''Simon Boccanegra'' () is an
opera
Opera is a form of theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically a collaboration between a composer and a librett ...
with a prologue and three acts by
Giuseppe Verdi
Giuseppe Fortunino Francesco Verdi (; 9 or 10 October 1813 – 27 January 1901) was an Italian composer best known for his operas. He was born near Busseto to a provincial family of moderate means, receiving a musical education with the h ...
to an Italian
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 ...
by
Francesco Maria Piave
Francesco Maria Piave (18 May 18105 March 1876) was an Italian opera librettist who was born in Murano in the lagoon of Venice, during the brief Napoleonic Kingdom of Italy.
Career
Piave's career spanned over twenty years working with many of th ...
, based on the
play
Play most commonly refers to:
* Play (activity), an activity done for enjoyment
* Play (theatre), a work of drama
Play may refer also to:
Computers and technology
* Google Play, a digital content service
* Play Framework, a Java framework
* Pla ...
''Simón Bocanegra'' (1843) by
Antonio García Gutiérrez
Antonio García Gutiérrez (4 October 1813 in Chiclana de la Frontera, Cádiz26 August 1884 in Madrid) was a Spanish Romantic dramatist.
Biography
After having studied medicine in his native town, García Gutiérrez moved to Madrid in 1833 a ...
, whose play ''El trovador'' had been the basis for Verdi's 1853 opera, ''
Il trovatore
''Il trovatore'' ('The Troubadour') is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto largely written by Salvadore Cammarano, based on the play ''El trovador'' (1836) by Antonio García Gutiérrez. It was García Gutiérrez's mos ...
''.
''Simon Boccanegra'' was first performed at
Teatro La Fenice
Teatro La Fenice (, "The Phoenix") is an opera house in Venice, Italy. It is one of "the most famous and renowned landmarks in the history of Italian theatre" and in the history of opera as a whole. Especially in the 19th century, La Fenice bec ...
in
Venice
Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 ...
on 12 March
1857
Events January–March
* January 1 – The biggest Estonian newspaper, ''Postimees'', is established by Johann Voldemar Jannsen.
* January 7 – The partly French-owned London General Omnibus Company begins operating.
* Janua ...
. Given the complications of the original plot and the generally poor popular response – although the critical one was more encouraging – the opera dropped out of favour after 1866. Finally, 23 years later, Verdi's publisher persuaded the composer to revise the opera, with text changes to be prepared by
Arrigo Boito
Arrigo Boito (; 24 February 1842 10 June 1918) (whose original name was Enrico Giuseppe Giovanni Boito and who wrote essays under the anagrammatic pseudonym of Tobia Gorrio) was an Italian poet, journalist, novelist, librettist and composer, best ...
, the librettist who aspired to work with the aging composer on a project which eventually became a new opera, ''
Otello
''Otello'' () is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Arrigo Boito, based on Shakespeare's play ''Othello''. It was Verdi's penultimate opera, first performed at the Teatro alla Scala, Milan, on 5 February 1887.
Th ...
'', but to which Verdi had not totally committed at that time.
The revised version of ''Simon Boccanegra'', with the now-famous Council Chamber scene, was first performed at
La Scala
La Scala (, , ; abbreviation in Italian of the official name ) is a famous opera house in Milan, Italy. The theatre was inaugurated on 3 August 1778 and was originally known as the ' (New Royal-Ducal Theatre alla Scala). The premiere performan ...
in Milan on 24 March
1881. It is this version which is the one most frequently performed today.
Composition history: the 1857 version
Musicologist
Musicology (from Greek μουσική ''mousikē'' 'music' and -λογια ''-logia'', 'domain of study') is the scholarly analysis and research-based study of music. Musicology departments traditionally belong to the humanities, although some mu ...
and author
Julian Budden
Julian Medforth Budden (9 April 1924 in Hoylake, Wirral – 28 February 2007 in Florence, Italy) was a British opera scholar, radio producer and broadcaster. He is particularly known for his three volumes on the operas of Giuseppe Verdi (publishe ...
points to three projects which the composer had in mind when, at the beginning of 1855, he turned down an invitation from La Fenice to write a new opera for them for the following year. He responded: "the chief obstacle is my unshakable determination not to bind myself anymore to a definite period for either the composition or the production". While that approach did not turn out to be practicable at that time, it was an ultimate goal and, in aiming to achieve it, his partner of the previous four years,
Giuseppina Strepponi
Clelia Maria Josepha (Giuseppina) Strepponi ( Lodi, 8 September 1815 – Villanova sull'Arda, 14 November 1897) was a nineteenth-century Italian operatic soprano of great renown and the second wife of composer Giuseppe Verdi.
She is ofte ...
greatly encouraged it when she wrote to him at the
time of his frustrations two years earlier when working in Paris on ''
Les vêpres siciliennes
''Les vêpres siciliennes'' (''The Sicilian Vespers'') is a grand opera in five acts by the Italian romantic composer Giuseppe Verdi set to a French libretto by Eugène Scribe and Charles Duveyrier from their work ''Le duc d'Albe'' of 1838. ' ...
''.
The only project for which there was forward motion was towards accomplishing his long-planned ''
Re Lear
' (; Italian for ''King Lear'') is an Italian operatic libretto in four acts written by Antonio Somma for the Italian opera composer Giuseppe Verdi. It was based on ''King Lear'', "the Shakespeare play with which Verdi struggled for so many ye ...
'', an opera to be based on ''
King Lear
''King Lear'' is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare.
It is based on the mythological Leir of Britain. King Lear, in preparation for his old age, divides his power and land between two of his daughters. He becomes destitute and insane an ...
'', for which his new librettist (following
Salvadore Cammarano
Salvadore Cammarano (also Salvatore) (born Naples, 19 March 1801 – died Naples 17 July 1852) was a prolific Italian librettist and playwright perhaps best known for writing the text of ''Lucia di Lammermoor'' (1835) for Gaetano Donizetti.
For ...
's death) was
Antonio Somma
Antonio Somma (28 August 1809, Udine – 8 August 1864, Venice) was an Italian playwright who is most well known for writing the libretto of an opera which ultimately became Giuseppe Verdi's ''Un ballo in maschera'' in 1859. While a student, his ...
. But a year later, when overseeing a revival of ''
La traviata
''La traviata'' (; ''The Fallen Woman'') is an opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi set to an Italian libretto by Francesco Maria Piave. It is based on ''La Dame aux camélias'' (1852), a play by Alexandre Dumas ''fils'' adapted from his own 18 ...
'' at La Fenice, he agreed to a new opera for that house for the 1856/7 season, and he proposed the Gutiérrez play, which Budden presumes he had read in translation. Budden also presumes that the translation had been done by Strepponi,
[Budden 1984, Vol. 2, pp. 245–248] because she had been the translator of Gutiérrez' other play which had become ''Il trovatore''.
The somewhat convoluted plot of ''Simon Boccanegra'' can be hard to follow. Budden notes: "All the characters define themselves against an ingeniously shifting pattern of intrigue such as can be highly effective in a play but well-nigh impossible to follow in an opera".
Verdi had gone so far as to actually write out the scenario in prose, which he then submitted to Piave in August; all that he expected from his librettist was that it would be turned into poetry, so Verdi balked somewhat when the censors demanded a complete poetic version: "what does it matter for the moment it's in prose or verse?" He pushed harder, stating that "I plan to compose music for a prose libretto! What do you think of that?" In the end, there was a poetic version and all was well: it was accepted by the opera house and the censors.
Beginning in July and throughout most of the period of the preparation of the libretto, the composer and Strepponi had been in Paris taking care of securing various performance and publication rights, including working on a translated version of ''Il trovatore'', the opera which became ''Le trouvère''. Piave was informed that Verdi's stay would need to be lengthened and everything would be handled between them and the Venetian authorities by mail.
However, Verdi's dissatisfaction with some of the librettist's work led him to find a local collaborator to help revise some of the sections. Accordingly, he called upon an Italian exile in Paris, the politician, former professor of law, poet and writer
Giuseppe Montanelli
Giuseppe Montanelli (21 January 1813 – 17 June 1862) was an Italian statesman and author.
Biography
Montanelli was born at Fucecchio, then part of the Grand Duchy of Tuscany. As a boy he was an organist and composer. In 1840 was appointed ...
,
[Osborne, C., p. 296] to do this. Piave learned nothing of the revisions until he received a note from Verdi: "Here is the libretto, shortened and altered more or less as it must be. You can put your name to or it, just as you please". However, he also learned nothing of the anonymous collaborator either. After the premiere of ''Le trouvère'' on 12 January 1857, Verdi and Strepponi left Paris to return to Italy, then both went to Venice for the March premiere.
However, the relationship was soon restored and Piave came to Sant'Agata in April to work on some revisions, but it was the libretto which came in for the heaviest criticism: "It was generally condemned as one of the most unintelligible to have reached the stage" notes Kimbell and its general dark and gloomy feel was to affect its fortunes for many years.
[Kimbell 2001, in Holden, p 997]
Composition history: the 1881 revision
![Boccanegra-costume for 1881](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7a/Boccanegra-costume_for_1881.png)
In 1868,
Giulio Ricordi
Giulio Ricordi (19 December 1840 in Milan – 6 June 1912 in Milan) was an Italian editing, editor and musician who joined the family firm, the Casa Ricordi music publishing house, in 1863, then run by his father, Tito, the son of the company' ...
suggested the idea of revisions to ''Boccanegra''; the idea was again broached ten years later, early in 1879, but was shrugged off by Verdi with a note saying that the 1857 score, which had been sent to the composer for review, would remain untouched "just as you sent it to me".
[Verdi to Ricordi, 2 May 1879, in Budden 1984, Vol. 2, p. 255] Persisting with further attempts to convince the composer, Ricordi had also broached the idea of a collaboration with
Arrigo Boito
Arrigo Boito (; 24 February 1842 10 June 1918) (whose original name was Enrico Giuseppe Giovanni Boito and who wrote essays under the anagrammatic pseudonym of Tobia Gorrio) was an Italian poet, journalist, novelist, librettist and composer, best ...
for a new opera based on Shakespeare's ''
Othello
''Othello'' (full title: ''The Tragedy of Othello, the Moor of Venice'') is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare, probably in 1603, set in the contemporary Ottoman–Venetian War (1570–1573) fought for the control of the Island of Cypru ...
''. Musicologist
Roger Parker
Roger Parker (born London United Kingdom, 2 August 1951) is an English musicologist and, since January 2007, has been Thurston Dart Professor of Music at King's College London.
His work has centred on opera. Between 2006 and 2010, while Profess ...
speculates that Verdi's final agreement to revise ''Boccanegra'' was based on a desire to "test the possibility" of working with Boito before possibly embarking on the larger project.
Once Verdi began to re-look at his earlier work, objections – and new ideas – began to emerge: "the score is not possible as it stands" and "I shall have to redo all the second act
857: act 2, which became act 1 in the 1881 revisionand give it more contrast and variety, more life" are examples of his reasoning, which he laid out in a letter to Ricordi in November 1880.
His principal concern was how to make changes to the 1857, act 2. "I have said in general it needs something to give life and variety to the drama's excessive gloom", he writes
and he continues by recalling:
:two magnificent letters of
Petrarch
Francesco Petrarca (; 20 July 1304 – 18/19 July 1374), commonly anglicized as Petrarch (), was a scholar and poet of early Renaissance Italy, and one of the earliest humanists.
Petrarch's rediscovery of Cicero's letters is often credited w ...
's, one addressed to
he historicalBoccanegra, the other to the
hen-oge of Venice, warning them not to start a fratricidal war, and reminding them that both were sons of the same mother, Italy, and so on. This idea of an Italian fatherland at this time was quite sublime!
In spite of the complexity of many of Boito's proposed ideas, along with his alternative scenarios, which are expressed in a long letter to Verdi (most of which the composer regarded as excessive), the Council Chamber scene emerged as the focus of the new collaboration. Although he had confidence in the young librettist's abilities ("
he scene
He or HE may refer to:
Language
* He (pronoun), an English pronoun
* He (kana), the romanization of the Japanese kana へ
* He (letter), the fifth letter of many Semitic alphabets
* He (Cyrillic), a letter of the Cyrillic script called ''He'' in ...
written by you could not possibly be dull"
[Verdi to Boito, 11 December 1880, in Budden, p. 258]), Verdi did caution Boito that he appeared to be "aiming at a perfection impossible here. I
erdiaim lower and am more optimistic than you and I don't despair",
in essence, expressing an unwillingness to re-write the opera as completely as Boito had proposed. It would have been far more work than the composer wished to be involved in at the time.
The pair spent the latter part of 1880 and into January 1881 with back-and-forth additions and revisions (the composer in Genoa, the librettist in Milan and meeting only once),
[Phillips-Matz, p. 658] all of which are heavily documented in the Verdi-Boito correspondence, the ''Carteggio Verdi-Boito'', and significantly quoted in Budden. All this was the build-up to performances in Milan the following March, although the composer was constantly concerned about the suitability of the singers engaged there for that season, and he threatened to withdraw the opera on more than one occasion.
The result was the contrast, which Parker describes, between the original 1857 act 2 finale, "set in a large square in Genoa,
sa conventional four-movement concertante finale, a grand ceremonial scene" whereas, in the 1881 revision, "
erdiinjected into the heart of the work an episode of enormous vividness and power, enriching the character of Boccanegra in such a way that his subsequent death scene gains considerably in impressiveness". And, as Budden puts it, "Simone (''sic'') rises to spiritual greatness. For the first time, his moral authority puts forth all its strength, ... positively as in the appeal for peace ..."
[Budden, p. 329]
Performance history
Original 1857 version
While not a popular success, it did garner some critical acclaim, "with the music being praised for its fidelity to the text, the orchestration for its elegance, the melody for its inspiration" noted the ''Gazzetta Musicale'',
but Budden notes that "complaints of 'obscurity', 'severity', harmonic abstruseness' are heard from even the most respectful of critics".
And Verdi himself was fairly blunt in his assessment: "I've had a fiasco in Venice almost as great as that of ''La traviata''" he reported to
Clara Maffei
Elena Clara Antonia Carrara Spinelli (13 March 1814, in Bergamo – 13 July 1886, in Milan) was an Italian woman of letters and backer of the Risorgimento, usually known by her married name of countess Clara Maffei or Chiarina Maffei.
Life
At 17 ...
.
Following its 1857 premiere, ''Simon Boccanegra'' was performed in
Reggio Emilia
Reggio nell'Emilia ( egl, Rèz; la, Regium Lepidi), usually referred to as Reggio Emilia, or simply Reggio by its inhabitants, and known until 1861 as Reggio di Lombardia, is a city in northern Italy, in the Emilia-Romagna region. It has abou ...
, "where it triumphed ... ... and again in
Naples
Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...
in 1858 ..."
[Budden, pp. 253–254] There was similar acclaim after the Rome presentation about the same time, but "on the other hand, ''Boccanegra'' had been laughed off the stage in Florence" and "had been a fiasco at La Scala in 1859".
It was given in
Malta
Malta ( , , ), officially the Republic of Malta ( mt, Repubblika ta' Malta ), is an island country in the Mediterranean Sea. It consists of an archipelago, between Italy and Libya, and is often considered a part of Southern Europe. It lies ...
in 1860,
Madrid
Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), and ...
and
Lisbon
Lisbon (; pt, Lisboa ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 544,851 within its administrative limits in an area of 100.05 km2. Grande Lisboa, Lisbon's urban area extends beyond the city's administr ...
in 1861, and
Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South ...
and
Montevideo
Montevideo () is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Uruguay, largest city of Uruguay. According to the 2011 census, the city proper has a population of 1,319,108 (about one-third of the country's total population) in an area of . M ...
in 1862, but, after that, it almost completely disappeared with only a sporadic performance or two, including
Corfu
Corfu (, ) or Kerkyra ( el, Κέρκυρα, Kérkyra, , ; ; la, Corcyra.) is a Greek island in the Ionian Sea, of the Ionian Islands, and, including its small satellite islands, forms the margin of the northwestern frontier of Greece. The isl ...
in 1870 and Alexandria in late 1880.
[George Hall, "A Performance and Reception History" in Kahn (Ed.), pp. 44–45]
A concert performance of the original version, possibly its first hearing in 100 years (and its UK premiere), took place at the Golders Green Hippodrome in London on 2 August 1975 before an invited audience "masterminded"
by Julian Budden with
Sesto Bruscantini
Sesto Bruscantini (10 December 1919 – 4 May 2003) was an Italian baritone, one of the greatest buffo singers of the post-war era, especially renowned in Mozart and Rossini.
Biography and career
Bruscantini was born in Civitanova Marche, Marche, ...
in the title role and
André Turp as Gabriele. This production was broadcast on 1 January 1976 and issued on CD. It was also performed by the
Royal Opera, London
The Royal Opera is a British opera company based in central London, resident at the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden. Along with the English National Opera, it is one of the two principal opera companies in London. Founded in 1946 as the Cove ...
as a concert performances in June 1995
with
Anthony Michaels-Moore
Anthony Michaels-Moore (born 8 April 1957) is an English operatic baritone and the first British winner of the Luciano Pavarotti International Voice Competition (Philadelphia, 1985). Michaels-Moore has since performed in many of the world's major ...
and
José Cura
José Luis Victor Cura Gómez (born 5 December 1962) is an Argentine operatic tenor, conductor, director, scenographer and photographer known for intense and original interpretations of opera characters, notably ''Otello'' in Verdi’s ''Otello' ...
and staged at Covent Garden in June 1997 with
Sergei Leiferkus
Sergei Leiferkus (born 4 April 1946) is an operatic baritone from Russia, known for his dramatic technique and powerful voice particularly in Russian and Italian language repertoire. He is most notable for his roles as Scarpia in ''Tosca'', Ia ...
and
Plácido Domingo
José Plácido Domingo Embil (born 21 January 1941) is a Spanish opera singer, conductor, and arts administrator. He has recorded over a hundred complete operas and is well known for his versatility, regularly performing in Italian, French, ...
in the two aforementioned male roles. The Amelias in the 1995 and 1997 versions were Amanda Roocroft and
Kallen Esperian
Kallen Esperian (born June 8, 1961) is an American lyric soprano. She won the Luciano Pavarotti International Voice Competition in 1985 and is best known for her performances in major opera productions.
History
Kallen Esperian was born on June ...
respectively.
![Simone Boccanegra (1881) 03](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a8/Simone_Boccanegra_%281881%29_03.jpg)
In August 1999 there was a set of performances 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 ...
in Martina Franca, which was recorded. That same year it was given by New York Grand Opera, this being its first New York performance.
Sarasota Opera
Sarasota Opera is a professional opera company in Sarasota, Florida, USA, which
was founded as the Asolo Opera Guild and, until 1974, presented a visiting company's productions. Between 1974 and 1979, it set about mounting its own productions in t ...
, in its "Verdi Cycle" series of all of the composer's works, gave it its American premiere in 1992.
Revised version of 1881
It is this later version, unveiled in 1881 in
Milan
Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...
, and given in
Vienna
en, Viennese
, iso_code = AT-9
, registration_plate = W
, postal_code_type = Postal code
, postal_code =
, timezone = CET
, utc_offset = +1
, timezone_DST ...
and
Paris
Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...
in 1882 and 1883, respectively, that has become part of the standard operatic repertory. The British premiere did not occur until 1948, when it was given in English at
Sadler's Wells
Sadler's Wells Theatre is a performing arts venue in Clerkenwell, London, England located on Rosebery Avenue next to New River Head. The present-day theatre is the sixth on the site since 1683. It consists of two performance spaces: a 1,500-sea ...
, with
Arnold Matters (Simone),
James Johnston (Adorno),
Joyce Gartside (Amelia) and
Howell Glynne Howell Glynne (24 January 190624 November 1969Harold Rosenthal, ''Grove Music'') was an operatic bass. He was born in Britain but lived the latter years of his life in Canada, and taught singing at the University of Toronto.
Biography
He was born i ...
(Fiesco).
Roles
Synopsis
:Time: The middle of the 14th century.
:Place: In and around
Genoa
Genoa ( ; it, Genova ; lij, Zêna ). is the capital of the Italian region of Liguria and the List of cities in Italy, sixth-largest city in Italy. In 2015, 594,733 people lived within the city's administrative limits. As of the 2011 Italian ce ...
.
Prologue
(Act 1 in the 1857 original)
''A piazza in front of the Fieschi palace''
[Verdi to Ricordi, 20 November 1880, in Werfel and Stefan, pp. 360–361]
Paolo Albiani, a plebeian, tells his ally Pietro that in the forthcoming election of the
Doge
A doge ( , ; plural dogi or doges) was an elected lord and head of state in several Italian city-states, notably Venice and Genoa, during the medieval and renaissance periods. Such states are referred to as " crowned republics".
Etymology
The ...
, his choice for the plebeian candidate is Simon Boccanegra. Boccanegra arrives and is persuaded to stand when Paolo hints that if Boccanegra becomes Doge, the aristocratic Jacopo Fiesco will surely allow him to wed his daughter Maria. When Boccanegra has gone, Paolo gossips about Boccanegra's love affair with Maria Fiesco – Boccanegra and Maria have had a child, and the furious Fiesco has locked his daughter away in his palace. Pietro rallies a crowd of citizens to support Boccanegra. After the crowd has dispersed, Fiesco comes out of his palace, stricken with grief; Maria has just died (''Il lacerato spirito'' – "The tortured soul of a sad father"). He swears vengeance on Boccanegra for destroying his family. When he meets Boccanegra he does not inform him of Maria's death. Boccanegra offers reconciliation and Fiesco promises clemency only if Boccanegra lets him have his granddaughter. Boccanegra explains he cannot because the child, put in the care of a nurse, has vanished. He enters the palace and finds the body of his beloved just before crowds pour in, hailing him as the new Doge.
Act 1
(Act 2 in the 1857 original)
:
wenty-five years have passed. Historically the action has moved from 1339, the year of Simon's election in the prologue, forward to 1363, the year of the historical Simone Boccanegra's death – for acts 1, 2 and 3.]
:[The Doge has exiled many of his political opponents and confiscated their property. Among them is Jacopo Fiesco, who has been living in the House of Grimaldi, Grimaldi palace, using the name Andrea Grimaldi to avoid discovery and plotting with Boccanegra's enemies to overthrow the Doge. The Grimaldis have adopted an orphaned child of unknown parentage after discovering her in a convent (she is in fact Boccanegra's child, Maria – known as Amelia – named after her mother, and she is Fiesco's granddaughter). They called her Amelia, hoping that she would be the heir to their family's fortune, their sons having been exiled and their own baby daughter having died. Amelia is now a young woman.]
''Scene 1: A garden in the Grimaldi palace, before sunrise''
Amelia is awaiting her lover, Gabriele Adorno (Aria:''Come in quest'ora bruna'' – "How in the morning light / The sea and stars shine brightly"). She suspects him of plotting against the Doge and when he arrives she warns him of the dangers of political conspiracy. Word arrives that the Doge is coming. Amelia, fearing that the Doge will force her to marry Paolo, now his councilor, urges Adorno to ask her guardian Andrea (in reality, Fiesco) for permission for them to marry: ''Sì, sì dell'ara il giubilo / contrasti il fato avverso'' – "Yes, let the joy of marriage be set against unkind fate".
:
857 original version: the duet ended with a cabaletta (set to the same words as the 1881 text) then "a coda and a battery of chords followed by applause."
Fiesco reveals to Adorno that Amelia is not a Grimaldi, but a foundling adopted by the family. When Adorno says that he does not care, Fiesco blesses the marriage. Boccanegra enters and tells Amelia that he has pardoned her exiled brothers. She tells him that she is in love, but not with Paolo, whom she refuses to marry. Boccanegra has no desire to force Amelia into a marriage against her will. She tells him that she was adopted and that she has one souvenir of her mother, a picture in a locket. The two compare Amelia's picture with Boccanegra's, and Boccanegra realizes that she is his long-lost daughter. Finally reunited, they are overcome with joy. Amelia goes into the palace. Soon after, Paolo arrives to find out if Amelia has accepted him. Boccanegra tells him that the marriage will not take place. Furious, Paolo arranges for Amelia to be kidnapped.
''Scene 2: The council chamber''
:
881 revision: This entire scene was added by Verdi and Boito in place of the 1857 scene, which took place in a large square in Genoa.
The Doge encourages his councillors to make peace with Venice. He is interrupted by the sounds of a mob calling for blood. Paolo suspects that his kidnapping plot has failed. The Doge prevents anyone leaving the council chamber and orders the doors to be thrown open. A crowd bursts in, chasing Adorno. Adorno confesses to killing Lorenzino, a plebeian, who had kidnapped Amelia, claiming to have done so at the order of a high-ranking official. Adorno incorrectly guesses the official was Boccanegra and is about to attack him when Amelia rushes in and stops him (Aria: ''Nell'ora soave'' – "At that sweet hour which invites ecstasy / I was walking alone by the sea"). She describes her abduction and escape. Before she is able to identify her kidnapper, fighting breaks out once more. Boccanegra establishes order and has Adorno arrested for the night (Aria: ''Plebe! Patrizi! Popolo!'' – "Plebeians! Patricians! Inheritors / Of a fierce history"). He orders the crowd to make peace and they praise his mercy. Realizing that Paolo is responsible for the kidnapping, Boccanegra places him in charge of finding the culprit. He then makes everyone, including Paolo, utter a curse on the kidnapper.
Act 2
(Act 3 in the 1857 original)
''The Doge's apartments''
:[1881 revised version: There are some small adjustments in this act which include expanding Paolo's opening aria, thus giving him greater stature in the work: ''Me stesso ho maledetto!'' / "I have cursed myself", the wording of which was originally: ''O doge ingrato ... ch'io rinunci Amelia e i suoi tesori?'' / "O ungrateful Doge! ... Must I give up Amelia and her charms".]
Paolo has imprisoned Fiesco. Determined to kill Boccanegra, Paolo pours a slow-acting poison into the Doge's water, and then tries to convince Fiesco to murder Boccanegra in return for his freedom. Fiesco refuses. Paolo next suggests to Adorno that Amelia is the Doge's mistress, hoping Adorno will murder Boccanegra in a jealous rage. Adorno is furious (Aria: ''Sento avvampar nell'anima'' – "I feel a furious jealousy / Setting my soul on fire"). Amelia enters the Doge's apartments, seeming to confirm Adorno's suspicions, and he angrily accuses her of infidelity. She claims only to love him, but cannot reveal her secret – that Boccanegra is her father – because Adorno's family were killed by the Doge. Adorno hides as Boccanegra is heard approaching. Amelia confesses to Boccanegra that she is in love with his enemy Adorno. Boccanegra is angry, but tells his daughter that if the young nobleman changes his ways, he may pardon him. He asks Amelia to leave, and then takes a drink of the poisoned water, which Paolo has placed on the table. He falls asleep. Adorno emerges and is about to kill Boccanegra, when Amelia returns in time to stop him. Boccanegra wakes and reveals to Adorno that Amelia is his daughter. Adorno begs for Amelia's forgiveness (Trio: ''Perdon, Amelia ... Indomito'' – "Forgive me, Amelia ... A wild, / Jealous love was mine"). Noises of fighting are heard – Paolo has stirred up a revolution against the Doge. Adorno promises to fight for Boccanegra, who vows that Adorno shall marry Amelia if he can crush the rebels.
Act 3
(Act 4 in the 1857 original)
:
857 original version: Act 4 opened with a double male voice chorus, and a confused dialogue involving references to details in the original play.
''Inside the Doge's palace''
The uprising against the Doge has been put down. Paolo has been condemned to death for fighting with the rebels against the Doge. Fiesco is released from prison by the Doge's men. On his way to the scaffold, Paolo boasts to Fiesco that he has poisoned Boccanegra. Fiesco is deeply shocked. He confronts Boccanegra, who is now dying from Paolo's poison. Boccanegra recognizes his old enemy and tells Fiesco that Amelia is his granddaughter. Fiesco feels great remorse and tells Boccanegra about the poison. Adorno and Amelia, newly married, arrive to find the two men reconciled. Boccanegra tells Amelia that Fiesco is her grandfather and, before he dies, names Adorno his successor. The crowd mourns the death of the Doge.
Music
![Disegno per copertina di libretto, disegno di Peter Hoffer per Simon Boccanegra (1955) - Archivio Storico Ricordi ICON012429](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/88/Disegno_per_copertina_di_libretto%2C_disegno_di_Peter_Hoffer_per_Simon_Boccanegra_%281955%29_-_Archivio_Storico_Ricordi_ICON012429.jpg)
Budden makes a useful observation on the musical qualities of the original version: "all the devices that we associate with the term ''bel canto'' are sparingly used"
[Budden, p. 254] and he suggests that, at mid-century, "this amounted to a denial of Italy's national birthright"
for an audience brought up on the conventions employed by
Vincenzo Bellini
Vincenzo Salvatore Carmelo Francesco Bellini (; 3 November 1801 – 23 September 1835) was a Sicilian opera composer, who was known for his long-flowing melodic lines for which he was named "the Swan of Catania".
Many years later, in 1898, Giu ...
or
Gaetano Donizetti
Domenico Gaetano Maria Donizetti (29 November 1797 – 8 April 1848) was an Italian composer, best known for his almost 70 operas. Along with Gioachino Rossini and Vincenzo Bellini, he was a leading composer of the '' bel canto'' opera style dur ...
. In his "Introduction to the 1881 Score", James Hepokoski emphasizes that Budden's assertion appeared to be true, since the 1857 original "resounded with clear echoes of
erdi'searlier style" and that he employed the known techniques but, at the same time, moved away from them, so that:
:the basic musical conventions of the
Risorgimento
The unification of Italy ( it, Unità d'Italia ), also known as the ''Risorgimento'' (, ; ), was the 19th-century political and social movement that resulted in the consolidation of different states of the Italian Peninsula into a single ...
(separate numbers with breaks for applause, multi-movement arias and duets with repetitive
coda
Coda or CODA may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Films
* Movie coda, a post-credits scene
* ''Coda'' (1987 film), an Australian horror film about a serial killer, made for television
*''Coda'', a 2017 American experimental film from Na ...
s,
cadenza
In music, a cadenza (from it, cadenza, link=no , meaning cadence; plural, ''cadenze'' ) is, generically, an improvisation, improvised or written-out ornament (music), ornamental passage (music), passage played or sung by a solo (music), sol ...
s and repeated
cabaletta
Cabaletta is a two-part musical form particularly favored for arias in 19th century Italian opera in the belcanto era until about the 1860s during which it was one of the era's most important elements. More properly, a cabaletta is a more animate ...
s, static ''concertato'' ensembles, and so on) were indeed present, if usually modified
o that
O, or o, is the fifteenth letter and the fourth vowel letter in the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''o'' (pronounced ), plu ...
the musical discourse was characteristically terse, angular, and muscular.
Budden goes on to suggest the implications of this move away from the standard forms, albeit that "
twas a daring, innovative work. Without altering the letter of the contemporary Italian forms, it certainly altered their spirit ... Quite unheard of was a protagonist without a single extended lyrical solo to himself.
Additionally, Budden suggests that musically "the richness and subtlety of the musical language acquired over twenty-four years suffice to fill out Simon's personality further.
The 1881 revisions then, which, in most cases, did not require changes in the libretto, were made to the music by Verdi. As David Kimbell demonstrates with a few examples, areas such as which illustrate more refined use of the orchestra include the first scene of the Prologue: "the dialogue, instead of being punctuated by the customary figurations of accompanied recitative, is set against a gravely flowing orchestral theme."
[Kimbell 2001, in Holden, p. 1007]
Recordings
1857 original version
1881 revised version
References
Notes
Cited sources
*
Budden, Julian
Julian Medforth Budden (9 April 1924 in Hoylake, Wirral – 28 February 2007 in Florence, Italy) was a British opera scholar, radio producer and broadcaster. He is particularly known for his three volumes on the operas of Giuseppe Verdi (publish ...
(1984), ''The Operas of Verdi, Volume 2: From Il Trovatore to La Forza del destino''. London: Cassell. (hardcover) (paperback).
*Kahn, Gary (Ed.) (2011), ''Simon Boccanegra: Giuseppe Verdi'', (Overture Opera Guides). London, Overture Publishing in association with
English National Opera
English National Opera (ENO) is an opera company based in London, resident at the London Coliseum in St Martin's Lane. It is one of the two principal opera companies in London, along with The Royal Opera. ENO's productions are sung in English ...
.
*Kimbell, David (2001), in
Holden, Amanda (Ed.), ''The New Penguin Opera Guide'', New York: Penguin Putnam.
*Loewenberg, Alfred (1978), ''Annals of Opera, 1597 to 1940.'' London, John Calder.
*
Osborne, Charles (1993), ''The Complete Opera of Verdi'', New York: Da Capo Press, Inc.
*
Parker, Roger (1998), "''Simon Boccanegra"'', in
Stanley Sadie
Stanley John Sadie (; 30 October 1930 – 21 March 2005) was an influential and prolific British musicologist, music critic, and editor. He was editor of the sixth edition of the '' Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians'' (1980), which was publ ...
, (Ed.), ''
The New Grove Dictionary of Opera
''The New Grove Dictionary of Opera'' is an encyclopedia of opera, considered to be one of the best general reference sources on the subject. It is the largest work on opera in English, and in its printed form, amounts to 5,448 pages in four volu ...
'', Vol. Four. London: Macmillan Publishers. 1998
*
Phillips-Matz, Mary Jane (1993), ''Verdi: A Biography'', London & New York: Oxford University Press.
*
Werfel, Franz and Stefan, Paul (1973), ''Verdi: The Man and His Letters'', New York, Vienna House.
Other sources
*Baldini, Gabriele, (trans. Roger Parker) (1980), ''The Story of Giuseppe Verdi: Oberto to Un Ballo in Maschera''. Cambridge, ''et al'': Cambridge University Press.
*Busch, Hans (1988), ''Verdi's Otello and Simon Boccanegra (revised version)''; two volumes. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
*Chusid, Martin, (Ed.) (1997), ''Verdi’s Middle Period, 1849 to 1859'', Chicago and London: University of Chicago Press.
*Conati, Marcello and Mario Medici (Eds.) (Trans. William Weaver) (1994)
''The Verdi-Boito Correspondence'' Chicago: University of Chicago Press
*De Van, Gilles (trans. Gilda Roberts) (1998), ''Verdi’s Theater: Creating Drama Through Music''. Chicago & London: University of Chicago Press. (hardback),
*
Gossett, Philip (2006), ''Divas and Scholar: Performing Italian Opera'', Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
*Martin, George (1983), '' Verdi: His Music, Life and Times''. New York: Dodd, Mead and Company.
*
Parker, Roger (2007), ''The New Grove Guide to Verdi and His Operas'', Oxford & New York: Oxford University Press.
*
Pistone, Danièle (1995), ''Nineteenth-Century Italian Opera: From Rossini to Puccini'', Portland, OR: Amadeus Press.
*
Toye, Francis (1931), ''Giuseppe Verdi: His Life and Works'', New York: Knopf
*Walker, Frank, ''The Man Verdi'' (1982), New York: Knopf, 1962, Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
*Warrack, John and West, Ewan (1992), ''The Oxford Dictionary of Opera'' New York: OUP.
External links
Greatest Verdi singers, Verdi's friends and collaborators, a genealogy opera per opera projecton geni.com
*
Arias and roles of ''Simon Boccanegra'' from aria-database.com
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Operas by Giuseppe Verdi
Italian-language operas
1857 operas
Operas
Operas set in Italy
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Opera world premieres at La Fenice
1881 operas
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Libretti by Arrigo Boito
Cultural depictions of Italian men
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