Search This Blog

Tuesday, May 24, 2011

Tonight at 8 PM -- Two operatic rarities

This evening Teatro Grattacielo will present two one-act operatic rarities: I Compagnacci from 1923, by Primo Riccitelli, whose work is seldom heard in America, and Il Re, a better-known, but still seldom-performed opera from 1929 by Umberto Giordano, who is best known for his Andrea Chénier.
Blogs are blogging about it, articles being written about the event, so all should be set for a full house tonight at Rose Theater, Home of Jazz - (although don't look for either a "the" before the "Rose" or much publicity on the venue's site...).
Tonight's performance will feature Jessica Klein, Joanna Mongiardo, Peter Castaldi, and John Maynard in the casts, and should prove to be a lively event. Libretti are online, and printed copies will be available at the door (but they go fast, so get there early!)

Thursday, April 21, 2011

Agnese Riccitelli in New York

Teatro Grattacielo, foremost opera company in New York to breathe new life into the deserving repertory of late 19th, early 20th century Italy, is graced with the presence of Agnese Riccitelli, the great grand-niece of composer Primo Riccitelli, whose opera "I Compagnacci" will be performed next month. Ms Riccitelli, an enthusiastic dancer and dance historian, has championed the work of her ancestor, and will be in the audience for the performance on May 24.
She joined artistic director Duane Printz at Restaurant Quattro Gatti last week, and met the production company.

"Riccitelli was a fine musical craftsman," said David Wroe, Teatro Grattacielo's conductor, "it's obvious that he studied with the best." As it happens, he studied with Pietro Mascagni at the Rossini Conservatory in Pesaro.

Born in 1875, Pancrazio Riccitelli (Primo was a stage-name), was born in Cognoli di Campli 1875. At the Rossini Conservatory he studied with opera composer Riccardo Zandonai as a fellow student. It was there that he wrote his first operas, "Francesca da Rimini", and "Suora Maddalena" -- both of which are now unfortunately lost.

Riccitelli had the poor luck to be caught in the publishing struggle that happened in the Sonzongno family, which ended up blocking performances of his work, thanks to a rights dispute. Even though Renzo Sonzogno commissioned him to write "Madonna Oretta," which was performed to great acclaim, Riccitelli did not receive his entire fee for writing it, and the work was never published.

It was "I Compagnacci" that caught the public's fancy, and made Ricitelli's name an operatic byword in Italy. The opera won first prize in a national competition that was judged by Puccini, Mascagni and Cilèa in 1922 and then it was presented at the Teatro Costanzi, followed by performances at La Scala in 1923 and at the Metropolitan in 1924. Later, in November, 1924 "I Compagnacci" was performed on a double bill with Richard Strauss's "Salome" -- after the tragedy, not before it, as one might expect. It was lauded as being able to lift the spirits of the audience after Strauss's gloomy drama.

Riccitelli's one act opera was heard in a number of other theaters as well as on the air from 1925-1930. In 1931, it had the distinction of being the first opera ever broadcast in Italy over the EIAR network (which later became the RAI).

After many years sitting in a drawer, the opera "Madonna Oretta" was finally produced to great acclaim, with 26 curtain calls for the composer. For the next ten years Riccitelli took his two operas on the road, performing them throughout Italy.

Then in March, 1941, after an arduous life of struggling to get his music heard, and working on another opera, "Captain Fracassa," Primo Riccitelli died after a short illness. The war took its toll on his popularity, and the two operas that do survive him have not been heard since 1948.

Now Teatro Grattacielo is proud to present "I Compagnacci" again, for the New York area to hear and enjoy again.

Friday, March 11, 2011

Libretto for I Compagnacci on site

The libretti for I Compagnacci and "Il Re" are now on the Teatro Grattacielo site.


While I Compagnacci and its composer, Primo Riccitelli, is not a staple in the operatic currency, the music is lively and very accessible, and the story, which is by Giovacchino Forzano, is one that is surprisingly multi-dimensional and compelling as a play, and makes for thrilling opera as well. In one act, it is a highly compressed action-packed love story, as well as a black comedy. To appreciate the latter aspect, one needs to be somewhat acquainted with the story of Savaranola, the 15th century Italian Dominican friar who was known for his radical ideas, seeing Florence as being corrupt under Pope Alexander VI. He advocated book burning (known as the "Bonfire of the Vanities", destroying art he considered to be "immoral" and spread his opinions as to how the Renaissance ought to glorify Italy not destroy it.


Fra SavonarolaOn May 13, 1497, Savonarola was excommunicated by Pope Alexander VI, and in 1498, Alexander demanded his arrest and execution. Savonarola and two followers were tortured on the rack, the torturers sparing only Savonarola’s right arm in order that he might be able to sign his confession. On the day of his execution, Savonarola was taken out to the Piazza della Signoria along with Fra Silvestro and Fra Domenico da Pescia. The three were ritually stripped of their clerical vestments, degraded as "heretics and schismatics", and given over to the secular authorities to be burned. The three were hanged in chains from a single cross and an enormous fire was lit beneath them. They were thereby executed in the same place where the "Bonfire of the Vanities" had been lit. It was a particularly grisly end to a church reformer who tried to scale back the excesses of one of the Borgia popes. How on earth does one use such gruesome details to make a comedy, albeit a very black one?


Forzano (who also wrote the libretto to Il Re), was a very clever librettist, author, playwright, and director. He wrote libretti for Puccini (Suor Angelica, Gianni Schicchi), Mascagni (Il Piccolo Marat, Lodoletta), as well as Franchetti, Leoncavallo, and Giordano.

Forzano was a force of nature. Born in 1884, he lived a long life, dying in 1970. A Florentine, it is of note that he enjoyed setting works in historical Florence such as Gianni Schicchi and I Compagnacci. He was a feisty guy, with a mind of his own. Mascagni, no slouch in the individualist department, couldn't get along with him, and while Forzano was with Puccini working on rehearsals of Schicchi, asked his old librettist from Cavalleria Rusticana to complete the libretto for Il Piccolo Marat, and to this day the verses not composed by Forzano appear in italics to set them apart.

Unfortunately, Forzano fell in with the Fascisti (it is always good to be an artist on the side of those with the money); and he actually wrote and produced three plays with Il Duce that were meant to be rousing studies in political life; one was about Napoleon, another about Caesar. Forzano's reputation suffered because of this, after the war, and were it not for his libretti he probably would be forgotten altogether except in Italy.

His film "Black Shirts" will be shown in April as part of a film festival.