FULL LE VILLI London 2022 Anne Sophie Duprels, Peter Auty, Stephen Gadd
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Information on the Performance
- Work Title: Le Villi
- Composer: Puccini Giacomo
- Libretto: Ferdinando Fontana Libretto Text, Libretto Index
- Venue & Opera Company: Holland Park, London, UK, Opera Holland Park
- Recorded: 2022
- Type: Staged Opera Live
- Singers: Anne Sophie Duprels, Peter Auty, Stephen Gadd
- Conductor: Francesco Cilluffo
- Orchestra: City of London Sinfonia
- Chorus: Opera Holland Park Chorus
- Choreographer: Jami Reid-Quarrel
Information about the Recording
- Published by: Opera Holland Park
- Date Published: 2023
- Format: Streaming
- Quality Video: 4 Audio:4
- Subtitles: nosubs
- Video Recording from: vk FULL VIDEO
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ON THIS PERFORMANCE
Quote from Wikipedia:
Le Villi is Puccini’s first stage work. It was written for an 1883 competition of one-act operas by the publisher Sonzogno in his periodical Il teatro illustrato, but did not even earn an honourable mention. According to Mosco Carner, this may have been because it was written in such haste that the score was all but illegible.[2] His supporters, who included Arrigo Boito, funded the first production, whose favorable reception led to publication by Giulio Ricordi. Puccini’s mother received the following telegram on the night of premiere at the Teatro dal Verme on 31 May 1884: “Theatre packed, immense success; anticipations exceeded; eighteen calls; finale of first act encored thrice”‘.[3] Ricordi urged the composer to expand the work, and Puccini did, producing a new version later that year, which was followed by modifications in 1885, and the final version in 1889. A performance typically lasts 64 minutes.
Synopsis
Place: The Black Forest
Time: Indeterminate
Act 1 Spring
Family and guests dance at a celebration of the engagement in marriage of Roberto and Anna. Roberto must leave before the ceremony to collect an inheritance, and Anna worries that she will never see him again (Aria: Se come voi piccina). Roberto comforts Anna telling her that it will be fine and they will marry when he returns from Mainz. Anna tells Roberto of her dreams of him dying but Roberto tells Anna that she should not worry about his love failing and that she may doubt her God but not his love for her. The crowd returns and Anna is still worried about Roberto leaving. Roberto then asks Guglielmo, Anna’s father, to bless them before his journey and Roberto sets off for Mainz.
Intermezzo
Roberto is enchanted by a siren, and forgets Anna. Anna waits through the summer and the autumn and in the winter dies in his absence. The legend of the fairies (Le Villi) is then explained. When a woman dies of a broken heart, the fairies force the heart breaker to dance until death.
Act 2 Winter
Anna’s father, Guglielmo, holds Roberto responsible for Anna’s death and calls upon the Villi to take vengeance on Roberto (Aria: Anima santa della figlia mia). The Villi call upon the ghost of Anna and lure Roberto into the forest. Roberto, now penniless and abandoned by the seductress, returns when news of Anna’s death reaches him. Hoping that he will be forgiven, the Villi stalk Roberto as he mourns the loss of the days of his youth (Aria: Torna ai felici dì). Roberto then finds the one last flower left alive in the winter and tries to find hope that Anna lives but is repelled by the Villi when he tries to knock on the door of Guglielmo’s house. Roberto then tries to pray for forgiveness but finds he cannot because of the curse put upon him by the Villi. As Roberto curses his fate Anna appears to him and tells him of the suffering that she had to endure. Roberto begs for forgiveness and he too feels the pain of Anna burning in his heart. But Roberto is not forgiven and Anna calls upon the Villi, who curse Roberto with cries of “traitor.” There, the Villi and Anna dance with Roberto until he dies of exhaustion at Anna’s feet.