''Don Bucefalo'' is an opera (''

dramma giocoso ''Dramma giocoso'' (Italian, literally: drama with jokes; plural: ''drammi giocosi'') is a genre of opera common in the mid-18th century. The term is a contraction of ''dramma giocoso per musica'' and describes the opera's libretto (text). The ge ...

'') in three acts composed by

Antonio Cagnoni Antonio Cagnoni (8 February 1828 – 30 April 1896) was an Italian composer. Primarily known for his twenty operas, his work is characterized by his use of leitmotifs and moderately dissonant harmonies. In addition to writing music for the sta ...

to a

libretto A libretto (Italian for "booklet") is the text used in, or intended for, an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, oratorio, cantata or Musical theatre, musical. The term ''libretto'' is also sometimes used to refer to the t ...

Calisto Bassi Calisto Bassi (beginning of the 19th century, in Cremona – c. 1860, in Abbiategrasso) was an Italian opera librettist. Bassi wrote many original librettos and was also active as translator into Italian of several librettos from other languages. F ...

. Bassi's libretto was based on the libretto by Giuseppe Palomba (

fl. ''Floruit'' (; abbreviated fl. or occasionally flor.; from Latin for "they flourished") denotes a date or period during which a person was known to have been alive or active. In English, the unabbreviated word may also be used as a noun indicatin ...

1765–1825) to ''

Le cantatrici villane ''Le cantatrici villane'' (''The Boorish Singers'') is a comic opera (''dramma giocoso'') in two acts composed by Valentino Fioravanti to a libretto by Giuseppe Palomba. It was first performed in Naples in 1799. A revised one act version premiere ...

'' (1799) by

Valentino Fioravanti Valentino Fioravanti (11 September 1764 – 16 June 1837) was a celebrated Italian composer of ''opera buffas''. Fioravanti was born in Rome. One of the best ''opera buffa'' composers between Domenico Cimarosa and Gioacchino Rossini, he was ...

. ''Don Bucefalo'' premiered on 28 June 1847 at the Milan Conservatory.

Performance history

After the success of ''Don Bucefalo'' at the Conservatory in Milan, the opera was next performed at the

Teatro Nacional de São Carlos The ''Teatro Nacional de São Carlos'' () (''National Theatre of Saint Charles'') is an opera house in Lisbon, Portugal. It was opened on June 30, 1793 by Queen Maria I as a replacement for the Tejo Opera House, which was destroyed in the 1755 Li ...

in Lisbon (1 January and 11 February 1850), the Teatro di San Carlo in Naples (23 January 1853), the Cannobiana theatre in Milan (now the Teatro Lirico (Milan)) (7 November 1854), the Teatro Regio (Parma), 4 January 1860 and 4 February 1860, an unsuccessful reprise (28 April 1860) in Milan, Bergamo's

Teatro Donizetti The Teatro Donizetti is an opera house in Bergamo, Italy. Built in the 1780s using a design by architect Giovanni Francesco Lucchini, the theatre was originally referred to as either the Teatro Nuovo or Teatro di Fiera. The first opera to be mo ...

(previously the Riccardi di Bergamo) (25 August 1860), the Provisional Municipal Theatre (Teatro Comunale, now the ) of

Catania Catania (, , Sicilian and ) is the second largest municipality in Sicily, after Palermo. Despite its reputation as the second city of the island, Catania is the largest Sicilian conurbation, among the largest in Italy, as evidenced also by ...

(22 January 1865),

Comédie-Italienne Comédie-Italienne or Théâtre-Italien are French names which have been used to refer to Italian-language theatre and opera when performed in France. The earliest recorded visits by Italian players were commedia dell'arte companies employed b ...

in Paris (9 November 1865) and the

Solís Theatre Solís Theatre (''Spanish'': Teatro Solís) is Uruguay's most important and renowned theatre. It opened in 1856 and the building was designed by the Italian architect Carlo Zucchi. It is located in Montevideo's Old Town, right next to the Plaza ...

di Montevideo (19 June 1873). Subsequently, the opera disappeared, but in July 2008 it reappeared at the

Festival della Valle d'Itria The ''Festival della Valle d'Itria'' is a summer opera festival held in the south eastern Italian town of Martina Franca in the Apulia region. The Festival was founded in 1975 and performances are given in July and August each summer on a specially ...

. More recently, ''Don Bucefalo'' was performed at the Wexford Festival Opera in October 2014, and at the Baltic State Opera in February 2020.

Roles

Synopsis

Act 1

At a cafe, Don Bucefalo, a music master, encounters some peasants who sing in praise of the harvest. He promises that his singing lessons will improve their lot. One of the peasants is Rosa, whose husband, Carlino, has apparently been killed in the war. She hopes to study singing and to become the spouse of Count Belprato. Don Marco, Rosa's neighbour, also loves her, and she and her friend, Agata, discuss Don Bucefalo and the opera which he plans to stage. A soldier (Carlino in disguise), arrives hoping to find Rosa. He hears her having a music lesson in her house with Don Bucefalo, and wonders whether she still loves him. Outside her house, the men of the village are jealous, while the women are envious.

Act 2

Don Bucefalo's opera is on the way, though the villagers are dubious about the outcome. Bucefalo is trying, with difficulty, to write verses for Rosa and Agata to sing in the opera. Rosa, however, is delighted, but when the jealous Don Marco arrives he confronts Don Bucefalo. Suddenly, the enraged Carlino (still in disguise) appears and insults Rosa, while Don Bucefalo and Don Marco hide. When they are discovered, more accusations come forth.

Act 3

Don Marco and Don Bucefalo have stopped quarreling. Don Marco is funding the opera and will be singing the principal bass role. Agata feels that her voice is as good as Rosa's, but Rosa gets all the attention. Count Belpranto still wishes to marry Rosa, but she is less certain than previously. The orchestra is rehearsed at considerable length by Don Bucefalo. Suddenly, Carlino appears, removing his disguise, and is reunited with Rosa. After this, there are a number of alarms and excursions, but all ends happily.

Recording

*Cagnoni: ''Don Bucefalo'' – Filippo Morace (Don Bucefalo), Angelica Girardi (Rosa), Francesco Marsiglia (Il conte di Belprato), Mizuki Date (Agata); Francesca de Giorgi (Giannetta), Massimiliano Silvestri (Carlino), Graziano de Pace (Don Marco). Slovak Chamber Choir, Orchestra internazionale d'Italia, Massimiliano Caldi (conductor). Live recording from the 2008

. Label:

Dynamic Dynamics (from Greek δυναμικός ''dynamikos'' "powerful", from δύναμις ''dynamis'' "power") or dynamic may refer to: Physics and engineering * Dynamics (mechanics) ** Aerodynamics, the study of the motion of air ** Analytical dynam ...

634.''Don Bucefalo'', recording (2009),

References

Notes Sources * *

External links

Complete piano–vocal score
published by Ricordi in 1847 (Library of the Milan Conservatory) * {{Authority control 1847 operas Italian-language operas Operas by Antonio Cagnoni Operas