La bella dormente nel bosco
La bella dormente nel bosco | |
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Opera by Ottorino Respighi | |
Librettist | Gian Bistolfi |
Language | Italian |
Based on | Sleeping Beauty by Charles Perrault |
Premiere | 13 April 1922 Teatro Odescalchi, Rome |
La bella dormente nel bosco (The sleeping beauty in the woods) is an opera in three acts by Ottorino Respighi to a libretto by Gian Bistolfi based on Charles Perrault's fairy tale "Sleeping Beauty".
The first version of this opera, with the title La bella addormentata nel bosco, premiered in the marionettist , who was director of a marionette company called Teatro dei Piccoli (Theater for Children). The play was interpreted by marionettes, but it was accompanied by orchestra and singers. The cast of the première included the soprano Cisse Vaughan and the mezzo-soprano Evelina Levi.[1] The performance was a success, with "many curtain calls for the composer", and was judged as an "art jewel".[2]
in Rome on 13 April 1922. It was a version written for the ItalianA revised version was performed at the [3]
, Turin, on 9 April 1934, as La bella dormente nel bosco. The cast included Graziella Gazzera Valle (Princess), Magda Piccarolo (Blue Fairy, Nightingale), Angelina Rossetti (Spindle, Duchess, Cat), Maria Benedetti (Queen, Cuckoo, Old lady), Vincenzo Capponi (Prince, Jester) and Egisto Busacchi (King, Woodcutter, Ambassador).A further posthumous version, revised by Gian Luca Tocchi and by the widow of the composer, Elsa Respighi, was performed in the Teatro Rossini in Turin on 13 June 1967.[citation needed]
Roles[]
Role | Voice type |
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The blue fairy | soprano |
The king | baritone |
The queen | contralto |
The princess | soprano |
The prince | tenor |
The green fairy | speaking role |
The cuckoo | mezzo-soprano |
The ambassador | baritone |
The jester | tenor |
The little old lady | mezzo-soprano |
The spindle | mezzo-soprano |
The frog | mezzo-soprano |
The cat | contralto |
A woodcutter | baritone |
The duchess | soprano |
The nightingale | soprano |
Four doctors | tenor, bass, bass, bass |
Frog, fairies, courtiers, stars, mourners, spiders, woodcutters. Echoing voices. Chorus |
Instrumentation[]
La bella addormentata nel bosco (version 1922) is scored for the following instruments:[4]
flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, horn, trumpet, trombone, triangle, drum, cymbals, bell, handbells, celesta, harpsichord, strings.
La bella dormente nel bosco (version 1934) is instead scored for the following instruments:
flute, oboe, English horn, clarinet, bassoon, horn, trumpet, trombone, piano, drum kit, strings.
Recordings[]
1994: Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra (Bratislava), Slovak Philharmonic Chorus, CD Marco Polo Cat. 8.223742[5]
, | |
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King/Woodcutter: Richard Haan |
Old lady/Green fairy: Ivana Czaková |
References[]
- ^ Casaglia, Gherardo (2005). "La bella addormentata nel bosco, 13 April 1922". L'Almanacco di Gherardo Casaglia (in Italian).
- ^ "Il successo della Bella addormentata di G. Bistolfi e Respighi a Roma". La Stampa (in Italian). Turin. 13 April 1922. p. 5. Retrieved 2 January 2015.
- ^ Casaglia, Gherardo (2005). "La bella dormiente nel bosco, 9 April 1934". L'Almanacco di Gherardo Casaglia (in Italian).
- ^ "Ottorino Respighi. Catalogo delle composizioni suddiviso per generi musicali: Opere liriche". l'Orchestra Virtuale del Flaminio (in Italian). Retrieved 2 January 2015.
- ^ "Ottorino Respighi – La bella dormente nel bosco – Adriano (1994)". operaclass. Retrieved 2 January 2015.
Further reading[]
- Bernardoni, Virgilio (1996). "La bella addormentata nel bosco". In Gelli, Piero (ed.). Dizionario dell'opera (in Italian). Milan: Baldini & Castoldi. ISBN 88-8089-177-4.
- Operas
- Italian-language operas
- 1922 operas
- 1934 operas
- Operas by Ottorino Respighi
- Operas based on literature
- Operas based on works by Charles Perrault
- Works based on Sleeping Beauty