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La gazza ladra
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Operas by Gioachino Rossini |
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La scala di seta (1812) |
- "The Thieving Magpie" redirects here, for the Marillion album of the same name see The Thieving Magpie (album)
La gazza ladra (The Thieving Magpie) is a melodramma or opera semiseria in two acts by Gioacchino Rossini. The libretto was by Giovanni Gherardini after La pie voleuse by JMT Badouin d'Aubigny and Louis-Charles Caigniez.
The opera is best known for its overture, which is notable for its use of snare drums.
Rossini was famous for his writing speed, and La gazza ladra was no exception. It was reported that the producer had to lock Rossini in a room the day before the first performance in order to write the overture. Rossini then threw each sheet out of the window to his copyists, who wrote out the full orchestral parts.
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It was first performed on 31 May 1817 at La Scala, Milan. The opera was revised by Rossini for subsequent productions in Pesaro in 1818, and for the Teatro del Fondo (Naples) in 1819 and the Teatro di San Carlo (Naples) in 1820. He again worked on the music in Paris in 1866.
Riccardo Zandonai made his own version of the opera for a revival in Pesaro in 1941. Alberto Zedda edited Rossini's original work for publication by the Fondazione Rossini in 1979.
- Fabrizio Vongradito, a rich farmer (bass)
- Lucia, his wife (mezzo-soprano)
- Giannetto, his son, a soldier (tenor)
- Ninetta, a servant in their house (soprano)
- Fernando Villabella, her father, a soldier (baritone)
- Gottardo, village mayor (bass)
- Pippo, a young peasant, employed by Fabrizio (contralto)
- Isacco, a pedlar (tenor)
- Antonio, the gaoler (tenor)
- Giorgio, servant to the mayor (bass)
- Ernesto, friend of Fernando, a soldier (bass)
- Magpie (usually performed by a dancer)
Ninetta hopes to marry Giannetto, returning from the war. She tries to shelter her father Fernando Villabella, who has deserted from the army, and is troubled by the attentions of the mayor, Gottardo. A missing spoon and the evidence of Isacco, the pedlar, who has bought a piece of silver from Ninetta to raise money for her father, lead to her accusation and imprisonment. She is tried and found guilty, to be saved from death at the last minute by the discovery of the thief, the thieving magpie of the title.
The most famous aria in the opera is probably Ninetta's prayer "Deh, tu reggi in tal memento". The soprano aria "Di piacer mi balza cor" and the tenor aria "Vieni fra queste braccia" (interestingly the cabaletta for the duet between Arturo and Elvira from Bellini's I Puritani starts with the exact same words) are two examples of Rossini's brilliant vocal writing.
This overture, beginning and ending in E major, though passing through G major, makes a few appearances in Stanley Kubrick's A Clockwork Orange, and has also provided the background score for many television, radio commercials.
In Tintin's The Castafiore Emerald, the opera helps Tintin realize who has stolen Bianca Castafiore's prized emerald.
Gazza ladra, La by Richard Osborne, in The New Grove Dictionary of Opera, ed. Stanley Sadie (London, 1992) ISBN 0-333-73432-7