to the 'brigadiere'
begging for help
of the Carabinieri
but la Lupa refuses to move out of her own house. 'E' la tentazione
dell'inferno!
', says Nanni to the 'brigadiere'
who tries to talk him
out of that mess.
'Poco dopo',
Nanni gets kicked in the chest by his mule and is
The village priest refuses to take him the Communion
about to die.
if la Lupa is still
in the house, so she moves out.
Nanni repents
Yet the perverse fascination
and eventually recovers.
of those eyes
haunts him. The last time reference is Easter: 'A Pasqua [Nanstill
'
e poi, come la Lupa tornava a tentarlo...
ni] andb a confessarsi,...
He confesses and does his penance, but that won't help him. The vague
'e poi' steers the narration back into the fairy-tale
style for its
tragic conclusion in the green corn fields strewn with red poppies.
The story, therefore,
consists of two narrative
sections, each
of events covering a few months, divided by a gap of
The episodes of the 'brigadiere'
and the village priest
some years.
counterbalance the mythical element with the realistic
one in the story.
(against the law of
They stress the gravity of Pina's transgression
with a series
of the vilmen and the law of God), and endorse the moral indignation
lagers.
So Nanni's resort to violence is not only a private gesture
but a cathartic
rite on behalf of the whole community.
The narrative
functionsynthesis of the short story is strictly
That emblematic figof the protagonist.
al to the artistic
portrayal
details
ure is built up through the accumulation of few impressionistic
and their
obsessive reiteration
as well as the exclusion of any explapassage which would upset the delicate balance
natory or transitional
between myth and reality
and diffuse the tension of the narration.
D. H. Lawrence overlooked this point when he wrote in the Preface
to his own translation
of Vita dei Campi:
in Cavalleria Rusticana and in La Lupa we are just
...
a bit too much aware of the author and his scissors.
He has clipped too much away. The transitions
are
too abrupt.
All is over in a gasp: whereas a story
like La Lupa covers at least several years of time.
90
As a matter of fact,
we-need more looseness....
Verga's deliberate
pasmissing-out
of transition
And for
sages is, it seems to me, often a defect.
this reason a story like La Lupa loses a great deal
It may be a masterpiece
of its life.
of concision,
It is
but it is hardly a masterpiece
of narration.
so short,
our acquaintance
with Nanni and Marijghia
is so fleeting,
them almost at once.
we forget
That
is precisely
how Verga wants us to react:
be haunted
by the fatal
figure
her insatiable
eyes,
Maricchia
Sicily.
elemental
la Lupa alone,
her hands full
the hazy sky and the misty
against
Lupa's
black
of
volcano
and Nanni are only
sensuality
staring
of poppies;
at Nanni with
or silhouetted
on the parched
sketched
and tremendous
our memory is to
fields
out as victims
of
of la
will-power.
The "Scene drammatiche in due atti"
of La Luna
and the libretto
are closely modelled on the pattern of the short story: the two acts
correspond to the two sections, divided by a gap of a few years during which Mara and Nanni get married and have a son. But an analysis
of the two texts and their comparison with the story leave us in no
20
doubt about Verga's modest performance as a librettist.
The innovatory narrative technique which was the major asset of
The chromatic
the story becomes an encumbrance in the dramatization.
imagery, the subtle use of time and space references,
speech interspersed with flashes of dialogue, have
to be discarded.
La Lupa has to interact with other characters
and supernatural
the free indirect
all
and make her thoughts and actions instantly
apprehensible to an audience.
In the process of rationalization
of Pina's behaviour, Verga
deprives the character of her enigmatic charm and, above all, of that
dynamism which so forcibly
leads to the catastrophe in the
Consequently, he has to resort to external devices, such as a
story.
festival,
to push the play through to its tragic ending.
religious
For the obvious compression of the action in the dramatization,
fatalistic
the first
Act starts
at dusk on the threshing floor of a farm and ends
late at night, with an important variation
in the original
sequence of
events: the seduction of Nanni and the incest take place before the
marriage, when Mara has only been promised to the young man. The
91
finale
change does provide an effective
duces the gravity
of the transgression.
of Mara and Nanni's
courtyard
Friday
and reaches
the ensuing
cession
public
its
altercation
moving along
festivity,
set
house,
climax
for
somehow reset in the
in the morning
starts
of Good
from the fields
return
Mara and Nanni,
with
but it
The second Act,
Pina's
with
Act I,
counterpointed
the street
outside
the house.
against
the private
events
and
by a pro-
The religious
of the story,
and
creates
and atonement, and brings in the choral
(the
the
of
play has nine well individualized
response
villagers
minor
The urban and ethical
characters,
reduced to seven in the libretto).
an atmosphere
of repentance
of the green corn fields,
ambience,
instead
overtones
of the final
and makes it
story
st a background
act of violence
a sordid
of religious
Like the play Cavalleria
series
so poetically
and desperate
the symbolic
obliterates
crime
hinted
of passion
at in the
set
again-
bigotry.
Rusticana,
La Lupa is organized
as a
scenes and duets:
of choral
PLAY
LIBRETTO
ACT I
Sc. 1 villagers
2 same + Nanni
3 same + Pina
4 same + Mara
5 same less Mara
6 same + Mara
Sc. 1 villagers
2 same + Nanni
3 same + Pina
4 same + Mara
5 Janu/Nanni/Nunzio
7 Pina/Nanni
8 Pina/Mara
9 Pina/Nanni
Sc. 1 Mara/Nanni
2 same + villagers
3,4 same + Pina
5 Mara/Pina
6,7 same + villagers
8 Janu/Nanni
9 same + Pina
10 Nanni/Pina
6 Pina/Nanni
7 Pina/Mara
8 Pina/Nanni
ACT II
Sc. 1 Mara/Nanni
2 same + villagers
3,4 same + Pina
5 Mara/Pina
6,7 same + villagers
8 Mara/Nanni
9 same + Janu
10 same + Pina
11 Nanni/Pina
(1-5
1-6
in the libretto)
define the soscenes
the duets develop
cial environment and introduce the main characters;
In Act II, the alternate succession of duets and choral
the action.
There is something mechanical in
scenes builds up the catastrophe.
In Act I, the choral
this
sort
of structure
since the static
92
character
of the choral
scenes
does not blend with the sudden thrusts
of the duets, and the dramatic
build-up
is discontinuous.
Besides, Puccini's
to the excesobjection
(see
13
libretto
letter
Ricordi
his
to
the
sive 'dialogicitä'
of
of
July
1894) points
the duets:
Yet,
it
Puccinian
story.
We owe it
into
something
part
'allargata
De Roberto
short
short
e resa piü tenera
'solo'
'93).
incorporates
echoed by a 'Tutti'
Mara
role
insistence
if
Mara,
in the short
Mara is turned
The composer wanted her
(see Verga's letter
20 atto'
to
victim.
nel
In Act
sc.
expansion.
in particular:
one character
to Puccini's
of an operatic
of 15 July
because it
for
of
structure
who had a marginal
figure,
largely
in the dialogical
enough moments of lyrical
does not provide
Verga made some concessions
a potentially
est
flaw
to a serious
4-5-6
I,
sc.
4 of the
of the play),
libretto
(the
Mara is
given
longa
of the peasants:
(canticchiando,
rivolta
Luna, bianca luna
alla
luna)
tu che splendi quando imbruna,
in un mese vecchia e nuova,
danne tu la buona nuova.
Teased by Nanni who insinuates that the 'good news' is that
soon get married, Mara answers with four more lines:
Mara
she may
(tristemente)
0 no, compare Nanni, v'ingannate
s'ora credete questo.
Canto, cosi... Voi pur non cantate?
Per me, zitella
recto.
The conclusion of scene 4 is also ý. her with a short invocation to
.
'Mary, Mother of God', echoed by the women of the group. Scene 4 of
the play, on the contrary,
is closed by Mara's brusque reply to Nanni
after
various
jocular
Mara
remarks on the moon from other peasants:
(voltandogli
le spalle)
Io non voglio maritarmi.
(entra nella capanna)
for lyrical
scene 1 provides another opportunity
expansion.
Nanni and Mara are reconciled;
boy is being dressed as
their little
an angel for the Good Friday procession; so Mara expresses her happiIn Act II,
ness and faith in God's mercy. Furthermore, the end of sc. 7 of the
play is reshaped into a separate duet Mara/Nanni (sc. 8 in the libret-
93
to)
in order
however,
to give
than Verga was prepared
and consideration'
the best of this
the tense
comes out, in Verga's
of the play (I, 8; II, 4,5),
character
dialogues
able to recapture
'lupacchiotta'
some of the
defence
passionate
What really
and linguistic
best
modifications
be explained
ristic
creature
aberration
different
of the story
quarrelsome
has been scaled
attachment
Pina is
still
('sono
of self-pity
come un cane...
('Le
criticism
by passion,
la Lupa a vero....
ruled
come meandrebbero
can
early
ve-
and the libretto,
the mythical,
picture:
down to a languorous,
is now an
sensuality
in the conflict
especially
uninhibitedly,
she is capable
vive!
',
'Sono
1,7;
in the play),
bruciate
Al-
feelings.
sono una coca vile',
11,3,
the re-
which
his
to Nanni and her maternal
un cane senza padrone',
madri
of,
is not
with
towards
woman; her instinctive
she has been made conscious
Mara's
story
the main characters,
la Lupa of the play
an entirely
with
between her insane
though
for
as the psychological
changed attitude
When we consider
works.
coquettish,
Verga's
with
we are confronted
ferine
affecting
is
when the author
justifiable
and the opera,
theatre
of the prose
way, in
own veristic
of the story
alterations,
Indeed,
to allow.
of her man and her family.
distances
the new texts from the short
so much the number of structural
quirements
For Puccini,
lines.
of nine
luminoconcessions were not enough to create a 'figura
(letter
to Ricordi
of 13 July 1894); Mara needed more
these
sa, simpatica'
'light
Mara one more 'solo'
and self-
play,
II,
10).
the
her age prosaically
specified;
Her whole image has been polished,
into
has been humanized and integrated
'hungry she-wolf'
legendary
the rural
community.
few lines of the story and her
A comparison between the first
in the list of 'Personaggi' Verga placed at the beginning
description
the
the
the
an
example
of
aesthetic
alterations
provides
play,
of
character
has undergone:
La Lupa (short story) Era alta, magra; aveva soltanto un seno fermo e vigoroso da bruna e pure
non era piü giovane; era pallida come se avesse sempre adosso la malaria, e su quel
pallore due occhi grandi cosi, e delle labbra fresche e rosse, che vi mangiavano.
La Lupa (play) La gnä Pina, detta la Lupa, ancora
bella e provocante, malgrado i suoi trentacinque anni suonati, col seno fermo da ver-
94
gine, gli occhi luminosi in fondo alle occhiaie
scure, e il bel fiore carnoso della bocca, nel
pallore caldo del viso.
The anthropophagic
'mangiandoselo
of the story:
the
'fleshy
flower',
La Lupa's
of her eyes and lips
attribute
cogli
is
her pallor
new look
is alluring
like
is the protagonist
of seven stories
capitano
of admirers
D'Arce:
Ginevra,
and lovers,
and from the short
flower'.
'fleshy
a Sicilian
This
is
Her closest
in Verga's collection
the upper-class
friends
how she appears
she
and, not surprisingly,
socialite
counterpart
I ricordi
with
a trail
have nicknamed Carmen;
"Carmen" Verga borrows
story
by
and her eyes are 'shining'.
Carmen.
whom envious
the end
has been replaced
neri')
'warm'
and sexy,
can dance and sing
del
occhi
(see also
the image of the
to her latest
victim,
a
young Navy officer:
Un viso delicato
come appassito
pree pallido,
cocemente, come velato da un'ombra, dei grandi
in cui era la febbre,
dei capelocchi parlanti,
li morbidi e folti,
posati mollemente in un groscarnoso delso nodo sulla nuca, e il bel fiore
dicevano
la bocca - la bH ca terribile
come
amici e gelosi.
Later on in the story, Verga describes Ginevra's mouth as 'quella
thus rebocca di vampiro' and her lips 'le sue labbra dolorose',
the
anthropophagic attribute
of the early verupdating
and
covering
The picture of Ginevra/la Lupa has now distinctA striking
is noticeable between
ly decadent features.
similarity
Verga's descriptions
and the portrayal of the woman in D'Annunzio's
1885.
in
first
We
find
"Gorgon",
the 'pallor'
published
and the
poem
istic
femme fatale.
'shining'
eyes; the woman's mouth is a 'painful
flower':
Ella avea diffuso in volto
quel pallor cupo che adoro.
Le splendea V alma ne li occhi
quale in chiare acque un tesoro.
Un
fiore
" .........
........
doloroso eraýla bocca,
22
...............................
The project of the operatic adaptation conditioned from the
very beginning the layout of the play and, specifically,
the entrance
of the protagonist:
Pina appears with a sheaf of wheat on her head
95
In his
while a dance is going on. She is graceful and flirtatious.
directions,
Verga insists on such connotations as 'con civetteria',
'con grazia',
refuses
'dolcemente'.
and tries
to attract
Being invited
by one of the men, la Lupa
Nanni:
Pina (ridendo)
No... Voglio ballare
con compare Nanfacendo una bella riverenni... (con civetteria
za a Nanni Lasca) se son degna di questo onore...
(La Lupa, play,
I, 3)
As he refuses, Pina sings him a song; Nanni is still
so
reluctant,
Pina's next move is to dance with someone else in order to arouse the
man's interest:
Pina (a Nanni con civetteria)
dico?
"Chi non mi vuole
E voi sapete the vi
non mi merita".
(Va ad invitare
Cardillo e balla con grazia
dinanzi a lui, tenendo distese le due cocche
del grembiule colla punta delle dita, e piegando il capo sull'omero).
(Ibidem)
at him with
La Lupa does not win Nanni staring
tenance;
she entreats
him with
her face,
and even shrinking
tact
the man:
with
tears
with
her Gorgon-like
and sad looks,
horror
sometimes
from the first
counhiding
physical
con-
Nanni (smarrendosi del tutto) Basta ora, basta...
Non posso vedervi piangere cosi!.. f atelo per
(1'abbraccia)
mio!
amor
di scatto, tutta tremante e
Pina (svincolandosi
Fate come il
sconvolta) No!... Lasciatemi!...
adesso!... (rimangono a guardarcoccodrillo
si negli occhi, pallidi
entrambi)
(La Lupa, play, I, 9)
la Lupa of all her magic, Verga tries to recapture
the mythical atmosphere of the story by starting
the play (and the
libretto)
with a fairy tale told by an old woman:
Having deprived
Filomena.
La maga dunque se ne stava nel palazzo
incantato,
tutt'oro
e di pietre preziose, e
come passava un viandante, s'affacciava
alla
finestra
in peccato mortale.
Gioper tirarlo
vani e vecchi, vi cascavano tutti!
religiosi
anche, e servi di Dio!
(La Lupa, play, I, 1)
96
The sorceress
turned all
and frogs in the libretto).
her victims
into pigs and donkeys (snakes
The image of the enchantress
in her precious palace points all too easily
to a latter-day
femme fatale
- with
Armida - rather than to the earthy
such ancestors
as Circe, Alcina,
Lupa; however, another character,
and primitive
Janu, the foreman,
translates
the message of the fable
It
of a proverb.
voglia (ch. 1):
into
the more familiar
metaphor
is one of the many 'sentenze giudiziose'
of I Mala-
Janu (gravemente,
la pipa di bocca).
togliendosi
Maga o non maga, sapete come dice il proverbio?
"L'uomo e il fuoco, la donna e la stoppa: viene il diavolo
e soffia! "
(La Lupa, play,
The quotation
of a proverb
boss of the group of harvesters,
of wisdom, who exercises
the small
his
woman, are the ones who mostly
advice,
or offer
register
to convey the ethical
Two proverbs,
jokingly
first
with
no markedly
has already
been quoted;
Nanni is
now excited
the
the eldest
la Lupa.
man and the very embodiment
influence
over the members of
Janu and Filomena,
use proverbs
to express
Verga to adopt
and practical
Sicilian
views
the second occurs
thoughts
linguistic
of his
connotation,
the eldest
their
a neutral
by la Lupa in the dance scene when she flirts
the scene.
vite
which enables
way to introduce
an effective
moderating
including
community,
is
1)
I,
23
characters.
are also
with
at the very
used
Nanni.
The
end of
by the dance and comes forward
to in-
Pina but she refuses:
Pina
Nanni
"Chi tardi arriva male alloggia",
compare
(gli volta le spalle con una risaNanni!
ta, e se ne va a destra colle altre donne)
(piccato) Ora the mi avete scaldato le orecMi sento un
chie? Ora non mi tengo piü!
Mongibello!
(La Lupa, play, I, 3)
It may well be humorous to see Nanni being left alone, overheated
like a-volcano, but the womanwho engages men in such frivolous
skirmishes is no longer the untamed and taciturn
Lupa of the story. In
the libretto
the number of proverbs is significantly
In orreduced.
der to comply with the wishes of Puccini who wanted 'meno proverbi'
(see Verga's letter
to De Roberto of 15 July '93), Verga left out all
but three of the proverbs
of the play: the ones quoted by Pina 'con
97
which De Roberto versified
civetteria',
as follows:
"Non mi merita quei the non mi vuole"
"Quel the tardi arrivb, nulla trovö"
(La Lupa, libretto,
I, 3)
and one used by Nanni to soothe Mara,
and Malerba (one of the harvesters):
Nanni
Voi non ne avete
nasce la rosa.
upset
colpa....
by a quarrel
Dalla
(libretto,
between Pina
spina
I, 4)
in
libretto,
is
in
by
Nanni
the
missing
quoted
proverb,
short story it is clearly implied:
although in the original
But a fourth
the play,
Nanni
which corresponds
Sapete il detto antico:
"Piglia zitella
e carne di vitella"
(ridendo in tono di scusa)
Non ve 1'abbiate a male...
(libretto,
I, 6)
to Nanni's
io invece
Ed
-
voglio
reply
to la Lupa in the story:
vostra
figlia,
the a vitella;
used to
In the play, instead, the earthy, rustic image of the heifer,
the
fresh
ageing and experienced
the
with
girl
and
unspoiled
contrast
banalized:
is
and
weakened
mother,
Pina
Nanni
(chinandosi su di lui, viso contro viso, con
di belva) Voun suono rauco e inarticolato
glio te!
(scoppiando in riso) Voi!... Perche non mi
invece?... Datemi vostra
date vostra figlia
figlia
ch'ý carne fresca invece....
(La Lupa, play, I, 7)
Once the project of the opera was abandoned, no more alterations
were
libretto,
to
the
he
text
the
Verga
by
of
as
concentrated on the
made
Significantly,
the
survived.
a polished version of
proverb
play, so
the original
expression of the story was also introduced by Verga in
the revised text he prepared for the 1897 illustrated
edition of Vita
dei Campi: the term 'vitella'
is changed to 'zitella'.
Pierantonio
Tasca, in setting La Lupa, followed Verga's example and amended the
in his orchestral
expression of the libretto
score as follows:
98
Nanni
Piglia
(in
A further
dice il
zitella....
tono di
motto antico
non ve l'abbiate
scusa)
a male.
of evidence of Verga's new literary
and stylistic awareness is the wealth of descriptive
and psychological
notes,
interspersed
throughout
the play and the libretto,
which cannot be
taken
just
the text
for
piece
as stage
with
example,
directions,
since
details.
narrative
describes
they
The list
tend to complete
and enrich
'Personaggi'
of the play,
of
Mara as a:
delicata
la
giovanetta
e triste
quasi
colpa non
sua le pesasse sul capo biondo, e non osasse fissare in viso alla gente i begli occhi timidi.
which does not sound quite
story
but rather
by a detailed
a description
which
appeal more to a reader
with
heroine
the verb
peasant
girl
of the
who never came into
paragraph
of the set but introduces
vides
sentence
the young Sicilian
a Puccinian
anticipates
Act I is prefaced
being.
like
which
pro-
of sound images
a series
than to a spectator,
not only
in the
particularly
'sembra':
Si odono passare in lontananza delle voci, delle
...
dei campanacci delle
canzoni stracche, il tintinnio
mandre che scendono ad abbeverare, e di tanto in tandei cani, sparsi per la campagna, sulto l'uggiolare
la quale scorrono delle folate di scirocco, con un
fruscio largo di biade mature. Negli intervalli
di
il mormorio
silenzio sembra sorgere e diffondersi
dei grilli,
incessante. La
delle acque e il trillare
luna incomincia a levarsi,
accesa - sbiancandosi man
mano, in un alone afoso.
The whole paragraph,
libretto.
in
the
pears
of crickets
whistling
them is qualified
abouts
of
except
for
the sentence
with
The images of the whining
are taken
by the specific
from the short
dimensional
'sembra',
also
ap-
of dogs and the
story
where each of
references
of the where-
la Lupa:
'Nei campi immensi, dove scoppiettava soltanto il
volo dei grilli'
'i cani uggiolavano per la vasta campagna nera'
Deprived of its disheartening
vastness and the sombre figure of la
Lupa, the 'campagna' at nightfall
is lit by the moon shrouded in a
hazy halo, more romantic than
veristic,
certainly
more populated and
99
familiar
than the dismal wilderness
The most conspicuous
play
and libretto
is
songs and a traditional
of Act
I of the play.
story,
he set
rial
for
himself
a musical
proverbs
represented
people's
ethics
Sicilian
idiom
buted
music.
songs,
inclusion
the unprecedented
Sicilian
the task
the uncontaminated,
Verga had to provide
first-hand
literary
of his
local
of certain
colour
an Italian
was not a difficult
task
scenes
of his
of a story
mate-
Just
expression
as
of the
an authentic
songs provided
expression
popular
folkloric
verismo.
metaphoric
so popular
of the
of several
the dramatization
of providing
the musical
between
dance in seven of the nine
When Verga started
transposition
to the definition
but it
of the interdependence
evidence
and feelings,
for
of the story.
24
moods, or contriwith
on-stage
of the vernacular
version
to select
them; he had just
to
published
own memory, or quote from the many collections
first
in the second half of the XIX century,
and foremost
in Sicily
'the most devoted and prolific
of folkthe volumes of Giuseppe Pitre,
25
him.
defined
English
lorists',
admirer
as an
draw from his
In the dance scene,
Pina
26
the first
song is sung by Pina for
Nanni:
(a Nanni, tra scherzosa e ironica,
canticchiando nel passargli accosto)
0 voi the avete occhi e non vedete,
allora di quegli occhi the ne fate?
(La Lupa, play and libretto,
I, 3)
(1896),
lines
the
such as these are
first
play
In the
edition of
by
direction
that
the
they
italics
in
should
accompanied
and
printed
(4in
libretto)
the
5
the
Scene
contains the finest
play
of
be sung.
is
Mara
It
has
just
a
choral
scene:
Pina's
retired
strambotto.
song,
into the women's hut, and all the other harvesters are still
on the
Pina
Nanni.
The
floor
teasing
and
young man picks up a
threshing
hint from Pina ('avete la pelle dura.... Ma it cuore l'avete peggio,
first
introduces
the
')
song:
and
anche!
Nanni
(le volta le spalle canticchiando)
Cuore duro, cuore tiranno....
(La Lupa, play, I, 5)
One of the men interrupts
him with two lines
heart:
same theme of the insensitive
100
of another song on the
Bruno
a Grazia con galanteria)
i dice il cuore the tiranna siete,
o mi scordaste, e the pit non m'amate...
(Ibidem)
Grazia
answers;
of all
the peasants,
ni
is soft,
so a sort
of song contest
and Pina is
invited
with the encouragement
27
Her song for Nanto sing.
starts
sweet and languorous:
Pina
(dolcemente,
sui ginocchi
quasi parlando fra se, coi gomiti
e il capo fra le mani)
Garofano pomposo, dolce amore,
dimmelo tu come ti debbo amare!
Tu di nascosto m'hai rubato il cuore,
ed io qui venni se mel vuoi ridare.
E Who toccati
tanti
cuori duri!
intenerire!
Solo il tuo non si lascia
Ora men vado a governo d'amore...
Il
mio lo lascio
a te. Non ti scordare.
(La Lupa, play, I, 5)
form of popular
rima was a typical Sicilian
Italy
and was also called riof
regions
other
reached
poetry which
(outside
ABABABAB
(Tuscany).
Its
usually
was
rhyming scheme
spetto
octave ABABABCC). The image of
Sicily it rhymed like the classical
love
Sicilian
large
in
found
be
number
of
songs.
a
the carnation can
The strambotto
in ottava
Raccolta amplissima records about a dozen songs from all parts
have
local
the
island,
which
carnation
variations,
with
the
some
of
28 A few
by
L.
Lizio-Bruno in his
quoted
are
in the incipit.
more
Eolie
di
luoghi
Isole
della
delle
Canti
e
altri
popolari
collection
from
Raccuja is the source of
XVIII
1871).
No.
(Messina,
Sicilia
Vigo's
Verga's strambotto:
Carofulu pumpusu, duci amuri,
Mandami a diri
comu t'haju
amari:
lu cori a mucciuni,
Tu m'arrubbasti
E vinni apposta si mi lu vol dari.
E nn'haju
rimuddatu cori duri!
Ora lu to'non potti rimuddari!
Jö mi nni vari a cuvernu d'amuri:
Chistu lu lassu a tia; non ti scurdari.
The Italian
translation
in the play has a slightly
irregular
rhyme
(ABABCDAB). In the libretto,
the sixth endecasillabo is reworded
to rhyme in -are like the other B lines.
The improved version is
closer to the Sicilian
text: 'I1 tuo soltanto non potei piegare'.
101
After
Pina,
it
is Nanni's
Here Verga strikes
gold
The source is
made up of proverbs.
turn
to sing.
in the form of an old song entirely
Pitre's
fourth
volume of Proverbi
siciliani,
der the heading "Proverbi
in canzoni siciliane",
in ottava
siciliani
1593),
first
rima by the Monreale
published
in 1628.
lines
Verga chooses four
for
in which he reprinted,
a Raccolta
di proverbi
Veneziano (1543-
poet Antonio
From the second of Veneziano's
Nanni which
un-
illustrate
aptly
his
octaves,
character
'handsome young man - fond of women, but even fonder of his own into
His solid common sense leads him to respond negatively
terests'.
of
Pina's
allurement:
Vedi e taci,
se bene aver tu vuoi,
Porta rispetto
al luogo dove staff.
Non fare piü di quello the tu puoi.
Pensa la cosa, prima the la fai.
(La Lupa, play,
Once Pina and Nanni are left
alone
lines
first
two
the
ticement,
she quotes
ta dalla
amorosa';
passione
different
mood, quotes
song return
line
metaphor
song expresses
In Tasca's
to her.
tion
short
for
his
and the woman resumes her enof her song, 'quasi
in his light-hearted
own.
(II,
sensual
The last
11).
and in-
two lines
of Pina's
be-
So the strambotto
yearning
and Nanni's
four-
response before he yields
(Ex.
1) is used as the
strambotto
presented in a short
by the chorus (sopranos only) for
It
soffoca-
down-to-earth
Pina's
setting,
and then
libretto
of Pina's
cool,
of the opera.
strings
still
the end of his
at the end of the
comes the musical
motto-theme
Nanni,
5)29
I,
is first
introduca second
statement.
Another form of popular song introduced by Verga in the play, in
A
for
is
the
precedent
stornello.
the
operatic adaptation,
view of
in Mascagni's Cavaldoing so may have been Lola's 'Fior di giaggiolo'
leria,
but that kind of song was quite commonin Sicily as well as in
It consisted of three lines onTuscany where it possibly originated.
a quinario which set the rhyme and usually contained the name of
in Palermo),
flowers, for the stornelli
a flower (hence the name ciuri,
In La Lupa, Act I, when the peasants disperse,
and two endecasillabi.
ly:
about midnight, to go to sleep, a touch of local
dying away in the darkness:
a stornello
(si
colour
ode la voce di Nunzio the si allontana
102
is provided
cantando)
by
Ex. 1-
Tasca, La Lupa, I, 4
L; =60)
ý ý-
'Ia. - Zo-
0. -
1121.
D-
.i,,o
po+M, -
po-
to
t. a9 o-uct-tiw
so,
ut. Pi
0101- ce, cý.-
444 vö
d', a.
ýý
103
ý
A--
P. Tasca,
La Lupa,
(Biblioteca
Noto,
I,
Pina's
song
n
Je
ýýý
puoý'.? ýý.
ýa14 _ "3 ýP
ý'ý0
1-,oe
ý
7
T'ýýý
_
"
,,
Comunale,
Sicily)
'..
i ýi
ý-
ý
ýiý
tosv e Tr
ýýn
/\
'
ýý
t
a
ý
II
I
ý
_
rr
r
ý
ý_NZ
i
I03
A,
B
d
_ý_
--r
I
Muta e la viaaaa...
E' mezzanotte, e ora vo a trovarlaaaa...
(facendo eco alla canzone, mentre accomoda
la paglia sotto una bisaccia per sdraiarsi
sopra)
Nanni
La figlia
bella
dell'anima
miaaaa...
(La Lupa, play,
A significant
be noted
Nanni's
series
of evil
between the play and the libretto
can
In the play, la Lupa overcomes
of Act I.
difference
in the conclusion
A
him away repressing
his last curse.
(suggested by Verga in his detailed
directions)
and drags
reluctance
of sound effects
heightens
I, 6)30
the tension
of the incest
scene with
intimations
sinister
whining of dogs and the hooting of an owl:
in the 'lugubrious'
(tirandoselo
dietro
a capo
pel braccio,
Taci!
chino, torva,
come una vera lupa)
Non bestemmiare adesso!
...
(Scompaiono dalla sinistra,
in fondo.
Silenzio;
odesi lontano il mormorio del
fiume, il fruscio
delle spighe, il trillare dei grilli,
e di tanto in tanto,
1'uggiolare
dei cani, lugubre,
nell'ora
tragica.
A un tratto
passa di nuovo stri-
Pina
dendo la civetta).
(La Lupa,
play,
I,
9)
instead,
the Act is concluded by a song heard offas at the end
stage, while Nanni reappears - 'pale and distraught'
of the short story - after the incestuous intercourse with his future
That return is obviously inopportune; it dampens the
mother-in-law.
In the libretto,
erotic tension built up by the dialogue Pina/Nanni occupying the whole
Scene. The effectiveness
of the conclusion is further damaged by
So it is
Tasca's idea of translating
the song into his own dialect.
in the libretto
but it is copied in 'Siciliano
printed in Italian
di Noto' in the score:
sottodialetto
version is:
approved. The Italian
Specchio degli
luccichi
cento
tu solo hai da
lascio la vita
In Act II
floor
lishes
of both texts,
to Nanni and Mara's
the Easter
d'oro
occhi miei, trionfo
miglia da lontano,
venirci quando muoio,,
mia nelle tue mani!
as the set
house,
atmosphere
something Verga would never have
changes from the threshing
and the Good Friday
of religious
104
fervour,
procession
the popular
estabsongs
make room for
The prevailingly
stage.
gives
exorcise
the devil;
ly recur
in this
Nanni
Mara
Nanni
or superstitious
his
and daughter
as in other
Act
When
in the second.
mounts to a heated
by crossing
'devil',
'saint',
by a band on
of the first
imagery
references
exasperation
the terms
march played
and vegetal
between mother
Nanni expresses
Pina
and a funeral
animal
way to religious
the confrontation
pute,
litanies
Latin
himself
and 'hell'
dis-
so as to
frequent-
scenes:
Le parole di una santa
...
peggio di un coltello!...
come te!...
che fanno
(che sta per prorompere fa il segno della croce)
Brutto diavolo, va via!
tentazione!...
...
L'avete con me? Volete che vi lasci e me ne
vada?
Escirö io!
Io me ne vo!... al diavolo!...
per...
in questa casa, quando siete
che c'e 1'inferno
(esce infuriato)
insieme madre e figlia!...
(La Lupa, play, II, 4)
the villagers'
response tends to relate the Good Friday
house,
Nanni's
to the
be
heard
outside
can
and
seen
which
procession,
The domestic trouble diverts ataffront of Pina's presence inside.
Similarly,
tention
from the 'festal
outraged comments from neigh-
and solicits
bours and friends:
Grazia
Bruno
Basta, non fate
scandal i1...
(entrando)
Vi si sente dalla piazza...
della banda!
Pare the sia
pith forte
Un altro
qui la festa.
pol Tasciano
banda e corrono tutti
qui.
(play,
II,
la
6)
Cardillo
Filomena
Ma the Biete cristiani
o turchi?
e uno scandalo per tutto il
Sentite!...
Finitela
questa vergogna!
vicinato!
(play, II, 7)
Janu
Bestie!
Peggio
delle
bestie,
siete!
(play,
II9
8)
A moral sensitiveness has replaced the carefree attitude
of the villagers enjoying themselves or teasing Nanni and Pina in Act I.
Since
his past weakness and sexual indulgence are so mercilessly
exposed,
shame and anger seize Nanni and lead him to the physical annihilation
105
Before the catastrophe, however, in a first
of his former lover.
out(play and libburst of rage, Nanni beats both wife and mother-in-law
II, 7). Public discredit
hurts him more than anything else:
retto,
'Sono la favola
del paese! Siete contente ora? ',
ing Pina and Mara.
Like
presents
the finale
of Act I,
some differences
the conclusion
he shouts after
beat-
in the
libretto
of Act II
from the play.
PLAY
Nanni
Pina
Nanni
(brandendo una scure furioso)
Ah!.. Lo rompo
io il legame!
(voltandosi
verso di lui, col petto nudo,
Finiscila!
Via!
come a sfidarlo)
colle
tue mani!
(la spinge sotto la tettoia,
cogli occhi pazzi d'ira e di orrore, la scure omicida in
alto, urlando colla schiuma alla bocca) Ah!
Ah!... I1 diavolo siete?
...
LIBRETTO
Nanni
Pina
Nanni
Pina
Nanni
In both texts,
(risoluto,
afferrando una scure sotto la
legnaia) - Ah!
(voltandosi
verso di lui col seno scoperto
in aria di sfida)
Finiscila!...
(interamente accecato dall'ira,
inseguendola fin sotto la legnaia con la scure levata)
Ah!...
(indietreggiando
barcollante,
con immenso e
doloroso stupore negli occhi e nel tono della
Davver m'ammazzi, Nanni?...
voce smarrita)
(scompaiono entrambi sotto la tettoia;
s'ode
un urlo d'ira
e un grido di spavento che finisce in un gemito)
(tornando in iscena con le mani nei capelli,
corre fuggendo, pallido e sconvolto)
Cristo, che ho fatto!...
Che m'han fatto fare!...
the eroticism
in terms of artistic
her self-destruction
of the naked breast is a poor alternative,
to the mythical figure moving towards
effectiveness,
with her hands full of poppies and her black eyes
However, the fin de siecle,
voraciously at her executioner.
be explained with the updating of the characsensual image can still
What is hard to accept is Pina's last line
ter in the dramatization.
in the libretto:
'Davver m'ammazzi, Nanni? ', which Tasca chooses to
staring
leave as a 'parlato'.
Nanni's determination
She staggers with astonishment and dismay at
her; it is a moment of weakness and into kill
106
in the face of the death
credulity
the hands of her former lover.
It
Lupa takes
dramatic
her leave
figure
the original
on a final
has been seeking at
she herself
sounds human and pathetic,
and la
note of sentimentalism,
than her namesake in the play,
let
a much less
alone
the one of
story.
In the play,
Pina keeps telling
Nanni that
he just
doesn't
have
the guts
to put her out of her misery,
and her mood is one of 'desperate bitterness'
as she feels despised and rejected
by Nanni and her
Before the man brandishes
own daughter.
his axe, 'furioso',
Pina expresses
her agony and abjection
Pina
bringing
in
'hell'
and the
'devil':
Le madri come me andrebbero bruciate
vive!...
...
Dovrebbero mangiarsela
i cani, le madri come me!
E tu pure che mi tieni
nell'inferno!...
pei
...
Hai un bell'andare
capelli!...
come una pazza!...
Il diavolo ci ha legati
insieme!
a confessarti...
(La Lupa, play,
II,
10)
Death is the only way out and Pina does not falter
in the face of it.
In the libretto,
just before the pathetic turn at the end, we catch a
glimpse of the character's
coquetry displayed in Act I, now mixed
with derision:
Nanni
Pina
(fuor di sb)
Lupa!.
Siete
la
Lupa!
(mentre si asciuga il viso nel grembiale, sorin faccia con civetteria
ridendogli
quasi di
scherno)
la
Lupa
io
se
sono,
-E
se non ti basta il cor... se a Dio perdono
chiedesti...
chiudi gli occhi... non guardare...
(La Lupa, libretto,
II, 11)
So, at the very end, Verga has to make up for the lack of real
dramatic tension with the naturalistic
ingredient of two spine-chilling cries:
'un urlo d'ira e un grido di spavento the finisce
in un
In Cavalleria the cry 'Hanno ammazzato compare Turiddu! ' is
gemito'.
itself
the act of (verbal) violence which signals the catastrophe,
Here the cries just add to
since the fight takes place off stage.
the horror and sensation of the murder enacted 'sotto la tettoia',
therefore audible if not visible
to the audience.
Furthermore, Nanni
Pina, 'fuggendo, pallido e sconvolto'
reappears on stage after killing
(see I, 8: 'stravolto
e pallido,
come fuggendo'), whereas in the play
he exits with his axe held high and the murder is assumed to be
commit-
107
ted as the curtain
comes down. His return
adds a morbid note to the
in the manner of a second rate pseudo-veristic
catastrophe,
opera. We
can't
looking
resist
he rants
for
the second hemistich
on Nanni's
stains
the ho fatto!
'Cristo,
out:
blood
last
of his
',
and then
hands and clothes
closes
as
in A minor
on
'Che m'han fatto
endecasillabo:
fare!
'
The alteration
to the finale in the libretto
must have been made
by Verga shortly before Puccini went down to Sicily in June 1894, as
can be inferred from a letter to De Roberto in Catania, dated 12 May
(Verga's
1894, from Vizzini
house):
country
Eccoti it 2. o atto, meno le prime due scene the hai
fatte... Alla catastrofe
troverei una piccola variante the sembrami preferibile.
(Verga-De Roberto-Capuana, p. 129)
Verga was wise enough to keep the play with its own conclusion,
the 'small' variation
was confined to the libretto.
La Lupa for
In rewriting
from the early
different
profoundly
drammatiche"
the stage,
match up to the artistic
quality
something
of the 1880s.
verismo
lirica",
"Tragedia
and the
Verga produced
in various
of the short
The "Scene
degrees,
do not
That this
story.
be so because of the planned 'melodramatization'
of La Lupais
Certainly,
Verga's purely linguistic
solution
partly
correct.
musical
tive.
Proverbs
and popular
are idiomatically
understandable
sympathetic'
neighbours
tunities
of his
transposition
effective
songs,
no matter
but dramatically
and villains,
(Puccini's
of mothers,
vatory
a
Besides,
his
'luminous
and
and
in
failure
the
to
other
words,
opporprovide sufficient
for his characters
in moments of lyrical
to come to life
ex-
doomed
libretto
by
its
to
Puccini
the
rejection
On the other hand, Verga's veristic
theatre
from
suffered
dramatic
for
daughters
pansion
fusion
only
selected,
irrelevant.
instead
should
and counterproduc-
how carefully
heroines
to produce
reluctance
figures)
was inadequate
verismo
and
of the environment
organism.
conception
It
which
and individual
was a structural
influenced
characters
into
31
and Mascagni.
an incomplete
a uniformly
weakness in a positively
such diverse
Di Giacomo and Gabriele D'Annunzio.
The latter,
with La Figlia di Jorio
writers
(1904),
inno-
as Salvatore
and expanded
the mythical component of Verga's best stories,
such as "La Lupa",
"Jeli it pastore", "Rosso Malpelo" (from Vita dei Campi) and set shep-
108
revived
herds
and harvesters
in a dream world of ancestral
Mila di Codra customs and superstitions
where the protagonist,
burned at the stake while the crowd
a 'mala femmina' like la Lupa -is
('La Turba',
In 1908,
as in an old mystery play) chants Latin hymns.
after
La Figlia
thanks
to Alberto
two years
theatre
same direction
erature,
3.
of his
with
the libretto
I1 Mistero
his
Abruzzi
native
di Jorio
found
Franchetti,
Il
Mistero
way into
the operatic
Verga would point
second and last
of
its
for
contribution
towards
the
to operatic
lit-
Domenico Monleone..
by G. Verga, Giovanni and Domenico Monleone
Verga spent the last twenty-five
years of his life in Catania,
attending to the writing of his last novel La Duchessa di Leyra, which
painful and frustrating
proved an increasingly
enterprise,
and occasionhis attention
towards the theatre.
His last play was
ally diverting
between the
Dal tuo al mio (1903), dealing with the dramatic conflict
in Sicily along with
sulphur-mine workers and the declining aristocracy
Dissatisfied
the rise of a mean and greedy middle class.
with the controversial
reception of his play, Verga turned it into a novel which
published in the Nuova Antologia in 1905. His last personal
was first
contact with the deceptive world of music publishers and composers came
through the ill-fated
new Cavalleria Rusticana of Giovanni and Domenico
involvement in the dispute over
Monleone. Verga's legal and financial
derived from his play gave the novelist
the copyright of the libretto
to write for the theatre.
one last opportunity
In 1908, while the controversy dragged on in the courts of Milan
and Turin, and his Cavalleria continued its European tour, Domenico
Monleone had the idea of adapting
to his music to couna new libretto
ter a possible unfavourable outcome of the appeal against the ban on
A convenient choice seemed to be another of Verga's
his opera in Italy.
stories,
and "I1 Mistero"
from the Novelle Rusticane
out as containing some of the elements of Cavalleria.
contacted Verga who approved the project and offered
Monleone in drafting
that,
should their
(1883) was singled
The two brothers
to help Giovanni
The novelist also suggested
the new libretto.
appeal be upheld by the Supreme Court, Cavalleria
109
keep its
could
music and I1 Mistero
14 September 1908 a contract
Verga and Giovanni
of
Cavalleria
oblivion
in Venice
which was completed
that
the new text
years
re-
would
a different
dei
libretto
the opera was per(5 September 1917) and
of Monleone's
works.
on 7 May 1921,
at La Fenice
the music
Falchi;
1914) and Milan
the rest
for
Il
Mistero
a few months before
death.
Verga's
The new joint
source
ters
like
two months
He composed three more
1913; Suona la ritirata,
1916) and,
La Giostra
the title
On
I1 Mistero.
1910; Arabesca,
(18 February
formed in Florence
was premiered
for
anything
a new opera.
but several
of music,
Monleone prepared
with
then sank into
kind
different
pass before he wrote
operas (Alba Eroica,
in 1914, Giovanni
libretto
Domenico was soon to realize
a completely
quired
be used for
and in the next
was signed
Monleone worked on the
in December.
early
might
venture
of grudge and bitterness
to Dina di Sordevolo
tration
Verga/Monleone
aroused
for
the ageing
bear witness
by what he called
turned
the
out to be a fresh
Verga's
novelist.
to the hard feelings
'wretched
let-
and frus-
Monleone affair':
Catania, 8 May 1910
Dai giornali
vedo the il Monleone ha avuto un certo
Egli me
successo a Genova, colla sua Alba Eroica.
di
e mi aveva scritto
ne aveva mandato il libretto,
Per sfruttarmi,
raccomandarlo a Ricordi.
more soliIo non gli ho risposto neppure.
to.
scrivendoe
...
Eroica non mi dice una payola dell'altra
mi dell'Alba
opera I1 Mistero the doveva musicare in luogo di Cavalleria.
15 January 1913
Catania,
Dal mio avvocato di Milano ho tante proposte per acbuocomodare la faccenda col Monleone, sacrificando
na parte dei denari spesi,
s'intende,
the di utili
a
Ma
si
non
parla neppure.
the lo stesso rimborso
propostomi,
a rate,
non mi offre
nessuna garanzia.
I1 Monleone ne parla soltanto
adesso per esýgre libero di dare la sua nuova opera [Arabesca].
The correspondence between the Monleone brothers and Verga refinal sketch of I1 Mistero were
the novelist's
garding the libretto,
Scenario in 1940.33 The libretto
published in the periodical
was
printed
by the formerly
edition:
I1 Mistero/Das
adverse Casa Musicale Sonzogno on the occa34
The vocal score, in the characterission of the Venice premiere.
tic fashion of most verismo operas, was published in an Italo-German
Passionspiel,
110
Milano,
Leipzig;
Sonzogno,
Breitkopf
u. Härtel,
Though the full
Monleone,
text
Verga not only
to be developed
one with
1921-22.
his
into
advice
of the
provided
libretto
the basic
lines,
more articulate
and objections
was the work of Giovanni
until
the
layout
and brief
but he also
libretto
dialogues
assisted
met with
Monlehis
The atmosphere, language and situations
approval.
are unmistakMonleone's versification
shows an extreme diligence
ably Verghian.
in the philological
of the early veristic
reconstruction
style of the
full
collage of idiomatic expreswhich at times amounts to a skilful
from other stories of the Novelle Rusticane and Vita dei
sions lifted
35
Campi.
story,
A comparative analysis of Verga's short story and the libretto
and contrast
elements of similarity
of Ii Mistero offers interesting
of La Lupa as well as the earlier texts of
with the play and libretto
Besides, Verga's own sketch and his comments on the aesCavalleria.
the last stage of
of the new work illustrate
characteristics
dissolution
of his verismo of the 1880s and a marked subordination
of
the realistic
components to the legendary and symbolic dimension.
thetic
One remarkable similarity
can at once be noted in Cavalleria,
festivity
La Lupa and 11 Mistero: the presence of a religious
conThe three texts might be grouped tonected with the Easter rituals.
Cavalleria
EasWeek',
having
'trilogy
Holy
the
set
on
a
of
as
gether
ter Sunday, La Lupa (Act II) on Good Friday, and I1 Mistero on Palm
That commonfeature emphasizes the crucial importance of religion in the life of the rural communities portrayed in the stories.
Religion is both a repressive force and an unfailing
code of punishSunday.
fervour and
of genuine religious
practices sustained by a natural ethical sense. No
superstitious
better time than Easter, in the Catholic liturgical
year, could exem-
ment and reward;
it
is a mixture
death through sin, and regeneBut there is a fundamental
ration through confession and repentance.
in the way the festivities
difference
are used in the three texts,
and in the dramatic relevance they acquire in connection with the
plify
the Christian
sense of spiritual
psychology of the characters.
In the two earlier
plays,
catalysts
of the action
Easter Sunday and Good Friday work as
terms for almost any
and as commonreferential
In Cavalleria,
all the
comment on the behaviour of the characters.
are going to church having cleansed their consciences of
villagers
111
Only Santuzza is 'scomunicata',
unworthy to go to church on Eassin.
ter Day since she cannot bear to confess her sin in front
of God. The
five scenes in which she appears are punctuated
by statements
expressing her self-exclusion
from
of Sc. 5 when she exits
on their
sinners
'le
funzioni
making for
way to repentance.
inherent
in Good Friday
ed throughout
Act II.
Instead
value
of the cross
of Nanni and Mara's
'cortile
Pasqua'
is
repeatedly
of the church,
which
the very
until
end
the church, the sanctuary
of all
36
In La Lupa, the sense of penance
and expiation
symbolic
di
features
hinted
at or stat-
Verga makes use of the
prominently
in the background
rustico':
in proscenio, sino al
Al di lä veduta del villaggio
Monte dei Cappuccini, di cui si vede a sinistra
un
angolo del convento, e la gran croce di pietra, dinanzi alla chiesa.
(La Lupa, play, Act II)
festivity
the religious
of Palm Sunday only provides the occasion for the performance of a mystery play which is itthe disruption
of the libretto:
of the perself the basic situation
formance at its very outset modifies the situation
and brings about
In I1 Mistero,
The old device of the theatre within the theatre,
the catastrophe.
adopted by Verga in 11 Mistero, enables him to achieve a complete
fusion of the external and public element with the private case of
the story.
A village girl,
Nela, is in love with Bruno, a married man; he
her at night, taking advantage of the absence of the girl's
visits
father, Rocco, who works as a night-watchman in an estate outside
the village.
Rocco suspects something because Nela refuses any marThe night before Palm Sunday,
riage proposal on the slightest
pretext.
on his way home, Rocco notices someone steal out of his house. In
vain, the next morning, he questions a fortune-teller
about the identity of the stranger; so he searches wilfully
for a face, a clue,
among the festive crowd. Meanwhile, the 'Personaggi' of the Mystery
move in procession to the chapel to assemble for the performance on
Nela is among them, in the red and light-blue
a nearby platform.
costume of the Virgin
falters
and hesitates
She
Mary she has been chosen to impersonate.
in a state of anguish for the sacrilege she is
Bruno appears and urges her to keep the pretence lest
committing.
the people and her father should find out about them. Bruno's wife,
112
Mara,
also
to reproach
arrives
the girl.
move on to the platform
attracting
is overcome by shame and repulsion,
her unworthiness
Bruno runs
flashes
and her sin
and a cry
Substantial
of horror
'Personaggi'
the attention
of the crowd, Nela
on her knees and proclaims
falls
in front
away and Rocco is
As the other
of the bewildered
community.
him in the crowd.
An axe
the killing
of the adulterer.
soon after
signals
differences
can be noted between the short story
and the libretto
as regards the sequence of events, characterization
Indeed, apart from the general idea of some
and social background.
impersonating the characters of a mystery play, there is
villagers
little
First
else in the story that can be found in the dramatized version.
independent
of all, the Mystery and the killing
are totally
a whole year divides them. The female protagonist
is
not a young girl but a widow who falls for a man called Cola when she
sees him act in the Mystery together with her own partner, Nanni. Since
that day, Nanni has caught the woman in a state of excitement and in
disarray,
So, one night, he decides to
on more than one occasion.
occurrences:
keep watch outside
This
visitor.
mystery
play
on the door,
moon.
the widow's
happens exactly
on Good Friday.
a shot
resounds
The man staggers
spot where the platform
Cola's
mother
the Good Friday
a year
after
out about
for
As Cola approaches
in the deserted
the Mystery
person
lit
of the
and knocks
stealthily
square
by the Easter
house and falls
was set
in the village
as she prays
the mysterious
the performance
away from the widow's
is the only
rituals
house to find
on the
up the previous
year.
who does not join
at the bedside
of her son.
young man dies; the widow becomes known as 'la scomunicata'
to leave the village;
Nanni is eventually
for
caught, tried
and sentenced to imprisonment.
in
The
and has
murder
The short story is divided into two sections: one for the portrayal of the mystery play as an antecedent; the other for the followThe mention of a narrator marks the beginning of
up of the shooting.
each section:
I
II
Questa, ogni volta che tornava a contarla,
gli
venivano i lucciconi
allo zio Giovanni, che non
pareva vero, su quella faccia di sbirro.
I1 teatro 1'avevano piantato nella piazzetta....
Qui lo zio Giovanni sentivasi rizzare in capo i
vecchi peli, al rammentare. Giusto un anno dopo,
113
In the dramatization,
of the Mystery
rable,
the dichotomy
the killing
with
an exemplum. The climactic
of the sinner,
neous punishment
a symbolic
connotation
dow's other
lover
executioner
is
completely
lying
del venerd9
la vigilia
giorno dogg giorno,
santo....
is
which can in itself
public
carried
missing
confession
out
the
be read as a paand the instanta-
among the crowd,
in the gunshot
in ambush in a deserted
a father-figure;
by a fusion
superseded
instrument
square
is
introduce
from the wi-
at night.
The
the same axe of La
Lupa.
But the most radical
In the story
protagonist.
change concerns the identity
the widow is a minor figure;
of the female
her self-indul-
gence and callousness make her a despicable character treated by the
Nela is a
narrator with detached irony and humour. On the contrary,
she is presented as a victim of the circumstances when she
naive girl;
first
yields
to an older man.
In the 'Argomento'
of his sketch,
Verga
wrote:
Bruno e giä l'amante di Nela. Un di, nella calura
della messe, la ragazza non aveva piü saputo resis38
tergli,
e gli si era abbandonata.
The recalling
of that moment, at the end of the love duet between
Nela and Bruno, introduces a note of eroticism and sensual nostalgia
in the predominantly religious
atmosphere:
Bruno
Nela
Bruno
After
Quella pazzia che nel sole di giugno
il primo ti strappava
grido d'amore,
rodermi come lava
oggi ancora la sento nelle vene!...
Era Sant'Agrippina....,
ti sovviene?...
Un papavero avevi tra le labbra...
di sopra al grano il petto ti ondeggiava...
mi ridevi anelante...
(ammaliata, supplicante)
Bruno!... Bruno!...
ti ha-presa la mia mano
stregata
e
...
e il primo bacio me 1'hai dato in bocca!
her first
the girl
a spell,
moment of weakness in the heat of the June harvest,
falls prey to her own passion for the man. It is a 'malia',
the usual metaphor for the irresistable
call of the senses:
114
Nela
(smarrita negli occhi
Una malia
...
che nell'anima canta
e ci hai negli occhi
Se mi parli cosl!...
Ti son caduta allora
e mille volte ancora
di lui)
ý la tua voce
il sole!...
tra le braccia
ci cadrei!...
Wearing the traditional
costume of the Virgin, Nela feels the full
weight of her transgression
and finds the strength to redeem herself
with a public
admission of guilt.
The contrast
and her moral
between the awakened sensuality
of a young woman
inhibitions
is the new element introduced
by Verga in
the dramatized
sketch
it
love
in the
long
of his
story,
and G. Monleone cleverly
exploited
duet he placed towards the end of the opera.
In
letters
to D. Monleone, Verga insists
one of his first
on a new approach to his old story (the adjective
recurs four times in the letter:
(19 Sept. 1908)
Bisogna mettere in rilievo
quel che c'e di mistico
e di suggestivo nel titolo
e nel quadro della rappresentazione religiosa,
mettendolo in relazione e
in contrasto colle passioni umane che ad esso s'intrecciano;
e mi sembra d'esservi riuscito
con magdrammatico per l'ispiragiore e piü nuovo effetto
Io penso ad ogni modo di fare opera
zione.
....
nuova e originale
col nuovo 1i$retto onde le possa
servire per una nuova musica.
stage Verga was still
working on a general plan drawn out by
Giovanni Monleone from the existing Cavalleria.
But he was soon to
discard that first
scheme and make up a new 'bozzetto scenico' where,
At this
by his own admission, the legendary and symbolic elements were given
more prominence. Two important statements are contained in a letter
Verga sent to the Monleones anticipating
the dispatch of the new 'bozzetto':
(15 Oct. 1908)
Ho terminato l'altro
bozzetto di cui le scrissi
Il Mistero.
Questo a me pipel dramma lirico
...
ace assai dippiü,...
perche piü suggestivo e adatto a un ampio svolgimento lirico
tanuovo
pel
glio e 1'andamento delle scene - senza cadere in
io
quel cosidetto realismo che nel dramma lirico
trovo assai volgare.
Colore locale si, ma elevato nel campo poetico.
Bisogna intonare perciö.
anche i versi al tema leggendario e poetico, ri-
115
fuggendo da ogni tentazione
The distinction
between the
which Verga found vulgar
'dramma lirico'
dignity
to the
artistic
into
dialect
or picturesqueness,
tion
of operatic
sion
of the new work in another
had been favourably
comments on the characteristics
leone
has to develop
in the musical
'local
colour',
sum up Verga's
The novelist
realism.
'so-called
and the
and inappropriate
need to give
own 'bozzetto'
dialettale.
40
insists
theatre,
avoiding
ideas
on the
realism'
the
any lapse
on the whole queslegendary
dimen-
letter
to D. Monleone written
after his
by the two brothers.
Verga
received
of his
contribution
which Giovanni
Mon-
and versify:
(28 Oct. 1908)
Io non ho avuto tempo di sviluppare maggiormente gli
accenni per dare il carattere opportuno al soggetto;
liricamente,
di
un che di leggendario, di fantastico
jeratico
quasi, in certi punti, ma giacche la trama
piace a suo fratello,
se crede lo farb appena me lo
farä sapere. 41
The change from the veristic
novella to the religious
exemplum
of the minor
can be seen very clearly in the complete transformation
In the story, the vivid portrayal
during
of the villagers
characters.
preparations and the agitated performance of the Mystery
incidents and humorous vignettes:
Don Angelino, the
is full of little
Fuga
"La
in Egitto",
and
of
script-writer
producer
parish priest,
lines from behind the backdrop of the stage:
prompting his stilted
'Vano, o d6nna, a it pregar; pieta non sento! - Pieta non sento! Tocca a voi, compare Janu... '; 'San Giuseppe' with his cotton-wool
in a forest of olive branches
beard being chased by two 'thieves'
the laborious
chests in height; the women in the square
from attacking
shouting and picking up stones to deter the 'thieves'
'San Giuseppe'; Trippa, the butcher, beating his bass-drum to under-
which hardly
line
reaches their
the confrontation,
It is a down-to-earth,
etc..
realistic
picLetting his characters speak for themselves,
ture of simple people.
Verga relates the naive impassioned response of the villagers
to Don
Their appreciation
Angelino's mystery play.
of the amateur playwright
is biased by their critical
views on his meanness and greed as a priest:
Don Angelino allora affacciö la testa dalla sua tana,
colla barba lunga di otto giorni,
affannandosi a calfare!
marli colle mani e colle parole: - Lasciateli
116
lasciateli!
Cos! a scritto
Bella parte
nella parte.
the aveva scritto!
e diceva pure the era tutta
roba
di sua invenzione.
Giä lui avrebbe messo Cristo
in
i tre tar! Belcroce colle sue mani per chiappargli
la messa.
0 compare Rocco, unpadre di cinque figli,
fatto
di
senza uno straccio
non l'aveva
seppellire
mortorio,
perche non poteva spillargli
nulla?
In the second section of the story, some of the villagers
fill
the
house of the dying Cola 'per curiositä',
others try to help by bringing in professional
figures:
Relithe doctor
and the fortune-teller.
in any circumstance.
Cola's mother pays
the celebration
of a mass but her neighfetishes:
and suggest some well-tried
coexist
gion and superstition
Don Angelino three 'tar! ' for
bours object
Qui ci vuol altro
che la messa di Don Angelino!
dicevano le comari - qui ci vorrebbe il cotone
benedetto di fra Sanzio 1'eremita,
oppure la candela della Madonna di Valverde,
che fa miracoli
dappertutto.
In the libretto,
the fragmentary
structure of the story, with
is tightened into one
its colourful
sketches and short digressions,
composite choral frame dominated by the magmatic presence of 'La FolFrom within this motla', the collective
protagonist
of I1 Mistero.
ley crowd, continuously reshaping its contour, there emerge individual figures or small sections weaving details into the main story or
for
Some of those figures are
the principals.
to
make
room
subsiding
of the Palm Sunday festive background: Pedlars, a Frog-seller,
a Ballad-singer,
a Fortune-teller,
girls and
boys dressed as 'Verginelle'
and 'Innocenti',
coming out of the chapel
figures
blessed
palms;
other
and small choral sections belong to
with
indispensable
ingredients
the 'Personaggi',
the mystery play "La Fuga in Egitto":
among whom
'L'Eremita',
the 'Chierici',
Nela makes her entry, the 'Incappati',
a
holy man who harangues the 'Personaggi' before the performance, 'Verholding the emblems of Christ's
Passion.
and 'Innocenti'
The presence of 'La Folla' is felt throughout the opera, even
during the love duet.
In the stage directions,
the crowd is the constant reference point for all the movements of the principals
and the
ginelle'
The structural
flaw noted in La Lupa,
other individual
characters.
in the somewhat mechanical juxtaposition
consisting
of choral scenes
A complex counterpoint
and duets, is finally
overcome in I1 Mistero.
117
of voices,
including
sion
it
until
the main characters,
is eventually
tween Nela and 'La Folla'
The individual
fic
figures
decoded as fragments
his
cry
'Pesci
Its
to di me!? '
from
',
hinting
the figure
another
story
provides
to get married
own specibe
at Nela's
being
song:
induced
her unworthy
with
to Bruno:
cry were borrowed
'Amore,
by her
imper-
'Cos'hai
fat-
by G. Monleone
of the Novelle
chosen from Vigo's
story
of a popular
reproach
and his
their
which can easily
The Frog-seller
alternates
of the Virgin
in Nela's
The Frog-seller
was pertinently
refusal
fare!
with
information
of
' to the quotation
words ring
"Pane nero",
singer's
from the crowd,
be-
confrontation
to her confession.
witness
of the main story.
fatto
to desecrate
sonation.
emerging
cantanti!
amore, the m'hai
lover
as a collective
and ten-
variety
to a dramatic
condensed
convey the same kind
register,
generates
Raccolta
Rusticane.
The song
42
The Balladamplissima.
a fantastic
transposition
and her final
confession:
of Nela's
constant
Era bella, credete, come it sole.
..
Conti e baroni a chieder la sua mano
venivano a cavallo da lontano...
Ma lei - No, no! - Le nozze non le vuole...
---------------------
Ma in morte la fi gl ia al confessore
dice: Ci ho fitto
dentro un gran peccato...
On the steps
the
of the chapel,
'Personaggi'
to be worthy
'L'Eremita'
his
gives
of the honour
solemn warning
of performing
to
in the holy
mystery:
Pensate all'onor
grande che vi tocca,
figliuoli
miei!
Guai se un che fosse indegno...
se vivendo nel peccato
gli paresse di fuoco
quell'abito
che porta!...
The last
Nela's horrified
words anticipate
outburst as she tries
tear off the Madonna's costume she feels unworthy to wear:
Nela
(fa per strapparsi
di dosso il
Via! Via! Fuoco d'inferno!...
manto)
A similar warning is given by the Fortune-teller
who mentions,
bad omen, the appearance of a comet over the village:
118
to
as a
Badate a me, cristiani!
Mettiamoci in grazia di Dio, chi mai fosse
in peccato mortale...
Sul paese, stanotte,
ho visto la cometa!...
Malaugurio cristiani!...
As the Mystery
is
about to start
Nela makes her own public
as the beginning
Nela
La Folla
Nela
and the background
confession
of the religious
which
voices
is mistaken
subside,
by the crowd
performance:
(che non sa piü resistere,
si butta
innanzi al popolo, sui
ginocchioni
gradini della cappella)
Piet! e misericordia!
Piet! e misericordia!
Gente di Dio, davanti a tutti
io mi confesso!...
(susurrando e disponendosi intorno
curiosa, come per assistere allo
spettacolo)
11
Mistero!
Comincia!
Pia a me? Santa?...
Bugiarda
e impura!
confession punctuated by the comments of 'La Folla' continues
with a wild cry and an oafs, and plunges into
until Rocco interferes
the crowd brandishing his axe. A scuffle and a stampede ensue; then
Nela's
Bruno emerges from the terrorized
of Nela.
villagers
and drops dead in front
structure of the 'Atto Unico' is preceded by
Late at night in her cottage,
Mara's tense monologue in the 'Prologo'.
the woman lulls her baby to sleep and vents her bitterness
and jealousy
The large choral
Originally
as she waits for Bruno to return.
logue of Monleone's Cavalleria,
this intimate
I1 Mistero
devised to fit
the pro-
and sombre section of
and a striking
contrast to the fast-
provides an antecedent
moving, crowded Act.
On the whole, Verga's second contribution
to an opera libretto
Lupa.
His achievement
resulted in a better text than the earlier
seems even more remarkable if one considers the modest artistic
quality
of the original
short story and the twenty-five
years dividing
the Novelle Rusticane from the libretto
In the early
of I1 Mistero.
1890s Verga was misled by an idea of operatic verismo which the success of Mascagni's Cavalleria
seemed to have positively
119
established
as the right
one.
Any attempt
type was doomed to fail,
and De Roberto
Lupa",
its
for
and sensational
cagni's
had long
pastorale"
na di Sordevolo
ter
libretto
prepared
success
scored
di Jorio
Replying
(1904)
to a letter
Verga commented with
of "La
by the plaintive
text.
by Gabriele
operatic
proto-
by Verga
imagery
and ambivalent
of the operatic
about Franchetti's
the premiere,
questionable
ceased to represent
La Figlia
Scala on 29 March 1906.
that
were obliterated
coups de theatre
Verga knew of the great
the
The rich
overtones
"melodramma"
"tragedia
and so did
Puccini.
mythical
at improving
songs
In 1908 Mas-
a fashionable
model.
D'Annunzio
with
and was informed
version
presented
by Dina,
a sarcastic
his
by Diat La
a few days af-
reference
to Mas-
cagni:
(6 April 1906)
Sei stata a teatro ea sentire la Figlia di Jorio.
Quello si, che sa fare!
Ma si e quel c he
e. Qui
abbiamo il Mascagni, piü Mascagni che mai.
Franchetti's
opera was expected to be the major attraction
of the season at La Scala, but it failed to win popular favour and received only
The sedate and intellectual
a succes d'estime.
composer could not aLa Figlia di Jorio was, at any rate, despite
spire to more than that.
differences
the substantial
of language and imagery, the precedent
for
I1 Mistero.
Having to approach his early veristic
novella to turn
it into an operatic text, Verga created a choral fresco where a personal
into a cruel ritual
vendetta was transfigured
of atonement celebrated
coram populo in the village
square on a festive day.
As for the music of 11 Mistero, the 'Wagnerian' Monleone was further away from trying a veristic
twelve
approach in setting the libretto
His music is contrived and, at its
years after it had been written.
best,
sounds like
of Nela's lyrical
Wagner revised
by Richard Strauss.
The basic motive
pieces is borrowed from Die Götterdämmerung (Ex. 1):
120
and is likewise
Ex. 2-
presented
in the Prologue (Ex. 2):
Monleone, I1 Mistero
In the course of the opera, even such veristic
components as the cries
and the Greengrocers are set to fragments of Nela's
of the Frog-seller
(Ex.
3a,
3b):
Prologue
in
its
the
from
development
up
motive picked
Ex. 3a
Il Ssºnocchiaio.
lwwdler.
Pur 1ý,
'
ýwv
I-
.Yý
EA
1
-wwý--ý
I---I
Pe
SiN
0
IN i r-
Pe
.
SiA.
rei cao. tan . til
do F1
wirl
Sm.
.
.
taw . til
ein.
uci
,
hwf!
do Fi
ua,
iss.
.
.
Ex. 3b
I ZSreoooal.
D'
.
niüyeJlwýdlirý'.
..
. -, --11 -1 . ..
-'
.1
Ito . bu btril . Ir . ta
Was wwa lad
an . pnirt,
The Prologue,
however, contains
ý
III-"
muz. sr vaa . du . Let
i+d Aalb var
lray/t/
.
the most effective
Mara's lullaby,
,--n
piece in I1 Mistero:
with a sombre melody consisting of an ascending chromatic octave introduced by some 'Puccinian'
fifths
in the bass
parallel
(Ex. 4):
121
Largo. (i=u4)
Ex. 4-
Monleone, Ii
Mistero
Largo.
0
p
(caaticchi,
AndomtºccbioalmeaW
(swaiasiu+l
#iwtewa)
N.
cul .
_lay
146 mi
ich ' in
oöl . ea .ii
ddr Wiý So
.
tr'. 4
En.
gwºt.
und viot
'7
.
ge. li tro .
. jel Si' mir
ý
1 jiEj
Lh--
J}
J-J---JJ'}
I,
la
. fir,
of .
tar. no
J-J--JJ
I
achiceb. *
I we m
Q
-ý--,
ý:,
j'
iiºos . 'so
Mi!
.b
9
Weg,
- . ýý..
ý, -; =XLý,
,.
t!,
rý,
UK
N1
'*. iß es. sü_
Ja. aw aws trat,
ýs
ýý
.
F ip-j-1 jr
ll
___
____
F.
IM' _
l
-ý-t.
cv
Rrl-j r 41
_J
m
riý"0
122
4
't1
__________
J; I.
p
for . no al ca. pes . is . le
Xis eon;
rinse um ob irwi.
.
.
I ý oý
1ý
n.
EP
aho_ to .
tind iie
10
n
MR
va .i
Jlo
. gen
n
5
9e1
4.
Malia by Luigi
Capuana's
works for
reference
to Verga's
stant
to a large
sed,
Capuana and Francesco Paolo Frontini
that
be studied
cannot
without
in the same field
own achievements
influenced
extent,
however,
the theatre
them.
and conditioned
It
which,
should
,
was in no way undirectional.
A
the relationship
conbe stresApart
from the advice and support Capuana offered
to his friend
during the
latter's
delicate
he can also be
phase of stylistic
experimentation,
towards the definition
credited
with at least one direct
contribution
technique
of a new narrative
In a letter
to a short
to Capuana, dated
in Sicilian
story
verse
before,
and made an interesting
genesis
of Verga's
on his
ana exerted
into
which would evolve
friend
his
statement
style
veristic
24 September
'Io
associate:
1882,
non dimenticherb
several
light
throws
as on the
verismo.
Verga referred
had written
which
as well
Verga's
years
on the
influence
of Capu-
mai certa
tua novel-
la in versi appioppata al Vigo se non sbaglio come canto popolare,...
Quello a un piccolo
capolavoro,
the la prima ispirae devo confessarti
forma schiettamente
popolare the ho cercato di dare alle
44
la devo a te'.
Such an admission sounds quite flattermie novelle
ing for Capuana as it comes soon after the publication
of Vita dei
zione
della
Verga is undoubtedly
Campi and I Malavoglia.
in his
later
lector
and a flair
Lionardo
canti
for
was "Lu Cumpari",
native
Mineo,
to trick
his
started
d'amuri",
intelletto
d'amore"
with
several
texts
the indefatigable
this
the incipit
from the Vita
"Lu Cumpari"
when the ethnologist
Raccolta
Nova.
the fake
him,
in vernacular
Verga.
of Dante's
amplissima
researcher.
remarkable
("The
a good sense of humour
Capuana offered
which so much impressed
'ntillettu
note:
for
and concise
Capuana was a keen col-
he had also
material
(1870-74),
siciliani
it.
works than
a sea-captain's
to a plain
At the time
vernacular'poetry.
made up by himself
which
behind
of his
of
by Verga is
mentioned
story
'form'
discovery
conversion
and songs;
stories
from his
an octave
in verse
Vigo was collecting
popolari
material
his
off
sparked
and has a curious
of popular
on the
to the accidental
reference
log-book as having
45
The tale
style.
Godfather")
influence
of Capuana's
acknowledgement
in this
more convincing
Another
line:
canzone
The gullible
'Donni,
di
as original
he had
One of them
'canto'
was
ch'aviti
"Donne the
avete
Vigo recorded
as no. 980 of his Raccolta and accompanied it with a puzzled
"This line is Dante's:
did he take it from our poets or did they
123
take it
from him? "
After
Verga had successfully
reappropriated
"Lu Cumpari"
"Comparatico",
first
tember 1882),
then
and turned
with
of Capuana's
his
congratulated
dei
paratico
its
ga with
the flashes
remarks
Teatro
an effective
stylistic
novella,
(Rome, 16 Sepalterations,
It was eventualof short stories.
(1907) and, when it appeared in vol.
(Palermo, 1912), Verga
siciliano
dialettale
friend
"quell'altro
tuo bellissimo
and recalled
46
"Lu Cumpari" must have impressed
popolari".
Canti
tense
into
substantial
in more than one of his collections
ly dramatized
in Sicilian
dialect
III
it
Capuana
new style,
in La Cronaca Bizantina
published
included,
his
established
narrative
of vivid
direct
by the story
teller,
structure
deprived
the colourful
with
naive
and crude
Verlinks,
of any transition
speech interspersed
Cum-
moralizing
dialect
lending
legend
to the gruesome events of the fiction.
Its
influence,
therefore,
can best be seen in the structural
pecuRusticana";
but the arduous
of such stories
as "Cavalleria
an aura of popular
specific
liarities
of Verga's
elaboration
tistic
vision
cious
innovator
characteristic
language,
the breadth
of his
ar-
are far
above any model Capuana might be able to offer.
While Capuana can be said to have operated as the theorist
and critic
Verga was an autonomous and tenaof the naturalistic
school in Italy,
fluence
his
who pursued
friend.
his
What Luigi
own artistic
Russo wrote
ideal
to in-
and was able
about the short
story
"Ca-
"l'arte
ha
trasumanato
il
costume" - could not be extended
to Capuana's works where local customs and superstitions
are studied
for their
own sake, and the dispassionate
analysis
of a pathological
case can be made the ultimate
goal of a story or play.
valleria"
In this
tion
respect,
of the play
Malia
is
a very
good example.
(Rome, 1891) bears the dedication:
affettuosissimamente".
Verga and De Roberto
The first
"A Giovanni
were among the first
to be informed
ediVerga
few
A letter
Capuana wrote to
about the new work.
De Roberto from Rome on 25 November 1891 enables us to know the exact
date of completion
of the play and Capuana's own impression
of it:
people
ieri alle 2e 40 p. m. misi la parola fine alla
...
commedia Malia, e domani la leggerö a Cesare Rossi.
Io sono contento del mio lavoro: mi pare Waver fatto una cosa teatralissima,
drammaticissima, senza
nessuna ombra di convenzione nei caratteri,
nei
sentimenti,
nella parte tecnica della sceneggiatura.
(Verga-De Roberto-Capuana, p. 94)
124
Malia
tion
that
at the time when Verga was working on the dramatizaIt would not be unreasonable
of La Lupa for Puccini.
to assume
the success of Mascagni's
Cavalleria
prompted Capuana to write a
was written
libretto
for
1860-1939).
Francesco
play,
his
friend
Although
Pasta,
an autograph
and composer Francesco
Capuana himself,
stated
that
in a letter
the opera
manuscript
libretto
in the Biblioteca
(Catania,
Paolo Frontini
to the actor-manager
was derived
from the
Comunale of Mineo (Si-
"Luigi
Capuana.
Malia.
Melodramma
in 3 atti.
Roma 16-26 giugno
91" - seems to testify
to the contrary.
The document is marked "Autoby Capuana's wife Adelaide Bernardini,
grafo originale"
and it should
cily)
be a first
draft
developed into
of the "melodrama" which Capuana later
the play and libretto
Be that as it may, it is clear from
of Malia.
Capuana's letter
to Pasta that the text of the libretto
he read to the
actor in Rome must have been completed before the comedy:
Roma, 28 Novembre 1891
Caro Pasta,
la
scrivo
vi
nuovamente
per
annunziarvi
the
mia
...
il
commedia Malia, quella stessa da cui era tratto
melodramma the le lessi qui a Roma, e giä condotta
in fine:
i copioni...
Il lavosto facendo preparare
ro mi sembra riuscito
caratteristico
per la diRintu4#
dei
drammatico.
ra
costumi siciliani,
e molto
When the printed text of the play was ready, Capuana sent copies
to Verga and De Roberto, and both friends responded with fully appreciative comments. Besides, writing to De Roberto about their project
of La Lupa (see par. 1, letter dated 13 January 1892), Verga commenthe had noticed between his play and Malia; the
ed on the similarities
cheeky style is the one reserved for his intimate friends and the insults
should be read in a jocular
key:
Ea proposito della Lupa ho scritto
a Capuana che
e un infame, un porco, un baloss... che mi ha fottuto due o3 scene della Lupa colla sua Malia, che
e pure una bella cosa, la piü bella cosa forse che
egli abbia scritto,
e fui contento di dirglielo...
Two years later,
as the elaboration
of La Lupa gained momentum, Verga
again commented on the similarities
with Malia, replying to De Roberto
who had raised that point along with his doubts on Puccini's willingness to set their
libretto
(see par.
125
1, letter
dated 13 April
1894):
I punti di somiglianza
Tu sai
con Malia di Capuana.
E del resto non me
che la colpa non e mia di certo.
La scena e le situazioni
ne importa nulla.
anche identiche non importano;
giacche venti mani diverse
in modo diverso.
Del resto,
in
possono manipolarle
confidenza,
e me ne dispiace
pel nostro Capuana, la
Malia come opera e morta e seppellita
e non se ne
parla piü.
Verga's
remark
justified
about the hopeless
by its
unsuccessful
30 May 1893) and its
95, did
nothing
al qualities
the opera
Mala Pasqua!
of drawing-room
in dramatic
talent
and musical
However, the libretto
as an opera was
(Teatro Brunetti,
in Milan,
Its
a chance of survival.
Malia
a remarkable
inventiveness
in 18music-
no more appealing
The two composers were skilled
songs and shared
to the composition
unsuited
A revival
shelving.
were such as to make Frontini's
than Gastaldon's
facturers
of Malia
in Bologna
premiere
subsequent
to secure
failure
manu-
deficiency
which made them totally
of operas.
of Malia is worth examining for
a study
the only
of the stylistic
and structural
elements which characterize
to the operatic theatre by the theorist
contribution
of literary
veThere exist two editions of the libretto,
one for each producrismo.
(BoTedeschi
by
Achille
tion of the opera: the first
was published
1893); the second by Arturo De Marchi (Milan, 1895) who also
The play Malia was included by Capuana in
printed the vocal score.
(1894)
Le
Paesane
his collection
short
stories
on the grounds that
of
formula
he had tried to 'apply to a theatrical
work the same artistic
logna,
used in the Paesane'.
A wealthy farmer's daughter, Jana, falls in love with her future
Cola, only days before her sister Nedda marries him.
brother-in-law,
by the physical
The naive and God-fearing young woman is horrified
that to a 'malia',
she feels for the man, and she attributes
During the wedding party, Nino,
a spell cast. on her by Cola himself.
Jana's fiance, presses the girl for an explanation of her strange
attraction
looks and depressed state, receiving only evasive answers. Four months
later,
visitors
gather in Jana's house for the festival
of the Immaculate
Conception and the procession of the Madonna. Cola and Nedda altheir marriage is running into difficulties
because of the
so arrive;
tendency of the man. Jana's obscure 'disease' is now a
philandering
family
problem and Cola tries
to talk
126
it
over with the girl.
Much to
his
and pleasure,
she reveals her passion for him, her secret
It will
and horror,
and begs him to break the spell.
not be
for the unscrupulous
Cola to turn the situation
to his advan-
surprise
anguish
difficult
tage.
As the procession
shouts
abuse to the Madonna for
approaches
Jana's
not saving
house,
the desperate
her from her shameful
woman
frenzy.
prey to Cola and their relationship
goes on for some
months until she finds the strength to resist him. Her refusal exasIn a
perates the man and brings more tension between him and his wife.
dramatic confrontation
with Nino, Jana tells him everything and releases
Jana falls
The young man, shocked at first,
all Jana has been through and offers to marry
loves her.
Jana accepts but Cola interferes
try-
him from any obligation
blames the 'malia' for
towards her.
her because he still
ing to dissuade her from leaving
him.
Nedda overhears their
conversa-
After
provoca-
and wreaks her resentment on her sister.
tion from. Cola, Nino seizes a knife and kills
tion
and grape-harvesters.
Just as in Verga's Cavalleria
further
him in front
of relatives
in Malia the social and
is brought to life through
Rusticana,
cultural
village
environment of a Sicilian
the interaction
between the main characters and a chorus of villagers.
backThe pathological
the
is
'bewitched'
the
against
set
girl
case of
festival
and a grape-harvest.
ground of a village wedding, a religious
directMalia
But, whilst the stylistic
devices
point
of
and structural
ly back to Verga's "Scene popolari",
the psychological
analysis is typical of Capuana, and has precedents in his earlier
narrative works, such
(1883),
(1877),
Storia
fosca
Profili
di
donne
and more specifically,
as
the short story "Tortura" (1889), the study of a middle-class woman
On the othand almost driven to insanity.
raped by her brother-in-law
between Jana and Cola has some
er hand, the incestuous relationship
in
La
Lupa.
Pina
Nanni
the
and
of
situation
with
points of similarity
In both plays we find the same kind of imagery connected with sin, and
The spell alblend of religion
the characteristic
and superstition.
her
into
leads
her
the
Jana,
of
arms
cast on
which ultimately
dynamic
by
Capuana
is
the
brother-in-law,
element
as
adopted
cynical
He illustrates
the progress of the 'disease' moving
of the action.
in Act I
from the early stage of the woman's agonizing reflections
legedly
when, owing to her behaviour
clear that something serious
relatives
during the wedding party, it becomes
upsets her. The gradual involvement of
and neighbours reaches a climax at the end of Act II with
127
Jana's
blasphemous
convulsions.
by a fit
accusations
against the Madonna followed
of
In Act III,
Jana has already overcome the 'malia'
by sim-
ply
her own mistake
realizing
but,
in arguing
her case with
Eventually,
vo resistergli').
'breaking
the spell'.
The local
colour
background
social
'disease'.
Both in the play
is
as a 'canto,
dance;
breaks
called
sing
when they force
Teri,
'malia'
in the
displaying
'la
of such a
the climax
involves
dancing.
of the wedPitre
which
in
and,
the effects
Ruggiera',
and
describes
two men and two
Jana is reluctant
to
her to sing,
of
on the concept
from the novella
is
Saverio
led
in,
of a wicked
friar,
The poor man is
help.
Cola,
a short story Capuana pubin Le Paesane (1894), soon after Malia,
sick
in Act
and miserable,
and claims
Padre Benvenuto,
a spell
disgrace
about Jana's
to tease
and witchcraft.
Consequently,
at the end of Act
voke the help
of a priest
perstition
is,
II,
therefore,
the
when Don
to be the
him at his
to exorcise
beg his
former
clients
predicament,
takes
advan-
'mago'
simplification
of the action.
relatives
The mixture
and friends
incantation
the devilish
of religion
Giu la buttate!
Ella b la real
No, benedetta non la chiamate
Cotesta ebrea!
Potea salvarmi!
Non ha voluto!
Sia maledetta!
128
his
and express
Don Saverio
more striking:
Jana:
pains.
In the libretto,
Jana's
the Madonna.
against
III
who is beating
and can only
does not appear owing to the necessary
makes her rail
of mate-
on him in the form of rheumatic
who knows best
in spells
The insertion
some comic relief
now out of business
tage of Don Saverio's
scepticism
'I1 Mago',
of the play'.
provides
feeling
own game and has cast
for
belief
a song while
the protagonist
as a 'commentary
victim
the cultural
because it
in 1889 and then included
lished
on the man by pub-
she can manage only one line and
48
In the play, a sorcerer
is
off overwhelmed with emotion.
to drive the spell away from the 'bewitched'
woman. He is Don
Saverio
rial
dance,
e pantomima'
women who, in turn,
revenge
and in the opera,
a traditional
ballo
his
to characterize
for
opportunities
the wrong man;
with
she is still
convinced that Cola's
('Ero nelle sue mani; non potespell
of the superstitious
offers
party
in love
Nino takes
contributes
some cases,
ding
Nino,
was an irresistible
attractiveness
licly
in falling
inwhich
and su-
Non ha voluto!...
Sia maledetta!
Tutti:
L'opra infernale
Qui c'e malia!
Non ha voluto!...
(cade in convulsione)
e manifesta!
Un sacerdote!.
Altro
ýý
Malia!
Malia!
non resta!...
indeed, the key point of the whole play (and opera): the conflict
caused by the awakening of unrestrained sensuality in a young
womanwith little
education but strong religious
and moral principles.
That is,
The very idea of fancying
husband fills
her sister's
Jana with disgust;
yet she cannot altogether repress her feelings,
and the only reason she
In a letter
to De
can find for that is the influence of an evil spell.
Roberto, dated 26 December 1891, Capuana thanks his friend for the favourable opinion expressed on Malia and comments on the character
Jana in the terms outlined above:
of
Jana ha sentito it fascino di Cola e lo dice chiaro
nel suo monologo... Nella sua mente di contadina devota e credente, l'amore pet cognato non pub essere
di malia.
L'analisi
altro the effetto
non pub ne
deve farla lei, ma lo spettatore;
e mi pare di avergli dato tutti
gli elementi.
(Versa-De
Roberto-Capuana,
p. 177)
The monologue Capuana refers to can be found in Act II of the play,
A helpful but superstitious
neighsoon after Don Saverio's visit.
bour, Zia Pina, has arranged for the 'mago' to come with a pretext
(selling
some cloth) and take a look at the woman. But Jana cannot
bear the old man and his panacea, and, being left alone with her affliction,
she prays to the Immaculate Mother of God for help and describes
how it
Jana:
happened that
she fell
in love with Cola:
Se
Ah
bella
Madre
Immacolata,
sapessero!
Non reggo pits! Comea stasalvatemi voi!
to? Voi sola lo sapete!
Mi sedeva accanto..
parlava... ridevo... senza sospetto, con cuor
Voi lo sapete.
E' stato cosi!
E'
sincero!...
Levatemelo voi dalla mente! mi
stato cosi!
Ah, the fuoco, the fuoco...
sento impazzire!
Hanno ragione: opera del demonio!...
Jana's impassioned pleading is moved to the very beginning of Act I (Scene 2) so that it may provide the character with
The actual prayer is
an early opportunity for lyrical
expansion.
left out and the monologue aims at rationalizing
the nature of the
In the libretto,
129
sorcery
which
of the prose play
operatic
verse
The warm and genuine expressions
and cooled in the dry symmetry of the
the woman.
afflicts
are stiffened
Capuana inflicts
Jana (sola)
on his
'contadina':
No, possibil
non e, Vergine santa!
Oh, come mai?... Bevevo
Lentamente l'incanto!
Di niente m'accorgevo!
Ei mi sedeva accanto...
Motteggiava... ridevo!
E bevevo 1'incanto!
Di niente m'accorgevo!
Ed oggi, d'un tratto,
La benda funesta
dagli occhi
mi cade!
Mi tremano sotto i ginocchi,
Mi fugge la vita dal cor!
Un senso d'orrore m'invade...
E'opra d'inferno,
Signor!
The woman's own subjective
the objective
description
makes at the beginning
and emotional
Paolo asked the doctor
riage
seems to be the only
trary
to the opinion
cluded
lar
from.
is integrated
by
behaviour Jana's father
of her unaccountable
(play
Act
II
The caring Masof
and libretto).
saio
suffering
analysis
to see the young woman; an early marfor the strange
'disease',
treatment
conround
of Zia Pina who swears it
In the libretto
the character
and Capuana makes Paolo quote
is
4malia'
a
Jana is
of Zia Pina is not
both the scientific
in-
and the popu-
diagnosis:
Paolo (da sý) Questo mal che la martira
Natural cosa non ý.
Muta, tetra
qui s'aggira,
Piange, o brontola
da sý...
Suda freddo,
smorta al pari
D'un cadavere si fa:
E, convulsa,
con le nari
Sanguinanti,
in urli
dä.
E' male d'amorel ripete il dottore.
Mal'opra, mal'opra! dottore, pens'io!
makes Cola all the more wicked and despicable in
infatuation.
In Act II,
taking advantage of the woman's unwitting
while he makes up hasty avowals of love, he sneers at Jana's anguish
quoting a proverb as an aside: `Amore di cognata a gloria beata'.
Jana's vulnerability
The proverb becomes a concise way of musical characterization
opera. During the long duet between Jana and Cola (II, 2),
130
in the
it
recurs
four times as an aside and contradicts
Jana:
E' il
vostro,
Cola's
Peccato
Cola!
hot-blooded
statements:
grande
Zitta!
La vostra e la mia stella
La nostra sorte han scritta!
(Da se)
Amor di cognata
E' gloria beata!
Veder vo' se il proverbio
Ha detto il vero o no!
Cola:
In Act III
is reversed.
Jana rebels against her subjugation and can stand up to Cola's entreaties
and threats; on the contrary, Cola has developed a strong attachment to the woman and won't
let
the situation
her go.
It
Cola:
Jana:
Cola:
Jana:
Cola:
seems as though the
'malia'
had backfired.
E quando mi dicevi?...
(interrompendolo)
Ero
pazza.
mi faceva parlare a quel modo.
La vostra
malia
E quando giuravi?...
(c. s. )
Ero
dicevo.
Non
sapevo
pazza.
quel
the
E ora the hai fatto impazzire me, ora the ti sei
preso tutto il mio cuore, tutta l'anima mia, e io
stesso non, so come e avvenuto... ora?... Voglio
vederla!... -Sei mia!... Son due mesi the ti vengo
dietro come un cagnolino!...
Due mesi the mi fai
tutte le pene dell'inferno!
Due mesi
soffrire
the mi tieni a bada! Sposerai... ma quando vorrö
io, e se vorrö; per ora sei mia, mia sei!...
Malis (play), Act III
and his stubborn interference
will deterpossessive affection
him.
mine Nino to kill
Capuana is fully successful in his portrayal of Jana. The pathological case of the 'bewitched' village woman is well integrated into
Cola's
the choral movement of relatives
and neighbours, some of whom resemble
Zia Pina, for example, is similar to Zia
Verga's minor characters.
(and to her namesake in La Lupa). On the whole,
Filomena of Cavalleria
ingredients with greater skill
Capuana handles the veristic
than Verga,
and Malia has more cohesion than La Luna: local colour, humour, psychological analysis, religion
and superstition,
songs and dances have each
dramatic rea necessary function and combine to produce an effective
When we consider the 'commedia' and the libretto,
the play is
sult.
Capuana had fairly
old-fashioned
much the better of the two versions.
ideas about what an operatic
text
should be like
131
from a linguistic
point
and F. P. Frontini
could
Cavalleria
example of Mascagni's
make little
in planning
ture
all
of view,
of Malia.
In the libretto,
The main roles
Massaio
Paolo,
baritone;
Nino, tenor
no; Cola,
in Act I;
guests
Act III).
is
involved
in the three
2: Cola/Jana;
ters
is given
her inner
terms:
atic
Lupa.
by far
are eliminated.
Nedda, mezzosopraby a Chorus (wedding
soprano;
Besides
of the opera
and interacts
in
grape-harvesters
(I,
with
three
solos,
4: Nino/Jana;
the other
she
II,
charac(I, 2)
Two of the solos are prayers,
the other
feelings
her position.
The character
and defines
and opportunities
is to say a role
linguistic
register
that
Jana's
Jana,
characters
the longest.
long duets
the prominence
all
bass;
1: Nino/Jana)
III,
and the chorus.
discloses
is
part
the minor
- are supported
in Act II;
and relatives
friends
Jana's
use of the innovatory
the musico-dramatic
struc-
in oper-
of a protagonist
Verga would not allow
for
Pina in La
literary
an antiquated
polish
Santuzza, makes the libwhich, compared with the language of Mascagni's
in the duets. The
retto of Cavalleria
much more veristic,
particularly
same can be said
difference
for
Nino's
exhibits
A good example of the substantial
between Capuana's prose play and the libretto
of register
part.
of Malia is to be found in the crucial duet of Act II (Jana/Cola).
In
the play, Jana expresses her anguish in truly veristic
terms; an obsession with 'hell'
and 'damnation', self-pity
and moral scruples are
clearly understandable in her impassioned words:
Cola:
Jana:
Cola:
Jana:
Jana!... Jana! Che male c'e se mi volete bene?
No, no! Non mi guardate cosi!
Ah, cotesti
Non mi toccate, Cola: per caritä!
Abocchi!
biate pieta di me! Scioglietemi!
Scioglietemi!
Vorrei potervi
Mi avete
attaccare
piü forte!
Non lo vedete?
attaccato
Non
peggio, Jana.
lo capite?
Vi ho nel cuore anch'io.
Non a vero; non pub essere; non dev'essere.
Che avete mai fatto!
Mi avete messo l'inferno nell'anima.
Quante lagrime, Signore!
Quante nottate senza sonno, Signore!
Mi volete
dannata,
insomma?
..............
[Cola takes Jana in his arms and kisses her while
Jana:
No!... Cola!
...
Cognato!...
she struggles]
No!... Non voglio!...
vi amo!... No... (gli
sfugge
Mostro!
Mostro!
Mostro!
dalle
braccia)
(Malia,
132
Non
V'odio!
play,
II)
In the equivalent
passage of the libretto,
the sense of the dramatic
between Jana and Cola is distorted,
and her heart-rend-
confrontation
ing emotions
into
are turned
a set of stereotyped
antitheses
one might
(love/hate;
from an amateur Petrarchist
attraction/repulsion):
expect
Cola
Jana
Zitta!
Zitta!...
V'amo e v'odio!
M'amate?
Vi fulmini
E' il destino!
il cielo!
V'odio, si, se mi state vicino;
Ma, voi lungi, delira il mio cor!
V'amo e v'odio!
Vi fuggo e v'anelo!
Schiava vostra ridotta
son io!
Per disfar 1'incantesimo rio,
Pianto ho indarno e pregato finor!
(Malia, opera, II)
Lines
such as these belong to the age-old tradition
of Italian
opera(UU-UU-UU--).
The use of the antithesis
tic decasillabi
in 'V'amo e
Vi fuggo e v'anelo! ' goes back to lines such as Da Ponte's
v'odio!
or
di fuoco,
ora Sono di ghiaccio'
(I,
Figaro
5).
(wicked),
Rhetorical
able verse
a veneer
finds
lines
of Jana's
style.
poser's
in an arioso
which
Jana's
line
1A).
'V'amo e v'odio!
at
sings
to parlato
'V'amo'on
for
of the libret-
the next word,
pianissimo
sottovoce
parlando
against
for
disfar
'Per
Frontini
version
at
l'incantesimo
resumes the motive
as a reminder
on the villain's
takes
interval
on markedly
'
While
tremolo
melody,
doubfea-
veristic
the orchestra
the
accompaniment,
from fortissimo
vostra',
melody,
(Ex.
rio'
of the arioso
of Jana's
setting
of an eleventh
and bursts in' (Ex. 1B).
No less character-
'v'odio!
'Schiava
the orchestral
sung to a plaintive
e v'anelo!
is the sharp change of dynamics
istic
symmetrical
a good example of the com-
offers
unavoidable
a steep
by
as required
to the convention
This
its
unremark-
The conserva-
is
Vi fuggo
the tune with
appropriates
soprano
(Ex.
Capuana's
to give
in Frontini's
counterpart
'rio'
of Jana and Nino.
adhesion
first
(far),
'lungi'
and appropriateness
of the roles
its
led by the orchestra
tures
are intended
in Le Nozze di
aria
words like
of distinction
of Capuana's
character
to in verse
figures,
vain),
lyricism
the sustained
tive
(in
'indarno'
of Cherubino's
surrender
con forza
where the voice,
still
to
in
returns
at last to the melody
1C).
At the end of the opera,
in its
fortissimo
to Cola and a final
orchestral
comment
killing.
The mawkish conclusion of the duet Jana/Cola accentuates the difference between the prose play and the libretto.
The figure of the
133
Malia
Ex. IA - Frontini,
"'
All!
rtooAo
JANA tnllovoce
.
ý
-
_-r=-
V'a
k
i
ý
--
--diu! Vi
mo c vºu ...
....
A l ltto MoNAo
iIiii:
-j
d
ý
1ýIýseý;ueiido t1 caulo
mi
..
P
......,.....
...........
fu)
... i
.
ni il
--O-o
............
,ý_
ý_
I
S
"ý..
Ex. 1B -
10!
CIC ..
"""""""
"".
Wafu
J
v'odio l
COLA
"
ittal
ß--:: -1-
,
-ýý
>}
:ý- ?>>
ýý
_8.
yýy
4'i70 "
rý
r
'
ý,
ýI
"
ý_
,ý. .
ýý
Ex. 1C 1)
Per di
Schiava voatra
{
1'incan.te si. mo
afar
.
.
.0ý
ppp "otlovoes
0
ý"
ý"
.
ýý.
ri .o
.
ý" rý.
r"
J, IL
ý.
rý
#ý.
ß.#.ý.
r"
ýý
'contadina'
with
is pushed aside and replaced
tormented by moral scruples
a languorous
of her sexual
arms as a fulfilment
Jana
desire:
......................
(Si
..........
abbandona un po' trale
Ma tu non ardi!
Ma tu non mi ami!
Del fuoco istesso
in Cola's
her self-destruction
woman contemplating
. braccia
che mi dispera!
(Gli
di
1ui)
sfugge)
Tra le tue braccia
(Torna ad abbandonarsi)
In quest'istante
morir vorrei!
L'orrendo fato che mi minaccia
Sotto i tuoi baci sfidar saprei.
Non mi toccate!...
More examples of Capuana's borrowings from standard operatic vocabuHe uses 'ambascia' (anguish) in:
lary can be found in Nino's part.
Nino
Ah, Jana
Quale tremenda ambascial
Scoglierci!
Dopo tanti
Sogni d'amore!
(II,
is a favourite
'lungi'
3)
adverb of both Jana and Nino from their
first
duet:
Jana
Nino
'rio'
or
e la real'
for
Quel giorno the a voi par cos! vicino,
Mi par the lungi, lungi, assai, fugg!...
Oh, non scotete la testa cos!!
Lungi fuggi?... Parlate!...
(I, 4)
Non mi celate nulla!...
recurs a few more times:
(Nino).
(Jana);
'rio destino'
'reo'
evil/wicked
Nino
is
'pravo'
'vincoli
rei'
(Jana);
An alternative
'Ella
adjective
used by Nino in an enjambment:
Lungi n'andrem di qua!
Ormai la prava
Volete?
Opra giä vinta fu!...
(III,
1)
Apart from the marginal figures of Nedda and Massaio Paolo, the
features is
register
retains veristic
only character whose linguistic
What Nino and Jana call 'rio destino' or 'orrendo
Cola, the villain.
is for Cola, more simply, 'mala sorte'.
His psychology partakes
I,
in
Act
Turiddu
Alfio.
bad
As
bridegroom,
the
and
of
a
qualities
of
fato'
135
Cola is convivial
and extrovert:
Cola
The cälia
weddings
advantage
insolent
Jana is
Su, su, bevete,
Su, su, gustate, amici, i dolci
E la cälia che stimola la gola
E fa bere e riber!...
are soaked and toasted
in Sicily.
of the
In Act II,
'malia'
(I,
3)
traditionally
offered
Cola behaves as a cynical
amd make Jana his
lover.
He swears and threatens
and mafioso.
going
chick-peas
nostri
at
liar
to take
III,
he is
In Act
when he is told
that
to marry Nino:
Cola
E' vero?... E' vero?
Andrai tu sposa a Nino?
Mal faceste
...
I conti tutti
e due!
..
Per la'Madonna!
Pel sangue!...
..........
..
....
Ebbene, andre in galera,
Ma sua tu non sarai!...
(III,
3)
In the final
with Nino, the mafioso component comes out
when Cola admits no arguing about his claim that Jana is not willing
The sapid, colloquial
to get married.
style of the prose play enli(to
libretto
the
the
of
no avail for the music, though):
verse
vens
confrontation
Cola
Se affermo una cosa,
Tutti in paese lo sanno,
Non ci ha gusto a smentirmi chi l'osa!
(libretto,
III,
4)
Nino
(avvicinandosi
a Jana, the smania e piange
in un canto)
detto
Avete
di
Jana?
no,
(afferrandolo
pel braccio e scostandolo,
con aria braveggiante) - Quando io affermo
lo sanno nel paese - non
una cosa - tutti
ci ha gusto chi pretende smentirmi! (Nino
e Cola stanno per afferrarsi).
(play, III)
Cola
The almost literal
transposition
of the lines indicates how important
in
they are for Capuana to focus the quarrelsome and defiant traits
Cola's personality.
The involvement of the villagers
as witnesses
to a claim points
directly
to Verga's Alfio.
136
In Cavalleria
Rusticana
(play,
Scene 1), the resolute 'carrettiere'
asserts his right to take
by himself and calls on the whole village to
care of his own interests
support his words: 'I miei interessi
me li guardo io, da me,... E in palo sanno, grazie a Dio! ' It is the same language, but the
ese tutti
implications
Alfio is the hard-working,
honourable marare opposite.
ried man who will not tolerate
any wrong; Cola is a despicable boaster.
In the previous
ficant
similarity
with
Verga's
tween Nedda, Cola and Jana,
affair
with
operatic
her husband.
versification
of the veristic
both used by Nedda with
conclusion
the vivid,
The word
regard
Jana:
Cola:
Jana:
Nedda:
Cola:
Pina:
Mara:
Pina:
Mara:
Pina:
Mara:
Pina:
'thief',
dialogue
from the stifling
the metaphor
behaviour,
Both passages
speech of the early
of the snake,
remind
us of the
which Verga was writbear the hallmark
Verghian
prose
style:
(scoppiando e mostrandosi)
Ah! Che sento!... La ladra tu sei?
Dunque tu mi rubavi il suo amore!
Ladra! Ladra!... Sgualdrina!...
E potei
Questa serpe allevarmi sul core!...
Mia sorella!
Tacete per Dio!...
(a Nedda)
Taci! Taci! 0 ne va di tua vita!
Mia sorella!...
Perduta son io!
Ladra!...
Ecco gente!...
Malia (libretto,
III,
3)
(investendola,
bieca e con voce sorda).
Schiacciami la testa con le tue mani
allora...
giacche sono io la vipera!...
Andrai dal confessore poi... anche tu!
Scomunicata! scomunicata the siete!
Taci!
Ladra! Ladra!
Taci!
Ladra! Venite sin qui a rubarmi la mia
pace! Madre scellerata!
(come una belva ferita).
Ah, vedi? vedi?...
La Lupa (play, II, 5)
137
be-
out about her sister's
in La Lupa (play)
Taci....
a signi-
to the straightforwardness
restored
to Jana's
we find
biting
are disentangled
at the same time.
sharp direct
Nedda:
II,
3),
in the tense,
Nedda finds
after
The lines
of Scene 5, Act
ing more or less
style
and almost
prose.
(III,
libretto
scene of the
of
Examples such as the one quoted above are exceptions
in Malia.
In any case, they are limited
to Cola's lines and the immediate response of his
For the rest,
interlocutors.
Capuana chose to define
between the linguistic
tion
of the operatic
layout
ter
libretto
The interference
text.
could
lines
implies
of the veristic
register
of the libretto
of the strophic
his
the term
only
accentuate
and their
'melodramma'
differentiation
a radical
play
which
and the versifica-
of the composer on the
the conservative
charac-
metres.
On the whole, the opera is conventional and dull.
The easy-going,
tuneful modes of drawing-room songs are applied to climactic moments
The harmonic texture is unimaginative,
and lyrical
passages alike.
insipid,
seventh chord being treated as a daring generaFrontini's
to be used sparingly.
compositional devices
the diminished
tor of tension
string tremolos, arpeggio acare nothing more than worn-out cliches:
companiments, constant doubling of the vocal line, occasional parlato,
strongly contrasted dynamics. The musical verismo of the opera is conto the quotation of a few popular songs and dances in Act I, a
The third act opens with
in Act III.
complete song and two stornelli
which aptly introduces the grape-harvesters'
an "Andantino villereccio"
It is a
and interwoven with the duet Jana/Nino.
song, sung off-stage
fined
love song and consists
of an octave of endecasillabi
in alternate
rhyme:
Voi delle belle la regina siete,
delle dolcezze la palma portate,
Una spera di sole in petto avete,
E ride il cielo quando voi parlate.
In mano il cuore mio stretto
tenete;
Due cuori sono troppi;
the ne fate?
I1 vostro in petto a me lo riponete,
E sia la vera prova the mi amate.
knowledge of Sicilian
folkof his first-hand
50
The actual practice of chosongs of which he was a keen collector.
The first
two lines are sung by one voice
ral singing is reproduced.
of the chorus while the others hum the cadence on the resting note of
Frontini
availed
himself
(Ex. 2A). Then the
dominant-tonic
each phrase: subdominant-tonic;
line to a different
tune and Frontini
whole chorus sings the first
interpolates
a more elaborate section on the second and fourth lines
(Ex. 2B).
addition
rustic
The second quatrain
of a countermelody for
idyll.
is arranged in the same way with the
solo oboe as a finishing
138
touch to the
Malia
Ex. 2A - Frontini,
(D" lontano avvirlnaadoel a per* a peeeº
Una Moteibla)
! Lj7
Voi
p-er I±r
bel. le
la....
_.,
en"
: ollor. oee
del. le
öli'
re
gi
tia
.
.
TIJ
te.
r
sio ..
ii
" Del
lex.
_
ton.
-10
dol. ces se
.
14 pal. mn por .
AL !
a
teý
...ku .
0
.
. w.
le».
ý'Ah!
a Impo
TUTTI
Ex. 2B -
del. lo bel. lo
Vie
(with
Del
_1ºº1º-
.
L
Is dol
FI 1FF
139
Vol
de1.1e bei
Vol
del.
del. l'e
bei
bel
ro. gi . na
.
.
le
lo
orchestra)
L
er.
se
a
.
.
Er
la
pali-,
taa
ý.
1
ta " to.
por. '
ý 'a
,i
rr--
Fi
iF-
r-
R
Apart from the documentary interest
Frontini,
of the few songs quoted by
there is little
A modern revielse his opera could offer.
val of Malia, in the most favourable environment (Catania, 6 April 1957), confirmed its utter mediocrity.
A review in the daily 'paper La
("Valori musicali della Malia di Frontini",
Sicilia
7 April 1957), apart from praising the inclusion of popular themes, could only underline the non-veristic
incharacter of the music and the all-pervasive
fluence of the drawing-room style.
After
the opera
friend
lar
and playwright
version
lettale
still
enjoyed
a
made in 1903 by Capuana's
translation
In 1911 the vernacuvolume of Capuana's Teatro dia51
But the
strong disapproval.
Giuseppe Giusti-Sinopoli.
was published
siciliano
the play
oblivion,
in a Sicilian
success
widespread
sank into
in the first
and met with
of the Sicilian
dialect
Verga's
as a natural
medium for
a story of popuIn 1908 Malia was
lar passions and superstitions
was a sensible
one.
touring
company of Giovanni Grasso
performed in Paris by the Sicilian
choice
and Mimi Aguglia
and the Revue Politique
(Paul
Flat,
"Theatre
review
et Litteraire
enthusiastic
de l'Oeuvre.
de la troupe
importance
sicilienne",
of
how the journal
lorsqu'il
rique,
Puccini,
dans notre
tels
difficile
it
Italian
had repeatedly
du verisme
s'agissait
drame musical
et autres,
frangais,
du vdrisme
de ne pas constater
est traduit
it
par des acteurs
d'art'
and remembered
'dans sa manifestation
musical
Italien,
oü M. Alfred
proprement
un veritable
Bruneau imitait
position
litteraire....
oü il
dramatique,
comme ceux de la troupe
140
jusque
That critical
intdret
ly-
des
celui
et de son retentissement
ä eux. '
et s'apparentait
'L'intdret
1908).
attacked
an
Reprdsentations
The author discussed the
as a 'doctrine
verismo
des Leoncavallo
devanciers
not affect
18 January
published
sicilienne.
de
did
est
quand
'
Chapter 4
SALVATOREDI
1.
The poet of colours
GIACOMOAND NEAPOLITAN VERISMO
and sounds
In a long essay on "La vita letteraria
a Napoli dal 1860 al 1900",
Benedetto Croce illustrates
the revival of literary,
and
philosophical
historical
in Naples which folstudies and the awakening of literature
the Risorgimento had confined to
of the intellectuals
Scholars and thinkers such as Francesco
elsewhere.
Silvio and Bertrando Spaventa, Vittorio
Imbriani, Luigi Set-
lowed the return
prison or driven
De Sanctis,
new blood into the stifled
and pedantic University
of the former Bourbon capital and opened up the citadel of academic
and larger audiences by promoting and conculture to wider interests
1
journals and daily 'papers.
to political
tributing
and literary
tembrini,
injected
In the 1880s that
generation of revolutionaries
and men of letlife of the city continued to
ters came to an end, but the cultural
Neapolitans starflourish
as a new generation of gifted and versatile
Along with
ted their careers in the prosperous field of journalism.
founded
dailies
the
newly
affairs,
and journals
on
current
articles
literary
feature
reviews, poems and songs in vernacuwould regularly
life of Naples.
Italian
lar, essays on the social and artistic
verifrequently
French
most
naturalism,
smo and
a major influence on those young writers.
under scrutiny,
exercised
In the late '70s, De Sanc-
had set an authoritative
example publishing some important articles on Zola in a modest newspaper, Roma, founded in 1862. In the next
Vittorio
Pica followed suit
decade, the young critic
and journalist
writing extensively on Zola, the Goncourts, Maupassant, and other
tis
Well before outside influences were felt
French and Russian authors.
life of the city, realistic
tendencies were apparent
on the cultural
in the Neapolitan school of painting which had Filippo Palizzi (18181899) as its best representative,
and distinguished
such as
artists
Gioacchino Toma (1838-1891).
Realism was also the prevailing
feature
in the vigorous art of the Neapolitan sculptor Vincenzo Gemito (18521929).
It
is in this
stimulating
cultural
141
environment that we first
find
Di Giacomo (1860-1934)
Salvatore
board of the shorton the editorial
(1881-83),
lived literary
journal
Fantasio
Pica
together
with Vittorio
(founded in
A daily
'paper,
Corriere
del mattino
and Rocco Pagliara.
1876),
so contributed
influence
If
to two quality
on the tastes
I1 Corriere
ler
Di Giacomo's
published
di Napoli
first
short
'papers
stories.
which were to exercise
and opinions
of the Neapolitan
(1892).
(1887) and 11 Mattino
we were to remember Di Giacomo only
of the glories
The young poet
and miseries
of Naples,
middle
as a sympathetic
we should
al-
a strong
classes:
chronic-
range him with
journalist
and writer
another distinguished
of his time, Matilde Serao
(1856-1927).
In some of his prose works we can find the same documentary
interest
in Serao's
and the impassioned participation
we appreciate
di Napoli (1884).
It might be more appropriate,
though, to
I1 ventre
consider
the wealth
of essays,
articles
and books Di Giacomo wrote
on
a wide range of subjects connected with Naples, its history and tradiIn this case, we admire the discreet
tions, the arts and the people.
and engaging narrator of Napoli: figure e paesi (1909) or Luci ed ombre
(1914),
and the patient researcher in I guattro antichi Connapoletane
servatori di musica a Napoli (Palermo, 1923-24,2 vols. ), a meticulous
work on the Neapolitan school of music. Di Gia2
learned
a
man.
certainly
como was
It is, however, the vernacular writer we have to turn to in orand widely
informative
der to understand and define
literature.
Italian
century
Di Giacomo's position in late nineteenth
The subject-matter
of Di Giacomo's stories,
is
few
the sordid
always veristic:
with
exceptions,
plays,
poems and
proletariat,
aspects in the life of his tormented city, its destitute
between the natural beauty of the place and the
(the
dwellings
bassi) in the poor
the
of
alleys
and
appalling ugliness
districts
the 'bowels of Naof Porto, Pendino, Mercato and Vicaria,
in Serao's expression.
But the scientific,
detached approach
ples',
the striking
contrast
of the Neaalien to the sensibility
preached by naturalism is totally
Detachnor is Verga's austere pessimism any closer.
politan writer,
A breath of poetry turns the
ment in Di Giacomo means pure lyricism.
crude matter
moulded into
into
art;
the colourful
idiom of the commonpeople is
of Metaendecasillabi
and settenari
sonnets and stanzas,
(1884)
Sunette
is the title
stasian polish.
antiche
of an early collection of poems. From Metastasian opera Di Giacomo borrows the strophic aria form and writes Ariette e sunette (1898); or he alternates
142
the arietta
the more flexible
No matter
e canzone nove (1916).
metres
how old
of the canzone in Ariette
the form
and illustrious
may be, the content
pulsates
genuine
poetic
tempered
by formal
and pity,
prostitute,
ment,
with
starving
with
restraint,
and exhausted
who desperately
tries
Melancholy
the picture
permeate
after
to lure
emotion.
a fruitless
the passers-by
night
of a young
on the pave-
in the daylight:
...................
Irma: nomme furastiero:
ma se chiamma Peppenella:
fuie ngannata 'a nu furiero,
e mo... campa... (puverella! )
Passa gente.
E' fatto iourno.
"Psst! Siente!...
" E rire...
e chiamma...
C'ha dda fa' si ha perzo 'o scuorno?
C'ha dda fa? Se more 'e famma.
Mmerz' 'e nnove s'ha mängiata
na fresella
nfosa a 11'acqua.
E mo, comme a na mappata,
sta llä
nterra.
E dorme, stracqua.
(Di Giacomo, I,
p. 327)
...........
Irma: strange name:
but she is called Peppenella:
she was seduced by a quartermaster,
(poor thing! )
and now... she's on the streets...
People pass by. It is daylight.
"Psst! Listen!...
" And she laughs... and calls...
What can she do if she's lost all shame?
What can she do? She is starving.
At about nine she ate
some bread dipped in water.
And now, like a big bundle,
And sleeps,
she lies down there.
exhausted.
An arietta portrays the changeable March weather and a woman's fickleimages of light and shade. In a moment of stillness,
ness in lyrical
as the bird halts his song and the violet sighs in the wet grass, we
feel it is springtime:
Marzo
Marzo: nu poco chiove
e n'ato ppoco stracqua:
torna a chiovere, schiove,
ride 'o sole cu 11'acqua.
March
March: it rains a while
and for a while it stops:
it starts again, it clears up,
the sun laughs with the water.
143
Mo nu cielo celeste,
mo n'aria cupa e nera:
mo d' 'o vierno 'e tempeste,
mo n'aria 'e primmavera.
Now the sky is blue,
now it looks dull and black:
now it's winter's
storms,
now a spring air.
freddigliuso
N'auciello
aspetta ch'esce 'o sole:
ncopp' 'o tturreno nfuso
suspireno 'e vviole...
A cold bird
waits for the sun to shine:
over the wet turf
Catarl!...
Che buo' cchiü?
Ntidnneme, core mio!
Marzo, tu 'o ssaie, Si' tu,
songo io.
e st'auciello
Catherine!...
What more?
Understand me, sweetheart!
March, you know, it's you,
and that bird is me.
In one of his best lyrics,
full darkness and silence,
sighs the violet...
colour and sound are toned down to almost
and the whistle of a cricket heralds the
melancholy of autumn:
Sera 'e settembre - luna settembrina,
'e nnuvole nere
ca'int'
t'arravuoglie
e te sbruoglie,
e 'a parte d' 'a marina
mo faie luce e mo no silenzio,
nfuso
quase 'a 11'ummeditä strata addurmuta,
..
arillo
ca stu strillo
'o silenzio
mmefaie dint'
n'ata vota sent!...
Zicr!!
Zicr!!
Zicrl
accumpagnate 'a casa
stu pover'ommo,
stu core cunfuso,
sti penziere scuntente,
e st'anema ca sente
cad'e ncopp 'a stu munno
n'ata malincunia chesta 'e 11'autunno...
From: "Arillo,
animaluccio
cantatore"
(Di Giacomo, I,
September night - september moon,
black clouds
fold and unfold you,
and over the sea
you shine at times or hide stillness,
almost
wet with dew sleeping street,
..
144
p. 429)
cricket,
again you whistle
to me in the quiet...
Zicri!
Zicri!
Zicri!
take home
this poor man,
heart,
this troubled
these unhappy thoughts,
and this soul which feels
a new melancholy come
over this world -
the melancholy of autumn...
ical
Di Giacomo's art has the ability
to transpose reality
images with the spontaneity of the draftsman who fills
into
poet-
his sketch-
book with the fleeting
visions of life and the skill
of the painter who
Whether we examine his poems or his
selects and blends his colours.
stories,
or analyse their dramatized versions, we always detect Di
'Realismo di colore',
'realismo
at work.
are some of the definitions
used by Luigi Russo
study on the Neapolitan poet (Salvatore Di Giacomo,
Giacomo's pictorial
lirico
o musicale',
in his critical
Napoli, 1921).
taste
And discussing
Di Giacomo's most powerful composition
the dramatic poem A San Francisco (1895), Russo
in the vernacular,
there is his
points out that at the roots of the poet's inspiration
'gusto della tragedia di colore, e non giä della tragedia nella sua
He adds: 'Con tutto cib, in cotesta rappresenintimitä
psicologica'.
del tragico,
tazione pittorica
not sentiamo di vivere nell'assoluto
(Di
128-29).
Giacomo,
The exterior
p.
nature of the dracapolavoro'
well suits the miniature form of A San Francisco -a
matic conflict
sequence of seven sonnets - and, compressed in those ninety-eight
lines, the representation
of a murder in a prison fills
us with horDi Giacomo's veristic
technique reminds us of Capuana's tale in
ror.
(187
lines grouped in stanzas of different
length).
Lu
cumpari
verse
his wife, her lover and their little
There, a betrayed husband kills
boy he believed to be his own. Capuana's approach is strictly
narrative and the direct speech only heightens the tension of the story.
In A San Francisco, the scanty narrative connecting the harsh, tense
brings
to life
the sombre interior
of a prison room shared
by ten men and a twelve-year-old
boy. The misery of the inmates, a
the base personality
sense of claustrophobia,
of the two protagonists,
are all conveyed by gestures, pauses, swearwords. The sonnet form en-
dialogue,
capsulates
the veristic
scenes like
145
pictures
on the canvas of an old
story-teller,
and the breath-taking
account of the murder unfolds under our eyes and catches our imagination.
A man is brought into the prison of San Francesco (in Naples)
for having killed his wife.
The newcomer, Don Giovanni, recognizes a
friend
among the inmates, Tore, and the two bribe the gaoler to be allowed to stay up at night to chat quietly.
But Don Giovanni knows his
friend is his wife's lover, and, after telling
him about the woman's
death, he kills
Tore. The sixth sonnet is entirely
taken by the agitated dialogue
between the betrayed husband and his next victim.
Tore's
uneasiness turns into terror when he realizes Don Giovanni knows about
him. The fragmentary lines are gradually reduced to monosyllabic growled utterances; then the sudden flash
gle (sonnet VII):
of a knife
and the noise of a strug-
VI
Ma...
bulite
di'?...
dicette
Tore
che
Io... nn'arrivo
a capi... Ronna Ndriana?!...
Leve
ddonna,
famme
favore!
stu
stu
Chiammela a nomme... Schifosa, puttana!...
L1'aggio accisa! - 'On Giuvä!...
Si!...
Pe
11'onore.
...
Accisa!...
Ndriana!...
E...
quanno?... -'A na semmana.
Mmescurnacchiava cu nu mio signore,
e io 11'aggio accisa! Si! Comm' a na cana!...
Siente... E pecche te scuoste? - Io?... Nun.. me scosto...
...
fatto
'o
te
si'
pecche
mpont'
scanno?...
-E
Io?...
Fatte
No...
Mm'accosto...
cchiü
ccä...
ccä...
-Sto
Tu
Siente...
Mme
'A
siente?...
ngannava!...
n'anno!...
E... saie cu chi? - Cu... chi?... - Mo nn' 'o ssaie cchiü?...
St'amico.. nun 'o saie?... -Chi?... -Chi?... Si' tu! VII
'acciaro
'e nu curtiello.
Lucette
'0 scanno
Tore cadette
s'avutaie,
s'abbucaie.
'o fuie ncuollo.
e chill'ato
-E' n'anno,
ca te ievo truvanno! - lle dicette.
...........
e n'anno
..
(Di Giacomo, I,
From: A San Francisco
pp. 248-49)
VI
But...
do
Tore
what
you
mean?...
said
I... cannot understand... Donna Adriana? l...
Drop
'donna',
do
that
favour!
me
a
Call her by her name... Filthy slut!...
146
I killed
Adriana!...
She betrayed
and I killed
her! - Don Giovanni!...
Yes!...
For
honour.
my
Killed!
And... when?... - A week ago.
...
me with some kind of a gentleman,
her! Yes! like a bitch!...
'
Listen...
And why do you slip away?
Me?...
I...
don't...
...
And
have
to
the
bench?...
the
why
you
moved
edge
of
-
Me?...
No...
-
Get
closer...
-
Here
I
Close
by...
am...
-
You
hear
Listen...
She
deceived
A
me?...
me!...
whole year!...
And... you know who with?
With...
know
that
who?...
you
-Don't
This friend...
you don't know?..: Who?... -Who?... It's
you! -
VII
The steel of a knife flashed.
The bench
tipped and overturned.
Tore fell down
and the other one was on him. -A whole year, one year
I have been looking for you! - he said to him.
...........
The year after its publication,
A San Francisco was turned into
a "Scena lirica
a libretto,
napoletana", which Di Giacomo prepared for
The poem lent itself
a local composer, Carlo Sebastiani (1858-1924).
that Di Giacomo had just to deso well to the operatic transposition
velop the narrative sections into detailed stage directions
and split
the lines of the dialogue to make up the individual
The rough
parts.
vernacular was kept exactly as it was in the original
sonnets, except
for
three strong expressions which were rendered with equally veristic
Two of them are in Sonnet VI quoted above: 'Schibut less rude terms.
fosa, puttana! ' was mitigated into 'scellerata
'nfama', and 'Mme scur('she
made me a cuckold') became 'S' 'a ntenneva' ('she was
nacchiava'
The "Scena lirica"
having an affair').
was first
performed on 13 October 1896 at the Teatro Mercadante, in Naples, with success. The
di Napoli published a long and favourable
review stating that: 'I1 dramma, cosi rapido e cosi denso,... ha vinto
iersera e intimamente penetrato tutto quanto it pubblico'.
The score
opera, lasting only a half-hour,
of the little
seems to be lost and
comments as the epitaph of yet another
we can take the Corriere's
following
day the Corriere
The libretto
of operatic verismo.
of A San Francisco was printed by the same publisher of the sonnets (Luigi Pierro,
Napoli, 1896) and can be read as an annotated edition of the poem.
In 1897 Di Giacomo reshaped the sonnets into a one-act play
still-born
creature
where the character of Tore, now Peppe, is explicitly
'camorrista',
treated with respect by the inmates.
147
as a
qualified
That was his ac-
now?...
tual
in the poem. The new text, however, does not come
up to
the conciseness and beauty of the seven sonnets.
The derivative
character of Di Giacomo's plays is no exception in the tradition
of veriThe examples of Verga's Cavalleria Rusticana and La
stic theatre.
Lupa are well-known.
Quite often the comparison between the narrative and the dramatized text is unfavourable to the latter.
Di Giacomo's major plays, Malavita (1889) and Assunta Spina (1910), derived
from two beautiful
short stories,
exhibit a distinct
character and
status
imply a different
approach of the author to the same subject matter,
not least because the vernacular is used instead of the Italian
of
the source. The same can be said for the one-act play '0 mese mariano (1900), derived from the novella ".Senza vederlo".
The predominance
of the environment over the individual
the abundance of
characters,
the inclusion of melodramatic effects
picturesque and humorous details,
differentiate
at the expense of emotional restraint,
the plays from
the short stories.
These characteristics
into
are mostly
in Malavita.
evident
Its
con-
opera was, in a way, a natural
evolution
of
the dramatized text in the vernacular.
Long after the fashion
of vein Italian
ristic
subjects
influopera had given way to new literary
version
the other
ences,
(1910)
two plays
by U. Giordano
Assunta
retto
a veristic
Spina
(1955)
by Vittorio
is Giordano's
operatic
on a libretto
Mala Vita
verismo
prepared
by the Neapolitan
Viviani).
By far
(1892)
the relationship
versified
libretto.
A comparative
"II
and the derived
tect
and evaluate
play
the variations
came with
Malavita
(lib-
Langella
of the three
the high
tide
of
advance on the Cavalleria-
between the prose
analysis
Mese Mariano
by Di Giacomo himself;
the most interesting
and marked an appreciable
as regards
operas:
composer Franco
because it
prototype
voto"
into
turned
were also
play
of Di Giacomo's
is essential
in order
introduced
in the libretto.
and the
novella
to de-
The dramatization
of "I1 voto", from the collection
of short
(1888), was Di Giacomo's first
stories Rosa Bellavita
experiment in
vernacular theatre and it proved a success in Naples and elsewhere
in Italy.
The play was elaborated in collaboration
with a local jourGoffredo Cognetti.
A different
title,
Malavita, was chosen,
nalist,
but Di Giacomo later renamed it '0 Voto and as such he published it
in the first
edition of his Teatro (Lanciano, 1910) including A San
148
Francisco,
Assunta
Spina,
of Malavita
choice
'0 mere mariano,
community.
Di Giacomo and Cognetti
to a highly
coloured
choral
of a particular
cause of the time
The setting
dino
meurt.
was meant to indicate
vow to the wretched
life
expanded the original
The
the
of a whole
in-
situation
exposed the morality,
superlower classes.
and weaknesses of the Neapolitan
The illustr-
stitions
ation
title
as a more suitable
of emphasis from the personal
shift
Quand l'amour
district
project
the recent
horrors
added a topical
milieu
and place
of the
interest
to the story
be-
action.
of both versions
of the city,
by a major
scene which
is the maze of alleys
one of the areas selected
for
in the Pendemolition
of urban renewal approved in 1885, after the latest
cholera epidemic (1884) had taken a heavy toll
in the 'bowels
of lives
A huge Crucifix,
of Naples'.
base,
erected on a blue and yellow tiled
decorates or rather encumbers the corner of an alley,
a sad memento of
wrought
by that
away from the Cross,
the workshop
coloured
sorts.
rags of all
In I1 ventre
with
di Napoli
such unhealthy,
disease.
of the dyer Vito
Dye-houses
Matilde
dingy
devastating
were quite
Serao describes
A few yards
Amante displays
common in the
a whole street
area.
lined
places:
La via di Mezzocannone e popolata tutta di tintori:
infondo a ogni bottega bruna, arde un fuoco vivo
sotto una grossa caldaia nera, dove gli uomini seminudi agitano una miscela fumante; sulla porta si asciugano dei cenci rossi e violetti;
sulle selci disgiunte, cola sempre una feccia di tintura multicolo3
re.
of "I1 voto" suffers from consumption caused mainly by
the chemicals he uses in his job.
After one more haemoptysis, Vito
Amante is so upset by his hopeless illness that he decides to make a
in the alley.
May God grant that he resolemn vow to the Crucifix
from her shameful
cover his health and he will redeem a prostitute
life by marrying her. A popular belief considered that offer to be
The 'tintore'
the utmost a man could do as an expiatory sacrifice
because of the
involved insuch a marriage.
personal and public humiliation
Vito has
much to account for in moral and social terms since he has been having a relationship
with a cabman's wife, Amalia, who lives in the
The news of the vow travels fast in the neighbourhood
and, as Vito returns from buying candles for the Crucifix,
a rose
same alley.
149
falls
on his
from the window of a nearby brothel.
The silent
shoulders
'la capuana',
from the
message comes from Cristina
a young prostitute
little
town of Capua, near Naples.
The man offers
to marry the 'girl
from Capua' but his
willed
Amalia
the unfortunate
weakness prevails
manages to dissuade
Cristina
over
his
The strong-
commitment.
him from fulfilling
goes back to the wretched
his
lifein
promise
and
the brothel.
The novella exemplifies Di Giacomo's fundamentally poetic inspiThe veristic
taste.
ration and his pictorial
narrative technique provides emotional restraint
and conciseness, but the writer strikes a
personal note when he uses chromatic effects with highly expressive
The story is organized in five separate sections.
The narresults.
ration starts in medias res with the dyer's vow. Vito's desperate,
in the sunlit alley promof the huge Crucifix
response the poet renders with impressionistic
efpts a collective
As Vito cries out his misery, his workmen emerge from the murfects.
loud statement
in front
of the dye-house to watch him in silence.
faces contrast with the blue, red, green dye on their
ky interior
Their sickly
hands and arms:
Vera accorsa a udire ea guardar, sulla soglia, tutle
ta la turba cachettica dei suoi garzoni tintori,
nervose braccia nude, macchiate bizzarramente di verinfilate
in made o di porpora fin sopra a' cubiti,
tasse di lana e di seta gocciolanti
azzurrine lacrime
Altre pallide teste s'affacciavano
intorno.
e pigliasul fondo nero della tintoria,
altre mani
vano rilievo
insanguigne
si
puntavano
agli
stipiti,
gialle,
verdi,
delle continue loro impronte.
sudiciati
(Di Giacomo, I, p. 906)
The loud incipit
'Ah, Cristo
crocifisso
mio! ' resounds throughThe dyer is kept isolated from the on-
out section I of the story.
lookers and any response, whether individual
or choral, is carefully
The
toned down and spaced by pauses of silence or visual details.
sickening stink and the coughing from the dye-house convey the physical decay of the men and point to the reason for the dyer's
has impressed even the children of the alley:
vow which
le
I bambini, davanti alla bottega, s'incantavano,
E tutto
piccole mani sul dosso, la bocca aperta.
il vicolo s'empiva d'un susurro incessante e parteDa una tinozza un gran fumo
cipava al gran fatto...
azzurrognolo si levava, si diffondeva per la bottega. De' brevi colpi di tosse suonavano. Un acre
odore usciva fin nella via, un pessimo odore di con-
150
cia, the assaliva con fortissima
co... Vito non si vedeva.
In the closing
ration
of the pierced
the opening
of section
description
on a meticulous
crudeness
recalls
paragraph
I,
nausea to stoma-
Di Giacomo interrupts
of the Crucifix,
hands and bleeding
invocation
the nar-
lingering
wounds.
of the vow and spreads
This
final
on the
image
a note of sad-
the whole section.
ness over
The next two sections fall short of the first
one in terms of
In section II Vito goes out to buy candles for
expressive poignancy.
the Crucifix
and, on his way back to the dye-house, he receives a rose
The third section consists entirely
from Cristina.
of a long dialogue
In sections IV and V Di Giacomo recaptures the initial
atmosphere of physical decay, and resumes his compact narration with
is now the centre of attention.
Cristina
In seceffects.
pictorial
Vito/Amalia.
IV she goes to the dye-house to tell Vito that her papers are
The scene is depicted with
ready and finds him sulky and reticent.
Light and shade contrasts remind us of a Caravagsymbolic overtones.
tion
The man sits
gio interior.
fumes and smells of freshly
floor and a burnt-out cigar
alone in the gloomy dye-house amid the
dyed clothes.
His legs stretched on the
in one hand, Vito is lost in reverie. High
light
iron
fitted
bars,
the
tiny
the
with
projects
window,
a
on
wall
up
from an adjacent garden. As the sun reaches the window, the light beam
him.
face
dazzles
knees,
the
falls
the
and
of
and
chest
man
on
gradually
At that very moment Cristina
arrives at his side and the sunlight soon
shines on her minute figure:
Sopra un fondo giallo,
tutto giallo e luminoso, un
gruppo di foglie nereggiava, palpitava al lievissimo
alito del mattino, e ancora piü neri, phi nettamente,
A un momensi disegnavano i bastoni dell'inferriata.
to il sole si fece strada tra quelle foglie e penetrö
Un nastro d'oro lamb) tremante le ginella tintoria.
nocchia dell'Amante,
gli sal) sul petto, gli pervenne
1'abbagliö...
alla faccia,
Vito!
Vito!
La capuana era accosto a lui, gli posava la mano sulla
spalla, si chinava per guardare, la testa quasi poggiata alla testa di lui, ov'egli
Subito una
guardasse.
di sole le s'avventö pur su di lei, la ragstriscia
giunse in petto, sotto alla gola, tra i capelli biondi che s'accesero.
(Di Giacomo, I, p. 915)
151
A gleam of hope seems to light up man and woman in the dingy
But their dream of
room. 'Guardavo it sole', says Vito to her.
The strength of
physical and moral regeneration will not come true.
lead Vito to break
social prejudice no less than his meanness finally
his vow. Amalia finds a prompt ally in Vito's mother who can put up
with her son's attachment to a married woman but will never bear the
As she
shame of having a former prostitute
as her daughter-in-law.
turns Cristina out of her house, she sweeps the threshold shouting:
femmina! Fuori di casa mia! Qui si mangia onore e pane! ' Bread and honour, the food of the humble, are turned into
shield by the over-protective
a hypocritical
mother.
The scene of the epilogue (section V) features the huge Cruci'Fuori!
Fuori!,
trista
in the dark alley, at night, with the lonely figure of a woman.
The same verb of the incipit,
'gridb',
used for Vito's vow, recurs
bitter,
for Cristina's
reproachful words to the Christ:
fix
lo sai cosa ho sofferto!
La mia vita la sai,
Tu
in croce!
E sei tu che mi ci fai tornare,
Cristo
Io mi volevo salvare.
Ho fatto
pei peccati miei.
ho sofferto
tutto,
Non hai
tutto,
per salvarmi!
Cosl sia!
Cos! sia!...
E sia!
voluto...
(Di Giacomo, I,
p. 918)
away from that silent witness of human miseries, Cristina
Her
brothel.
door
knocks
the
the
on
of
resolutely
picks up a stone and
io.
La
'Sono
last
capuana', plunge the young woman
words,
reticent
into the squalor and alienation
of the 'mala casa'.
is effaced by GofIn the play Malavita, Di Giacomo's lyricism
And turning
The conspicuspectacular and melodramatic effects.
of the Neapolitan
ous presence of the people, a real cross-section
festival
'popolo piccolo',
of the Piedigrotta
and the introduction
fredo Cognetti's
fully
justify
"Scene popolari napoletane" which accomStructurally,
the play is modelled on the patAct I corresponds to sections I and II (Vito's
the definition
panies the new title.
tern of the novella.
Act II corresponds to section III
vow and meeting with Cristina);
(dialogue Vito/Amalia,
preceded here by a stormy meeting Amalia/CrisAct III corresponds to sections IV and V (dialogue Vito/Cristina
tina);
The setting of the novella is
and the latter's
return to the brothel).
widened to make room for more people, the inhabitants
of Pendino. The
narrow alley dominated by the Crucifix
now opens into a 'piazzetta'
which
152
all
house,
shop,
the strongest
the'mala
side,
Casa'
its
closed green shutters.
The vow is no longer a desperate,
with
but a collective
is
performance
very much like
almost
an operatic
indicate
men; he kneels
promise;
all
with
tunities
to Vito's
for
words;
the chorus
Marco,
off
he rises
and stands
alley
then
of the chorus
his
cap,
'piazzetta'
until
with
of comment.
of Vito's
promise
she is helped
solemn
Amalia
listening
by the arrival
by the disgraceful
so do the
and makes his
apart
she has one line
are provided
Donna Rosa, who is outraged
scene to her son in the
takes
direc-
and meticulously
and the response
Vito
neighbours.
Detailed
a murmur of wonder and approval.
appeared from a side
hension
in Neapolitan
groups.
man
the way individual
scene for
down, so does everybody;
rise
of a sick
by his
and synchronized.
the movements of the soloists
of men and women in separate
gesture
imposed on Vito
accompany each line
in Italian
tions
lonely
choral
and mass movements are co-ordinated
just
for
which caters
On the opposite
Neapolitans.
of all
passion
dyeBesides Vito's
economy.
desk and a 'Banco del Lota cobbler's
local
lottery
an agency of the state
to',
It
of the
the symbols
we see a barber's
displays
has
appre-
More oppormother,
and makes a
out by Don
the barber.
In a moment of relative
quiet, Cristina comes out
in
It
fountain
the
from
fetch
to
square.
a
water
casa'
But fresh trouble soon starts
for Vito to talk to her.
who want to stop a game of
rival of two police officers
of the 'mala
is a pretext
with the arcards going
Cristina
They
and, since prosnotice
on outside
titutes
are not allowed to stay in public places, the two try to arVito interferes,
a crowd gathers in no time, the confusion
rest her.
the barber's
shop.
fiIn
Amalia.
Rosa
Donna
the
a
gran
and
reappearance of
grows with
Amalia
Rosa,
Donna
Cristina,
Vito,
the
and a noisy
officers,
nale,
The barber, Amalia's
train of supporters make for the police station.
and a few others rush to the 'Banco del Lotto' to
try their luck on the numbers corresponding to the event: thirteen,
the 'popolo piccolo'.
the arrest; twenty-one, the dyer; thirty,
In Act II the setting changes from the noisy square to Amalia's
husband Annetiello,
basso, a ground-floor
room, modestly furnished, with a glass door on
There is no crowd around and the main characters can come
the alley.
to the fore with their hot-blooded passions and their miseries. Amalia
confronts Cristina with growing hostility
and verbal aggressiveness
The
as she tries to buy her out of the planned marriage with Vito.
153
girl
counters
with
dignity
chance of rehabilitation.
emerges in all
he tries
its
to stand
to stick
to her only
Vito's
cowardly
personality
spineless,
disheartening
Being pressed
squalor.
The mounting
tension
Cristina
of a storm.
calls
Vito
to get away but the possessive Amalia
The curtain
falls
ing and shuts the glass door.
'Vito'
while
to her wretched
tight
the rain
lover
is
inside
pelting
not
in the room is underlined
man tries
shouting
by Amalia,
up to her but then he backs down and promises
to marry Cristina.
by the outbreak
and determination
The
from the alley.
prevents
him from mov-
on the desperate
girl
down, and the woman holding
the basso.
Another character is briefly
sketched out in the drab interior
Amalia's tolerant husband. The
of the basso: the cabman Annetiello,
paltry fellow works at his leisure because his wife can always make
up for lost earnings with her own money. Gambling and drinking are
In a clash with
the favourite
pastimes of this low-class hedonist.
Amalia that the money
his wife, he takes a vicious pleasure in telling
she lavishes
friend.
on Vito now goes into
nice things
for
the dyer's
new girl-
the main characters are shown in turn trapped in the
Debauchery, callousinescapable prison of their wretched condition.
daily
for
they
blemishes
a
which
pay
are
permanent
ness, cowardice
In Act II
They can only hurt each other badly,
and misery.
from
life.
An
their
for
together
they
ephemeral
relief
stuck
are
yet
'festa di Piedigrotta',
'mala vita' comes with the traditional
a yearly event which provokes a dionysiac frenzy of songs, dances, convivtoll
of bitterness
On the night of Piedigrotta
in the open air.
entertainments
September) the 'canzone nuova', the best new song, receives its
in
is
by
the city.
blessing
everywhere
sung
everybody,
and
cial
ial
(7
offiDi
Giacomo wrote a number of poetic texts for such songs, the most famdrives
Tosti.
by
F.
P.
Piedigrotta
A
Marechiare
being
set
perhaps
ous
the people of the bassi from their sordid alleys to the Northern part
the
down
towards
hill
Posillipo
the
Naples,
gently
slopes
of
where
of
sea of Mergellina and a tunnel opens the way to the neighbouring town
Piediin
the
Madonna
There,
tunnel,
the
Pozzuoli.
of
a
near
church
of
(i. e. at the foot of the tunnel) has been worshipped for centuries by the rich and the needy, the powerful and the humble. The real
it
'festa',
however, has little
to do with the religious
celebration;
is mostly the noisy frolicking
Vito, Amalia,
that attracts
the people.
grotta
154
Annetiello,
evening
Donna Rosa and Don Marco,
at Piedigrotta
and have fun.
Vito
port,
atmosphere
ted
pays for
the food.
Act
of the Piedigrotta
'piazzetta'
III
the barber
to spend the
The cabman provides free transplan
of Malavita
has the typical
in the background.
night
In the deser-
of Pendino
popular
instruments
sitting
outside
the sounds of mandolines,
guitars
On stage,
can be heard in the distance.
his
and other
Don Marco,
plays the guitar
and sings a serenade from
the opera Salvator
Rosa (1874) by A. C. Gomes. Neapolitan
songs are quoted by joyful
At the end of the Act, cracks of whip
voices off stage.
and jingles
his
of bells
oddly-assorted
dark
shop,
While
party.
Cristina
alleys,
the departure
signal
of Annetiello's
the echo of one last
moves away from the Crucifix,
and knocks on the door of the 'mala casa'.
Like the storm at the end of Act II,
music
more than
are nothing
the situation
underline
song dies
picks
and
in the
up a stone
the Piedigrotta
sound effects,
songs and
ingredients
which
colourful
The violence
on stage.
carriage
on Cristina,
her being
from the company of people who are no better
than herself,
is
In his study on Di Giaconveyed in spite of the musical references.
for the excesses in the use of local cocomo L. Russo blames Cognetti
lour,
that the play 'manca effettivamente
d'ingenuitä
and regrets
e di
shut off
immediatezza,
straint
e sopratutto
would certainly
in Act
particularly
bours,
tradesmen,
children,
life
of everyday
I.
conditions
liane"
the moral
ne popolari
napoletane"
debasement of
'piazzetta'
tion
its
less
recognition
the choral,
of Naples,
of the bassi.
world
fortunate
inferno
artistic
and the
"Scene popolari
sici-
Di Giacomo's
"Sce-
of a big
city
For both
part
character
of privacy
village;
an essential
Verga himself
of the
Verga's
inhabitants.
play
theatrical
the lack
of a small
expose the
and the people
of the main roles.
oritative
testify
in the alleys
crammed living
portray
(Di Giacomo, p. 136). More readd to the dramatic effectiveness
of the play,
On the other hand, the ubiquitous,
loud neighdi sobrietä'
and the moral
authors
in the characteriza-
gave Di Giacomo the first
merits
the
of Malavita.
auth-
As soon
as the play was published, the Neapolitan poet sent a copy to Verga.
The novelist thanked him with a letter from Catania dated 10 December
1889 in which he praised the 'scene popolari'
and expressed some reservations on Cognetti's melodramatic effects:
C'e tanta
intensitä
di passione,
155
e cosi sincera
rap-
di vita vera nelle vostre scene popopresentazione
lari,
che a leggerle
m'han dato quella schietta
soddisfazione
artistica
che devono produrre
alla recita...
I1 Cognetti,
d'effetto
meno qualche melodrammaticitä
in quelle scene
che mi ý parsa un pol convenzionale
cosi belle di semplice e schietta
s'e giova4 eritä,
to bene del vostro
bell'argomento.
Working on his own, Di Giacomo achieved higher artistic
results
with Assunta Spina, two acts written at a distance of a few years from
technique of chaeach other and first
performed in 1910. The veristic
is used
through the interaction
environment/individuals
racterization
to its best advantage in the splendid Act I, perhaps the best thing in
It portrays a few hours in the busy
Di Giacomo's vernacular theatre.
by a small crowd of solicitors,
life at the law courts in Naples filled
For each of them
visitors,
ushers and policemen.
witnesses, relatives,
Di Giacomo has a revealing line, an aside, a gesture which defines
their personalities
It
and establishes their comparative positions.
figures and a complex
is a rich and variegated tableau with life-size
of voices and gestures.
counterpoint
Fundamentally
a narrator,
Di Giacomo proved
the Neapolitan
sentimental
or humorous songs,
potential
pictorial
disposition,
er models of his
cal
and aesthetic
time.
a middle-class
the poet's own society.
2.
his
Di Giacomo's
apart
from
its
plays.
veristic
of
poems,
caustic,
spicy
His musical
and
approach
to the prob-
works from the great-
regionalist
an appeasing
the destitute
lyrical
delicate
unleashing
of his
more than
and versatility
and melancholy
distance
for
into
or else
the gentle
premises
curiosity
it
dialogues
of Naples,
reality
an illustrator
the expressiveness
by shaping
vernacular
in the realistic
lematic
not a dramatist,
a poet,
art
has no deep ethi-
existentialism
and despicable
and
members of
Mala Vita by Nicola Daspuro and Umberto Giordano
The melodramatic character of Di Giacomo's "Scene popolari"
and
their lasting success made Malavita an ideal choice for a Neapolitan
veristic
opera. Giordano, while still
a student at Naples Conserva-
156
tory,
tion
had submitted an opera, Marina, to the 1888 Sonzogno CompetiAfter the three top operas,
which launched Cavalleria Rusticana.
the selecting committee awarded an honourable mention to thirteen works
It was never performed but Sonand Marina was the second of the group.
zogno was impressed
by Giordano's
him a chance
Daspuro (Lecce,
music and wanted to give
The journalist
to write a full-length
Nicola
opera.
1853
1941)
into
by
Malavita
Naples,
the
to
turn
was
asked
publisher
for the young composer soon after he had finished
a libretto
with the
of L'Amico
adaptation
Fritz
Erckmann and Chatrian,
successfully
1892 but failed
formance
made its
bition
with
to be well
at the Vienna
other
veristic
L'Amico
valleria
was
natural
first
and only
milieu,
per-
however,
the
On 27 September of the same year,
International
Theatre and Music Exhi-
received.
debut
Rusticana,
its
Mala Vita
of Rome on 21 February
of Naples on its
Away from
comedy of
of the "Scene
good libretto.
Argentina
at the Teatro
1892.
to the haut-gout
a very
at the San Carlo
of 26 April
opera continued
it
and produced
presented
From the light
Mascagni.
Daspuro turned
napoletane"
popolari
for
operas
of Sonzogno's
Fritz,
Pagliacci,
publishing
etc. ),
House (Ca-
and was favourab-
In December 1892 Mala Vita reached
ly reviewed by Eduard Hanslick.
(Krolloper,
Berlin
sung in German) and in June 1893 it was again performed in Vienna (Theater-an-der-Wien).
Daspuro treated
Di Giacomo's text
the general layout, the characterization
translation
of the Neapolitan prose into
with scrupulous respect for
In the
and the environment.
Italian
lyrical
verse,
the
hard to preserve metaphors, idioms, structures
of the
He
had
from
Act
I
to
trim
superfluous
material
vernacular.
original
The
for the necessary compression and simplification
of the action.
interference
of Vito's mother, the noisy episode of the police offilibrettist
tried
'Banco
del Lotto' were eliminated.
These
the
to
rush
cers,
intense
the
heightened
atmosphere of popular superstition
surcuts
rounding the choral scene of the vow, and concentrated undivided atNo Arcadian platitudes
tention on the duet Vito/Cristina.
were used
the final
lines of the chorus (cf. the introductory
to gloss over the veristic
idyllic
The scene of the vow resong of the peasants in Cavalleria).
produced the exact situation
of the play with the essential relation
between Vito and his neighbours being stressed in simple, meaningful
lines.
Daspuro kept the minor character of Nunzia, an elderly woman
with the typical
job of 'pettinatrice'
157
('capera',
in Neapolitan),
that
is,
hairdresser for the poor.
She interacts
an itinerant
with the
chorus in helping Vito out of the dye-house after he has had an haefor help. Amamoptysis, and in convincing him to turn to the Crucifix
lia's
comment on Vito's
vow and the response of the chorus are arranged in the same way as in Di Giacomo's scene:
Nunzia
Coro
Vito
Coro
Nunzia
Vito
Amalia
(additando a Vito it Crocefisso)
Ed a quel buon Gesü vi rivolgeste
mai?
Ah, si, Vito! - Pregatelo! - Egli a pietoso assai!
No! non ne son degno!
Egli vi ascolterä!
Se gli farete un voto, certo 1'accoglierä.
(si leva commossoe cade inginocchiato
lo
Le
donne
imitano; gli uomini si sberrettano tutti)
......................
Tu the vedi it martirio
del mio cor,
tu the sai the Speranza ho solo in te,
non mi lasciare,
abbi pieta di me!...
Ed io voto ti fo'
the una donna perduta sposerö,
strappandola
al peccato!
Che mai dice?
E' impazzito!
Giordano, Mala Vita,
I,
2
lines
informs the public that marrying a 'donna
custom of the Neapolitan lower classes.
perduta' was a superstitious
No preposterous lines were given to the cabman Annetiello
who
A footnote
to Vito's
The
happened to have a similar job to the one of Mascagni's Alfio.
dionysiac character of Amalia's husband, creadebauched, hedonistic,
ted by Di Giacomo and Cognetti, was, if anything, emphasized in the
The young composer gave him the baritone
operatic transposition.
3
in
Scene
he
his
in
Escamillo/Alfio
the
makes
entry
manner:
role
with a train of people and soon has a catchy song to impress the auBut, contrary to what happens
lines are fully consistent with
He first
his psychological
and dramatic identity.
exchanges rude comwith
about
Then he
himself being a cuckold
Marco the barber.
ments
festival
and provides a precise indication
mentions the Piedigrotta
dience with his extrovert
with Alfio in Cavalleria,
personality.
Annetiello's
of time for the sequence of events in the whole opera.
in a few days, everyone in Naples, whether rich or poor,
to Piedigrotta,
As a
which is what happens in Act III.
opment of this point, the cabman's song is dedicated to
tion
of horses and carriages
for
the feast,
158
We learn that,
will be going
logical develthe prepara-
and expresses the man's
(Ex.
1):
by
the
happy,
be
chorus
fun
soon echoed
and
wish to have
Tutto e giä pronto,
tutto fissato e giä:
i legni ed i cavalli,
belli,
i finimenti
le piume alte
Annetiello
da porre sui capelli...
alle ragazze languide
l'occhietto
si farä!
Io vol scordar - ogni dolor,
abbandonar,
mi voglio all'allegrezza
io vol quaggiü - godere ognor;
ridere e cantar!
voglio ridere!...
Giordano, Mala Vita,
Ex. 1-
I,
Giordano, Mala Vita,
I,
3
3
CoxiJ; v?aoila
.>
aP
ANNETIELLO
.
'Iiitto e
ýý " ý0y"
4
gib. pron ..
ý
-449
,">
4L
.ý '^R'A
to,
tut
'd
-
to fig
4L -op.
e gii:
satto
.
4L
.-
.I
,_
.
I
his song, Annetiello
and some men of the chorus make
for the tavern (the only addition to the setting of the 'piazzetta')
Scene seems
and Scene 3 comes to an end. On the whole, Annetiello's
Having finished
159
much better
handled
3 for
in Mascagni's
Alfio
cabman's
by composer and librettist
is coherently
character
At the end of Act
more wine than
in Amalia's
Cavalleria.
I,
Annetiello
he drops
After
developed
the parallel
the first
through
in with
Vito
and Cristina.
some friends,
Scene
appearance,
the next
emerges from the tavern
he needed and teases
basso)
than
the
two Acts.
having
drunk
In Act
II
asks for
(set
wine and is
In Act III,
he is the plebeian
chased out by his angry wife.
about to set out for Piedigrotta
with anoisy party of friends
sound of joyful songs.
reveller
at the
The characterization
of Vito, Cristina
and Amalia is left almost
to three main duets: Vito/Cristina,
I, 4; Amalia/Cristina,
exclusively
II9 3; Amalia/Vito,
Santuzza's
II,
4.
None of them has memorable tunes such as
loud threats in Cavalleria.
phrases or Alfio's
passionate
But they are better proportioned
to the general framework of the Acts
and less agitated in the vocal tension and the orchestral
support of
Lyrical,
the parts.
expansive phrases can be found in all three of
The first
duet Vito/
them, sometimes with interesting
reminiscences.
was one of the most widely appreciated pieces in the opera.
At a crucial point in the duet, when Vito suggests that he might redeem Cristina from her condition and love her, the tenor has a broad,
descending motive ('Ed a qualcuno avete mai pensato/che vi voglia di-
Cristina
fendere e salvar')
which looks back to Violetta's
Traviata (Ex. 2A):
'Amami Alfredo'
in
Ex. 2A - Giordano, Mala Vita,
IITO
" yý
1
ýý b
b --1, ý, b ý...
z
f
bf-
It is taken up by Cristina
in her answer ('ah! ma chi pub aver pieta
di me?) and joined to her own characteristic
motive (Ex. 2B):
160
Ex. 2B - Giordano, Mala Vita,
I, 4
CRIS.
to;
ma
sh!
pub a.
chi
pie . tä di
ver._.
me?
allarrando
q"_"
114
,
" _.
""ý- $,
bzr
.
"
Eý.
h
Is f3
f
Vý' "
"
bä "
gj
6ý "
between the Parisian demi-mondaine and the low-class
The similarity
did not escape the attention of E. Hanslick in
Neapolitan prostitute
have struck the imagihis review of Mala Vita, and it must certainly
Giordano
he
the
composed the duet.
when
young
of
nation
The most sensational moment in this veristic
opera occurs at the
'girl
from Capua' gets
end of the duet Vito/Amalia when the unfortunate
is
in
for
her.
In
heavy
taste
store
a
storm she calls the
of
what
a
man from the alley and Amalia slams the door of her basso on Cristina's
The situation
face to protect her lover.
of the play is exactly transposed into the opera and the sheer emotional power of the music emphasizes the base selfishness of the adulteress in imposing her will on
the spineless man and the wretched young woman.
The on-stage music for the Piedigrotta
background of Act III has
For any Neapolitan of
the qualities
of authenticity
and originality.
that time the idea of Piedigrotta
was instinctively
connected with
dozens of contemporary songs, like those collected by Di Giacomo in
his illustrated
volume Canzoni napoletane
161
(Napoli,
1891), or old ones
_
like
the legendary
dating
Te voglio
bene assaje,
from 1835 and attributed
and more important
the first
Piedigrotta
5
Another
obvious
one of the most popular
Neapo-
to Gaetano Donizetti.
association
was with
song
the 'commedia per musica' La fesof the mid-XIX century,
(later
by Luigi Ricci,
first
ta di Piedigrotta
simply Piedigrotta)
perlitan
formed
operas
at the Teatro
Nuovo on 23 June 1852.
the most famous piece
tured
a 'canzone
Act III
nova'.
of the opera,
6
Its
the celebrated
third
Act opened with
and fea-
tarantella,
Giordano wrote
of Mala Vita follows a similar pattern.
piece having in mind Ricci's splendid dance. The infec-
a beautiful
tious euphoria,
the easy flow of separate melodic ideas strung togeE minor/E major
ther by the irresistible
rhythm, the alternation
throughout the piece are to a large extent reproduced in a purely inby
the
the chorus.
model
sung
was
also
whereas
strumental
in E minor and E major, from
Ex. 3 shows two sections, respectively
(III,
1):
the tarantella
of Ricci's Piedigrotta
tarantella
Ex. 3-
Ricci,
III,
Piedigrotta,
1
00
,a
_
Vir_ne
fa
cchii
cci+ non
Vie-ne
fa
echii
cci, non
P
=PE
ý
4
c
r rT ýýT= 1
F i
F: i
=31
gi
o
m
i i
i Lý
IP
K
F
W
.
ilp-
162
ffý
p
0 9 F:
1
:41
. -
IIaI
a
=:: p
j/
,
Los
F1
ý-l
at-imým
fv
Da
.--.
--.
ei
-i1--;
i ýO' 14 Im
1
ii
ri
chel l' 0_ ra tea lä
L,
i -F---.ei,
.
61
Ex. 4A - Giordano, Mala Vita,
14 i_
Sfr
1
Ex. 4A reproduces the beginning
(III,
1):
iF1iF.
b'
V-
L/---v
--r-
I
festä nce ncon tiraiemo Carme
ne
--=-.
ý fr-f
w`ý
-ýwj
F.
1 A-m :? F.
i,
.
r
-0
v
wýýgow
Le
i.
iF,
.-
ýp
a
in E minor of the dance from Mala Vita
III,
1 ("Tarantella")
After an epischeme of Giordano's piece is more varied.
sode in G and C, there follow the reprise in E minor, a new episode
in E major with the melody in the bass (Ex. 4B) and a final state-
The tonal
163
i
ment of the refrain
in the major key:
III,
Ex. 4B - Giordano, Mala Vita,
1 ("Tarantella")
ýý
2) features the 'canzone
scene of Mala Vita (III,
Piedigrotta,
sung by Annetiello
and the chorus (Ex. 5):
The following
nuova' for
Ex. 5-
Au
Giordano, Mala Vita,
kwei
'* ,
iiýF-
ata
OB
i --
III,
2
IL
au naut . to
ca
di. ceao.cua oi:
.
be
I
164
man.
veree'o
.
IIIII
-ýý
if-M
An 11.1k,
ý
D4-4
ý
. giA.
--m
e'o
-.
U
..
-.
me. glio ca
lz
H0
I
Mat
ce
P
ib
;;4--0, ý-A
1311.11
4)
ý
Li
..
--I
ý
-I
IL.
1
:,..
ý
e
were written by Di Giacomo as a personal contriAnnetiello
to the libretto.
once more expresses his pleasurenature and his gross materialism:
The Neapolitan
bution
loving
lines
Annetiello
Ce sta
ce sta nu mutto ca dice accussi:
c' 'o bevere e 'o mangiä
e 'o meglio ca ce sta!
Chi sa
taverna a 1'ato munno si nce n'e,
si ce vedimmo llä
amice mieie,
chi sa...
chi sa!
Ma si 1'uoglio pe mo
dura a la lucerna,
scurdammecille, amice
'e guaie nnanz' 'a taverna!...
Giordano, Mala Vita,
III,
2
There is
a saying which goes like this:
drinking and eating
are the best things on earth!
Who knows
whether
whether
are taverns
meet there
there
we'll
my friends,
in the next
world,
who knows...
who knows!
But if there
in the lamp
let's forget
friends,
at
is oil
for now,
our troubles,
the tavern!...
The vernacular version of the old 'carpe diem' theme, the image of
the oil for the lamp owe something to these lines from Piedigrotta
165
(III,
4) which precede the scene with the 'canzona nova':
Magnammo,amice mieie, e po vevimmo
Nz9 ch'arde lo lucigno a la cannela;
Pocca st'ora de spasso the tenimmo
Scappa, commepe mare fa la vela.
Nce simmo mo, vedimmoncenne bene.
Lo ppresente a no sciuscio,
e non se vede;
Lo passato a ppassato,
e chiü no vvene;
Ea lo dimane chi nce mette pede?
L. Ricci,
Piedigrotta,
III,
Let's
eat,
my friends,
and then
let's
4
drink
as long as the wick burns on the candle;
since this hour of fun we have
will pass, like a sail over the sea.
We are here now, let's enjoy ourselves.
The present is a flash, and can't be seen;
The past is gone, and will never come back;
As to the morrow, who will tread therein?
song is
Annetiello's
off
stage
by the chorus
tens
at the very
Cristina
while
The repetition
the Crucifix.
eral
heard again
of the
ends her soliloquy
'canzone
nuova'
sung
in front
of
the gen-
suggests
involving
the whole town on Piedigrotta
night and heighto which the prostitute
is
the sense of exclusion
and loneliness
merriment
On hearing
doomed by her condition.
rises
and turns
fami!
Vili!...
the song,
away from the Christ,
Ah! ' to the distant
traditional
atmosphere
of the popular
zone nuova'
appropriately
focuses
a languorous
serenade
character.
Act
fingers).
III
which
'piazzetta'
song,
('che
th and the
(Ex.
Vito
self-indulgent,
opens at dusk with
the tavern
'can-
Vito
is
given
sensual
and a group
'mor-
and playing
and show them with
their
out of the group and sings some banal lines
to an interesting
The first
melody.
motive of the
soon steps
which Giordano sets
phrase ('Canzon d'amor')
motive
out his
the
the
creates
reveller,
'In-
towards
and Annetiello's
the plebeian
outside
deep contempt':
'tarantella'
'festa'
out numbers simultaneously
Vito
Neapolitan
the fiery
brings
of Mala Vita
in the
of men sitting
ra' (they call
Before
casa'.
from Capua'
'girl
and then rushes
singers
'mala
the
'with
shouts
door of the
tonic
end of the opera,
l'ala
'0 sole
d'or)
the incipit
seems to anticipate
of a famous
(1898).
It is followed
by a second
mio
the typical
exhibiting
augmented fourth
which turns
6):
166
Neapolitan
the phrase
minor
back to its
six-
F major
Ex. 6-
Giordano, Mala Vita,
1
III,
Moderato
(aluadai)
YITO
i
Caazon
mor
TEN.
( PýrL1o)
1
Quattrol
`et.
tel
66
oinqutll
5A861
I
aove (
8et.te 1
LA
aiaquel
Moderato
"
.
ý
(....
I
".
ýnf
.
pp
ý
JÜ.
0
a
.ý.
.
0
0
6-47-
r
II
N
Cho
ýý
ý
qusttro!
T_
ciaque!
167
d.ia. aii
I
II
IIO. YeI
' no.ve!
C"
m
II
Ii
die.ci!
Rf
E
of the libretto
An analysis
the additions
idiom with
a discreet
and the Piedigrotta
song are authentic
Influences
from major
can easily
be expected,
duets
of Mala Vita
inventiveness.
A clear
prose
by Nicola
Daspuro and
into
of musical
the
talent
a
The 'tarantella'
flavour.
action
was no plagiarist
to a dramatic
folklore
of Act
III.
of a young man
and the three
and a good melodic
to the Cavalleria-prototype
concession
be-
in the vernacular
play
composers on the style
but Giordano
testify
in the relationship
pieces
inserted
operatic
both
to be
because the composer devised
Neapolitan
and skilfully
written
cleverly
shows Mala Vita
introduced
and variations
The opera sounds Neapolitan
Giordano.
musical
and the original
text
tween the operatic
and for
Rusticana
than Cavalleria
more veristic
definitely
was
of a short "Intermezzo" between the duet Amalia/Cristina
aHt
have
does
the
Act
II.
Giordano's
Amalia/Vito
the
not
piece
of
ve
and
justiIt
is
dramatically
Mascagni's
Mme.
blatant mellifluousness
of
fied because it provides time for Cristina to inform her fiance about
the insertion
her heated conversation with Amalia and, in turn, for Vito to go to
his lover and argue his case only to fall into the snares of the unscrupulous woman.
We are now left
question: why should an opera
based on a successful play, with good music in it, with no knives and
in
its
be
everywhere
except
almost
accepted
off
stage,
murders on or
the
the
From
that
anon
opera,
was
written
all
environment?
natural
be
The
to
be:
Mala
Vita
too
true
to
circumstangood.
was
swer seems
with a puzzling
fiasco
be
for
Neapolitan
the
the
can
reconstructed
reasons
and
ces
from the articles
major newsand reviews which appeared in the city's
Their
I1
Mattino.
theatre critics,
di
Corriere
Napoli
I1
and
papers,
Roberto Bracco and Rocco Pagliara, were both friends and colleagues
local
The
Daspuro
Giacomo.
Nicola
Di
Salvatore
was
a
man.
young
of
Giordano was known in Naples for
Conservatorio
at the prestigious
having done all his musical studies
The subject of
S. Pietro a Maiella.
the new opera was being shown with success at the Teatro Rossini while
Giordano rehearsed his work at the San Carlo.
While Mascagni's Cavalleria
ences and critics
and trustfulness
came out of the blue and took audiMala Vita was expected with interest
by surprise,
by the Neapolitan
who were kept informed by the Corriere di Napoli about the progress of the opera. After
interpreters
the first
the tremendous success of Cavalleria,
of Santheatre-goers
168
tuzza
and Turiddu,
selves
in the role of patrons of young composers writing
veristic
opeA long article
in the Corriere
di Napoli (17 February 1892),
ras.
by Roberto
signed
GemmaBellincioni
Bracco with
of the enthusiastic
readers
of Mala Vita.
al dramma di Di Giacomo'
For the San Carlo
cace e commovente'.
last
Bellincioni
for
sticana
Announcing
libretto
Marguerite
and described
to Mala Vita
on 30 April.
performance
published
and its
if
that
the audience
best
chances to confirm
ters,
did
in a beginner's
artist
it
'natural
as the
any judgement
ture
earlier:
sympathetic
young author.
the Neapolitans
and suggested
giusto'
effi-
Just
before
and Cavalleria
comments in
enthusiastic
of Traviata
Ru-
on 20 April,
Violetta
to Eleonora
compared Bellincioni's
Gautier and concluded:
'Gemma Bellincioni
sulla
sce-
and I1 Matting
indicated
as
the new opera was to be the
tale
Eleonora
Duse
drammatica
quale
su
quella
donna'.
On 26 April
Il
perche a intensamente
eccezionale
luck
it
sobrio,
na lirica
Napoli
the
of the
and 'scenicamente
always prompting
a repeat
informed
them-
di Napoli
the Corriere
Duse's
nights,
had cast
the Rome premiere
and Stagno sang in Traviata
several
the press.
'baby',
for
of the season which closed
production
Mala Vita,
examined the
also
Stagno,
participation
in the rehearsals
Bracco
'fedele
being
the pseudonym of
and affectionate
Stagno/Bellincioni
couple
and Roberto
not expect
Bracco,
to find
it
support.
opera
e affettuosamente
the qualities
of a ma-
seemed to have the
had received
enthusiastic
wishing good
in I1 Corriere,
of Giordano's
public'
So Mala Vita
work.
the success
friendly
Roberto
would be 'sereno
had the most suitable,
good publicity,
announcements
-b artista
Corriere
di
in Rome two months
and popular
But the opera falied.
interpreAnd
di Napoli warmly recommended
the facts that I1 Corriere
,.
4t
1v
s4ohld
ti
that Mala Vita
the opera season at the San Carlo
second hearing,
^a
(28 and 30 April
came to an end with two more performances of Traviata
despite
1892).
On 27 April
Il
Matting
and 11 Corriere di Napoli devoted long
opera. For the Neapolitans Mala Vita
reviews to the unsuccessful
was outrageous; an insult to their
house, the Real Teatro San Carlo.
the Pendino little
square with its
city and their glorious opera
The unsweetened, crude display of
brothel, the dingy bassi and the
stinking dye-house were something of a shock. Such a sad and disturignored or at least confined to a
bing reality
would be willingly
At a time when the 'svenvernacular play for a second-rate theatre.
169
tramento'
works
in the
were in progress
and that
under the pickaxe,
Carlo
city.
deeply
that
amid 'the
womanhood' which
del
reality
al rovescio,
his
regret
of the
patrons
for
illustrious
San
it
as typical
of their
having
witnessed
Bellincioni
garbage of the alleys'
and 'the
seemed to have been transferred,
dal mefitico
3)
note
seemed to be disappearing
an opera displayed
R. Bracco expressed
sventramento
fiche
shameful
(see above,
of Naples
the middle-class
resented
and Stagno sing
sinful
low districts
basso Napoli
alle
prisons
'per
of
uno
scene magni-
San Carlo'.
But the fiasco
of Mala Vita was not just the reaction of a conaudience to a distasteful
subject for an opera house. What
us is the assessment of the musical qualities
of Giordano's
servative
interests
opera. Since the librettist
stripped away all the humorous and picturesque ingredients which cushioned the impact of the psychological
violence of the story, the composer could bring out the full dramatic
potential
of the situations.
the Piedigrotta
song at its
picturesque
The vow at the beginning of the opera,
very end lost most of their decorative or
value and appeared for what they were: a sign of popular
and a musical metaphor of the cheap hedonism of the uneducated masses. The musical idiom with a Neapolitan connotation
The unheroic, unromantic treatment
sounded too familiar
and prosaic.
superstition
of those wretched figures from the Pendino bassi made them unattractive and irritating.
In short, Giordano's scrupulous faithfulness
did not pay. Those are the points on which R. Bracco based
to reality
his criticism
of the music of Mala Vita:
[Giordano] e stato scrupulosamente fedele al fatto,
all'ambiente
e non ha nobilizzato
ne 1'uno ne 1'altro... Il colore locale c% ma 1'orecchio 6 troppo
da ritmi,
da modulazioni, da onduspesso investito
lazioni melodiche, da frasi,
cui Pabitudine
nega
Ma quando
gli onori della teatralitä
artistica...
del colore locale il musicista non si e preoccupaidea fissa ha pregiudicata
to, un'altra
la conceziEgli temeva di f alsare il carattere
one musicale.
de' personaggi, egli temeva altresi
di guastare nel
lusso dell'arte
la semplicitä popolare dei sentimenti e delle idee... Il maestro non ha voluto concepire
la musica indipendentemente dalla popolaritä
del dramma: -e il dramma, che ha perduto 1'importanza sostanziale del verismo, ha trovato nella musica, insieme
col calore della passione, la volgaritä
e la pochezza plebee.
170
The journalist
impossibility
did
for
a tranche
not sublimate
ground
those
level
miserable,
acted
text
outrageous
were not to be found
in Mala Vita.
the purely
musical
due to Giordano's
more artificial
shortcomings
medium,
than the play
itself,
Rocco Pagliara
the opera resulted
and it
over
the aesthe-
such as Verga's
Rusticana,
glass
and psychological
which disfigured
embellishments
of a much less
as a magnifying
The dramatic
ragged characters.
the musical
quality
de vie
seemed to bring in a verdict
of
The verismo of Mala Vita
opera.
into art;
it kept reality
at its
and the melodramatization
distortions,
tic
and, playwright
a truly
veristic
Cavalleria
Paradoxically,
despite
own limits,
and the
in a more veristic
work
was rejected.
in I1 Mattino
the opera because
also criticized
the subject was too daring and unsuitable for the San Carlo.
He praised the duets, the singers, the conductor, the orchestra, but he blamed the realistic
mise-en-scene for increasing the 'antipathy'
of the
story:
La messa in scena, invece, ed i costumi hanno aggradel libretto,
forse appunto con quelvato l'antipatia
lo the si a creduto fare con maggiore calore e con piü
evidenza di carattere.
It must be noted that the Romancritics
had made the same point about
the unsuitability
of such a veristic
opera for their Teatro Argentina.
In a more modest venue, they argued, those popular customs and feelings so uncompromisingly
portrayed
by Giordano would be less hurtful
and vulgar.
Far away from Naples
Eduard Hanslick
and the susceptibility
was in a better
position
of the Neapolitans,
to assess the merits
of the
All
the more so as he had the unique chance to hear Mala Vita
Pagliacci
together
with Cavalleria,
and two minor operas (F. Cilea's
Tilda and L. Mugnone's I1 birichino),
produced by the same Italian
opera.
opera company with
excellence.
GemmaBellincioni
He gave therefore
as the veristic
a comparative
prima
donna par
view when he wrote:
In its merciless truthfulness
to life Mala Vita is
both gripping and revolting
at the same time, like
most of these realistic
The music of Maepieces.
stro Giordano makes its effects through the roughhewn ability
to achieve a tone appropriate to the
situation,
and now and again by means of a gentler
passage, as for example in Cristina's
first
entry.
171
His sense of drama is stronger
than his musical
his temperament stronger
tal5nt,
than his artistry.
Hanslick
review
of GemmaBellincioni
tion
sensitivity,
as Cristina:
more overpowering
anything
Bellincioni
her,
portrays
would be hard to say in
'It
displays
more intelligence,
more
to never having
I admit
truth.
Giordano
If
more perfect.
interpreta-
the extraordinary
praising
scenes Bellincioni
of these
which
ter
his
concluded
saw and heard Cristina
then he is
a true
the way
musician
poet,
seen
and pain-
in one person'.
later,
after
the-triumph
26 March 1896),
Giordano
tried
to revive
more acceptable
to the public.
A few years
and tone down its
shape the libretto
his
work and make it
youthful
Daspuro helped
Nicola
(La Scala,
of Andrea Chenier
the composer re-
The revised
verismo.
sung by Enrico Caruso and Rosina
was presented as 11 Voto,
edition
Storchio,
Neither
of Milan on 10 November 1897.
at the Teatro Lirico
della
the Corriere
a vero,
ora,
urta
The new version
ma nello
was simply
the green hills
the
tina,
surrounding
'donna perduta',
some kind
man with
became rather
self
lost
in Act II
III
surgery
opera.
cal
Amalia/Cristina
its
credibility.
was eliminated
it
completely
would only
features.
and the Piedigrotta
song of
try
Andrea Chenier,
verismo
and destroyed
to Di Giacomo for
play.
the
of Mala Vita
it
he severed
by effacing
his
opera worth
Many years
"bozzetto
172
verismo
of the
in musiits
his
when the composer scored
the only
to the prose
the pungent
'upgrade'
to
of cos-
operation
improvement
In conclusion,
literary
again
character,
disfigured
a possible
with
turned
The most outrageous
was meant to be an opportunistic
but
faithfulness
a wo-
confrontation
and the heated
success
its
and Cris-
was scrapped
as a 'donna tradita',
was camouflaged
greatest
for
The brothel
Naples.
areas near
to Marco the barber.
Giordano
most original
residential
feeble
Far from conceiving
terms,
was moved from the Pen-
So the vow it-
of
The revision
metic
The setting
absurd.
o commuove'.
in her past.
part
was given
pits interessa
of unhappy experience
the debauched Annetiello,
Act
tempo nulla
stesso
to one of the new and healthier
district
dino
Alfredo
Colombani
were much impressed.
Sera (11-12 November 1897) wrote:
'Nulla pits
nor the critics
the audience
for
unmitigated
lirico"
connection
with
the veristic
later,
label
Giordano
Mese Mariano
(Palermo,
ent kind
children,
Teatro
Massimo,
of veristic
story.
and was set
house of Naples
17 March 1910),
built
in the huge 'Real
under the first
dano composed some tenuous,
Di Giacomo's
slim
to the youthful
sational,
3.
The pathetic
but
Albergo
It
featured
dei
Bourbon king,
was not,
nuns and
Poveri',
Charles
the unadorned
therefore,
verismo of Mala Vita but rather
differ-
was a totally
sketch
subdued music for
libretto.
it
a belated
the poorGior-
III.
verses
of
return
a disavowal of its
sen-
emphatic connotations.
Musical postcards
from Naples: A Santa Lucia and A Basso Porto
"Scene popolari napoletane" A Santa Lucia
sources of two veristic
operas
and A Basso Porto are the literary
Mala
Vita,
together
make up a small group of uniformly
with
which,
Neapolitan works composed between 1892 and 1894. The librettist
of
(1848-1918)
A Santa Lucia was the Neapolitan poet Enrico Golisciani
Goffredo Cognetti's
(1885)
for
Ponchielli
to
Marion
Delorme
had
conand
was
written
who
Carlo
Zangarini,
the
in
most outrageous pseuwith
collaboration
coct,
(1911)
in
I
della
Madonna
libretto
Naples,
do-veristic
set
gioielli
for
The librettist
Ermanno Wolf Ferrari.
journalist
and theatre
critic
of A Basso Porto was the
Eugenio Checchi (Livorno, 1838 - Rome,
1932), a staunch supporter of operatic verismo since the Rome premiere
As
for
first
Rusticana.
the
the
the
Cavalleria
music,
of
composer
of
(1864-1934),
Pierantonio
Tasca
Sicilian
the
an obscure and
opera was
beginner
talented
who was to set Verga's Lupa many
not particularly
On
later.
the contrary,
the composer of A Basso Porto, Nicola
years
(Turin, 1865
1909),
Rome,
just
his
Spinelli
as
as
colleague,
young
(Teatro Costanzi,
had already achieved a moderate success with Labilia
Rome, 9 May 1890), the second prize (after Mascagni's Cavalleria)
of
the 1888 Sonzogno Competition.
A commonfeature
of the two operas is the fact that their
and ended in Germany where they were first
ephe-
meral success started
performed. A Santa Lucia was premiered at the Krolloper of Berlin on 16
September 1892, sung by Bellincioni
and Stagno, and it was revived
173
there in 1905.
In less than two years the opera was heard in Trieste
(17 March 1893), Prague (in German, 26 March 1893), Hamburg (in German,
29 May 1893),
1894),
(4 October
Vienna
and in several
was premiered
although
it
including
cities
in Naples due to its
and camorra
(the
rituals
(in
Manchester
1 October
English,
A Basso Porto
Naples.
of Cologne on 18 April
in German at the Stadttheater
(Teatro
Costanzi,
Rome
reached
never performed
camorrists
Italian
1893),
4 March 1895),
libretto
featuring
Neapolitan
fiasco
1894;
the opera was
mischievous
had
of Mala Vita
not been forgotten).
later,
About a hundred years
postcards
Italien'
stories
the foreign
for
consumer products
but longed for
from a much maligned
epitomized
operas can be seen only as
markets (mainly German), illustrated
these
in open-air
about hot-blooded,
(e. g. E. Hanslick),
imports
of these latest
tics
songs and dances,
having
to account
Italy,
took
for
vour surrounding
ling
of the North
mythologies
were seriously
overstate
their
distilled
impressed
by their
intrinsic
value.
impact
nach
Some cri-
people.
the artistic
the view that
them was due to an indigestion
'Sehnsucht
the
and in sensational
down-to-earth
extrovert,
from
city,
flimsiness
the popular
fa-
of the hazy and chil-
in mastodontic
on the public
The reporter
Others
operas.
and tended
of The Musical
to
Times
(1 November 1893) wrote about the premiere of A Santa Lucia in Vienna:
Signor Tasca's A Santa Lucia, a striking
and uncompromising specimen of the verismo of young Italy,
was given on the 4th ult. at the Vienna Court Opera,
and, thanks mainly to the superb performance of Siand Signor Stagno, the success was
gnora Bellincioni
one.
a very brilliant
A Santa Lucia was just a specimen of the numerous offspring
geneThe low quality
rated by Cavalleria Rusticana at an inflationary
rate.
source was one of the basic weaknesses of the two-act
of, the literary
opera; the other was Tasca's limited resourcefulness
as a composer.
Mascagni's Cavalleria
Luigi Ricci's Piedigrotta,
and popular Neapolitan songs were the main musical references to which Tasca had little
to add. The result
ing the fashionable
was a piece of folkloric
verismo cunningly
exploit-
of Naples, a colourful
wrapping containing little
dramatic substance.
The setting of the opera was the 'strada di Santa Lucia a Napoli' and featured a tavern, the stall of an oyster-seller,
the sea and Vesuvius in the background, and the rising
stereotypes
moon in the blue sky.
This attractive
174
location
was filled
with
'mor-
S.
'
ra'
fishermen,
players,
and the typical
Neapolitan
in themselves
ta Lucia
icated
were true
would hardly
by Matilde
sellers
to "Il
to
Il
water,
life,
but the glossy
the grim,
with
operatic
of San-
picture
description
unpoetical
She concluded
pittoresco".
The ingredients
in a section
di Napoli,
ventre
and snails,
shellfish
dancers.
crowd of tarantella
tally
Serao in
of mineral
given
ded-
significantly
the paragraph
with
a disheart-
'Forse it colecomment on the assumedly blue sea of Santa Lucia:
Ma the mare
strage:
vi a it mare e vi a it sole.
ra non vi avrä fatto
Ma quale putrefazione
non illumina
quel sole! '8
nero, untuoso!
ening
The opening scene of A Santa Lucia is largely dependent on Piedidetails and for its overall
and folkloric
grotta for the realistic
(Ex. 7):
structure
Allegro
m
Concettina.
n
1
I,
Tasca, A Santa Lucia,
Ex. 7-
)
()
con brio.
1144.
dal
Ao-qua zur -fog
.
His-*or von Tor
- re/
Totonno.
4i
H
0
0-.
Aue
-
do ca- Stiel rooa Cat - tel -
stre - the
tern taut
Duel
Giocatori. Z
'!
Spider.
sei!
S. o.. v!
quattro!
Ire/
'Trat
tre!
Dre!!
i-ý
ý
Cinque!
Preit
Ton.
n
p
0
x
Bevitori.
äýý
Triakar.
"
Bassf.lý
l'0
lo!
lo!
-
stye
Fri - . cA.
per met
und sý
swell
eil
FiiA-fer
I
ý
ý
H
Obe I
OAs/
9opr. s Contr.
Ltl
wwwý
La Folla.
Die Ueage.
0 ý
x
n
Ton.
1 ý1
nrt
ý
MW
ý
"-"ý-
1i-
'lüct
n
""
*p
:
1'a la
la
f+º la
la la la la
la
la
la
.-I
'In 11 -- 1 am ilip,
10 1-4 ý4-u
fa
da pin
on
-licA
YoLtl
Mir
An1
Ba -GfiieJr
0
Ba.
p1
I"-I-II
Lvm
Bassi.
la
la
La
la
1.
--ý
bn
ra
-'-folk!
- licA
n 17ê
la
!,ýE-9,
ml
ý0 ý, jIji
1.
1
LLi
-4. J
-
býkj Iý
175
Ifo
ee
ý
RE
0
ie
er
do -'geht-
6
-- Irý
F
[-1-1
TT
ýý
do -geAt
0.- 1-II
1-ý
ln la la "la
11
gio - 'con da
ea bei? - eer, wo
fln
1) tIIL
ta
'ý
'a lk ra ra 1
FE m
'
d'a
gio - coä es 608 - ser, wo
t--I
da pia
KýP Aal
E1
b*3
M.
°-nri--ý
I)
21
D
:777DE-1
I.
I P.:
ec
:e
Ex. 7-
(cont. )
Ad-qua for - ra - tai
0irrt
ras - gen!
ä
Tot.
rol
term1
ca
Arm ----
Pör. tä aia - gna
Bria-ge W_ -i an
TT
T
"i
If
=::
If
Por-ta
Brim-ge
ý-T
mai. _
! u,9
ei
-
1Ber
puö
zu
tro
alt
-
-
nolPortäae in N, im-mer bring'
0JL1
=
If
IA
Gra Chi
-
gna
nn
"
-
no! Pottane an ti, imp-nur Aring'
vär?
Aier?
8
It
concentrates,
in one long and lively
sequence, street
cries
in ver-
drinof
'morra'
section
nacular, a choral section of
players, a choral
kers (the Gragnano wine is the same one ordered by the Piedigrotta
re-
176
The German translation
vellers;
enjoying
slogan
pel
la la'
'la
the
of place),
Chianti'
sounds terribly
dancers,
of the tarantella
out
and the crowd
the show and commenting with the stale tourist-brochure
(faithfully
'veder Napoli e morir'
translated
as 'Seh'n
and dann sterben').
della
'Bringe
in the heart
Caritä,
(now via
Act I of Ricci's
of Naples,
Roma), and opened with
opera was set
on the old
the cries
'strada
in
Nea-
'Piazza
Toledo'
('E'
of the coffee-sellers
brandy ('Acquavitaro')
a sto cafe')
and the men selling
('Sammuchella
forte
e doce').
and anisette
bollente
In A Santa Lucia,
set
but the effect is the
the merchandise is different
on the sea-front,
has been mentioned
of Act III of Piedigrotta
same. The tarantella
Tasca used the
in connection with a similar number in Mala Vita.
The thin
(soprano)
is
of A Santa Lucia
(mezzo-soprano),
plot
and Maria
(tenor).
Rosella
Ciccillo
the opening scene of his opera.
throughout
dance as an ostinato
about two women, Rosella
in love with the fisherman
to prove
commits suicide
her faithful-
convinness to the man who loves her after a slander by her rival
his
father.
The
is
to
tenor's
that
him
marry
about
she
song
ces
the
'Amore a morto, e la rosella
muore' (Act I, Sc. 2) anticipates
and is first
catastrophe
in the
doline,
"Prelude"
played
by guitars
Rosella
in his
for
songs,
poseful
hiding
arms.
dramatic
bearing
while
The whole story
action.
In Act
breaks
carries
I,
for
example,
be detected
"Scene popolari"
the dying
of pretexts
Rosella
provocation,
and she strikes
end,
than a pur-
and perorations,
hand can easily
in mind Act I of the
Ciccillo
by a man-
at the very
returns
On a slight
out,
the curtain
is more a chain
invectives
in her breast.
Cognetti's
the knife.
it
of the opera;
brawls,
between her and Maria
behind
played
and mandolines,
street
a knife
heard,
is shown
a quarrel
her rival
with
in what follows,
Malavita:
a crowd
and the two women are taken
followed
by an uproarious
to the nearest police
station,
cortege
The music is banal and repetitive,
of assorted folk.
and even
soon gathers,
Ciccillo's
politan
police
melancholy
tune (Ex. 8):
officers
arrive
song sounds just
177
like
any barrel
organ Nea-
Tasca, A Santa Lucia,
Ex. 8-
Cantabile.
C1CC1Ü0.
(:
(
I,
2
so.
)
dally
RpiaRda)
nPndo
(roýN(T rr kommend
Die
(portando In voce)
more
morto, ea
Lieb' ist todt, nua
ro - sei -la
irel- ket auchdie
muore!
-Bo-se!
ii
Per
AV"
e
nY
0
0,
F9
den,
can be seen in some structural
similarities:
the insertion
song, an "Intermezzo",
an off-stage
of
of Cavalleria
with
a "Prelude"
Latin litanies
and organ music which
a joyful
puoi-'-imet.-.
0
The influence
praises
F-ý
ppýý re, hel - la, phi tro - dar non
Sve - lp Frie- den rcird dich, Schöirste,
11
also
0
11
Lj
is
I
a brisk
his
job
little
song for
of oyster-seller
attract
the baritone
and quotes
people to a church.
(Ciccillo's
father)
his
own cry,
There
who
surrounded
by
crowd.
wrote a long review of A Santa Lucia when it was
favourable
in
Vienna,
a
mildly
opinion of the
and
expressed
premiered
limited
Tasca's
inventiveHe
out
pointed
melodic
a'whole.
as
opera
dedicated
lack
and
over a third of the article
originality,
of
ness and
Eduard Hanslick
Her acting
The 'realistic
skills
were described in
truth'
of her gestures,
more detail than her singing.
facial expressions, postures, gait, were all praised in connection with
'In a dramatic creation of
they represented.
the particular
situation
this magnitude - wrote Hanslick - the beauty of the purely musical
to GemmaBellincioni's
Rosella.
The conclusion was that
sound almost ceases to be of importance'.
Bellincioni's
interpretation
of Rosella surpassed her earlier
ones of
Santuzza and Cristina
in so far as 'Rosella is more broadly characterized by composer and librettist,
thus offers the actress greater
tive
and
placed in more varied situations
9
That was meant to be a posiscope'.
But Rosella has
comment on the main character of A Santa Lucia.
178
no long and revealing
showpiece like Santuzza's
romanza 'Voi
pete, o mamma', and her ariosi
are short and contain modest,
Considering
able melodies.
the dull
also
recitatives
lo saunremark-
chordal
with
ac-
bridge
the ensemble pieces of the opera, we have to
the impressive
conclude that it was really
stage presence and the uthat created the character
nique acting of GemmaBellincioni
and made
It must have been like watching a good
up for its musical deficiency.
companiment which
film
show with
Spinelli's
and it
A Basso Porto
but also
of the subject
and the dramatic
page of the vocal
for
not just
for
the quality
effectiveness
after
the
ambitious
of the two operas
the daring
of the music,
originality
the more mature
On the title-
of some situations.
"Scene popolari
score,
we find
Cognetti",
is much the better
to Mala Vita
comes close
style
sound track.
a mediocre
definition
napoletane
di Goffredo
"Dramma lirico
in 3 atti",
After
whereas both Mala Vita and"A Santa Lucia have "melodramma".
the Pendino with the bassi and the prostitutes,
in
another district
for the first
the 'bowels of Naples' is displayed
time on the operatic
and not in
stage,
Italy
and the
gangs of camorrists
of Il
eyesore,
indispensable
di-Napoli.,
ventre
having
in Germany: the Porto
tavern
In 1904, when Matilde
and the disputes.
part
but
the Porto
for
district
unedifying
the card
Serao completed
the urban renewal
survived
its
with
games
the second
was still
much of an
of the 1890s.
Checking
as she remembered it from her youth, the writer
could still
Porto,
di
di
Basso
'le
ricetti
di
povertä inaudite,
case
see
ricetti
di tutte
le cose e le persone infadelitti
ricetti
e di delittuosi,
10
By
'crimes
dolenti'.
Serao meant the activities
and criminals'
mi e
of the camorra which prospered mostly in the popular districts
of the
the place
Long before
city.
of poverty
scenario
Marc Monnier
writer
Switzerland
France,
tion
secret
all
carefully
and crime
(born
society
for
Neapolitan
author,
had been described
in Florence,
and Italy)
hierarchy,
rituals,
lar
her or any other
in his
activities,
organized
that
squalid
by the cosmopolitan
he lived
study
notorious
extortion',
analyzed on the basis of police
and worked in Germany,
La Camorra (1863).
Initiafigures
of that
as he defined
records
it,
'popuwere
and other docu-
ments.
The plot
situations
of A Basso Porto almost bring to life
and people from Monnier's book. Checchi and Spinelli
porand characters
179
tray
the camorrists
folkloric
to gratuitous
many concessions
without
ingredients.
There is no tarantella,
for example, and the tenor's
its
song with
fication
quite
for
being
after
a
A member of the gang is Maria
lover and now his sworn enemy
word to unmask the spy.
Ciccillo's
at one time
which caused the death of Ciccillo's
tip-offs
because of reciprocal
is
Ciccilwho seems to hide in the gang itself.
to impose his own authority
over the camorrists,
by an informer
(baritone)
is quick
and pledges his
(mezzo-soprano),
justi-
The story
boss has been imprisoned
A camorra
straightforward.
has a dramatic
character
at the end of the opera.
repeated
tip-off
lo
Neapolitan
unmistakable
Maria's
imprisonment
husband.
Maria has a
the
of
and
next girlfriend
in love with Ciccillo,
Sesella (soprano)
daughter,
and a son, Luigino
(tenor),
time
spends his
plans
cillo
fresh
his
being
who
Pascale.
Sesella
Cic-
into
a
The news of a second arrest
among the camorrists.
to confirm
Sesella
Maria
has
her own suspicions
to accuse Luigino
tries
to run away with
keeper,
by turning
a gambler.
Ciccillo
the spy.
he arranges
time
on Maria
in the face
Ciccillo
member of the camorra,
the tavern
with
revenge
into
a junior
anger and apprehension
to stare
only
his
and Luigino
prostitute
spreads
cards
playing
to take
is,
that
a 'picciotto',
about
and at the same
But Maria
at midnight.
daughter
the
her
his
to
of
man's
wickedness
and
real
convince
manages
Sesella now wants to expose Ciccillo's
treachintentions
about her.
A
the
tribunal
camorra
camorrists.
all
summons
ery and
Pascale in his tavern and he presides over the trial.
gino
himself
asked to clear
is
in to defend
of the charge
her son and endorses
The camorrist
is found
Sesella's
guilty
is
set
up by
At first,
Lui-
Maria
of treason.
allegations
and sentenced
to death.
and is handed a gun by Pascale.
chance for
to be promoted
'picciotto'
of the spy.
out the execution
camorrists
his
will
lie
fronts
Ciccillo
into
and stabs
The camorrists
will
in ambush not far
song "Mare d'argento"
have her son turned
It
will
signal
a murderer.
as camorrist
take
place
from Luigino.
the attack.
Just
before
Cic-
against
cillo.
killer
the
is
as
chosen
no
the
steps
if
LuigiIt
is
a
he carries
at midnight
and the
The last
note of
But Maria
midnight,
will
not
she con-
him to death.
They are
or glorified.
shown as quick-tempered and sectarian,
inexorable and efficient
as
Marc Monnier described them in his documentary study.
The two women
are not romanticized
180
infatuation
for the
than the men. Sesella's
are no more likeable
bossy schemer, Maria's
and concern for her daughter
sense of guilt
are rendered
ed
character
with
the same sombre and unsympathetic
He is just
of Ciccillo.
an arrogant
tint
petty
as the doomcriminal.
in his musical and dramatic pre(Act
2)
is
I,
Sc.
he
the
At
beginning
the
given
opera
of
sentation.
(Ex.
9):
defiant
motive
a self-assertive,
Checchi
and Spinelli
Ex. 9-
Spinelli,
,,
took
great
A Basso Porto,
care
I,
2
Andante mo5so. Energico.
Cy
1
4rIlm le
$ ýý
sloncio
an poco slvnl. IL
y
:: a.
poco ru!!.
4118
Hart Pas-ca - la
pa-9ca
Si
.! t,
Ei-nen Ba-eher bringt Grag-na- no.
di
DicchieGra.
c s,r-so.
ma
re
q
1
he
bullies
the
people
or
states
whenever
camorrist
accompanies
which
(Act
Halfway
II,
through
the
the
to
opera
action.
something relevant
has accused Luigino of being the spy, he
Sc. 3), soon after Ciccillo
brings
his
Maria,
out
dramatic
rancour
against
which
monologue
sings a
his
'mala
fear
the
and
vita'
of the prison.
his dissatisfaction
with
he
is
like
that
Ialines
the
could,
as
nothing
as
well
set
is
The
the
in
lines:
the
in
Otello.
"Credo"
of
core
monologue
go's
Spinelli
Ah! ch'io non era nato a questa viltä!
Sempre la mano pronta al coltello
e al sangue;
tradir
la compagnia
per salvar me the son di lor,...
the son di for la spia!...
E aver negli occhi orribile
visione...
la pesante catena e la prigione!
Spinelli,
A Basso Porto, II
,3
181
Maria
its
melodic
has her characteristic
also
outline
and orchestral
of the opera to the very
voices
Maria's
pete qual
invocation:
frequent
la croce
sia
Ex. 10 - Spinelli,
Mail-is
Yy.
. -"
end, just
della
From the outset
accompaniment.
before
'Ah!
mia vital'
in
very Mascagnian
she kills
it
Ciccillo,
Madonna santa,
(Ex. 10):
lo sa-
voi
A Basso Porto
a
f?
Ilui -Aýil.........:.
'
i
motive,
ý--
li - Bo Ma. don -Na
a-sa Sax ->>
'ý
mich
, sa
,
oloissiuro
1ý
_
--
op
F
mar.
du
gYal
oý Ur
Yot " lo
nu,
la)
---=
Ong
tlab'o,
- 10
- pe . .
-'
woiset main Kroux,
la cro -.
ria
.I
ce
cresc.
O
g--
---cresc..
.
The veristic
characterization
of the camorrists and the uninhibited use of their jargon and swearwords disrupt the linguistic
libretto
the
usually pitched in the high-flown regisof
uniformity
ter of pre-veristic
opera. A few examples can illustrate
the kind
of operatic language used by Checchi in conjunction with veristic
A typical case is the frequency of the adjective
expressions.
'rio/
reo' for wicked or guilty which recurs mostly in Maria's lines:
Maria:
Pascale:
Ciccillo:
'rio cimento';
'Son real; io solo
la dissi comreal; Ti rei misfatti
'ria sventura'.
plice';
'reo misf atto';
'Del traditore
che e
reo convinto'.
'La rea masnada dei camorristi'.
182
.
Ciccillo
recalls
in Act I,
5 with
Maria's
betrayal,
his
imprisonment
and her marriage
lines:
these
..
Mentr'io
E tu?...
tra fiori
languivo nella prigione!
proterva, correvi all ara,
e incensi, veli e corone!
4 he gives Sesella a distorted
version of the same facts
in order to convince the girl to elope with him. The language is the
Instead of quinari doppi, we find quatrains
same, the verse differs.
In Act II,
of senari:
In carcer fui posto:
la donna obliosa
i giuri d'un altro
infida ascoltb!
Tornai, la rividi:
proterva ed abbietta
di baci negati
mi chiese 1'ardor.
In sharp contrast
ters
often
is just
use colloquial
as typical
lyrical
their
with
and slang
as 'rio/reo'
expressions.
in its
the same charac-
verses,
The adjective
frequency:
Maria:
Della vostra onorata compagnia
e il malo sbirro, e la venduta spia!
Va! di mala femmina vivrai la vita infame!
Luigino:
figlio
Ciccillo:
Luigino:
La mala vita
Sesella:
'malo'
di mala fem...
fuggir
dobbiamo
Infame sorte!
dee morir di mala morte
chi le carte in man mi dä!
compagnia' is obviously referred to
Sesella
the camorra gang. Before accusing Ciccillo
of betrayal,
('Io
'onorata
the
the
herself
of
compagnia'
protection
under
puts
libThe
the
la
colloquial
style
of
protezione').
vostra
sono sotto
Sesella's
expression
'onorata
retto is very similar to ordinary prose,
Sesella/Luigino:
gues Maria/Sesella,
Sesella
particularly
Ouf, the caldo!
Piü non reggo all'oppressura!
183
in the dialo-
figlia,
Maria
E tu,
Maria
Sesella
Maria
Dove vai?
Mammä, siete
Son io!
un po' di lavorare!
smetti
voi?
Sesella and Maria try to stop Luigino
cards and losing money with Pascale)
who is playing
Sesella
Luigino
Luigino! Ma non senti? C'e la mamma!
Eh, non seccarmi!
Disdetta! Neppur una mi riesce.
Pascale
Maria
Luigino
Ehi, compar! son died lire
E perdi ancora!
Pagherö! vanne in malora!
the mi devi.
There are even two proverbs in Act I.
The first
is provocatively
(I,
during
1):
by
Pascale
the
Luigino
card
quoted
game with
[e meglio]
is directed to Maria (I,
a bene...
Fidarsi
Non fidarsi...
the second, quoted by Ciccillo,
A far bene nel mondo si deve essere ucciso.
lines
lick
The shift
from the lyrical
coincides
with
called
opera consists
shows it
Sesella
strophic
like,
I,
Ex. 11 - Spinelli,
'musical
apart
declamation
for
in an orchestral
in Act
songs,
of large-scale
syllabic
melodies
of
to the veristic
in Cavalleria),
parts
mostly
and the chorus,
devised
the sections
similar
the opera contains
verses
repeat
and prosaic
(as Hansconversation'
but this
is not to say that
from Luigino's
serenade.
with
all
and ariosi
with
expansive,
towards
wellEx. 11
love motive.
the end of the duet
Cicillo/
3:
A Basso Porto,
I,
3
ý
n
\YA.
Io/to
t'oC!
^-ý
Cie.
týmp4 ooA ejfctto.
Sesrl-1R, nimmec ýA
'
. nia. rc
-
000,0,
-XI
_ý
1ý1ýpolcipatisd
"
"
,
Nif
"
___
Ký.
-
184
_
The
the principals
concertati
Sesella's
example,
2):
Nean'michnicht
Mhl
A'nm dir_ /n in . era
..
los,-
dich
to
non
......
Cie.
Lie
kei.
ne
nengleicht
mei "
"--non
Im -0"t!
nnö
ca
.
-
be
ýso
ý
ý-
ý"6
/fý .ýý
-, -iý
__
;
--I
_j
HL-Lir
_____
Ilit IE 11
f 4E a
4-IT--III
?-ý.
a
p
p
ý-
r
IF r
19
irr.
lieb icbl
dir. lo ý"
Cie.
190
Men... sta " sera al. la c"an-ti na,
PPP
9
i-@,
I,
net, lame wenn e.4 dunkelt,
t
-
"
ne.
i?.
fr f-
o cýss.
P
er zur a- ver
di irmi rer - ra
it
was originally
written for a German audience, the
(see
ones) may
clever use of such motives
also Maria's and Ciccillo's
have suggested a Wagnerian approach which added to its attractiveness.
The linguistic
to
unevenness is only due to Checchi's inability
Considering
that
give up the stilted
versification
uniformly low register throughout
of pre-veristic
the libretto.
opera and adopt a
In this respect, the
libretti
Santa Lucia do have a uniformly veristic
of Mala Vita and
.A
including quotations in vernacular (street cries and songs),
register,
with none of the shifts noticeable in A Basso Porto.
Among the veristic
operas presented by Sonzogno at the 1892
Vienna Exhibition,
Hanslick rated Pagliacci and Mala Vita as the best
in the group, apart from Cavalleria.
A Santa Lucia and A Basso Porto
remain on the level of postcard operas although an allowance should
be made for the better musico-dramatic quality of Spinelli's
opera.
185
CONCLUSION
The operatic
ary verismo
stylistic
from theatrical
is from texts
premises
of verismo
innovatory
cal
In the operatic
the veristic
prose theatre
transpositions,
the established
libretto,
resulted
was fairly
in late
evolving
the social
was largely
milieu
ly operatic
its
of
of conventional-
structures
of the veristic
teenth-century
of low-life
of the Italian
the
as
minor
-
conveniently
called
of opera,
clattering
Mascagni's
Cavalleria
tomize,
in different
rismo.
Leoncavallo's
opera based on the
ninecaused
the destabilized
operat-
settled,
Rusticana
by Cavalleria
behind
system
in the general
was
evolu-
and pathetic
he-
and Giordano's
Mala Vita
epi-
transposition
of literary
its
truculent
shelf.
Rusticana
ways, the musical
Pagliacci
'tranche
of late
When the dust
lagging
along with
library
roes to some dusty
into
genre started
left
was
-
The actual
because of the sensation
stories
came
changes af-
style.
to the evolution
'melodramma'.
romantic
theatre
far-reaching
and vocal
theatre
opera was overstated
by the introduction
by the musical
subjects
opera was undergoing
musico-dramatic
contribution
tion
the characterization
opera;
marred by the survival
of veristic
at a time when Italian
ic verismo
struc-
choruses.
The adoption
fecting
the dialogical
to the new dynamic duet-form
thanks
nineteenth-century
had
register
of the versified
conventions
in poor hybrids;
preserved
well
milieu.
and social
idiomatic
the veristic
in a
the dialogi-
of the language,
between individuals
to come to terms with
ture
a compromise between the aes-
way: the quality
which often
works,
narrative
of the stage.
interaction
the
structure,
The adaptations
and the requirements
characterized
to the
alterations
of earlier
versions
which were already
Three elements
positively
by substantial
liter-
Italian
to
components of the texts.
and structural
thetic
only
was made possible
were arranged
that
of works belonging
transposition
represents
de vie'.
the archetype
Imitation
ve-
of veristic
of these
models
in
into stereotypes,
the 1890s meant degeneration
of wornexploitation
(violence,
and a patronout cliches
sensationalism,
picturesqueness)
izing,
conservative
attitude
towards
In its
the
'low'
subject
matter.
heyday, operatic verismo was either overrated or abused.
German audiences welcomed it as a relief
from their heavy Wagnerian
186
diet;
French
definition
critics
anticipated
or endorsed Debussy's contemptuous
du neant';
in Italy,
heated disputes
of it as 'l'usine
on
its
raged well
merits
al assessment
into
half
have remained
should
the compositional
the first
within
which was developed
style
of our century.
Its
the main problem
of defining
critic-
by the post-Risorgimento
to as the Young Italian
composers collectively
School.
But
referred
in the event, due to the indiscriminate
(and often derogatory)
use of
the term 'verismo'
almost as a synonym for late nineteenth-century
Italian
opera,
on the musical
the minor
theatre
In Italian
question
of the influence
became a hindrance
terminology,
musicological
musicale'
is today
accepted
aesthetic
category
which was largely
ency in the musical
alone
created
theatre
and currently
to a solution
used to define
verismo
of the problem.
the expression
'verismo
an autonomous
the outcome of a realistic
and was not exclusively
by, the adoption
of literary
of veristic
subjects
connected
tendto,
let
from contemporary
literature.
However, generalizations
and inaccurate evaluations still
persist, although many musicological
studies have introduced the notion
between the artistic
of a fundamental distinction
peculiarities
of
literary
verismo and the merits or shortcomings of late nineteenthfor example, discussing the
century Italian
opera. Jay Nicolaisen,
to 'verismo',
'For Grout and Garmeanings attributed
writes:
ner veristic
opera must be shocking -a quality hardly central to Ver(Italian
Opera in Transition,
1871-1893, p. 245). And
ga's style'
Carl Dahlhaus, in one of the latest and most stimulating
studies on
the subject, states: 'Although the archetype of veristic
opera, Cavalleria Rusticana, uses a libretto
based on an incontestably
veristic
various
play by Giovanni Verga... the number of criteria
of naturalistic
style
which the opera still
observes is remarkably small' (Realism in nineteenth-century
music, p. 69).
In Italy,
modern studies have superseded the narrow view put forinvestigation
ward by Mario Rinaldi in the earliest
specific
of the
between verismo and opera. He claimed that there simply
was no such thing as veristic
music: 'Troppo facilmente a stato scambiato it periodo musicale basato sulla letteratura
verista con quello
connections
inconcepibile
di musica verista.
Musica verista a un binomio the e
incapace di vita'
(Musica e verismo, 1932, p. 13). As late as 1953,
Ildebrando Pizzetti
reiterated
a similarly
negative view in an article
187
for
the Corriere
sica
verista?
The critical
"
1953) significantly
reappraisal
in late
tendency
realistic
Sera (2 July
della
of operatic
nineteenth-century
dano, b. 1867).
Besides
by Mario
edited
dedicated
Mascagni,
a fresh
b. 1863; Gior-
monographs on those
composers,
L'Opera
in 1964 and 1968, the quarterly
journal
issue (Jan. /March 1966) to
'verismo musicale'.
Morini
an entire
The following
the two bulky
and the
verismo
opera witnessed
in the 1960s (a decade of anniversaries:
start
"Mu-
entitled
year,
a major
exhibition
was mounted at the Museo Tea-
in Musics
alla Scala on the theme Problemi del Verismo nell'Opera
(2 Dec. 1967
1968).
Jan.
Articles
in
and
studies
appeared
major
-7
Interest
newspapers and musical periodicals.
waned in the 1970s but
trale
has recently
picked
on Mascagni
included
Cella,
vetti,
ject
is Luigi
Rivista
up again.
four
Nicolodi).
Baldacci's
Musicale
Italiana
In 1984 a beautifully
essays
by leading
illustrated
musicologists
(Casini,
volume
Sal-
One of the latest
contributions
on the sub"I libretti
di Mascagni",
in Nuova
published
(July/September
1985).
The question
of verismo in the musical theatre is far from being
Further clarification
finally
settled.
may come with a comparative
In this musical movement, Emile Zola,
evaluation of French naturalism.
the main figure
of literary
naturalism,
188
was involved
as librettist.
NOTESto Chapter 1
1
no. 31,1978,
Egon Voss, "Verismo in der Oper", Die Musikforschung,
p. 303.
2
Boito
for
wrote
for
Catalani
the libretto
Ponchielli
libretto
the
first
of his
can be found
in Guido Salvetti,
and
(1875).
opera La falce
Praga rearranged
the libretto
of Ponchielli's
for its 1872 new version.
A detailed
survey
operas
(1876)
of La Gioconda
I promessi
sposi
'Scapigliatura'
of the
"La Scapigliatura
milanese
Studell'Ottocento.
e it teatro d'opera", I1 melodramma italiano
di e ricerche per Massimo Mila, Torino, 1977.
3 Pietro Mascagni, Cinquantenario della "Cavalleria
Rusticana".
durante la creazione
ai librettisti
ed. Giovanni Cenzato, Milano, 1940, p. 36.
Le Lettere
4
"D'Annunzio
G. M. Gatti,
'In
Opera-Composers",
April
1924, pp. 284-85.
whole opera suffers
from elephantiasis'.
Musical
'the
Italian
and the
Quarterly,
so far
efforts
text,
as Parisina
to solve
certain
and in so far
stration
and,
of expression,
the credit
contains
as praise
in general,
this
is
with
due for
regard
The
that
stated
He concluded:
problems
the musician's
presented
greater
care
to the technical
opera may be entered
of the Italian
Gatti
pages proving
stylistic
del capolavoro,
without
in the
in orcheelements
hesitation
to
composer. '
G., I copialettere
di Giuseppe Verdi, ed. G. Cesari and
A. Muzio, Milano, 1913, p. 559. See also Charles Osborne, The
letters of Verdi, London, 1971, p. 212.
5 Verdi,
6 Two months before Verdi's letter,
Luigi Capuana had published an
enthusiastic
review of Vita dei Campi in the Corriere della Sera
(20-21 September 1880).
Verga lived
He had access to the prestigious
lifelong
friend.
See Raffaello
p. 624.
8 Rene Leibowitz,
de Verdi",
salon of Clara Maffei, Verdi's
Barbiera, I1 Salotto della Con-
1915, p. 368.
to Clara Maffei dated 20 October 1876 in I copialettere,
tessa Maffei,
7 See letter
in Milan from 1872 to 1887.
Atti
Firenze,
et Verite de l'Interpretation
del I Congresso Internazionale
di Studi Verdiani,
"Verisme,
Veracite
Parma, 1969, p. 146.
189
9
Richard
Langham Smith,
Debussy on Music,
ed.,
1977, pp.
London,
119-20.
10
See: David Kimbell,
the Age of
Dahlhaus,
century
music,
in Italian
for
II
in
in nineteenth1985, pp. 66-68.
from tradi-
departures
and examines the`duetýVioletta/
out Verdi's
pointing
while
keeping
of the cantabile-cabaletta
structure
11 Giovanni Ugolini,
Cambridge,
'individual
dialogue
of musical
Realism
opera",
procedures',
Germont of Act
ventional
Traviata",
Verdi
La
Cambridge, 1981, p. 654; Carl
Mary Whittall,
trans.
makes allowances
in blocks
and 'realism'
Romanticism,
in the musical
Giorgio
it
Italian
"Realism
Dahlhaus
tion
"Verdi
tendency
it
to shape
the con-
within
sequence.
"La Traviata
ei rapporti di Verdi con 1'opera
del I Congresso Internazionale
di Studi Verdiani,
Atti
verista",
Parma, 1969, pp. 261-67.
12 Giovanni Ugolini,
verista",
19-29.
13
"Umberto Giordano e it problema dell'opera
Umberto Giordano, ed. Mario Morini, Milano, 1968, pp.
A detailed
of the radical
analysis
changes in
Italian
in
opera
the period coinciding
'operatic
with the short-lived
verismo'
Italian
Opera in Transition,
can be found in Jay Nicolaisen,
1871-1893,
Ann Arbor,
Composer's
Task",
14 G.A. Biaggi,
1980, particularly
in the chapter
"The
pp. 42-67.
"Rassegna musicale",
Nuova Antologia,
1 April
1891,
p. 551.
15 Carteggi
pucciniani,
ed. Eugenio Gara, Milano, 1958, p. 182.
16 Mosco Carner, Giacomo Puccini. Tosca, Cambridge, 1985, p. 7.
Carner reiterates
what he wrote in his earlier
Critical
Biography, London, 1958, p. 242.
Puccini.
A
17 Carteggi
dated 23 August 1896).
pucciniani,
p. 151 (letter
18 See Carl Dahlhaus, "The 'musical novel"',
in Realism in nineteenthcentury music quoted above, p. 93.
19 See Marcello Conati, "Mascagni, Puccini,
Germania", Discoteca,
20 Rubens Tedeschi,
Leoncavallo
& C. in
August 1976.
"L'estetica
del coltello",
Addio, fiorito
I1 melodramma italiano
da Boito al verismo, Milano,
asil.
1978; Rodolfo Celletti,
"I1 melodramma delle aree depresse",
Discoteca,
15 June 1962 and 15 July 1962.
21 G.B. Shaw, Music in London 1890-94, London, 1950, III,
190
p. 246.
NOTESto Chapter 2
1
"Cavalleria
Rusticana"
and the other
of Vita
stories
dei Campi
in avolume by
in periodicals
and were later
published
"Jeli
"Fantasticheria",
Treves i't;
the following
order:
appeared
Emilio
it
"Rosso Malpelo",
pastore",
"L'amante
thematic
rial
di Gramigna",
of
nucleus
"Padron
called
unsatisfactory
di santi",
"Cavalleria"
'Ntoni",
in a letter
ga mentions
"Guerra
was part
a 'bozzetto
"La lupa",
Rusticana",
"Cavalleria
The
"Pentolaccia".
of the narrative
mate-
which Ver-
marinaresco',
to Treves
of 25 September 1875 as being
(see
be
"Storia
to
completely
and about
redrafted
1'editore
Carteggio
Capuana",
V.
by
con
e
con
16 March -1 April
1940).
In
Nuova Antologia,
and L. Perroni,
1892, after the success of Mascagni's
opera and in view of the
de I Malavoglia
of "La lupa",
dramatization
dei
Vita
Campi with
and placed
novelle
Treves
published
Cavalleria
the title
Rusticana
and "La lupa"
"Cavalleria"
a new edition
of
ed altre
at the beginning
of the book.
a Edouard Rod", Opere, ed. L. Russo, Napoli,
2
G. Verga, "Lettere
3
1961, p. 918.
Mascagni did manage to complete Ratcliff
at La Scala on 16 February 1895.
4
Pietro
5
Pietro
6
All
Mascagni, Cinguantenario
8
9
10
11
"Cavalleria
premiered
Rusticana",
p. 11.
Mascagni, ed. Mario Morini, Milano, 1964, I, p. 278.
quotations are taken from Giovanni Verga, Tutto it teatro,
Milano,
7
della
and had it
1980.
For the analogies
between Cavalleria
I mafiusi
(1863)
Barsotti,
Verga drammaturgo,
and an earlier
Sicilian
by Gaspare Mosca and Giuseppe Rizzotto,
Firenze,
1974, ch.
play,
see Anna
2.
The setting of Cavalleria featured a 'carabinieri'
station along
with the church, Nunzia's tavern and Zio Brasi's stable.
Roma,
G. Verga, Lettere sparse, ed. Giovanna Finocchiaro Chimirri,
1979, p. 180.
G. Pitre, Usi e Costumi, Credenze e Pregiudizi del Popolo Siciliano,
Palermo, 1889,, 11, p. 294.
le
G. Pitre, Usi
Costumi, II, p. 292. Pitre also regrets that the
word 'mafia' should have acquired a negative connotation (p. 293).
A similar statement can be found in a lecture by Luigi Capuana on
191
"La Sicilia
nei canti popolari e nella novellistica
contemporanea"
(1894), now in L. Capuana, Verga e D'Annunzio, ed. Mario Pomilio,
Bologna, 1972, pp. 145-46.
12
Severino Ferrari,
13
In the play,
gently
14
15
16
from
'quelli
by Zia Filomena
to take
care of his
pennacchio',
he is
readiness
del
and his
response
is
a sensible
one:
Zia Filomena (a compare Alfio)
Piuttosto
dire
andate
a
a vostra moglie the suona la messa, scomunicato!
Compar Alfio - Corro a governare le mie bestie, e vado a
dirglielo.
Non dubitate,
son cristiano
anch'io.
P. Mascagni, Cinquantenario della "Cavalleria
Rusticana", p. 13.
The four quatrains of the concertato were published
Rusticana",
cagni, Cinquantenario della "Cavalleria
(Sc. 11) Turiddu sings:
s'io non tornassi...
voi dovrete fare
da madre a Santa, ch'io le avea giurato
di condurla all'altare.
which is an exact rendering of Turiddu's last
in P. Masp. 14.
In his farewell
the play:
17
his
states
no help
with
reproached
and sedate
Alfio
after
own interests
1888
"La nonna", Nuovi Versi,
'E se mai... alla
voi, madre. '
pensateci
Giuseppe Pitre
sui canti
lists
popolari
Santa, the non ha nessuno al mondo,
in a "Studio introduttivo
siciliani"
which opens vol. 1 of his Canti
Palermo, 1870-71,2 vols. On p. 183 of the
these categories
siciliani,
same volume he quotes a Sicilian
terms:
popolari
words in Scene 8 of
song incorporating
the four
Cantami quantu vol ca t'arrispunnu:
D'amuri, gilusia,
spartenza e sdegnu.
('Sing as much as you want that I will answer you: /About love,
jealousy, parting and spite').
18
G. Verga, Lettere
was written
too difficult
sparse, p. 160. A piece for chamber orchestra
by Perrotta and sent to Milan; but it was considered
to play.
It was first
performed in Catania at the
Teatro Pacini
19 Originally
in 1886.
the two librettists
had Italianized
dimi-
Mascagni suggesof Salvatore into a ludicrous 'Torello'.
ted that the Verghian character should keep his name.
A. D'Ancona, La poesia popolare italiana,
Livorno, 1906, p. 281.
nutive
20
the Sicilian
192
The first
edition
Mascagni's friend
21
L. Capuana,
"La Sicilia
popolari
e nella
Verga e D'Annunzio,
p. 134.
contemporanea",
22
nei
canti
to
novellistica
the line
with
(Rustic
in
libretto
heart's
dearest!
'
'To
the
your
a reticent
for the vocal score, he preferred
London, 1892), while,
valry,
Chi-
The English
less
23
appeared in 1878 and was therefore available
Giacomo De Zerbi for his poetical exercises.
Frederic
translator,
accurate
rhythmic
Quoted in Giulio
version:
Cattaneo,
Weatherly,
'To all
true
rendered
lovers!
Giovanni Verga, Torino,
24 The 'Commissione musicale' was composed of Filippo
Giovanni Sgambati, Amintore Galli, Pietro Platania
a
'
1963, p. 261.
Marchetti,
and Francesco
The 'Commissione teatrale'
D'Arcais.
was composed of Paolo Ferrari,
Antonio Ghisplaywrights in Italy,
one of the most distinguished
lanzoni, the librettist
of Aida, and Felice Cavallotti,
a progres-
25
26
27
sive member of Parliament.
His most successful song, "Musica proibita",
was known in Britain
as "Unspoken Words", text by H. L. D'Arcy Jaxone.
In a letter dated 21 April 1890, written by Verga to F. De Roberto
to thank him for sending the newspapers with the reviews of the
'Che roba quella Mala
opera, the novelist commented sarcastically:
(Verga-De
Belli!
Belli!
Pasqua, e the roba quei critici!
Belli!
Roberto-Capuana, p. 118).
Quotations are from S. Gastaldon and G.D. Bartocci
Pasqua!, Milano, 1890.
Fontana, Mala
28 Monleone's biographer
claims that: 'Il lavoro piacque ai giurati,
(Mario Pedemonte,
Sonzogno e non fu classificato'.
ma irritb
Domenico Monleone. Ii musicista e l'uomo, Genova, 1942, p. 12).
The first
Dupont.
prize of the competition went to La Cabrera by Gabriel
Cavalleria was Monleone's first
opera. He also wrote the
Una novella del Boccaccio (Genoa, 1909) signing it with
operetta
the pseudonym of 'Walter
Alba eroica (Genoa, 1910);
von Stolzing';
Arabesca (Rome, 1913); Suona la ritirata
(Milan, 1916); Il Mistero
(Venice, 1921); Fauvette (Genoa, 1926); Scheuggio campann-a (Genoa,
1928; three acts in Genoese dialect);
La Ronda di notte del Rembrandt (Genoa, 1933). Most of the libretti
Monfor
were written
leone by his brother
29
Giovanni.
Giovanni and Domenico Monleone, Cavalleria
193
Rusticana,
Milano,
1907.
30
Reviewing
the premiere
of the opera
in Turin
(10 July
1907),
the
it pro'Tutto
of Turin's
major newspaper La Stampa wrote:
logo piace ed 'e applaudito
it musiciinfatti
con un certo calore:
critic
sta,
tiche
di
qualitä
not the questo
31
volo
sinfonista,
alto
chiaro
vi
e vigoroso,
afferma
simpa-
E' sembrato
ed efficace.
la pagina
sia
prologo
a
dell'opera'.
migliore
a similar scene as a May flower festival
(G.
Tuscan
Pitre, Spetits
May
Day
the
analogy with
and stresses
Palermo, 1881, p. 254). G. and
tacoli e Feste Popolari Siciliane,
D. Monleone back-dated May Day to Easter Sunday to add a touch of
Giuseppe Pitre
describes
folklore
floral
32
it
pur senza spiccare
to their
opera.
In his early 20's, Monleone had started a successful career as a
(Theain
in
involved
Vienna
had
been
opera
seasons
conductor and
Athens and Amsterdam where he
ter an der Wien), Constantinople,
impresario,
local
De Hondt, who sponsored
friends
a
with
made
34
a few years later.
G. Verga, Lettere a Dina, ed. Gino Raya, Roma, 1963, p. 177.
Ibidem. The 'verdelli'
are early lemons which Verga grew on his
'La Duchessa' is Verga's unfinished novel
estate of Novalucello.
La Duchessa di Leyra, the only chapter of which was published by
35
De Roberto after Verga's death.
G. Verga, Lettere a Dina, p. 179. In 1893 Verga accepted a lump
Masdispute
Sonzogno
143,000
lire
the
to
and
with
settle
sum of
Cavalleria
33
for
cagni about the royalties
inadequate.
Cavalleria.
He later
considered
it
1911,
friend
'notizia
Verga
his
the
21
September
gave
as
di aver vinto in parte a Milano la causa pel rimborso spese the
(Verga,
dovevo avere da Monleone e Puccio... lire 5900 circa'
36 As late
Lettere
37
74).
Dina,
p.
a
can be read in L. Capuana,
and Capuana's letter
They were first
included
by
Verga e D'Annunzio,
pp. 117-125.
1898.
Verga's
Capuana in his Gli ismi contemporanei,
Catania,
Boutet's
only
article
comment on Boutet's
Capuana, dated
Cavalleria
38
20 January
as 'quel
E. Hanslick,
1895), Berlin,
article
1896.
in a letter
1894, where he referred
pasticcetto
"Freund Fritz"
can be found
musicale,
(1892),
col
to Mascagni's
relativo
brindisi'.
in Fünf Jahre Musik (1891-
A more markedly negative
194
to
attitude
towards
Mascagni's music can be found in Hanslick's
review of A Santa
Lucia by P. Tasca: 'I will
make no secret of my own personal feeling,
namely that
impact
one.
After
a lengthy
Fritz
again
on the occasion
cal
the paucity
In Cavalleria
sing.
interval,...
of their
impact
ta Lucia"
(1893).
through
its
a more unpleasant
with
almost
embaras-
by the array
of physi-
these massed forces
highlights
over
famous Intermezzo,
flat
and
appearances
guest
invention
musical
is covered
this
a smaller
I heard both Cavalleria
hand the undeservedly
makes its
but also
of Bellincioni's
but the contrast
effects,
on the other
39
I hear them,
on me each time
and found
of Mascagni make not only
the operas
melifluousness.
'
which only
Idem,
"A San-
A comprehensive survey of the French critical
response to the
in
1892-1910
Italian
School
Young
the
the
years
of
can be
operas
Gusti e tendenze del Novecento musicale
found in Fiamma Nicolodi,
Firenze, 1982, ch. 1: "L'opera verista a Parigi: una
in Italia,
The two articles
from the Revue
musicale a confronto".
et Litteraire
quoted here are not mentioned in Nicolodi's
'querelle'
Politique
study.
40
Verga's
play
by Andre Antoine
failed
Theatre
Libre
Bellaigue
lianische
42
at his
Theatre
of that
d'Antoine.
Libre
impression
to make a favourable
For the reasons
41
known in France
was already
early
failure,
Le Repertoire
quoted from Hanslick's
Bauernehre (Cavalleria
thanks
to a production
1888 where it
on 20 October
on critics
and audience.
see Francis Pruner, Le
stranger,
1958.
Paris,
first
review of the opera: "Sicirusticana)
von Pietro Mascagni.
1891", Aus dem Tagebuche eines Musikers, Berlin, 1892.
del M.o MasG.A. Biaggi, "Della musica melodrammatica italiana,
cagni e dell'Amico Fritz dato alla Pergola di Firenze", Nuova
1 December 1891, p. 540.
G.B. Shaw, Music in London 1890-94, London, 1949, II,
Antologia,
43
"1 June 1892".
In vol. I, "21 October 1891", Shaw reviewed the premiere of Cavalleria in these terms: '.. it is a youthfully
vigorous piece of work
with abundant snatches of melody broken obstreperously
off on one
44
dramatic pretext or another.
it
is,
But, lively
as
and promising
it is not a whit more so than the freshest achievements of Mr
Hamish MacCunn and Mr Cliffe. '
D. H. Lawrence, Selected Literary
Criticism,
ed. A. Beal, London,
195
1982, p. 291.
A similar
statement can be found
Mastro-don Gesualdo which Lawrence then rejected
shorter
just
'He is,
note:
prefatory
the libretto
the man who wrote
of fact,
as, as a matter
Verga's
to Mascagni's
much superior
' (Idem,
to sugar-water.
as far
in a preface
in favour
as anybody knows his
Rusticana.
Cavalleria
Rusticana
as wine is
cheap music
rather
of a
to Cavalleria
story
46
"Cavalleria
rate
edizioni
questa
ne le risibili
rie
fuori
porta,
ca melodia
del
oleografie
mondo paesano...
mentare
l'azione
che -a smaglianti
zano col carattere
the adornano
le pareti
sono riusciti
ha colto
piccolo
co del racconto
sin
fortuna
it
E perche
is
as
Cor-
salute-
verghiana:
sganghe-
troppo
frequen-
delle
oste-
dell'anti-
radiofonica
a contaminare.
La salutere-
e it
di
profumo
s'e
'...
the non certe
di terz'ordine,
ne l'incrollabile
perche
grande novella
italiano
naturalismo
mascagniana
mo lietamente
della
versione
melodrammatiche
ti,
2 November 1939:
I1 Mattino,
Rusticana",
capolavoro
Where-
p. 271).
Giuseppe Patane, "Mascagni e Verga. Coautori ma non amici",
Milano, 26-27 July 1951.
riere d'Informazione,
questo
name,
superior
45
remo lietamente
to
sentimento
quel
preferito
por mano - per comtragisenza the it corale splendore e it viluppo
in risapute
formule melodrammatisi deformassero
musiche
originale
popolari
the suggestivamente
ed etnico
196
dell'opera
s'armoniz-
verghiana.
'
NOTESto Chapter 3
1
Verga-De Roberto-Capuana. Celebrazioni
Bicentenarie.
Biblioteca
1755-1955, ed. Angelo Ciavarella,
Catania,
in Sardou's drama is documented
Puccini's
interest
Universitaria,
Catania.
2
1955, p. 124.
from May 1889 when he wrote to Ricordi 'imploring'
him to take the
necessary steps in order to obtain Sardou's permission.
Carteggi pucciniani,
ed. Eugenio Gara, Milano, 1958, p. 102.
3
Ibidem.
4
Marotti-Pagni,
the incident
5
Giacomo Puccini
intimo,
1926. Earlier
Firenze,
on
was reported by Giuseppe Adami, "Le opere the Puccini
in La Lettura, 1 August 1920.
non scrisse",
According to Mosco Garner (Puccini:
A Critical
Biography,
London,
is taken from musical
1958, p. 320), Rodolfo's 'Nei cieli
bigi'
sketches Puccini had composed for La Lupa.
6
This fact
was first
disclosed
by Mario Morini
in his contribution
held in Florence in December
to a conference on opera libretti
1977. See "Tavola rotonda: Libretti
d'opera", Teatro dell'Italia
unita, ed. Siro Ferrone, Milano, 1980, pp. 289-319.
7
8
a Dina, p. 183.
P. Tasca (1864-1934) belonged to the landed aristocracy
of South(1892)
A
baron.
For
his
Santa
Lucia
Sicily;
he
was a
opera
ern
G. Verga, Lettere
see below, Ch. 4.
9
La Lupa/ Tragedia
lirica
De Roberto/
Musica di
Balestrini/
1919,
in 2 atti/
Giovanni
Tasca/
Pierantonio
in-8,
di/
Palermo/
Verga e Federigo
Barravecchia
&
pp. 68.
10 The articles
are: Gioacchino
published in 11 Popolo di Sicilia
Caprera, "La musicalitä nelle opere del Verga" (7 August); G. Ca(13
"Musicalitä
della
Lupa"
August); Alfredo Sangiorgi, "Il
prera,
Lupa" (21 August); A. Sangiorgi, "La prima di Lupa
(23
Littoriale
August), and short reviews for the perdi
Noto"
al
formances of August 23-25. The opera was conducted by Franco Ghione, the chorus by Roberto Benaglio.
libretto
della
11 G. Verga, Lettere
sparse, p. 308.
12 After the success of Cavalleria
in Turin and Zola's congratulations,
Verga sent him a complimentary copy of the play with a French translation and accompanied the gift with a letter
in which he acknowledged the influence
of Zola's
'idees
197
sur la litterature
au theatre'
on his work.
n'y
Verga also
ont aucun pretext
que cet
effet
le plus
satisfait
quasi
"Lettere
in Cavalleria
Iles
acteurs
Je vous avouerai
pour un succes personnel.
impersonnel
de Cavalleria
Rusticana me laisse
de mon travail,
comme oeuvre litteraire,
(Idem, p. 163).
13 See letter
that
stated
car je
pense que le theatre,
est de beaucoup inferieur
au roman...
'
of Verga to Cameroni of 15 June 1888, in M. Borghese,
inedite di Giovanni Verga", Occidente, 20 May 1935.
14 The comedy to be derived from Drammaintimo, which Verga never
to the one in La Lupa:
completed, illustrated
a similar situation
(a
mother
countess) and daughter are in love with the same man
(a marquis);
the daughter marries
the man and the mother dies of
consumption.
15 Ugo Ojetti,
Alla
Firenze, 1946, p. 122.
scoperta dei letterati,
16 La Lupa appeared for the first
time in Rivista Nuova di Scienze,
Lettere ed Arti, 15 February 1880. Capuana's review of Vita dei
Campi was written for the Corriere della Sera (20-21 September
1880) and collected with other critical
studies in Capuana's
Studi sulla letteratura
contemporanea, II Serie, Catania, 1882.
Here it is quoted from the modern reprint in Capuana, Verga e
ed. Mario Pomilio, Bologna, 1972, pp. 79-80. In an
for the death of his friend,
published in Giornale del-
D'Annunzio,
obituary
l'Isola,
il
'...
30 November 1915, Verga acknowledged his debt to Capuana:
suo senso artistico
era cosi schietto
e penetrante,
the
accennare a certi avvenimenti the egli reputava
anche a sentirgli
troppo arrischiati
per farne argomento di novella o di scena, se
Cosi a me venne "La Lupa",
ne subiva la comunicante ispirazione.
la tragica
ta.
avventura di una contadina
sua vicina
a Santa Margheri-
I
17 Capuana noted in his review: 'Qua e lä sembra la traduzione di
qualche leggenda popolare, conquel ritorno d'imagini e di parole
di cui l'autore
s'e stupendamente servito. ' A modern critic,
of the 'pale' attribute,
recalls
commenting on the recurrence
that the tragic
Erinyes or Furies were accompanied by three fiRage and Pallor.
See G. Mazzacurati, "Scrittura
gures: Terror,
e ideologia in Verga ovvero le metamorfosi
Forma e ideologia,
Napoli, 1974, p. 163.
18 All
quotations
della
Lupa", in his
of La Lupa are taken from G. Verga, Opere, ed. L.
198
Russo, Napoli,
1961, pp. 124-128.. '
19 G. Verga, Cavalleria
Rusticana
and Other Stories, translated by D.
H. Lawrence, London, 1928, pp. 23-24. The merits and faults of
Lawrence's translation
of Vita dei Campi and Novelle Rusticane
"Le traduzioni
are discussed by Giovanni Cecchetti,
D. H. Lawrence", in his I1 Verga maggiore, Firenze,
verghiane di
1968, p. 189
et seq.
20
The play
cluding
was first
published
by Treves
Cavalleria
Rusticana
and Il
from G. Verga,
are taken
editions
ly
libretto
of the
Tutto
it
(Palermo,
in 1896,
in a volume inAll
portineria.
teatro,
Milano,
quotations
1980.
The two
1919; Noto,
1932) are absolute-
1982, ' II,
p. 192. "Carmen"
15 February 1890,
identical.
21 G. Verga, Tutte
le novelle, Milano,
published in the Gazzetta letteraria,
was first
and then included
22 G. D'Annunzio,
in I ricordi
Poesie. Teatro.
del capitano d'Arce (1891).
Prose, ed. M. Praz and F. Gerra,
1966, p. 24.
'Ai miei tempi si diceva:
Milano-Napoli,
23
Filomena:
'Vile
chi si pente! ' 'Il buon
(play,
'
I, 2): Janu: 'Comare Pina, sapete
sino
alla
panno
cimosa!
(play,
"Maritati
e muli lasciali
come dice it proverbio:
soli"
In the libretto,
II, 9).
II, 10, Janu says: '... ma it mondo dice:
lupo perde... "', intending "Il lupo perde il pelo ma non it
The line was not set by Tasca; like Puccini, he did not
vizio".
appreciate proverbs in an opera.
"Il
24
Siro Ferrone writes about Verga's passage: 'Il filtro
lirico
con
letcui a guardata la campagna non mimetizza neppure la struttura
lasciando the si manifesti un punto di vista dell'autore
teraria,
a quello dei personaggi, un periodare narrativo
piü
' See "La Lupa. Dissoluzione del verithe 'verista'.
in S. Ferrone, Il teatro di Verga, Roma, 1972, p.
smo teatrale",
226.
sovrapposto
'romantico'
Busk, The Folk-Songs of Italy,
London, 1887, p.
4. Miss Busk's anthology includes some "Canzuni" and "Ciuri" of
Sicily,
'selected expressly for this work by Dr. Giuseppe Pitre
25 Rachel Harriette
The main collections
of Palermo'.
of Sicilian
songs are: Lionardo
Vigo, Canti popolari siciliani,
Catania, 1857 and its second enlarged edition Raccolta amplissima di canti popolari siciliani,
199
1870-74; S. Salamone-Marino, Canti popolari siciliani
in
aggiunta a quelli del Vigo, Palermo, 1867; Giuseppe Pitre, Canti
Palermo, 1870-71,2 vols.
Pitre specifies
popolari siciliani,
Catania,
less than 1000 Sicilian
his volumes contain little
popular
inediti,
da aggiungere ai 1300 di Lionardo
songs 'quasi tutti
Essi sono comunissiVigo e ai 750 di Salvatore Salamone-Marino.
that
mi in tutta la Sicilia'.
26 The 'ballo tondo' which precedes and accompanies Pina's entrance
(play and libretto,
1,2,3),
may have been suggested by a personIn the article
of the author.
published in Gioron Capuana's death (see above, n. 16), Verga wrote,
'In quel podere the gli era stato caro,...
to his friend:
al recollection
nale dell'Isola
referring
mi fece vedere la capanna della "gnä Pina", la sciagurata
madre adultera; e assistendo al ballo dei contadini la sera, dinanzi a quella candela fumosa appesa al torchio delle olive mi
egli
parve di vedere anch'io,
fosco'.
27 Miss Busk states
viventi,
in her anthology:
le fosche figure
'The habit
di quel dramma
of singing
a gara
earnestness in
to a greater extent and with greater
prevails
...
Sicily than elsewhere; sometimes in public fairs,
rustic gatherings, at vintage and harvest, sometimes merely at the wineshop
(R.
doors'
H. Busk, The Folk-Songs of Italy,
p. 48).
and cottage
28
I, p. 43.
See also Pitre, Canti popolari,
No. 666: 'Galofaru di Spagna, duci amuri' (Bronte)
742: 'Galofaru russu 'ncarnatu d'amuri' (Aci)
743: 'Galofaru
744: 'Galofiru
745: 'Galofiru
746: 'Galofiru
747: 'Galofaru
748: 'Galofaru
1703: 'Galofaru
29
(Palermo)
di spassi e di piaciri'
(Catania)
di Spagna dilittusu'
(Mazzara)
di Spagna Si' vinutu'
(Milazzo)
'n
d'oru'
chiantatu
virga
d'argentu lu miu Amuri' (Alimena)
chi fai stu bell'oduri'
d'argentu spampinatu'
(Termini)
(Palermo + variation
[from Mineo).
from Pitre's
Proverbi,
Here is the octave in Sicilian
Vidi, e taci, si bene aviri voi,
La cosa no la diri,
si non sai,
Ama l'amicu, cu li vizii
soi,
ä lu locu, undi stai,
Porta rispettu
Vbgghinni chili pri li vicini
toi,
Chi non pri cui nb lu vidisti
mai,
200
IV, p. 283:
30
Nun f ari chili di chiddu, chi tu poi,
Pensa la cosa avanti,
chi la fai.
by Pitre
in "Canzuni e Ciuri"
song is included
A similar
Canti
di
popolari
l'armuzza
p. 254:
Another
mia'.
comment from a minor
in Act II,
I,
siciliani,
is
stornello
on Pina's
character
3 of the libretto
la via/'Nnamurateddu
inserted
as an ironic
di fico:
/E'
mai l'amore
scorda
house,
to Nanni's
return
'Foglia
only:
luogo, /ma non si
amor nuovo trova
'Muta
of his
ver the
'
antico!
The strambotto, the stornello
and other forms of popular poetry
are discussed at length by Alessandro D'Ancona in his fundamental
work La poesia popolare italiana.
31
In his
letter
of refusal
above,
n. 6),
Mascagni,
ted:
'lo
trovo
figlia
quella
Sapevo the di
ma speravo
leria
fatta
lirico
the
i versi
he praised
di tutti
unicamente
non c'era
fossero
self-assurance,
musicabilitä;...
da cima a fondo,
had become a fastidious
libretto
alla
(see
by M. Morini
i rapporti,
tutti
sotto
adatto
poesia
quoted
characteristic
the se ne dicono
di Pina scocciante
nelli,
with
impossibile
monotono e per nulla
quella
to Ricordi,
quel
di
un soggetto
quella
i colori,
ballo
sta-
it
madre,
carattere
di
con canto
stornelli
stor-
e di rispetti...
detto
Puccini
glielo
aveva
' The composer of Cavalmigliori.
nulla
connoisseur!
were the domestic
idyll
The only
opening
parts
Act
II
of the
and
the lyrical
solos for Mara.
32 G. Verga, Lettere a Dina, p. 245 and p. 296.
33 Giulio Pacuvio, "Verga e un Mistero derivato da Cavalleria
Rusti-
cana", Scenario, March 1940, pp. 112-116.
in un prologo e un atto/ di/ Giovanni
34 11 Mistero/ scene siciliane
Verga and Giovanni Monleone/ musica di/ Domenico Monleone/ Milano/
Casa Musicale Sonzogno/ 1921, pp. 31.
35 In a scuffle among the crowd, some women shout: 'Sciamannona! ',
'Arrabbiata! ', 'Paneperso! ' (from "Pane Nero" of the Rusticane),
(from
"Cavalleria
'Santo
diavolone!
'
Rusticana").
G. Monleone
and
His major achievement was a
was an accomplished philologist.
Jacopo da Varagine e la sua Cronaca di Genova
critical
edition:
dalle
36
al MCCXCVII. Studio introduttivo
e testo critico
commentato di Giovanni Monleone, Roma, 1941,3 vols.
Gnä Nunzia. Senti, va a buttarti
ai piedi del Crocifisso.
origini
Santuzza.
No, in chiesa non ci posso andare, gnä Nunzia.
(Sc. 1)
201
Santuzza.
Turiddu.
No, non ci vado in chiesa.
I1 giorno di Pasqua!
Santuzza.
Lo sapete
Gnä Lola.
E voi
Santuzza.
In chiesa ci ha da andare chi ha la coscienza
netta, gnä Lola.
the non posso andarci.
(Sc. 2)
non ci
andate
in chiesa?
(Sc.
Zio Brasi.
0 comare Santa the va in chiesa
piü nessuno!
Santuzza.
Sono in peccato mortale,
37 All
quotations of "Il Mistero"
novelle, Milano, 1969, I.
3)
quando non c'e
zio Brasi!
(Sc. 5)
are taken from G. Verga, Tutte
le
p. 115.
p. 113.
38
Scenario,
39
Scenario,
40
Ibidem.
41
Ibidem.
42
amplissima, no. 1462: 'Amuri, amuri, chi
m'hai fattu fari! /Li senzii mi Thai misu 'nfantasia, ' etc. Ano('M'innamorai
del vostro piether song quoted by the Frog-seller
is also taken from Vigo's
de/quando al suono v'ho vista ballare')
(no.
708).
collection
43
G. Verga, Lettere
Lionardo Vigo, Raccolta
a Dina, p. 168. Verga's admiration for Franchetti goes back to the time of the dramatization
of La Lupa. In
(15
letters
Roberto
July 1893), after expressing
his
De
to
of
one
his persuasion that Puccini did not feel that drama, Verga wrote:
'Cosa stando le cose, siccome so the it Franchetti a in cerca di
libretto,
perche non darlo a lui? ' (Verga-De Roberto-Capuana, p.
125).
a Luigi Capuana, ed. Gino Raya, Firenze, 1975,
is about Capuana's volume of fables C'era una
p. 200. The letter
in 1882, which Verga warmly praised.
volta, published earlier
44
G. Verga, Lettere
45
Verga's account of the log-book finding appeared in an interview
(R. Artuffo,
"Con Giovanni Verga", La Tribuna, 2 February 1911)
and was then reported by other critics
among whom Croce and Russo.
D. H. Lawrence seized upon it and hastily concluded that it 'explains
("Introduction
to Cavalall we need to know about Verga's style'
leria
Rusticana",
D. H. Lawrence, Selected Literary
202
Criticism,
ed.
A. Beal,
Capuana's
non si
fare
46
influence
Verga,
pits grande the si
abbia
L. Russo, Giovanni
Verga,
G. Verga, Lettere
a Luigi
verse,
lation
a late
version
nostro
avuto,
importance
verismo
('Oggi
to
the
male del Capuana, bisogna
per quella
del
spirituale
of Verga's
senza dir
onore a quest'ultimo
formazione
Russo gave adequate
on the evolution
bene del
pub dir
alto
nella
tiva
1982, p. 290.
London,
influenza
scrittore
in Italia,
the egli
di prosa
dopo it
ebbe
narra-
Manzoni. '
1920, p. 51).
Napoli,
Capuana, p. 223. The tale in Sicilian
novella and an English transof the Italian
in a bilingual
with a short introduction
were published
edition by Alfred Alexander, I1 "Comparatico"
del verismo, Roma, 1970. An earlier
gl'inizi
di Luigi
Capuana e
and better version
of the novella can be read in a modern edition of Capuana's Le PaeMilano, 1974.
sane, ed. Edoardo Villa,
47
Gianni Oliva,
Caltanissetta-Roma,
Capuana in archivio,
1979, p.
359.
48
In the opera, Cola invites Jana to another traditional
'chiodo',
and again she stops after just a few bars.
Pitre dedicates a long chapter to "Sonatori e Balli"
del Popolo Siciliano,
Costumi, Credenze e Pregiudizi
I.
all
dance, the
Giuseppe
in his Usi e
Palermo, 1889,
ruggera' or 'lu
dances (p. 355). The 'chiodo'
He defines
'la
ruggeri'
as the most curious of
is described in vol. II of the
devoted to "Weddings".
(p.
84) in the section
same work
49 All quotations of the comedy are taken from the text published in
Milano, 1974, pp. 303-347. For the opera,
Le Paesane, ed. E. Villa,
has been used. It is identical
to the one pubthe 1893 libretto
lished in Milan in 1985 except for the pagination (35 pages instead
of 32).
50 Frontini
Sicilian
of fifty
popular songs
Milano, Ricordi,
complete with piano arrangement: Eco dells Sicilia,
[1883].
published
a collection
in Sicilian
to his friend (31 May 1911), de51 Verga wrote a letter
(G.
in
the
the
fending Malis in Italian
against
vernacular
version
Verga, Lettere a Luigi Capuana, p. 217). The Sicilian
translation of Malia was published in recent times by Alfredo Barbina in
Bologna, 1970, and by Pietro Mazzamuto
Teatro verista siciliano,
(Luigi Capuana, Teatro dialettale
siciliano,
ed. P. Mazzamuto,
Catania, 1974).
203
NOTESto Chapter 4
the periodical
La Critica,
the essay was
della
later published as an Appendix to Croce's La letteratura
Bari, 1915, IV.
In 1903 Croce wrote a critinuova Italia,
cal essay on Di Giacomo which was included in the third volume
1
Written
in 1909 for
of the same work together
2
with studies
on Verga, Serao, Capuana
and others.
The modern two-volume edition of Di Giacomo's works, edited by
Francesco Flora and Mario Vinciguerra,
published by Mondadori in
volume to Le Poesie e le Novelle and the
second to Il Teatro e le Cronache including most of his writings
1979
The
is used
Naples.
history
the
reprint
of
culture
and
on
in this study and is indicated as Di Giacomo I or II followed by
1946, devotes the first
3
the page number.
Matilde Serao, Il
1973, p. 10. The
prompted by the cholera epiof articles
work is a collection
demic of 1884 and written by Serao partly in that year and partThe title
ly some twenty years later.
was suggested by a dramaventre
di Napoli,
Napoli,
Amore,
Nicola
by
Naples,
the
at the
of
mayor
made
statement
The 'sventratime of the cholera: 'Bisogna sventrare Napoli'.
tic
low
districts
the
the
of the city
of
clearance
mento',
(Pendino, Porto and Mercato) to make room for a wide straight
buildto
the
the
the
and
station
centre
railway
connecting
road
that
is,
ing of decent homes, began in 1889 and was completed in the early
4
5
years of our century.
G. Verga, Opere, ed. L. Russo, Napoli, 1961, p. 943.
The text of the song was written by the optician Raffaele Sacco.
Donizetti was in Naples at that time for the premiere of Lucia
di Lammermoor (San Carlo,
26 September 1835).
The attribution
by Marcello Sorce
disputed
of the song to him is convincingly
"Io to voglio bene assaie, celebre canzone
Keller in his article
RiDonizetti",
Nuova
tradizionalmente
attribuita
a
napoletana
vista
no. 4, Oct. /Dec. 1985. Di Giacomo deof his Napoli: figure e paesi (1909) to the
Musicale Italiana,
voted an article
story of this song.
6
In the chapter "Piedigrotta"
(1914), Di Giacomo outlines
of his Luci ed ombre napoletane
the history of the popular festival
204
and mentions Ricci's opera as having been performed three hundred
He defines the famous "Tarantella"
times.
and sixty-four
as 'the
and original
most characteristic
example of that kind of music'
(Di Giacomo, II, p. 722). A description
of the typical Piedigrotta
instruments
7
is included
Eduard Hanslick,
Cilea,
in the chapter.
"Italienische
Mugnone, Giordano",
Opern von Mascagni,
Fünf Jahre Musik
Leoncavallo,
(1891-95),
Berlin,
1896.
8
M. Serao, Il
9
E. Hanslick,
ventre di Napoli, p. 69.
"A Santa Lucia", Fünf Jahre Musik (1891-95),
1896.
10 M. Serao, I1 ventre di Napoli,
p. 99.
205
Berlin,
BIBLIOGRAPHY
The following
is, a list of libretti
and vocal scores which were consulted and from which quotations and musical examples have been taken.
by composer.
Arrangement is alphabetical
LIBRETTI
The name of the librettist
FLORIDIA, Pietro
f6F
is given in brackets
(P. Floridia),
Milano, G. Ricordi,
atti",
FRANCHETTI,Alberto (G. D'Annunzio),
Tedeschi,
popolane in
[1894].
La figlia
1906.
Milano, G. Ricordi,
pastorale",
FRONTINI, Francesco Paolo (L. Capuana), Malia,
Marchi,
A
the composer.
Maruzza, "Scene liriche
tre
Bologna, Achille
after
oý
1893.
di Iorio,
"Tragedia
"Melodramma in tre
New edition:
atti",
Arturo De
Milano,
1895.
Stanislao
GASTALDON,
(G. D. Bartocci
Fontana),
Mala Pasqua!, "Dramma
in 3 atti",
Milano, G. Ricordi, 1890.
GIORDANO,Umberto (N. Daspuro), Mala Vita, "Melodramma in tre
lirico
Milano,
atti",
E. Sonzogno, 1892.
GIORDANO,Umberto (N. Daspuro),
11 voto,
E. Sonzogno, 1897 (revised
"Melodramma in tre
atti",
Milano,
version of Mala Vita).
La collana di Pasqua, "Scene liriche
LUPORINI, Gaetano (L. Illica),
Milano, G. Ricordi, 1896.
in tre atti",
MASCAGNI,Pietro (G. Targioni Tozzetti and G. Menasci), Cavalleria
"Melodramma in un atto", Milano, E. Sonzogno, May
1890. Second edition:
1891; modern
August 1890; third edition:
Milano, Casa Musicale Sonzogno, 1981.
edition:
MASCAGNI,Pietro (trans. Frederic E. Weatherly), Cavalleria Rusticana
(Rustic Chivalry),
London, E. Ascherberg & Co., 1892.
Rusticana,
MINED, Enrico (G. Bonaspetti),
Milano,
Tipografia
Un mafioso, "Dramma lirico
degli Operai, 1896.
Domenico (G. Monleone), Cavalleria
MONLEONE,
Rusticana,
in due atti",
"Dramma lirico
in un prologo e un atto", Milano, A. Puccio, 1907.
Domenico (G. Verga and G. Monleone), 11 Mistero,
MONLEONE,
in unprologo
zogno, 1921
siciliane
e un atto",
206
Milano,
"Scene
Casa Musicale Son-
RICCI, Luigi
(M. D'Arienzo),
Piedigrotta,
"Commedia per musica in
dei Gemelli, 1853.
Napoli, Tipografia
quattro atti",
SEBASTIANI, Carlo (S. Di Giacomo), A San Francisco,
Luigi
Napoli,
napoletana",
SMAREGLIA,Antonio
atti",
TASCA, Pierantonio
Nozze Istriane,
"Dramma lirico
in tre
1908.
C. Schmidl,
Trieste,
1896.
Pierro,
(L. Illica),
"Scena lirica
(E. Golisciani),
"Melodramma in
A Santa Lucia,
Tipografia Amati, 1893.
Trieste,
due atti",
TASCA, Pierantonio (G. Verga and F. De Roberto), La Lupa, "Tragedia
1919.
Palermo, Barravecchia & Balestrini,
in 2 atti",
lirica
Noto, Rosario Caruso, 1932.
New edition:
SCORES
VOCAL
CELLINI, Emidio, Vendetta sarda, Milano, E. Sonzogno, 1895.
FRONTINI, Francesco Paolo, Malia, Milano, A. De Marchi, 1895.
Stanislao,
GASTALDON,
Milano,
GIORDANO,Umberto, Mala Vita,
1896.
G. Civelli,
Milano,
Stellina,
E. Sonzogno, 1892.
Sonzogno, 1910.
GIORDANO,Umberto, Mese Mariano, Milano,
trans. Frederick
Ruggero, Pagliacci,
LEONCAVALLO,
London, Ascherberg, Hopwood & Crew, 1893.
Rusticana
Cavalleria
MASCAGNI,Pietro,
(Rustic
Chivalry),
E. Weatherly', London, Ascherberg,
Frederic
E. Weatherley,
trans.
Hopwood & Crew,
[1892].
MASSENET,Jules,
La Navarraise,
Domenico, Cavalleria
MONLEONE,
Milano, A. Puccio, 1907.
Heugel et C. ie, 1894.
Rusticana, trans. Ottomar Piltz,
Domenico, 11 Mistero
MONLEONE,
Milano,
Paris,
(Das Passionspiel),
A Basso Porto,
SPINELLI, Nicola,
Carisch & Jänichen;
TASCA, Pierantonio,
Doebbler,
trans.
Leipzig,
A Santa Lucia,
Berlin,
& Härtel,
Breitkopf
Sonzogno; Leipzig,
Luigi
trans.
Dr. Jülg,
1921-22.
Hartmann, Milano,
M. Oberdörffer,
1896.
and arranged Johannes
trans.
Bote & Bock, 1893.
della Madonna, trans.
WOLF-FERRARI,Ermanno, I gioielli
1912.
Weinberger,
Leipzig,
stoeckl,
Hans Lieb-
-------------
TASCA, Pierantonio,
La Lupa, (manuscript
teca Comunale, Noto, Sicily.
207
orchestral
score),
Biblio-
GENERAL BIBLIOGRAPHY
Arrangement is
cals consulted
by author and includes
in the present study.
alphabetical
and quoted
ALEXANDER,Alfred,
I1 "Comparatico"
verismo, Roma, 1970.
ASORROSA, Alberto, ed., Il
"I libretti
BALDACCI, Luigi,
Italiana,
Il
Salotto
Contessa Maffei,
della
Teatro verista siciliano,
BARSOTTI, Anna, Verga drammaturgo, Firenze,
Firenze,
1915.
1974.
de l'Op4ra-Comique:
Revue des Deux Mondes, 1 February,
1910.
Cavalleria
Rusticana",
1892.
de M. J. Massenet au Theatre de
Revue des Deux Mondes, 15 October 1895.
"La Navarraise
BELLAIGUE,Camille,
1'Opera-Comique",
BIAGGI, Girolamo Alessandro,
April
Musicale
Bologna, 1970.
Mascagni, Napoli,
Pietro
"Theatre
BELLAIGUE,Camille,
del
1985.
BARBINA, Alfredo,
BASTIANELLI, Giannotto,
Capuana e gl'inizi
caso Verga, Palermo, 1972.
di Mascagni", Nuova Rivista
July/September
BARBIERA,Raffaello,
di Luigi
books and periodi-
"Rassegna musicale",
Nuova Antologia,
1
1891.
del M.o Mascagni
"Della musica melodrammatica italiana,
e dell'Amico Fritz dato alla Pergola di Firenze", Nuova Antolo1891.
1
December
gia,
BIAGGI, G.A.,
BONTEMPELLI,Massimo, Verga, L'Aretino,
Scarlatti,
Verdi,
1941.
Milano,
Mascagni et la Jeune Italie
Musicale",
28 January 1905.
Politique
et Litteraire,
The Folk-Songs of Italy,
London, 1887.
BUSK, Rachel Harriette,
BOUYER,Raymond, "Pietro
Revue
Verga e D'Annunzio, ed. M. Pomilio, Bologna, 1972.
Milano, 1974.
CAPUANA,Luigi, Le paesane, ed. Eduardo Villa,
Biography, London, 1958.
CARNER,Mosco, Puccini: A Critical
CAPUANA,Luigi,
CARNER,Mosco, Giacomo Puccini.
Tosca, Cambridge, 1985.
CARPI, Antonio,
April
"Verismo nell'opera
1955.
di Mascagni",
La Scala, Milano,
pucciniani,
ed. Eugenio Gara, Milano, 1958.
CASINI, Claudio-F. Cella-F. Nicolodi-G. Salvetti,
Mascagni, Milano,
Carteggi
1984.
CATTANEO,Giulio,
Giovanni Verga, Torino,
CECCHETTI,Giovanni,
"Le traduzioni
1963.
verghiane di D. H. Lawrence",
208
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