Boccaccio (Suppé)
Encyclopedia
Boccaccio, or the Prince of Palermo is an operetta
in three acts by Franz von Suppé
to a German
libretto
by Camillo Walzel
and Richard Genée
, based on the play
by Jean-François-Antoine Bayard, Adolphe de Leuven, Léon Lévy Brunswick and Arthur de Beauplan, based in turn on the Decameron of Giovanni Boccaccio
.
The opera was first performed at the Carltheater
, Vienna
, February 1, 1879.
An English translation was done by Oscar Weil and Gustav Hinrichs
ca. 1883.
In early-Renaissance Florence, the erotic novellas of the poet Boccaccio cause a stir and the locals are divided into the female fans of his scandalous tales and their jealous husbands. A plot is hatched by the husbands to chase Boccaccio from the city and have him locked up. But Boccaccio has other plans, including one to win the hand of the Duke's daughter Fiametta, which he finally succeeds in doing after finding favour with the Duke. Suppé's finest operetta.
Operetta
Operetta is a genre of light opera, light in terms both of music and subject matter. It is also closely related, in English-language works, to forms of musical theatre.-Origins:...
in three acts by Franz von Suppé
Franz von Suppé
Franz von Suppé or Francesco Suppé Demelli was an Austrian composer of light operas who was born in what is now Croatia during the time his father was working in this outpost of the Austro-Hungarian Empire...
to a German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
libretto
Libretto
A libretto is the text used in an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, oratorio, cantata, or musical. The term "libretto" is also sometimes used to refer to the text of major liturgical works, such as mass, requiem, and sacred cantata, or even the story line of a...
by Camillo Walzel
Camillo Walzel
Camillo Walzel was an German librettist and theatre director, who wrote under the pseudonym F Zell.Walzel was born in Magdeburg. In his early years, he worked in his father lithographic factory, then studied in the Wiener Akademie der bildenden Künste, before joining the army...
and Richard Genée
Richard Genée
Franz Friedrich Richard Genée was a Prussian born Austrian librettist, playwright, and composer.Genée was born in Danzig. One of his best known works was the libretto of Karl Millöcker's operetta Der Bettelstudent, which he co-wrote with Friedrich Zell .In 1876, Genée composed the operetta Der...
, based on the play
Play (theatre)
A play is a form of literature written by a playwright, usually consisting of scripted dialogue between characters, intended for theatrical performance rather than just reading. There are rare dramatists, notably George Bernard Shaw, who have had little preference whether their plays were performed...
by Jean-François-Antoine Bayard, Adolphe de Leuven, Léon Lévy Brunswick and Arthur de Beauplan, based in turn on the Decameron of Giovanni Boccaccio
Giovanni Boccaccio
Giovanni Boccaccio was an Italian author and poet, a friend, student, and correspondent of Petrarch, an important Renaissance humanist and the author of a number of notable works including the Decameron, On Famous Women, and his poetry in the Italian vernacular...
.
The opera was first performed at the Carltheater
Carltheater
The Carltheater was a theatre in Vienna. It was in the suburbs in Leopoldstadt at Praterstraße 31 .It was the successor to the Leopoldstädter Theater. After a series of financial difficulties, that theater had been sold in 1838 to the director, Carl Carl, who continued to run it in parallel to his...
, Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
, February 1, 1879.
An English translation was done by Oscar Weil and Gustav Hinrichs
Gustav Hinrichs
Gustav Ludwig Wilhelm HinrichsNot to be confused with Gustav Dethlef Hinrichs, a noted scientist of the 19th century, or Gustav Hinrichs, of Berlin, a German historian and classicist who collaborated with the Brothers Grimm in addition to many of his own writings...
ca. 1883.
Roles and role creators
- Fiametta, Lambertuccio's foster-daughter - sopranoSopranoA soprano is a voice type with a vocal range from approximately middle C to "high A" in choral music, or to "soprano C" or higher in operatic music. In four-part chorale style harmony, the soprano takes the highest part, which usually encompasses the melody...
Rosa Streitmann - Giovanni Boccaccio, novelist and poet - mezzo-sopranoMezzo-sopranoA mezzo-soprano is a type of classical female singing voice whose range lies between the soprano and the contralto singing voices, usually extending from the A below middle C to the A two octaves above...
Antonie Link - Beatrice, Lambertuccio's wife - sopranoSopranoA soprano is a voice type with a vocal range from approximately middle C to "high A" in choral music, or to "soprano C" or higher in operatic music. In four-part chorale style harmony, the soprano takes the highest part, which usually encompasses the melody...
- Isabella, Lotteringhi's wife - mezzo-sopranoMezzo-sopranoA mezzo-soprano is a type of classical female singing voice whose range lies between the soprano and the contralto singing voices, usually extending from the A below middle C to the A two octaves above...
- Peronella - contraltoContraltoContralto is the deepest female classical singing voice, with the lowest tessitura, falling between tenor and mezzo-soprano. It typically ranges between the F below middle C to the second G above middle C , although at the extremes some voices can reach the E below middle C or the second B above...
- Pietro, Prince of Palermo - tenorTenorThe tenor is a type of male singing voice and is the highest male voice within the modal register. The typical tenor voice lies between C3, the C one octave below middle C, to the A above middle C in choral music, and up to high C in solo work. The low extreme for tenors is roughly B2...
- Lambertuccio, the grocer - baritoneBaritoneBaritone is a type of male singing voice that lies between the bass and tenor voices. It is the most common male voice. Originally from the Greek , meaning deep sounding, music for this voice is typically written in the range from the second F below middle C to the F above middle C Baritone (or...
Karl Blasel - Lotteringhi, the cooper - baritoneBaritoneBaritone is a type of male singing voice that lies between the bass and tenor voices. It is the most common male voice. Originally from the Greek , meaning deep sounding, music for this voice is typically written in the range from the second F below middle C to the F above middle C Baritone (or...
- Scalza, the barber - baritoneBaritoneBaritone is a type of male singing voice that lies between the bass and tenor voices. It is the most common male voice. Originally from the Greek , meaning deep sounding, music for this voice is typically written in the range from the second F below middle C to the F above middle C Baritone (or...
- Leonello, Boccaccio's student friend - baritoneBaritoneBaritone is a type of male singing voice that lies between the bass and tenor voices. It is the most common male voice. Originally from the Greek , meaning deep sounding, music for this voice is typically written in the range from the second F below middle C to the F above middle C Baritone (or...
- Checco, a beggar - bassBass (voice type)A bass is a type of male singing voice and possesses the lowest vocal range of all voice types. According to The New Grove Dictionary of Opera, a bass is typically classified as having a range extending from around the second E below middle C to the E above middle C...
- Fratelli, the bookseller - baritoneBaritoneBaritone is a type of male singing voice that lies between the bass and tenor voices. It is the most common male voice. Originally from the Greek , meaning deep sounding, music for this voice is typically written in the range from the second F below middle C to the F above middle C Baritone (or...
- Majordomo - baritoneBaritoneBaritone is a type of male singing voice that lies between the bass and tenor voices. It is the most common male voice. Originally from the Greek , meaning deep sounding, music for this voice is typically written in the range from the second F below middle C to the F above middle C Baritone (or...
- Beggars, students, servants, Donna Pulci's daughters - chorus
Synopsis
- Time: 1331.
- Place: FlorenceFlorenceFlorence is the capital city of the Italian region of Tuscany and of the province of Florence. It is the most populous city in Tuscany, with approximately 370,000 inhabitants, expanding to over 1.5 million in the metropolitan area....
.
In early-Renaissance Florence, the erotic novellas of the poet Boccaccio cause a stir and the locals are divided into the female fans of his scandalous tales and their jealous husbands. A plot is hatched by the husbands to chase Boccaccio from the city and have him locked up. But Boccaccio has other plans, including one to win the hand of the Duke's daughter Fiametta, which he finally succeeds in doing after finding favour with the Duke. Suppé's finest operetta.
Arias, duets, and ensembles
- "Ich sehe einen jungen Mann dort stehn" (Boccaccio)
- "Hab’ ich nur deine Liebe" (Fiametta, later with Boccaccio)
- Act 1 Finale (book-burning)
- Serenade (Boccaccio, Pietro, Leonetto)
- Cooper's Song (Lotteringhi)
- Waltz Trio "Wie pocht mein Herz so ungestüm" (Fiametta, Isabella, Peronella)
- Lovers' Sextet
- Duet "Florenz hat schöne Frauen (Mia bella florentina)" (Fiametta, Boccaccio)
- Act 3 Finale (Boccaccio's counsel)