NOTES ON GIANNI SCHICCHI (buy tickets!)

Giacomo Puccini (1858-1924)

OPERA PROJECT COLUMBUS PRESENTS GIANNI SCHICCHI THIS WEEKEND: 

www.operaprojectcolumbus.org


Sat 8 pm Sunday 3 pm
Jewsih Community Center of Columbus
tix at the door

NOTES ON GIANNI SCHICCHI

   

Christopher Purdy

Giacomo Puccini (1858-1924) spent some of his time writing the wonderful operas we love today, among them: Madama Butterfly, La boheme, Tosca and Gianni Schicchi,  and spent most of his time chasing down subjects for his next opera, arguing with librettists, placating singers, supervising rehearsals, and trying to stay clear of his bad tempered wife, Elvira.

Dante

Like Verdi before him and Mozart before him, Puccini was never satisfied until he had found a new subject for an opera. Later in his career he found three subjects. He planned an evening of three one -act operas and called the grouping Il trittico.

He completed a one act grande-guignol shocker, Il tabarro, (The Cloak) and the story of a young woman who bears a child she is forced to give up, and made to enter a convent: Suor Angelica.  Gianni Schicchi , Puccini’s only comedy,  was the only one of the three to achieve success in the composer’s life time. It was the last opera Puccini completed.

Puccini’s librettist for Suor Angelica and Gianni Schicchi was Giovacchino Forzano (1884-1970). Forzano had studied singing and medicine before turning to journalism. He continued his career as a stage director at La Scala and as a playwright. For Gianni Schicchi ,  the writer turned a few lines from Dante’s Divina Commedia. The story of Gianni Schicchi is expanded upon in Commentary on the Divine Comedy by an Anonymous Florentine of the 14^th century. The subject didn’t immediately interest Puccini, who thought the plot too complicated.

Here’s the deal: In 13^th century Florence, old Buoso Donati has just died. A rumor has

Giuseppe DeLuca as Figaro. He was the first Gianni Schicchi

been going around that Buoso has left his entire estate, including his house, his mule (la mula) and the mills at Signa (I mulini di Signa) to the local monks. This will never do. Buoso’s family searches frantically for the will (‘il testamento’) and find the rumors to be true. Young Rinuccio suggests calling on Gianni Schicchi, a wily soul of lower classes who is nevertheless the smartest guy in the room. The fact that Rinuccio is in love with Schicchi’s daughter Lauretta doesn’t hurt. The family is outraged. They want no part of this low rent upstart and his daughter.

Rincuccio prevails and Schicchi and Lauretta arrive. Gianni has as little use for the Donati as they for him. Nevertheless he has Buoso’s body taken out, dresses in Buoso’s clothes, summons the lawyers and dictates Buoso Donati’s new will leaving the mills at Signa, the house and the mule to…Gianni Schicchi. Lauretta and Rinuccio chirp away romantically. The relatives loot everything they can carry and Gianni Schicchi, consigned to hell by Dante, asks for our applause.

Work on Il trittico began around the beginning of World War I. Puccini’s recent opera The Girl of the Golden West, was written for the Metropolitan in New York. That premiere, with Caruso, Toscanini and Emmy Destinn had been a success, but as the years went by critics carped this was not Puccini at his best. World War I made a production of his newest effort, La rondine difficult. Domestic problems and supervising productions of his operas in Europe and America kept Puccini pre -occupied. Finally the Met asked him for another new opera, and wound up with three.

Florence Easton the first Lauretta

Opening night in New York, December 14, 1918, was THE musical event of the season, as The Girl had been eight years earlier. No expense was spared. The first casts included some of opera’s  greatest names: Giuseppe de Luca, Claudia Muzio, Geraldine Farrar and Luigi Montesano. British soprano Florence Easton as Lauretta made O mio babbino caro an instant hit. De Luca, adored by New Yorkers, delighted with his Gianni Schicchi. The audience laughed and applauded the wily Gianni and the horrible Donati relatives. Il tabarro and Suor Angelica were another story. Neither rose above a success d’estime. Not even Farrar, opera’s most glamorous soprano,  could save Puccini’s doomed nun. Puccini was heard to say, “La Farrar has lost her voice!” Il tabarro was thought too dark and heavy. The opening night audience, having endured two operas they didn’t like, may have lost hope until the curtain rose on the dead Buoso Donati, his awful relatives, a pair of young lovers and a smart and shifty title character.

The years have been good to Il tabarro and Suor Angelica. Gianni Schicchi was an

Geraldine Farrar the first Suor Angelca

immediate hit, needing no one’s help. O mio babbino caro was encored. De Luca was cheered to the walls.  The New York Times feared critic W.J. Henderson was polite to Farrar and Muzio and called Gianni Schicchi “one of the most delightful bits ever put on the Metropolitan stage.” Puccini, womanizer he was, was one of very few men who never cared for Geraldine Farrar,  but the success of Gianni Schicchi didn’t surprise him. He turned his attention to the Italian premier scheduled for later that December, and went to work on his opera Turandot. But that is another story. 

Gianni Schicchi Diary pt. 9

Frank Corsaro

Experience tells me that there is at least one day in any rehearsal period where people are pissy to the extreme. I was not in a great mood this past Saturday. I had expected the entire cast for the first time, and we got very close I must say, only one absence. That in fact was the closest we've had to the complete cast since rehearsals began in mid-May. And yes, I'm just being a culo about this, but sometimes being so is necessary and fun. Almost every one is off book, and Saturday we did have a fine pianist. She claimed to be sight reading. I'll tell you, the general level of musicianship in this town is very high.

Our Gherardino was present. I have to make more use of him on stage. The trick is to keep him busy but not have him upstage the show. Adorable kids can do that, without meaning to.

Tito Gobbi, a great Schicchi shown her

e as Scarpia

It serves no one to keep an 8 year old unoccupied for long period of time. He opens the show, and has the business and two lines dictated by Puccini and Forzano.

He hadn't been able to count his line properly. (I can't either)  Too excited. The Maestro, as I knew he would, worked patiently and in a matter-of fact way. No dippy shit some adults use when working with kids. Luckily, Gherardino seems very well adjusted and he enjoyed the extra rehearsal.

In short, I as the only one of Saturday who seemed pissy.

Here's a magnificent distraction. The great Tito Gobbi (1913-1984) on Italian television in the 50s. There were many greater voices. Few greater artists. Find out more about him.




Tonight please God we will have the entire cast for the very very very first time. Its just us family at the Jewish Center. I'm told there'll be an electric piano, and one of our regular-highly gifted pianists. This will be the first time cast works in the space. We have worked in quite the cramped quarters prior to tonight. Tonight well be about starting and stopping for physical readjustments to the space. I also have to insure that all can see the Maestro and vice versa. Is a mother's work never done or what?



I wish I had the one one hundreth talent of the great Frank Corsaro (years ago I was lucky to be in the same
ROOM with Frank Corsaro, and if you don't know him look him up) Corsaro would demand very intricate stage business and if the singers complained he would say, Really ? Well,  you have a problem then, don't you? This from a guy who directed Tennessee Williams and Bette Davis at their drunken worst and told them both to fuck off, more than once. You gotta love a guy like this . By the way, if you're singer/performer, .or anyone else reading this blog, you should run not walk to any library and read Corsaro's book, Maverick..




 (I know this is too long. There's a 7 minute abridgement on youtube, can't be embedded. But go find it)

Also tonight, props, linens, the couch and the screen, etc. I don't know what the hell they want the screen for but Linda will schlep along in her van, God love her.

Stop- start. Moves in the space. See the conductor-who will be absent. That's tonight. Tomorrow we have Himself and the orchestra. And the shit may fly. Stay tuned.

Gianni Schicchi Diary pt. 7

Gilda Dalla Rizza (1892-1975)

 This is Gilda Della Rizza. She was one of Puccini's favorite sopranos. Known as a great beauty, she was a celebrated Tosca and Madama Butterfly. Puccini wrote the role of Magda in La rondine for her. Puccini was more interested in the Italian opening of Il trittico than in the Metropolitan Opera performances a few weeks earlier. La Dalla Rizza was Suor Angelica and Lauretta in the Italian premiere. She it was who made Suor Angelica a hit after it died onstage in New York. She gave quite the testy interview a few weeks before her death:

 "After coming in and standing silently, Lauretta must quickly establish her character in the midst of all the confusion, with Donati's family running around. She is no coy or modest well brought up Florentine girl, but a determined young woman. Her first phrase, "Rinuccio, non lasciami", Puccini wanted fairly loud so that it would be heard distinctly over the din of the action, but not overly so. To find just the right volume caused me much worry. 'You must let them know what you want with that first sentence',  Puccini kept saying."







Let me say at the outset: It was a long night. Monday was a long night and it seemed long. We were missing a few people. We're at the point that continued runs of the show without the Maestro don't have much point. Also, I'm going back to look at the theater tonight. I hope I'll be able to picture the staging in the actual performance stage, and begin adjusting accordingly.

I knew on my first visit to the JCC that the space would be problematic for staged opera with orchestra. The pit accommodates ten, not helpful with Puccini. I sheepishly suggested using piano but reminded tartly (and appropriately) that we are trying to grow and expand the company and the audience and a piano accompanied Italian opera is not the sway to go. That's correct. Point taken.

The entire auditorium has to be used. I've staged using deliberately a smaller on stage space than I expect to have. We are on the floor at the very foot of the sage. In the two aisles, even scrounging through the audience looking for the testamento. I'm trying to avoid line-ups. Hell, the Met does line ups but I'm trying to at least do triangles with the occasional parallelogram.

Gianni wore his costume last night--snappy black number with a cap on OSU shorts. Lovely. The MAestro does't easnt him bare legged. He won't be. I still want him to wear adoavle underpants -for when the ladies strip and re dress him as Buoso,.

Ah, the Maestro. He spent 20 minutes on one word. The young woman was far more patient that I ever would have been. She probably realized that in this seemingly endless coaching, the character emerged-with the turn of one word. Likewise a number of our signers were getting pissy. This was a micro-rehearsal by a native  Italian speaker who has known Puccini's operas since he was ten. I thought one of the guys was going to deck him. The stops were quite long. But even the feistiest fella, after a few repeats began to show the character in his face. I saw people become Betto, Simone, Zita, Lauretta und so weiter .

Our Spinelocchio hadn't been doing much. The Maestro took hold of him like a hungry puppy. AH! I want you to do this bolongnese! He demonstrated a whistle-y diction and our Spino mastered it-and a tall young man became a grimy, elderly doctor.

So yes, it was long, hot and maybe annoying. You won't gt this kind of detailed rehearsal many places. You;'ll be thrown on and told to get the hell off. I learned how important the language is, how crucial it is to investigate alternate meanings (sub- text). I know enough to establish characterizations and give moves, blocking. The Maestro knows how to get those characters to live.

I'll try to bring a muffin basket. Let's all drink extra coffee, take an extra potty break or two and gear up for the final run of rehearsals. Deliziosa. 

Gianni Schicchi Diary pt. 6

Giotto di Bondone 1266-1337

Lotta music yesterday in a beautiful private home. Our hosts are Italian speakers and supporters of the opera and the Maestro, who came in around 4.30. Immediately Gianni Schicchi the opera became more focused. Seriously, it pays to work with a native Italian speakers in an ensemble opera like this once. Especially since many of the ensembles are presto-quick. You need the dental consonants
, the  liquid vowels and the crispness of the diction. Puccini's music doesn't let you wallow in the words, but use them as intended, for expression.

Piazza Santa Croce

he Maestro also challenged me a bit with Puccini's stage directions as indicated i n the score. I see that our Gherardino will have more to do, especially at the beginning of the opera. Nico Castel suggests the boy's restlessness means he has to go to the bathroom. Fa il pipi...Maybe. The Maestro talked of a Florentine loving a bouncing ball. Whether he was kidding me-and he does have humor with an edge-a bouncing ball is not a bad idea.  He can run and bounce through the aisles. Problem is he's a cute kid and we do after all want people trained on the singers and the music,. What a balance between active stagings and respect for the music. It is possible to achieve both.  A gifted director knows how to do it. I will keep on leaning.,

Rinuccio gives us a travelogue of Florence, likening it to a tree  in flower. There are references to Giotto and the Piazza Santa Croce

I'm counting on the Maestro to keep Firenze in front of us. He is Fiorentino. Yesterday he touched briefly upon the differences in accent between a Roman and a  Florentine. A Florentine will make a lisping sound more than a Roman. Rinuccio tells us what Florence means-in beauty, trees, flowers, art, the Arno:





It's that first opening of the shutters I want you to see, from this lovely film.

And Gianni Schicchi himself reminds the Donati that nobody wants to be exiled from Florence, much less have their hand chopped off for falsifying a will:




Onward! Next rehearsal this Tuesday. Staging review for one hour followed by music rehearsal. Some of us go to visit the performance space on Wednesday. Fingers crossed.

Gianni Schicchi Diary pt. 4

Aureliano Perile, tenor

I'm going to include a photo of a singer folks should know:

Puccini: Gianni Schicchi
Opera Project Columbus
 June 15 and 16
operaprojectcolumbus.com

Last night's rehearsal had more singers but no Gianni Schicchi. Puccini and Dante's Gianni had an adult daughter. My Gianni has a toddler and a cancelled baby sitter. I missed him. But we went on and did some good work.

I arrived at the church basement to find the room set with tables, tablecloths, chairs,  even a vase on each place. I had to move things around to make room and was sweating away when who should show up but the church sexton. Nice older gentleman. He wasn't too pleased with me since he had just finished setting UP these tables, etc. I don't blame him. "Big luncheon here coming up." I doubt it's during the week but okay. I promised him everything would be as he left it. And it very nearly was. I can't promise every table cloth was on daintily but I did my best. Never mind the piano is missing a caster because I stupidly moved-dragged it -myself. "And they ripped up part of the floor" said the Sexton. "Imagine!" I replied. How careless!

Then my morning was cheered by a photo my myself looking like a fat godfather, taken in rehearsal. You want to brag about weight loss? Don't wear a baggy untucked shirt on a hot night.

Well yes, but its not about me. Rehearsals are going well. One role still not cast. Another was kind enough to e mail me to say I live far way, it's  three lines and if I get to one or two rehearsals that's plenty. O-KAAAAY.
And our ten year old boy was so proud of getting his line right! He's three measures ahead but I will personally beat up anybody who gets on his case about it.

The Maestro will be at rehearsals next week .He's my friend and I love him. He's a fabulous musician. To listen to him playing with the Italian text is a joy. What if he hates the staging? Non mi frega niente. It is important that he establish the tempi he wants so the stage action is better timed.

Also I was shown a diagram of the stage with the orchestra seating re-arranged. Initially the orchestra-twenty six pieces-was to be split in half onstage. Leaving us a mall 'corridor' to use. And use it we do but we also use the house and every corner where the orchestra is not. (I'm an audience participation kind of guy)
Now we may have the orchestra all together on a slant upstage This leaves a piece of the area but it will be all ours-and we will still have the lip of the stage for our 'promenades' plus the house. This might be a good compromise.

 

I've been thinking about the blood and guts of performance. See the above photo of Aureliano Pertile. He wasn't born with a great voice but words, guts and musicianship made him a great artist.Verdi and Puccini do not lend themselves to a pristine performance (paging Renee Fleming) You need some blood in your singing. You need just that touch of arrogance that tells the audience THIS IS IMPORTANT AND I OWN THE STAGE. Verdi and Puccini always win, mind you-but you need to sing and act LARGE (you no longer need to BE large)

Guts. Fearlessness. Like this:

Gianni Schicchi Diary pt. 3

 Opera Project Columbus
Gianni Schicchi
June 15 and 16
see opera project columbus dot com 

We had a three day weekend. A surfeit of Reese's cups had me bound up and crabby, but I was rejuvenated
by the time rehearsal rolled around last night. We were at St. Marks church in the choir room, very nice with rather skimpy air conditioning. Oh, well. Beggars can't be choosers.

 I needed an emotional pick up today and speaking of Puccini:



 Moffo. What a beauty. A diva of my youth. She died in 2006 after a number of bad years career wise. When it as beautiful it was very beautiful.

 There's another opera production in business locally. That's a good thing. My old mentor Sarah Caldwell at the Opera Co.of  Boston wasn't the least bothered by neighboring college productions and a week long visit from the Met. "The more opera, the better." I agree but I haven't Sarah's gifts.


Rehearsing with many cast

Sarah Caldwell

members missing is  a challenge. Not so much for me but for the people on the stage. Remember once the show goes up I revert to my favorite position, hoping our hosts in the Jewish Center won't mind my putting my feet up.

Elvira Puccini

No notary and no Gubbio yet. Meaning it was quite tricky to stage mini processional on to the stage for Gianni/Buoso to dictate his will.  I and another fellow participated with our Pinellocchio, God bless him who comes a distance and never misses rehearsal. Still, we were crowded. I have them working in a (I hope please God) smaller space that we'll have deliberately. (You'd rather have too much booze than too little at Grampie's wake). Spinelloccio can only come late and since he's in part one only and we're working on part two.....well, I'm going to have to continue to adjust. god is good. So is zoloft..
Back to the other opera in town. Several of my key people are involved. What can I do? I'm the last one who would tell them to give up a paying gig.

Our baritone sings well and has the rare gift of singing with enough joy to enchant any audience. Many of the other singers are well prepared and fun. Some need work. I've been asked to save time in staging rehearsals for some  music touch ups. Withal, we've staged the whole thing, now its fine tuning, a few changes and eventually complete runs. Since there's so much physical action I need the singers to develop  muscle memory so their singing is not affected. I have asked for a brief meeting in the venue with as many as can attend.Even if a few show up, if they see the actual space it may offer better perspective.

Puccini by Mary-Jane Philips Matz

And how many directors do YOU know who send out a prop list for spoons, forks, dishes, a night cap and long johns? Take THAT Franco Zeffirelli!

I've been re- reading Mary Jane Philips- Matz's biography of Puccini. Her Verdi bio is the book of choice. No one in recent times has better documented this great composer. Puccini is a more friendly read and less scholarly. Matz makes good use of several very elderly people she met years ago who knew the composer. I wanted to interview her and mailed and e mailed and called and a week later read her obituary in the New York Times. She was pushing ninety. No one who loves Verdi or Puccini should miss her books. 

Puccini loved fast cars, women and hunting. He was quite the ladies man. His first serious girlfriend was the wife of another man. She and Puccini had a child together-scandalo!-and composer rued the day he took up with Elvira. Batshit crazy the lady was.

Hmmm. Maybe I can turn Ciesca or Nella into Elvira Gemignani Puccini. Scary!

Gianni Schicchi Diary pt. 2a Giuseppe de Luca

Giacomo Puccini (1856-1924)

You can go to all the language labs you want, take all the classes there are, spend your money, but if you're a singer wanting to learn beautiful Italian, go to the library and get recordings of Italian singers. Nothing is more beautiful than listening to Pavarotti sing Donizetti and Verdi. Tebaldi in anything. The great baritones Tito Gobbi and Ettore Bastianini.Bass Cesare Siepi.  Renata Scotto in Lucia or Traviata. Scotto was the diva of my operatic youth. You couldn't avoid her, and her voice was long shot. And yes, they'd flock to her today. Just a few lines of Mi chiamano Mimi were riveting.

Why do I harp on this? I don't like young singers being bilked for money. I've never been sold on the

Giuseppe de Luca

college/grad school route. Better to get a marketable degree and study voice, languages and theory on the side. Then try for the competitions and young artist's programs. If after several years nothing happens, start your own preforming organizations, conduct a choir for underprivileged kids and go make yourself a life in music. Tend bar or do IT during the day. No disgrace in any of these. The goal is to have a life in music and share that life with others.

Wow. Focus Christopher.

Giuseppe de Luca. He was the first Gianni Schicchi. You can lean so much about words and legato from him.







Giuseppe de Luca (1876-1940) sang well into his seventies. He came to the States in 1915 and three years later was the first Gianni Schicchi. He had created Sharpless in Madama Butterfly in 1907 and Michonnet in Adriana Lecouvreur in 1901, the latter with Caruso who he frequently partnered.

I'm not surprised to read raves about his singing in 1918, 1930, etc.
But in 1940 he made a comeback at the age of sixty-four.
He sang Germont in La traviata.

Giuseppe de Luca, the veteran baritone...stepped from the wings in the second act. It is not surprising that on receiving the thunderous tribute from the audience, it was hard for Mr. de Luca to control his features or summon the breath to sing. ...When he did open his mouth the first five notes made the pulses beat because of the art and the beauty of the song...The quality of the legato, the perfection of the style, the sentiment which ennobled the melodic phrase, struck the whole audience...

       Olin Downes, New York Times February 8 1940

(They really had critics then,didn't they? Olin Downes was no pushover)
             
de Luca sang Schicchi twenty -six times from the premiere in 1918 through 1934.  De Luca returned to Italy the following year and came back to New York in 1940. (I'm surprised Mussolini allowed him to leave)

Geraldine Farrar as Suor Angelica...unimpressed

By the way, Il tabarro disappeared after 1920 until 1946. Suor Angelica did not impress soprano Geraldine Farrar, who created the role. She and Caruso were the Met's biggest box office attraction. After she retired in 1922, Suor Angelica disappeared until Renata Scotto sang it in 1975.

Gianni Schicchi Diary, part 1 and VOICES

Robert Merrill

Renata Tebaldi and Franco Corelli

I'm in love with voices. I heard a lot of fine ones last night. It was the first staging rehearsal. We were locked put of the venue for about 20 minutes, this while a local reporter was hovering on the steps, waiting with us. Once we got to work it was great. We had to make do in a very nice choir room (tonight's venue is not as nice I'm sorry to say)

We had a new addition tonight, the young man playing Gherardino. He was sweet and fun and he'll probably walk out off the show, God bless him.

I also met our Marco, a young man who had done the role before. He asked if I wanted to see how it was done in Kent and I said NO. Too abruptly probably. I was in the moment. But really, I need to figure it out for myself.

Licia Albanese: Take risks!

I had to REALLY approximate the playing area. Most of it will be IN the theater not on the bit of stage we have. There was a lot of positioning and running around last night. We had our wonderful rehearsal pianist, thank God and me pacing and yelling and positioning. Years ago at OSU a somewhat hippy dippy guest director asked me "Do you have a lot of experience working with young people?" Well, yes, since before you were born I thought. "You handle them too much. It makes them uncomfortable." I don't get off on handling people but y'all shoulda seen Frank Corsaro or many other great directors, who thought nothing of flinging people into the wings if it made a good affect. Jeez.

Some confusion reigned but all of the singers 'got' what I was trying to do quicker than I did. I'm deeply impressed by the talents and professionalism of these young people. Many have kids, responsibilities, day jobs, other gigs and here they are at 9 pm rehearsing another-unpaid=performance.

I had wanted Schicchi to be more Donald Trump, arrogant and cool and we'll get there if I can get past he beauty of GS's voice. Lauretta immediately got princess ' concept-that she's not such a nice girl. Rinuccio's gonna be whipped, if you know what I mean. We'll work harder on giving each of the relatives a specific characterization.  Zita's got it. Simone pretty much. Rinuccio great, well tone down the OSU football hero stance-and this boy knows how to sell the notes. Nella and La Ciesca I need to think about. No Jewish mother. Too clingy. No Irish mother, too aloof. Italian mother, eat but with a menacing undertone (mangia idiote!)  Nella,  at least rules the roost. Gherardo is a husband typical for 1299 and typical for today. Sweet, responsible and clueless.



I think we listen to singers differently today. Until the early 1960s one on one listening was less adulterated. IPODS, APPS (I had to ask tho years ago what the hell is an app) we didn't listen while doing something else. This appointment listening is endangered./ Tough for me since a lot of my producing involves 'appointment' style programming. We had radio, TV and film of course, but people were still used to hearing great singers-or any singers, either live or with most of their attention tuned to the performance. Years ago I knew a voice teacher with some fine students, but her mantra was "too big too big". She wanted an Elisabeth Schumann style delicacy in everything, which is  fine if you're Elisabeth Schumann, but it ain't gonna help you sing Verdi. Most of us view today's technology as a blessing.  A few of us see it as a barrier. We are more about the technology that enables us to listen than experiencing what we are hearing. That's part of the reason oldsters say "Oh there' no voices today. you should have heard Tebaldi." I did and she was glorious. Her generation of singers were monsters. They sang without fear, straight out, go-to-hell no shortcuts, filled with courage. Do singers today do the same? Yes! But the voices seem smaller and less characterful. Today's most famous soprano is a beautiful woman with a beautiful voice but to me she's dull. The gift three notes are gorgeous and twenty minutes later so are the last one. There's no risk.

Tebaldi, Del Monaco, Stignani, Merrill, Warren, Tucker, Callas all planted themselves on stage and sang and sang. They loved their own voices, the knew the texts and they cared about what they were doing. The audience sensed this. Many singers today are no different but we  hear them differently and they hear themselves differently--ears have been readjusted, diluted if you will, by smaller attention spans and technology

.



I tell singers today. Sing! Don' be afraid! Take risks! In an interview elsewhere on this blog, Licia Albanese told me, "I tell young singers make mistakes! Take risks and use the text!" This from Toscanini's Mimi and Violetta (still going strong today at 100) 



I also think some current teachers either distrust a student with a big voice or don't know what to do with it.
Because a huge voice in the current technology may be thought vulgar. (When the hell is opera not vulgar. Do you think the Count was trying to draw Susanna a picture?)  Don't forget. You are STILL singing primarily for the live audience.In a 3,000 seat house, less is not more. More is more.

Gianni Schicchi Diary: Introduction

Dante

 It's my custom to keep a diary when working outside the studios, so welcome to The Gianni Schicchi Diary! 


The good people at Opera Project Columbus have asked me to direct their production of Puccini's Gianni Schicchi. Tonight is the first staging rehearsal.
This one act delight is Puccini's only comedy. It is part of three one act operas (Il trittico-The Triptych) the world premier of which was given in New York at the Metropolitan Opera n December 14, 1918. The world was in the mood to celebrate one month after the armistice was signed.

Giuseppe DeLuca , the first Gianni Schicchi

Il tabarro and Suor Angelica were qualified successes. Gianni Schicchi was a bona fide hit. W.J. Henderson, dean of music critics for the New York Times, was gentle with the first two operas but called GS "one of the most delightful bits every put on the opera stage".

The libretto is by Gioacchino Forzano. The basis is an episode, a few lines really, from Dante's Divina Commedia. In the XXX canto, we encounter Gianni Schicchi, who had advised Simone, relative of Buoso Donati on amending an unsatisfactory will. In so doing, Schicchi is consigned by Dante to hell. Some of this story reflects Dante's own antipathy toward the 'peasant class' and especially of his wife's family, the Donati.

What's not to love with this 45 minute opera? You get a deliciously nasty family, a dead guy on stage for much of the action, a 'peasant', his daughter who sings a big hit:




"Un Donati sposare un figlia di villano?! cries Simone, the elder of the family.
A Donati, to marry the daughter of a peasant?!
That's just one of several great lines in this opera.

Splendida Firenze!

When the will is found and read leaving all of Buoso's property to the monks, his cousin Zita, a hateful old lady grumbles:

Ch l'avrrebe mai detto che quando Buoso andava al cimitero si sarebbe pianto per daverro!
Who could have told that once Buoso went to the cemetery, we'd be crying for real!

Gianni Schicchi arrives with his daughter Lauretta. She's usually portrayed as a sweet, innocent girl. I think she's more of a princess. Daaaaaadddy!

Schicchi's first line is one of my favorites in all opera:

Quale aspetto sgomenta e desolato
Buoso Donati certo e migliorato

What a lot of sad looks
Buoso Donati must be getting better

 I've directed Suor Angelica and yes.  I loved it and yes I cried,  nice Catholic boy that I am.
But now we get down and dirty, and we have fun. Newsflash: Opera can be fun!

Opera Project Columbus was formed to give local singers an opportunity to perform. We have a terrific cast

Alessandro Siciliani. Opera can be fun!

for this production: attractive, talented and a world class baritone for the tile role. And our conductor?
Alessandro Siciliani, former music director of the Columbus Symphony, veteran of the New York City Opera and the Met, not forgetting a slew of Italian opera houses. Alessandro is  Florentine himself. Watching him dart around at rehearsal coaching the Italian texts has been the joy of my late spring. He gets all of the inflection and double meanings unavailable at first to non native speakers.

The big challenge of this staging is not musical, its the venue. We have a small stage, and no pit. With the orchestra onstage we're going to use the house more than the stage. You may be sitting next to Rinuccio as he pours out his love for Lauretta, or Simone or Zita as they scheme away Buoso's money. Gianni Schicchi might pick your pocket.

Performances June 15 and 16.
Check back here for more dish.
First staging rehearsal is tonight.