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Francesco Izzo
Comic sights; stage directions in Luiqi Ricci's autograph
Roberta Montemorra Marvin and Hilary Poriss
Fashions and Legacies of Nineteenth-Century Italian
Opera
9780521889988
Cambridge University Press
Cambridge, UK
2010
176-195
Comic sights: stage directions in Luigi Ricci's
autograph scores
FRANCESCO IZZO
On 15 February 1832 Luigi Ricci's II nuovo Figaro premiered at Parma's
Teatro Ducale. Closely following on the triumph of his opera semiseria,
Chiara di Rosenbergh (Milan, Teatro alia Scala, 1831), this melodramma
giocoso in two acts was fundamental in establishing the 26-year-old composer as one of the rising stars of post-Rossinian Italian opera, and particularly as the new champion of the ailing opera buffa tradition. Three days
after the opera's premiere Ricci briefed Jacopo Ferretti - author of the
libretto of II nuovo Figaro - on the favorable outcome of the first performance in a letter containing the following remark: "That blessed title II
nuovo Figaro could have compromised us, because everybody wanted to see
Figaro enter while dancing."^
Ricci's words point to a fundamental difference in character between the
title role in Rossini's II barbiere di Siviglia and the protagonist in his own
work, whose name is Leporello, not Figaro. While Rossini's Figaro bursts
with wit and comic verve, Ricci's resourceful servant is often composed and
reflective. Ricci clearly had in mind Leporello's sortita, underscored not
by a bombastic orchestral tutti and tarantella-like signature tune along the
lines of "Largo al factotum" in II barbiere di Siviglia, but by a short orchestral
prelude, whose opening chromatic descent in the bass underscores Leporello's
pensive mood (see Ex. 9.1). The most intriguing facet of Ricci's observation,
however, is that it expresses a preoccupation with what the audience wanted
to see (rather than hear). Indeed, it seems that the composer was concerned
not so much with the music for the entrance of his protagonist as with the
visible action that accompanied it.
The visual components of operatic performance have been the object of
much recent scholarly attention. Whether to expand or to undermine the
notion of operatic "text," historians have grown increasingly interested in
what took place during operatic performances above and beyond the purely
musical (and verbal).^ The notion that sets, costumes, dancing, and bodily
gesture form an integral part of the operatic event is conveyed in countless
scholarly books and essays and is surfacing with increasing frequency also
in music history and music appreciation textbooks.^ Library shelves are
Comic sights
177
Example 9.1 II nuovo Figaro, Introduzione [no. 1], Leporello's entrance (Ricci, II nuovo Figaro,
piano-vocal score [Milan: Lucca. 1832] with musical emendations and stage directions based
on Ricci's autograph score, Archivio Casa Ricordi, MS Rari.B.5/l[a-c])
Allegro giusto
legato
C" icffrm \dm
L h P O R b L L O a piacere
A - guz - zar
(declamando in pro&a)
vor - rai
I'm
-
ge
-
gno
per
due
co - n in - na - mo
-
ra - ti''
Se
4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0:
peg-no
ti
do mil - Ic col-Ion
-
na-ti,
mil-lc'
stacked with an abundance of iconographic materials and critical studies,
providing us with a solid base from which to contemplate the power of
visible elements and action in opera.
In the quest to explore and understand what happened in "original"
stagings, and whether and to what extent such an understanding matters
n e - sci
nell'
im •
178
FRANCESCO IZZO
to today's performers, audiences, and critics, stage directions have largely
been overlooked.^ This is especially true in the field of nineteenth-century
Italian opera, where scholars have explored staging manuals (including the
French livrets de mise en scene and their Italian equivalents, the disposizioni
sceniche published by Ricordi beginning in the late 1850s), or bodily gesture
as it relates to musical language.^ For those composers whose work is being
examined in the context of substantial editorial endeavors (particularly the
complete works of Rossini and Verdi, as well as the analogous - albeit less
advanced - projects devoted to Donizetti, Bellini, and Puccini), original stage
directions (transmitted in a score, a manuscript or printed libretto, or, more
rarely, in correspondence and other primary documents) are making their
way into readily available critical editions.® But none of these directions
has been examined systematically, and when we come to other prominent
ottocento composers (including Saverio Mercadante, Giovanni Pacini, and
Luigi Ricci) we know almost nothing about stage directions in their operas.
Such neglect is understandable to some extent. Not all composers entered
stage directions into their scores (Rossini, for example, did so only rarely),
and those who did were often inconsistent, providing a wealth of detail in
certain contexts and none whatsoever in others. In particular, as Mary Ann
Smart has observed in her recent book on gesture in nineteenth-century
opera, when stage directions were provided, they were mostly limited to
ensemble scenes and offered no clues to visible action in solo numbers.^ On
these grounds, skepticism about the usefulness of this type of source material for garnering a deeper understanding of visible action in nineteenthcentury operatic performance may appear to be justified. Admittedly,
Smart's study is a theoretical-analytical exploration of "music and gesture"
rather than a documentary study of primary evidence concerning visible
action on the nineteenth- century stage. At the outset of her study, however,
she disposes of stage directions and staging manuals (along with stage
designs, engravings, and written accounts of visible action), suggesting
that they "offer partial documentation at best," and instead chooses to
adopt a purely interpretive stance (relying, in her own words, on "educated
guesswork").® But we need not set aside stage directions so readily.
Luigi Ricci's work furnishes an instance for exploring their significance in
early nineteenth-century opera. The remark cited at the opening of this
chapter reveals a concern with the visual aspects of operatic performance
that remained fundamental throughout his operatic career. Most of his autograph scores, especially those for his comic operas, are filled with stage
directions providing detailed clues on blocking, gestures, and interaction.
My purpose in this chapter is to explore these largely unknown documents
Comic sights
in search of new insights into what ottocento audiences saw (or ought to have
seen) based on the views of one of the most prominent opera composers of the
1830s and 1840s.
Let us return to II nuovo Figaro. The libretto, loosely based on Scribe's
L'Ambassadeur, tells the story of a resourceful servant Leporello (boastfully
dubbed "the new Figaro"), who helps Amalia and Andrea realize their love
dreams despite the opposition of the girl's father, Barone Wartenkoppenburgen (a stern retired Prussian army officer). A good entry point into Ricci's
stage directions is provided by passages of recitativo secco, in which he
tended to introduce an abundance of detailed clues prompting the characters
to perform a variety of actions. A telling example occurs in the recitative
"Dopo it Duetto di Amalia e Barone" (// nuovo Figaro, Act I, scenes 5-7),
where Ricci added over a dozen stage directions to those in the printed libretto.
Some of these directions are simple - for example, "fingendo di meditare"
(pretending to think), "in atto di partire" (about to leave), "coprendosi il volto"
(covering his face), or "Leporello resta pensoso" (Leporello remains pensive).
Others are elaborate, however, and if executed accurately would necessarily
affect the flow of the recitative, sometimes interrupting it for several seconds.
For instance, Ricci provided the following direction explaining in detail the
Barone s movements when he receives his mail: "ponendosi a sedere, indi
gettando gli occhi suUe carte, scorrendo le mansion!, e marche delle lettere, ed
arrestandosi ad una che contempla, apre, e legge" (sitting down, then casting
his eyes on the papers, glancing at the addresses, and stamps of the letters, and
stopping at one that he observes, opens, and reads). A few moments later,
amid a heated discussion with his master, Leporello threatens to leave and to
cause a scandal. Here, Ricci envisioned the Barone "holding [Leporello] back
with violence and making him do a pirouette on the stage" (trattenendolo con
violenza e facendogli fare una Piroetta suUa scena).
In accordance with longstanding conventions, Ricci notated the recitativo secco on two staves throughout II nuovo Figaro (the upper staff for the
vocal parts and the lower one for the bass). This caused some difficulties,
since at a later stage he tried to cram in numerous and often detailed stage
directions above the upper staff of his densely constructed score. Sometimes
the directions overlapped with the notation, making it difficult to read the
music. Beginning with the recitatives in Fran due or sono tre (Turin, Teatro
Angennes, 1834), the composer solved the problem by leaving, between
the bass line and the vocal parts, an additional staff exclusively for stage
directions - a habit that he maintained until the end of his career in the
1850s. Figure 9.1 shows a passage of recitative in the autograph score of Chi
179
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Figure 9.1 Chi dura vince, autograph score (Archivio Casa Ricordi, Milan, MS Ran B.4/9(a-b], f. 75'; by permission of Casa Ricordi, Milan)
Comic sights
dura vince (Rome, Teatro Valle, 1834), exemplifying this change of notational practice.
Although the recitatives allow a glimpse into Ricci's approach to visible
action, it is in the stage directions contained in his formal numbers that we
are confronted with the full array of his sophisticated strategies. Let us
return to Leporello's entrance in II nuovo Figaro, which takes place in the
Introduzione. Early nineteenth-century reviewers and performers were
sometimes critical of the predictable aural and visual effects of such scenes,
which typically featured one or more soloists against the static backdrop of
the chorus. In his 1833 treatise Dell'opera in musica sul teatro italiano e
de' suoi difetti, the well-known tenor Nicola Tacchinardi described the
stereotypical visual rendition of the Introduzione: "When the curtain rises
on any opera, we see, arranged in two sections and almost always forming a
semicircle, the number of choristers assigned by the theater ... always the
same number, in the same position, and making the same gesture, that is,
raising only half an arm."® In II nuovo Figaro Jacopo Ferretti built a great
deal of movement into the opening portion of the opera, creating different
situations that varied the extent and modes of the visible activity of the
chorus in the Introduzione. Table 9.1 outlines the structure of this number
and the stage directions it contains. The first significant detail is that when
the curtain rises only a secondary character, Demetrio, is present. The
chorus enters only after Demetrio's rant against Leporello, half of them by
way of a stairway on the right and the other half by a stairway on the left. At
the end of the opening choral movement, however, all choristers depart
through the same path to the right, leaving the stage empty for LeporeUo's
entrance. Finally, the chorus returns for the stretta, surrounding Leporello
for the remainder of the number. All of this is detailed in Ferretti's stage
directions and in the poetry itself. But in the stretta Ricci added to the clues
given by his librettist, providing directions that at specific points call for the
chorus to observe Leporello from some distance at the words "Che cosa
medita? Che cosa mormora?" (What is he thinking? What is he mumbling?)
and then to pull him in different directions at the words "Qua devi correre Vola di qua" (You must run here - You must fly here), while he attempts to
free himself at the words "Eh via lasciatemi" (Away, leave me) (see Ex. 9.2).
Brief though they are, these directions are hardly marginal. Whereas the
librettist provided clues for onstage movement to take place at the points of
articulation between the different sections of the Introduzione - mostly
directing chorus and soloists to enter and exit at specific points and in specific
ways - the composer envisioned activity also within the dramatically static
conclusive movement. Indications like "strappandoselo a gara" (competing to
181
182
FRANCESCO IZZO
Table 9.1. II nuovo Figaro, Introduzione [no. 1], structure and stage directions
Section, tempo,
key
Characters
on stage
Stage directions in
printed libretto
1. "Leporello,
Leporello"
Allegro brillante,
E minor-G major
Demetrio
Demetrio dalla scala a destra
[Demetrio from the staircase on
the right]
2. "La baronessa
figlia"
(cont.)
Chorus,
Demetrio
... indi il Coro, parte dalla scala
medesima, e parte dall'altra.
[... then the Chorus, partly from
the same staircase, and partly
from the other.]
Partono dal viale a destra.
[They leave through a path on the
right.]
3. "Aguzzar vorrai
I'ingegno"
Andante-Allegro,
E major
Leporello
Leporello pensoso con giornali... Meditando un dialogo avuto con
inoltrandosi dall'altro viale, e
Andrea
dialogando da se ... ripetendo [Thinking of a dialogue he had
una commissione avuta da
with Andrea]
Andrea
[Leporello, thoughtful, with
newspapers ... entering
through the other path, and
conversing with himself...
repeating a conversation he
had with Andrea]
4. "Maledettissimo
quel farfarello"
Allegro brillante,
G major
Chorus,
Demetrio,
Leporello
Stage directions in autograph
. indi Demetrio, e il Coro,
tornando dal viale da cui sono
parti ti
.. then Demetrio, and the
Chorus, returning from the
path through which they had
left]
Fra loro contemplando Leporello
[Among themselves
contemplating Leporello]
Strappandoselo a gara
[Competing to pull him]
Leporello con violenza tentando
di sbarazzarsi
[Leporello with violence trying
to free himself]
Comic sights
183
Example 9.2 II nuovo Figaro, Introduzione [no. 1], Ricci's stage directions in the stretta (Ricci, II nuovo
Figaro [Milan: Lucca, 1832] with emendations based on Archivio Casa Ricordi, MS Rari.B.5/l[a-c])
Leporello con violenza tentando di sbarazzarsi
strappandoselo a gara
quadc-vi
quadc-vi
cor - r o f c
CTMC
cor-rc-rc
vo-la
vo-la di
qua
di
qua
qua dc vi
qua d e - v i
cor-rc-rc
pull him) and "Leporello con violenza tentando di sbarazzarsi" (Leporello
violently trying to free himself) clearly suggest that the quick-paced interaction
between Leporello and the chorus - marked in the score by increased rhythmic
activity and an orchestral crescendo - should be visibly mirrored not only by
generic looks and arm gestures, but also by actual physical contact and
conflict.^^ This alternative to the regrettable habit of "raising only half an
arm" may have satisfied Tacchinardi.
The introduzioni of other operas by Ricci also include directions that
typically add to what is provided in the libretto. In Eran due or sono tre,
two actions prescribed in the libretto a few lines apart - "Suona un campanello e i servi accorrono in fretta" (A bell rings and the servants arrive in
haste) - are merged together, a small but significant element of characterization to emphasize that the servants are indeed efficient and that their
master's impatience is unjustified. And in Crispino e la comare (a joint
effort of Luigi Ricci and his brother Federico [Venice, Teatro San Benedetto,
1850]^^), Crispino's first words are accompanied by the direction "Crispino
lavorando canta" (Crispino sings while working), implying that this humble
cobbler, heavily in debt, would be unlikely to take time off while singing his
opening stanza.
Even more than in the introduzioni, in the duets and other ensembles the
composer explored the possibilities inherent in the coordination of music
and gesture. Sometimes his stage directions are straightforward, clarifying
what is already implicit in the dramatic situation or in the conventional uses
of specific structural devices and musical gestures; other times, however,
cor - re rc
184
FRANCESCO IZZO
they appear to critique those same conventional uses, adding new layers of
meaning to the music and the drama.
In Act I of II nuovo Figaro a passage of recitative for Leporello and
Demetrio and a change of scenery follow the Introduzione. The action shifts
from the garden to the palace of Barone Wartenkoppenburgen, where in a
spacious room we encounter the Barone and his daughter, Amalia. The tale
is that of many opere buffe. The young woman has a beau, and her stern
father disapproves of their love. Table 9.2 outlines the structure of this
duet - a prima tempo consisting of two opening stanzas followed by
dialogue, an expansive slow movement, a tempo di mezzo marked by the
appearance of Carlotta (Amalia's fashion stylist), and a closing cahaletta.
Ferretti's libretto provides several stage directions that help visualize the
conflict between father and daughter. The terms of the confrontation are
established at the outset, as the restless Barone fusses around the stage
and his daughter attempts to appease him. In addition to numerous stage
directions provided in Ferretti's libretto, the autograph score transmits an
additional clue, which Ricci entered at the beginning of the Andante (see
Ex. 9.3): "The Barone changing his position often, burbling by himself, and
not paying attention to his daughter, who tenderly prays to him." With this
Ricci extended the visible action of the initial part of the duet into the slow
movement, in which conventionally the action is suspended and the two
characters pour out their feelings. In this case, the feelings could not be more
distinct, with the father expressing his irritation and the daughter begging
for his understanding. The music for the slow movement is a typical postRossinian comic a 2, the combination of contrasting vocal lines - parlante
for the buffo and cantabile for the soprano - expressing the different emotional spheres of the two characters. The stage direction added at this
point offers a key for reading the passage, suggesting that Ricci intended it as
more than just a locus for Amalia's melodic effusiveness and that visible
action was a means to bridge the separation between static and kinetic
sections of the musico-dramatic structure of this number.
Whereas the stage directions in the duet for Amalia and the Barone
conjure up the sight of two radically different characters (one comically
confrontational, the other endearing and sentimental), other ducts - particularly duets for two buffi, which appear in practically every comic work by
Ricci and his contemporaries - are filled with pure comic exuberance.^'' The
stage directions in such contexts could hardly aim at defining and contrasting different personalities. Rather, Ricci's indications seem to express the
expectation that his characters should move constantly, their incessant
visible activity reflecting the fast rhythmic pace of the music and providing
Comic sights
185
Table 9.2. II nuovo Figaro, Duetto Barone-Amalia [no. 2], structure and stage directions
Section, tempo, key
1. "Dunque?
Dunque?
Innamorata"
Allegro,
Bb major
Characters
on stage
Stage directions in printed
libretto
Stage directions in autograph
score
Barone,
Amalia
11 barone sbufFando esce
dalla porta laterale a
destra seguito da Amalia
[The Barone, puffing, exits
from the lateral door on
the right followed by
Amalia]
Same
[11 barone] passeggiando
seguito dalla figlia
[The Barone walking about,
followed by his daughter]
[11 barone] passeggiando
seguito per la scena dalla
figUa
[The Barone walking about,
followed around the stage
by his daughter]
[11 Barone] colpito al nome di
Leporello
[The Barone struck at the
name of Leporello]
2. "11 suo nome? Eh! non lo so"
(cont.)
H Barone cangiando spesso di
situazione, aknanaccando fra
se, e non badando alia figlia,
che teneramente lo prega
[The Barone changing his
position often, burbling by
himself, and not paying
attention to his daughter,
who tenderly prays to him]
3. "Un
prussiano!..."
Larghetto,
G minor
4. "Per me non v e
anticamera"
Allegro giusto,
C major
5. "Calmar I'ardente
smania"
Allegro moderato,
Bb major
Barone,
Amalia,
Carlotta
Carlotta, prima di dentro,
indi si avanza depositando
alcuni cartoni suUa tavola
[Carlotta, first backstage,
then she advances placing
some boxes on the table]
Carlotta, prima di dentro
[Carlotta, first backstage]
186
FRANCESCO IZZO
Example 9.3 II nuovo Figaro, Duetto Barone-Amalia [no. 2], beginning of slow movement
(Ricci, II nuovo Figaro [Milan: Lucca, 1832] with emendations based on Archivio Casa Ricordi,
MS Rari.B.5/l[a-c])
II Barone cangiando spesso di situazione, almanaccando fra se,
e non badando alia ftglia, che teneramente lo prega
BAROM
Un prus-hia - no'
Laighetto
un si-gno - rot - to'
n6 ma: ven-nc a ca-sa mi - a'
qual-chc im-bro-glio
vi sla
AWAUA
sot - to,
qual-che im*bro - gho
non mi M) ca-pa-ci-tar
Pen - sua
lu - i da ma - nc a sc
an intensely comic sight to complement the music's lightheartedness. This
can be observed in the duet for Leporello and the Barone in II nuovo Figaro,
with indications such as "smaniando per la scena" (fussing around the
stage), "quasi all'orecchio" ([speaking] almost into his ear), and "gittandogli
a piedi una borsa" (throwing a purse at his feet). And the extended comic
duet for Edmondo and Sempronio in Act II of Eran due or sono tre - an
anthology of comic staples including revelations, disguises, and drunkenness - contains no fewer than sixteen stage directions, which escalate the
conflict between the two as Sempronio begins to feel the effects of the wine.
Here are a few examples:
Comic sights
Sempronio si prende 11 bicchiere e la bottiglia, e ne beve tutto il vino
(Sempronio takes the glass and the bottle, and he drinks all the wine)
[Sempronio] prendendo Edmondo per il collo
([Sempronio] taking Edmondo by the neck)
Sempronio afFerra il bastone e, cavatone lo stocco che impugna, lo da ad Edmondo a
guisa di moschetto, ed esso da briaco comanda gli esercizi, sceneggiando etc.
(Sempronio seizes the cane and having extracted the sword that he holds, he hands
it to Edmondo as if it were a musket, and he, being drunk, commands the exercises,
pretending etc.)
Andando per infilzare Edmondo, che se ne higge, e va con lo stocco incontro ad una
quinta, e altro etc.
([Sempronio] attempts to stab Edmondo, who escapes; he [then] lunges with the
sword against a scenic backdrop, and other [props] etc.)
The abbreviated etceteras concluding some directions seem to encourage the
performers to take the lead, using their own acting talents to maximize the
comic effect of the scene.
In ensembles involving three or more characters Ricci introduced stage
directions most frequently in the kinetic sections {primo tempo and tempo di
mezzo), where they not only serve the obvious purpose of addressing blocking issues, but also coordinate visible action and specific musical events, and
define each character by specific physical gestures. In particular, Ricci
differentiates between male characters, who for the most part act with
their limbs, and female characters, who are often defined through their
facial expressions and through the act of looking. At the beginning of the
Act I Terzetto in II nuovo Figaro, for example, Amalia is depicted first
"mestamente venendo dal suo quarto senza alzar gli occhi" (gloomily
coming from her room without raising her eyes) and then "alzando gli
occhi nell'avanzarsi verso Andrea e riconoscendolo" (raising her eyes as she
advances toward Andrea and recognizes him). And in the Finale Primo, as
Carlotta's determination to carry out the plot devised by Leporello weakens
under the increasingly generous bribes offered by the Barone, her gaze first
focuses insistently on Leporello (for example, "guardando sottocchio
Leporello, che approva" [looking furtively at Leporello, who approves]),
then begins to falter ("guardando solo di sfuggita Leporello" [glancing at
Leporello only rapidly]), until she altogether avoids looking at her accomplice and moves away from him ("con enfasi, e smania, seguendo a passeggiare, ma sempre lontano da Leporello" [emphatically and with impatience,
continuing to pace around, but always far from Leporello]).
187
188
FRANCESCO IZZO
In the Terzetto for Countess Poleska, Koulikof, and Giovanni in Act I
of Chi dura vince, a tea party that should play out in the most civilized
manner rapidly degenerates as a result of the exceptionally bad temper of
the Countess, who enters in a fury to discover that the two men have begun
enjoying tea and biscuits before her arrival. The stage direction that marks her
entrance is related to the one provided in the libretto, but is more detailed:
"Mentre [Giovanni e Koulikof] stanno ridendo fra loro, si spalanca la porta e
n'esce Poleska in collera. I due senza scomporsi seguono la loro colazione"
(While [Giovanni and Koulikof] are laughing together, the door opens and
Poleska enters in a rage. The two continue their meal without stirring).
In this scene the female character does most of the acting. Within a few
measures of her appearance, as the men ignore her and continue to eat, the
libretto instructs her first to yank the cloth from the table destroying the
porcelain tea set and then to slap Koulikof Only when she is obliged to look
through a keyhole and discovers her unfaithful husband does her behavior
change. Here Ricci envisioned the comic effect produced by the sudden
reversal of her attitude and prescribed the following direction for a Largo
interlude accompanying the scene: "Poleska, dopo aver guardato, vacilla, e
par colpita da una sincope; i due la guardano con compiacenza di trionfo"
(Poleska, after having looked, vacillates, and seems hit by a syncope; the two
men look at her with triumphant pleasure).
In the Finale Primo of II nuovo Figaro we find another stage direction
aimed at creating movement in a conventionally static section - in this case,
in the pezzo concertato that constitutes the emotional center of the entire
opera. Six characters are present onstage, including Amalia who is feigning
madness, the Barone who is losing his confidence, Leporello who is bragging
about his talent, and Carlotta, Andrea, and Demetrio who, unaware that
Amalia is pretending, are expressing their concern for the young woman.
The dramatic situation is that of a paradigmatic concertato di stupore, which
many directors today would stage with all characters standing virtually
motionless until the action resumes in the tempo di mezzo. But Ricci
proposed a more sophisticated approach to the situation. His stage directions at this point are particularly indicative of his own view of the scene:
he did not restrict himself to adopting or adding to clues provided by
Ferretti, but actually contradicted what the librettist had envisioned for
this passage. The only directions in the printed libretto ask that Amalia
enact her parodistic rendition of madness "lentamente avanzandosi fino al
mezzo della scena" (slowly advancing to center stage), while "il barone pian
piano le si va accostando" (the Barone very slowly moves closer to her).
No indications are given for the movement of the other characters. Ricci,
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189
Example 9.4 II nuovo Figaro, Finale Primo [no. 6], beginning oipezzo concertato (Ricci, II nuovo Figaro
[Milan: Lucca, 1832] with emendations based on Archivio Casa Ricordi, MS Rari.B.5/l[a-cl)
II baronc pian piano si va allonlanando, combaiicndo
fra Tamor pdtcmo, e la paura Carlotta, Andrea, e Dcmcirio
s'aggruppano compiangcndo la crcdula delinintc,
c Lcparcllo in un angolo godc dclla sua a.stU7ia
cie
•
CO al mio
10
lor
cnj - Jo li cict
ne
-
ga
pie
Laighetto
M — f r — J f " — w
fcj:
tl|[
—
y — & —y—
^
J
—
_
J-
pocopiumooo
nri a • bis
pp
it
nn
d.
L
ic.lni
marcato
p,
ro c line
•
-
co-lo in
Oiiamandold amorosdmcnic da lontano
,, ^
r, - ) •
- r. r . f . . 1Y f
A
l o „ . „ 0 ehcdir.chc
...
f P
, f
r ..
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far-mi
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Ho pa u-rad'ac-co star-mi
>
however, imagined the passage in radically different terms (see Ex. 9.4);
"The Barone very slowly moves away, struggling between fatherly love
and fear. Carlotta, Andrea, and Demetrio come together and lament
the woman believed to be delirious, and Leporello in a corner takes pleasure
in his own astuteness." When the Barone begins to sing, moreover, Ricci
called for him to be far removed from Amalia, as another direction in the
score reads: "Chiamandola amorosamente da lontano" (calling her lovingly
from far away). By the time the action resumes after the concertato, Ricci
expected the Barone to be not only far away from his daughter, but even
comically hiding behind Leporello's back ("appiattato dietro alle spalle di
-
ic
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FRANCESCO IZZO
Leporello") - a visual reminder that in spite of the seria-like intensity of the
music and of the dramatic situation, this is indeed an opera buffa.
Thus, whereas Ferretti at this point expected to bring the Barone close to
Amalia, Ricci aimed at emphasizing her ostensible isolation during the
concertato. There is a musical reason behind the decision to keep Amalia's
father and the other characters at a distance: Amalia sings a prominent
melodic line in the ensemble, most of which is, in fact, a solo for her rather
than a typical ensemble with equal musical weight for all voices. If Ricci's
directions were observed in performance, the sight of this passage must have
resembled an aria with pertichini more than a pezzo concertato.
The materials discussed above are only a sample of Luigi Ricci's engagement
with visible action in his comic operas; he expressed his ideas in hundreds
of stage directions found in his operas from the early 1830s to the end of
his career twenty years later. Since we do not have the manuscript librettos
used by Ricci for the composition of most of his operas, one might wonder
whether the numerous stage directions for which there is no equivalent
in the printed libretto were actually his own. Indeed, it is possible that at
least some of them were provided by the librettist and simply never made
their way into the printed librettos. In the case of Crispino e la comare,
however, an autograph libretto by Francesco Maria Piave does survive in
the Archivio storico Ricordi, and a comparison of this source with the
autograph score shows that the composer added a great deal of detail to the
stage directions given with the poetry. Even when Ricci simply adopted
the directions provided by his librettists, his choice to enter dozens (in
some cases, hundreds) of additional stage directions into his autograph
scores suggests far more than an uncritical endorsement of his poet's
intentions. The composer was clearly trying to take charge of aspects of
the creative process that were conventionally outside of a composer's
jurisdiction. This begins to raise the important issue of authority that
became prominent as the nineteenth century continued to unfold.
To what extent are we to consider the stage directions in the autograph
score of this and other works as part of the "text" of the opera? A critical
edition of the works of Luigi Ricci would undoubtedly include them, distinguishing typographically between the directions found in the score itself
and those found only in the libretto. But this hardly solves the problem of
their practical function in Ricci's time and in the present day. Far less stable
than the music, Ricci's stage directions were altered, shortened, and often
completely suppressed in contemporary manuscript copies and printed
piano-vocal scores.*® And as much as we can argue that his directions are
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dramatically and musically effective, it is doubtful that they were systematically employed in the hundreds of productions of his operas during the
1830s and 1840s, save for the productions that Ricci himself supervised.
A clear indication of the eminently practical function of Ricci's stage
directions is that in the operas he wrote for major opera houses, where the
staging was under the jurisdiction of the local poeta di teatro {Un'avventura
di Scaramuccia [1834] and Le nozze di Figaro [1838], both created for
Milan's Teatro alia Scala, for example), stage directions in the score are far
fewer and less detailed than in operas created for secondary theaters when
the composer himself was directly involved in the visual aspects of the
production/^ All the same, it is likely that the influence of Ricci's stage
directions and of his conceptions of visible action extended beyond the
productions that he supervised. Over the course of the early and mid 1830s
Ricci worked with just about every prominent singer of opera huffa active on
the Italian stage, and it is likely that as those singers undertook the task of
reviving the composer's works in his absence, they recollected the experience of working with him and transmitted to other performers and audiences his general approach as well as specific gestures.
Why, finally, did Ricci devote so much attention to the visual? It is likely,
of course, that the stage directions in his autograph scores were, at least to
some extent, a response to dissatisfaction with contemporary stage practices
or with the acting abilities of some of his singers. It is also likely that the
extensive use of stage directions in Ricci's comic works was rooted in early
nineteenth-century practices of Neapolitan opera buffa and comedy, vfith
which Ricci was deeply familiar and about which we know depressingly
little. More broadly, his concerns fit into the increasing involvement with
staging across early nineteenth-century Europe, from the establishment of
a "Comite de mise en scene" at the Paris Opera in 1827 to the wealth of
detailed stage directions in Wagner's operas. At the time of composition
of II nuovo Figaro, the interest in physical gesture and its meanings was
developing rapidly in Italy, and not only in the opera house. Johann Jakob
Engel's treatise on acting, Ideen zu einer Mimik (1785-1786) appeared for
the first time in Italian translation in 1818-1819, and was reprinted in 1820
accompanied by Luigi Riccoboni's early eighteenth-century Dell'arte rappresentativa}^ Engel's work was pivotal in introducing to Italy the idea that
physical gesture may be classified into two categories - movements dependent on the mechanism of the body (such as breathing and sneezing) and
those that "depend on the activity of the soul, and are caused by its thoughts,
sensations, and purposes" and are thus as essential as language (and, in
our case, music) to the communication of meaning.'® The concept that
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bodily movement was the bearer of meaning was also inherent in Andrea De
Jorio's study La mimica degli antichi investigata nel gestire napoletano,
which appeared in print in 1832, the same year that II nuovo Figaro was
premiered/® A prominent Neapolitan archeologist, De Jorio was far ahead
of his time in drawing connections between physical movement and
cultural identity, demonstrating that there was continuity between the
gestural language of the ancient Romans - as revealed in the works of art
found at Pompeii and Herculaneum - and that of the people of Naples. It
is hardly surprising that many of the expressions and physical gestures
minutely described by Engel and De Jorio are entirely suitable for use as
clues to realizing Ricci's stage directions. The Barone's inner struggle
between fatherly love and fear in Example 9.4, for instance, may well be
expressed by drawing on De Jorio's description of gestures commonly
associated with "amore" (for example, a "hand carried to the heart") and
"orrore" ("covering the eyes with the palms of the hands" or "head turned
away from what is horrifying, with palm of the hand with the fingers
strongly spread apart, opposed to it").^°
De Jorio's and Engel's work, including minutely detailed analyses of
numerous meanings and the visible actions commonly used to convey
them, has been ignored in recent discussions of gesture in Italian opera.^^
A thorough study of stage directions in the scores of Luigi Ricci and his
contemporaries, along with the published writings of the era on acting
and gesture, holds unparalleled potential for shedding light on the early
nineteenth-century Italian stage, as well as for presenting today's performers with a new framework for an approach to acting based on theories and
practices of the Prima Ottocento.
Notes
1. Cited in Francesco Paolo Russo and Fabrizio Scipioni, "L'epistolario Ferretti:
I compositori," in Annalisa Bini and Franco Onorati (eds.), Jacopo Ferretti e la
cultura del suo tempo: Atti del convegno di studi, Roma: 28-29 novembre 1996
(Milan: Skira, 1999), pp. 17-41; here p. 29: "Quel Benedetto titolo II nuovo Figaro
poteva comprometterci perche tutti volevano veder Figaro sortir ballando."
2. An overwhelmingly complex term in contemporary discussions of performing
arts in general and opera in particular, "text" is intended here as the package of
reproducible information conveyed in scores, librettos, and various other sources, and considered to reflect the intentions of the composer and the other
individuals involved in the creation and early performances of an opera.
3. For instance, the latest edition of J. Peter Burkholder, Donald J. Grout, and Claude
V. Palisca (eds.), A History of Western Music (New York: W. W. Norton, 2006),
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includes frequent references to spectacle as an essential component of opera, such
as "spectacular staging and solo singing soon became preeminent" (p. 327) or
"Grand opera ... was as much spectacle as music" (p. 669).
4. An important exception is Marcello Conati, "Aspetti della messinscena del
Macbeth di Verdi," Nuova rivista musicale italiana 15 (1981), 374-404.
5. In recent years Ricordi has reprinted the disposizioni sceniche for Arrigo Boito's
Mefistofele and Giuseppe Verdi's Un ballo in maschera, Simon Boccanegra, and
Otello in a series of volumes containing iconographic materials and critical
studies ("Simon Boccanegra" di Giuseppe Verdi, ed. Marcello Conati and
Natalia Grilli [Milan; Ricordi, 1993]; "Otello" di Giuseppe Verdi, ed. James
A. Hepokoski and Mercedes Viale Ferrero [MUan: Ricordi, 1994]; "Mefistofele"
di Arrigo Boito, ed. William Ashbrook and Gerardo Guccini [Milan: Ricordi,
1998]; "Un ballo in maschera" di Giuseppe Verdi, ed. David Rosen and Marinella
Pigozzi [Milan: Ricordi, 2002]). Significant studies of staging manuals in France
and Italy include H. Robert Cohen and Marie-OdUe Gigou (eds.). Cent ans de
mise en scene lyrique en France (env. 1830-1930) (New York: Pendragon Press,
1986); Roger Parker, "Reading the 'Livrets' or the Chimera of 'Authentic'
Staging," in Pierluigi Petrobelli and Fabrizio Della Seta (eds.). La realizzazione
scenica dello spettacolo verdiano: Atti del Congresso internazionale
di studi,
Parma, 28-30 settembre 1994 (Parma: Istituto Nazionale di Studi Verdiani,
1996), pp. 345-66, reprinted in Roger Parker, Leonora's Last Act: Essays in
Verdian Discourse (Princeton University Press, 1997), pp. 126-48; Michaela
Petersen, "Die 'disposizioni sceniche' des Verlags Ricordi: Ihre Publikation und
ihr Zielpublikum," Studi verdiani 12 (1997), 123-55; James Hepokoski, "Staging
Verdi's Operas: The Single 'Correct' Performance," in Alison Latham and Roger
Parker (eds.), Verdi in Performance (Oxford University Press, 2001), pp. 11-20;
David Rosen, "On Staging that Matters," in Verdi in Performance, pp. 28-33;
Alessandra Campana, "Opera as Spectacle: Verbal Traces of the Visual in
Nineteenth-Century Stage Manuals," unpublished Ph.D. diss., Cornell University, 2004. See also Philip Gossett, Divas and Scholars: Performing Italian
Opera (University of Chicago Press, 2006), pp. 450-61, and Mary Ann Smart,
Mimomania:
Music
and Gesture in Nineteenth-Century
Opera (Berkeley:
University of California Press, 2004).
6. This is especially true of Rossini and Verdi, for whom we have a substantial
number of works in critical editions in print. Analogous endeavors for Donizetti,
Bellini, and Puccini are making progress, but are still in their initial stages.
7. Smart, Mimomania,
5. A significant exception is Bellini's detailed stage
directions in orchestral passages that accompany unsung actions (for example, the beginning of the final scene of II pirata, or the opening of Act II of
Norma).
8. Smart, Mimomania,
5.
9. Nicola Tacchinardi, Dell'opera in musica sul teatro italiano e de' suoi difetti,
2nd edn (Florence: Presso Giovanni Berni, 1833), facsimile edn., with an
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introduction by Francesca Gatta (Modena: Mucchi Editore, 1995), p. 71:
"All'alzar di sipario in qualunque opera, vedremo disposti in due parti, e
quasi sempre formando un semicerchio, quel tal numero di coristi, che suole
assegnare il teatro ... sempre pero nello stesso numero, nella stessa posizione,
e facendo lo stesso moto, quello cioe, di alzare appena la meta d'un braccio."
10. The libretto referred to here is Jacopo Ferretti, II nuovo Figaro, Ducale Teatro di
Parma, 1832 (Parma: Carmignani, 1832). This is not the only instance in which
Ferretti created a varied Introduzione consisting of several episodes only some
of which require the participation of the chorus. His libretto for Rossini's La
Cenerentola (Rome, Teatro Valle, 1817) contains a fine early instance of his
ability to create highly effective and dramatically unpredictable forms in this
type of number.
11. There is a similarity between this scene in II nuovo Figaro and the corresponding section in the Introduzione in Rossini's II barbiere di Siviglia, in which
Count Almaviva attempts to free himself from the excessively grateful chorus of
musicians.
12. Luigi Ricci wrote most of the music for Crispino e la comare, including the
Introduzione. Federico, too, provided his own stage directions for the numbers
he composed.
13. Well-known instances of this type of writing include the Adina-Dulcamara
duet in Act II of Donizetti's L'elisir d'amore, the Edoardo-Belfiore duet in Act I
of Verdi's Un giorno di regno, and the Ernesto-Don Pasquale duet in Act I of
Donizetti's Don Pasquale.
14. Following the example of the Dandini-Don Magnifico duet in Act II of
Rossini's La Cenerentola, duets for two buffi rapidly became a staple of
nineteenth - century opera buffa. In addition to Ricci's own contributions, specimens are found in Verdi's Un giorno di regno, Donizetti's Don Pasquale, and
operas by other composers. On the duet in nineteenth-century opera buffa, see
Francesco Izzo, "Donizetti's Don Pasquale and the Conventions of MidNineteenth-Century Opera Buffa." Studi musicali 33 (2004), 387-431; here
406-13.
15. This is true especially in the case of the piano-vocal score of II nuovo Figaro
published by Lucca in 1832, whereas Ricordi's piano-vocal scores of the 1830s
and 1840s tend to be more accurate. The manuscript scores of II nuovo Figaro,
Chi dura vince, and Crispino e la comare that I have been able to consult are far
from consistent in transmitting Ricci's stage directions.
16. On the responsibilities of staging in different Italian opera houses, see Gerardo
Guccini, "Directing Opera," in Lorenzo Bianconi and Giorgio Pestelli (eds.).
Opera on Stage, Pt. II, vol. V of The History of Italian Opera, trans. Kate
Singleton (University of Chicago Press, 2002), pp. 128-76; here pp. 147-48,
and Gossett, Divas and Scholars, p. 457.
17. Johann Jakob Engel, Ideen zu einer Mimik (Berlin: Auf Kosten des Verfassers,
1785-1786). The first Italian edition is Johann Jakob Engel, Lettere intorno alia
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mimica (Milan: Giovanni Pirotta, 1818-1819), followed by Lettere intorno alia
mimica ... aggiuntovi i capitoli sei suU'arte rappresentativa di L. Riccoboni
(Milan: BateUi e Fanfani, 1820). Riccoboni's treatise originally appeared almost
a century earlier (Luigi Riccoboni, Dell'arte rappresentativa:
Capitoli sei
[London: n.p., 1726]). The 1820 reprint was the first Italian edition.
18. Cited in Adam Kendon, Gesture: Visible Action as Utterance (Cambridge
University Press, 2004), p. 86.
19. Andrea De Jorio, La mimica degli antichi investigata nel gestire napoletano
(Naples: Stamperia e cartiera del Fibreno, 1832). Although not directly related
to Ricci, the presence of a copy of this book in the Milan Conservatory library is
worth mentioning here and calls for an investigation of De Jorio's relevance for
the nineteenth-century musical and operatic establishment. An English translation was published recently as Andrea De Jorio, Gesture in Naples and Gesture
in Classical Antiquity: A Translation of "La mimica degli antichi investigata nel
gestire napoletano"
... with an Introduction
and Notes by Adam Kendon
(Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2000).
20. De Jorio, Gesture in Naples, pp. 79 and 309. In both instances De Jorio explicitly
refers to plates in the Italian edition of Engel's Lettere to illustrate the realization
of the gestures he examines.
21. None of the studies cited in footnote 5 considers Engel's and De Jorio's treatises.
195