Sources
Help build the largest human-edited directory on the web.
Submit a site - Become an editor
Wikipedia. Licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License.
Are you an expert in this subject? Join the discussion and share your knowledge at Wikipedia.org.
La fanciulla del West
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Operas by Giacomo Puccini |
|---|
Le Villi (1884) |
La fanciulla del West (The Girl of the Golden West) is an opera in three acts by Giacomo Puccini to an Italian libretto by Guelfo Civinini and Carlo Zangarini, based on the play The Girl of the Golden West by David Belasco. The first performance was Metropolitan Opera, New York, 1910.
Contents |
After the success of his opera Madama Butterfly, Puccini returned to the source of its inspiration, David Belasco. Belasco, playwright for Madame Butterfly had also written The Girl of the Golden West, and Puccini selected that drama for his next opera.
It was first performed on 10 December 1910 in New York City at the Metropolitan Opera House with Emmy Destinn as Minnie, Enrico Caruso as Dick Johnson and Pasquale Amato as Jack Rance; Arturo Toscanini conducted the premiere.
This opera was the first world premiere for the Metropolitan Opera House, and was a huge success in the United States. Despite that, it was never as popular in Europe, except, perhaps, in Germany where it enjoyed a triumphant premiere in March 1913 at the Deutsche Opernhaus in Berlin (now known as the Deutsche Oper), under the musical direction of Ignatz Waghalter. It has fewer of the "showstopping" highlights that are characteristic of other Puccini operas, but is admired for being far better integrated than his earlier work. It shows the obvious influence of (but by no means any imitation of) Debussy, and is Puccini's only venture into impressionism. It is still occasionally performed, but not as often as Puccini's other mature operas.
Listeners of the opera might perceive that it bears some resemblance to Andrew Lloyd Webber's 1986 musical The Phantom of the Opera. An example of this is shown in Webber's aria for the Phantom, Music of the Night. A segment of it appears to be taken right from Johnson's excerpt Quello che tacete, which is located near the end of the first Act of The Girl of the Golden West. However, it has never been proved whether Lloyd Webber looked to The Girl of the Golden West for ideas.
| Role | Voice type | Premiere Cast, December 10, 1910 (Conductor: Arturo Toscanini) |
|---|---|---|
| Minnie | soprano | Emmy Destinn |
| Jack Rance, sheriff | baritone | Pasquale Amato |
| Dick Johnson/Ramerrez, bandit | tenor | Enrico Caruso |
| Nick, bartender at the Polka saloon | tenor | Albert Reiss |
| Ashby, Wells Fargo agent | bass | Adamo Didur |
| Sonora, miner | baritone | Dinh Gilly |
| Trin, miner | tenor | Angelo Badà |
| Sid, miner | baritone | Giulio Rossi |
| Handsome, miner | baritone | Vincenzo Reschiglian |
| Harry, miner | tenor | Pietro Audisio |
| Joe, miner | tenor | Glenn Hall |
| Happy, miner | baritone | Antonio Pini-Corsi |
| Jim Larkens, miner | bass | Bernard Bégué |
| Billy Jackrabbit, a Red Indian | bass | Georges Bourgeois |
| Wowkle, his squaw | mezzo-soprano | Marie Mattfeld |
| Jake Wallace, a traveling camp minstrel | baritone | Andrés de Segurola |
| José Castro, a "greaser", from Ramerrez' band | bass | Edoardo Missiano |
| The Pony Express rider | tenor | Lamberto Belleri |
| Men of the camp and boys of the ridge | ||
- Time:1849 to 1850.
- Place: A mining camp in the high Sierras in California.
Sheriff Rance quiets a brawl that has broken out in Minnie's Polka saloon. Ashby announces that he is chasing the bandit Ramerrez and his gang. When Rance is told that Minnie is only toying with him, another fight follows. A plan is formed to capture Ramerrez, after reading a letter from Ramerrez's old girlfriend. Minnie rebuffs Rance's attentions. The stranger Dick Johnson enters who knows Minnie. When the miners demand to know his plans, she intervenes. Rance becomes angry when he sees Minnie and Johnson dancing. Ashby returns with the gang member Castro, and after they threaten to kill him, he promises to betray Ramerrez, who is actually Johnson. The miners follow Castro on a wild goose chase. Johnson stays behind to protect Minnie. They confess their love for each other.
Minnie tells Johnson about her life, and they kiss. Overwhelmed with guilt over his secret identity, Johnson tries to leave, but is stopped by snow. He swears his love to Minnie. Before the sheriff and his men enter, Minnie hides Johnson. She is shocked to learn that Johnson is Ramerrez. After the men leave, she confronts Ramerrez. He confesses, asks for forgiveness, and reforms. After leaving he is shot, but Minnie takes him back to care for him in secret. Sheriff Rance is about to give up searching for Ramerrez, when he discovers a drop of blood. Minnie desperately makes Rance an offer. If she beats him at poker, he must let Ramerrez go free. If he wins, she will be his. Minnie wins by cheating, and Rance honors the deal.
Rance is furious that Minnie loves Ramerrez. Ashby captures Ramerrez and turns him over to the sheriff. The men want to hang Ramerrez as a thief and a murderer. He denies killing anyone, but admits to stealing. He accepts the sentence, and only asks that Minnie be told that he escaped. Minnie gallops in before the hanging, and while Rance tries to proceed, she convinces the miners that they owe Minnie too much to kill the man she loves. Minnie and Ramerrez leave to start a new life together.
- "Laggiù nel Soledad" - Minnie in Act I
- "Minnie, dalla mia casa" - Jack Rance in Act I
- "Oh, se sapeste" - Minnie in Act II
- "Basta uomo d'inferno!" - Minnie and Jack Rance Act III
- "Or son sei mesi" - Dick Johnson aka Ramerrez in Act II
- "Ch'ella mì creda libero" - Dick Johnson aka Ramerrez in Act III
| Year | Cast (Minnie, Dick Johnson, Jack Rance) |
Conductor, Opera House and Orchestra |
Label |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1982 | Carol Neblett, Plácido Domingo, Silvano Carroli |
Nello Santi, Royal Opera House, Covent Garden Orchestra and Chorus |
DVD: Kultur Video ASIN: 032031203822 |
| 1991 | Mara Zampieri, Plácido Domingo, Juan Pons |
Lorin Maazel, Teatro alla Scala Orchestra and chorus |
DVD: BBC / Opus Arte ASIN: B00027LD66 |
| 1992 | Barbara Daniels, Plácido Domingo, Sherrill Milnes |
Leonard Slatkin, The Metropolitan Opera Orchestra and Chorus |
DVD: Deutsche Grammophon Cat: 00440 073 4023 |
(Note: "Cat:" is short for catalogue number by the label company; "ASIN" is amazon.com product reference number.)
Unfortunately, Caruso never recorded any of the music from the opera because of a copyright impediment. Puccini had composed the opera's two big tenor arias with Caruso's opulent voice in mind.
- The Girl of the Golden West (1915), directed by Cecil B. DeMille, featuring Mabel Van Buren, Theodore Roberts and House Peters
- The Girl of the Golden West (1923), directed by Edwin Carewe and starring Sylvia Breamer, J. Warren Kerrigan and Russell Simpson
- The Girl of the Golden West (1930), a lost film directed by John Francis Dillon, with Ann Harding, James Rennie and Harry Bannister
- The Girl of the Golden West (1938), directed by Robert Z. Leonard, starring Jeanette MacDonald, Nelson Eddy and Walter Pidgeon
- Hamilton, David, ed. (1987). The Metropolitan Opera Encyclopedia. New York: Simon & Schuster. ISBN 067161732X.
- The Girl of the Golden West by David Belasco, available at Project Gutenberg.
- Creative Commons MP3 Recording (Italian)
- Libretto
- 'Puccini and New York', lecture by Professor Roger Parker on the opera, given at Gresham College on 11th June 2007 (with video and audio files available for download).