Gaetano Donizetti LA ROMANZESCA E L’UOMO NERO ORC 19

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Slipcase cover : Comtesse d’Haussonville, 1845 – Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres Booklet cover : Donizetti – French caricature Digipack : Nicolini’s design for the Teatro del Fondo in 1810

–1– GAETANO DONIZETTI LA ROMANZESCA E L’UOMO NERO Farsa in one act Libretto by Domenico Gilardoni Music by Gaetano Donizetti

The Count (Il Conte)...... Alfonso Antoniozzi Antonia, daughter of the Count ...... Elisabetta Scano Chiarina, niece of the Count ...... Adriana Cicogna Carlino, the son of the Count’s close friend, Baron Ruperti ...... Paul Austin Kelly Trappolina, Antonia’s governess ...... Elena Monti Filidoro, the ‘Black Man’ (l’uomo nero) ...... Pietro Spagnoli Tommaso, Filidoro’s uncle ...... Bruno Praticò Nicola, a servant in the Count’s household ...... Alfonso Antoniozzi Fedele, an aspirant to Chiarina’s hand in marriage ...... Bruce Ford Giappone, major-domo of the Count’s household ...... Clive Bayley

The Academy of St Martin in the Fields leader, Harvey de Souza

David Parry, conductor

–2– CONTENTS

La romanzesca e l’uomo nero by Jeremy Commons...... Page 8

Résumé de l’intrigue...... Page 33 . Die Handlung...... Page 37

La trama...... Page 42

The Story...... Page 47

Libretto...... Page 50

–3– Producer and Artistic Director: Patric Schmid

Managing Director: Stephen Revell

Assistant conductor: Brad Cohen Repetiteur: Steven Maughan Music copyist: Robert Roberts Italian coach: Maria Cleva Assistant to the Artistic Director: Marco Impallomeni

Article and libretto: Jeremy Commons

Recording Engineer: Chris Braclik Assistant Sound Engineer: Edward Braclik

Editing: Patric Schmid and Chris Braclik

Recorded at St Clement’s Church, London March 1999

ORC 19

–4– LA ROMANZESCA E L’UOMO NERO

Time Page No. 1 – Introduzione 10’54 (Giappone, Carlino, Il Conte, Fedele, Tommaso, Chiarina, Trappolina) [1] ‘Vi prego, avanti avanti’ 50 [2] ‘M’insulta, corbella!’ 64

No. 2 – Scena e Cavatina 7’08 (Antonia, Trappolina, Tommaso) [3] ‘Tu di rose inghirlandata’ 69

No. 3 – Scena e duetto 11’32 (Antonia, Filidoro) [4] Canzonetta ‘Non v’ è maggior dolore’ 74 [5] ‘Ciel! Fia ver? mio Filidoro!’ 74 [6] ‘Ahi la mia nascita’ 79 [7] ‘Fuggir da queste mura’ 83

No. 4 – Terzetto 8’25 (Chiarina, Fedele, Tommaso) [8] ‘Cinque sensi appena nato’ 87 [9] ‘L’occhietto semi-chiuso’ 92

–5– Time Page No. 5 – Duetto 7’52 (Chiarina, Filidoro) [10] ‘Che paura!’ 102 [11] ‘Ah! ah! ah! ah! Mi fate ridere’ 107

No. 6 – Scena and Terzetto 10’07 (Antonia, Nicola, Tommaso, Trappolina) [12] ‘Fuggiam...Dopo tante e tante pene’ 109 [13] ‘Ei stesso! la mia vittima!’ 114 [14] ‘Destrieri infocati ponetevi il morso’ 118

No. 7 – Rondò finale 8’60 (Antonia, Filidoro, Il Conte, Fedele, Carlino) [15] ‘Sì, colpevole son io’ 121 [16] ‘Lascio l’ombre ed i fantasmi’ 124

–6– Luigia Boccabadati-Gazzuoli, Donizetti’s first Antonia La romanzesca e l’uomo nero

WHAT! _ WE CAN hear you protesting as you open up this CD box _ is Opera Rara so ignorant that it cannot even get the title of an opera correct? Open Weinstock! Open either of Ashbrook’s books! Open any account of Donizetti’s operas ever written, and you will see, benighted Signori Opera Rara, that the title of this opera is La romanziera _ ziera! _ ziera!! _ not La romanzesca! Romanzesca? Perbacco! Pazzesca la vostra maledetta compagnia di dischi!

Piano, piano, mio bel Signore... In reviving this opera, we are tackling one of the least-known works in the Donizetti canon. And believe us: until very recently, incredible as it may seem, the world has always had the title of this opera wrong . When it was first performed, at the Teatro del Fondo in Naples on 18 June 1831, a review which appeared in the journal L’Indifferente commended the librettist, Domenico Gilardoni, for altering the name of the well-known comedy on which it was based from La romanziera e l’uomo nero to La romanzesca e l’uomo nero . La romanziera , the reviewer pointed out, meant ‘the woman who writes romances’, and that did not fit the opera at all. Conceivably it would be possible for us today, translating romanziera into English, to smudge matters a little by rendering it as ‘the woman who concocts romantic stories and fantasies’; but what was really meant and required here, as the reviewer of L’Indifferente insisted, was La romanzesca , ‘the woman whose head is filled with romanticism’, ‘the woman who is infatuated with romanticism’, ‘the woman who has given herself over to building

-8- romantic castles in the air’. That this was _ and still should be _ the correct title of the opera is confirmed when we open the files of the official Neapolitan newspaper of the time, the Giornale del Regno delle Due Sicilie , for there we find that the only two performances which were ever given were announced, quite correctly, under the title La romanzesca e l’uomo nero .

How came it about then, that the opera became wrongly known as La romanziera e l’uomo nero ? We can only suggest that the influence exerted by its source, ‘the well-known comedy’, proved too strong, especially when the opera failed to hold the stage, and that the more exact title was ousted by the more familiar. It is significant that even Donizetti, at the beginning of his manuscript, preserved in the library of San Pietro a Majella, the Naples Conservatorium of Music, mistakenly gives the name as ‘ La romanziera ’.

Not only is this one of Donizetti’s least-known operas: it has always been one of his most mysterious and least fathomable. To this day no libretto has ever come to light, and since it was an opera in which the sung items and the occasional recitative were linked by sections of ‘prosa’, sections of spoken dialogue, this means that we have the sung words (certainly in less than perfectly accurate form), but not those that were spoken. The plot, from a reading of the sung items, remains well-nigh incomprehensible. This ‘black man’, for example... Was he literally a black man, that is to say a blackamoor or negro? Or does it mean a man who dresses in black? Or, third possibility, a man who is black of character? Who, moreover, are all these minor

–9– characters _ Carlino, Trappolina, Nicola, Fedele, Giappone _ who seem to come and go so rapidly that they never succeed in establishing any positive identity...

Attempts to trace the play on which the opera was based for long proved perplexing and frustrating. Franca Cella, in her account of the sources of Donizetti’s operas which she submitted to the First International Conference of Donizetti Studies in Bergamo in 1975, listed two plays of possible relevance: L’Homme noir (1820) by Scribe and Dupin; and Le Coiffeur et le Parruquier (1824) by Scribe, Mazères and Saint-Laurent. But neither, upon examination, proved to have any connection with Donizetti’s work. It was not until very recently, when an exhaustive search for all extant reviews of the premieres of Donizetti’s operas 1 led to the discovery of the already-mentioned notice in L’Indifferente , that one suddenly found this particular mystery solved. For there it was stated: ‘The subject is drawn from the comedy by Augusto Bon that bears the same name.’

Solved? Perhaps it would be more exact to say ‘semi-solved’. For, as we shall see, there are still many questions that remain unanswered. But at least a start has been made, and we are now a major step along the road to understanding this opera. ______1 A search which was carried out by Annalisa Bini and Jeremy Commons, and which led to the publication, at the end of 1997, of Le prime rappresentazioni delle opere di Donizetti nella stampa coeva (Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, Rome, in collaboration with Skira, Milan).

–10– Let us start with Augusto Bon. Born at Peschiera at the southern end of Lake Garda in 1788, Bon came from an impoverished Venetian patrician family. At the age of 23 he went to Milan, hoping to seek his fortune, but, failing to find employment, he was on the point of enlisting in the army which Napoleon was raising for his invasion of Russia when, by happy chance, he made the acquaintance of an actress and was persuaded to accept a contract as the romantic lead of a theatrical company. It was the beginning of a highly successful career in the theatre, both as an actor and, from 1815, as an author. While this career took him all over Italy, he was particularly active in Venice and Milan _ until 1855, when he contracted cholera in Ancona and lost the sight of an eye. Forced to quit the stage, he retired to Padova where he taught until his death in 1858.

One of Bon’s very early successes as an author came in 1819 in Turin with a comedy entitled La donna dei romanzi . At this time the literary battle between classicists and romanticists was at its height. Bon himself, when writing a preface to the play for its publication in 1830, recalled their polemics, and particularly the excesses of the romantics:

In 1819 [Mrs] Radcliffe was triumphing more than ever. Hired assassins, castles, women dying of love, spectres all covered with long white mantles, ghosts enveloped in long black cassocks, fears and bugbears of every kind cluttered up the minds of the fair sex and drew tears from beneath their eyelashes...

–11– In the theatre [the audiences of the day] wished to see only crimes, and crimes of a new stamp. If plays were to attract the public to the theatre, their very titles had to inspire loathing. The Abomination of Nature , The Suicide , Honour and the Gallows , The Cursed Daughter ... All the passions had to be exaggerated, and exaggerated to the point of impossibility... Dialogues [were filled with] dreams, visions, imprecations, invectives, maledictions, and all that results from suchlike gallantries.

Every daughter had to abhor her living father, and idolise her dead mother... A young woman of great fortune could not fall in love unless it were with a man with no shirt to his back... The purity of this love was carried to such a point of sublimity that one could not fall in love without cultivating the idea of an abduction or a clandestine marriage...

La donna dei romanzi was designed to parody such excesses. It told of a young woman, Antonia, who, left at home while her father travelled abroad, was encouraged by a misguided and irresponsible governess, Domitilla, to indulge every possible romantic whim. Consequently two ancient dovecots at the bottom of the garden were demolished, but their ruins left _ and even developed _ to simulate the remains of a Gothic castle. There Antonia, calling herself Atala (a name drawn, of course, from Chateaubriand), and Domitilla, styling herself Ines, were wont to spend their evenings. There they would sing their most plaintive songs, sigh, and apostrophise the moon and stars...

–12– The play does not omit a contrasting character _ a refreshingly level-headed character _ who provides us with a criterion by which to judge Antonia. This contrasting figure is Chiara, her orphaned cousin. Chiara is very young and naive; she is also penniless and without prospects; but none of this for a moment inhibits her high spirits, as she delights in playing practical jokes that hold up her cousin’s romanticism to ridicule. And whereas Antonia and Domitilla are creatures of twilight and the shade, Chiara belongs to the day and the sunlight: she enjoys nothing more than a romp in the garden with the gardener’s dog.

Effervescent satirical comedy though Bon’s play may be, it does not lack serious moral lessons concerning the dangers of unbridled romanticism. Domitilla introduces a ‘Black Man’ into the household: the ‘black man’ of the title. He is a figure of mystery who goes about muffled up in a black mantle, his features half concealed beneath a broad-brimmed, black-plumed hat. He is _ or would wish us to believe him _ the archetypal romantic outcast: the man who sees himself as cursed by Destiny, pursued by Fate. But is he a genuine man of mystery? Not at all. For this is Filidoro, really an unscrupulous adventurer, a barber who has forsaken his trade in favour of a career as an early 19th-century con-man. The name Filidoro is, it goes without saying, significant: he is literally ‘a lover of gold’. He persuades Antonia to go through a clandestine marriage and to elope with him, taking, of course, all her jewellery with her. Fortunately his plot is discovered and the fugitives are apprehended before any union between them can be solemnised or consummated. Filidoro, duly unmasked, reverts to his calling as a barber,

–13– while a humiliated Antonia finds herself despatched to a convent, there to repent and expiate her foolishness. Chiara, on the other hand, is rewarded with the hand of the man she loves and who loves her, Ferdinando, even though at parental level it had earlier been hoped that he might prove a suitable husband for Antonia.

Any attentive reader will already have noticed at least one discrepancy in the above account: we give the title of Bon’s play as La donna dei romanzi , whereas L’Indifferente stated unequivocally that the subject of the opera was drawn from ‘the comedy... that bears the same name’ _ La romanziera e l’uomo nero _ with the sole change of ‘ romanziera ’ to ‘ romanzesca ’. This is a discrepancy which, at the present time at least, we are unable to resolve. Did the play assume a different title as it gained popularity? Or did Bon in course of time revise it, giving his revision a different title, and so providing us with a further _ intermediate _ stage between the original play and the opera? Or could it be that other hands _ unauthorised hands _ were responsible for such a revision?

Since on more than one occasion in the course of his career Bon had reason to complain either of the manner in which plays by others, generally translations from the French, were passed off as his work, or of the way in which his own plays were altered and rewritten by other hands but were still presented as his authentic work, we are inclined to favour the third of these hypotheses, and to suspect that unauthorised hands were guilty of interference here.

–14– Such a hypothesis is attractive, since there are significant changes in both characterisation and plot between Bon’s play and Donizetti’s opera. If there were some intermediate stage, still to be discovered, it could well explain these changes and ease the shock of the present transition.

Let us turn, therefore, to Gilardoni’s libretto.

The first change to strike us is the introduction of an important new character. This is Tommaso, Filidoro’s uncle, unkempt, unwashed and hypochondriac, who, posturing as a metaphysical philosopher, has managed to find entry into the household as Antonia’s tutor. In Donizetti’s opera there are thus two unscrupulous adventurers, Filidoro and Tommaso, whereas in Bon’s play there was only one, Filidoro.

A further change _ and a disconcerting one _ concerns the character of Chiara, or Chiarina as she becomes in the opera. In Bon’s play, notwithstanding her naivety, she provided a breath of fresh air, and acted as an anchor of sanity in the midst of so much fatuity. In the opera, on the other hand, her involvement in Tommaso’s lesson on the five senses and the meaning of the word ‘sentiment’, and the exaggerated fear she displays at the sight of a ‘black man’, show that she, too, has been reduced to the level of farce, and is now a gawky ingénue who has a great deal of growing up to do before ever she reaches years of maturity and discretion. 2 ______2 In view of Bon’s very different portrait, one is almost tempted to suggest that in the items we have mentioned Chiarina is really ridiculing and satirising her associates, and should be played

–15– Gennaro Luzio, Donizetti’s first Tommaso The ending of the opera, too, is clearly different from that of the play, even if we cannot be sure of all the details. It is evident that Antonia is no longer banished to a convent, for, repentant and forgiven, she remains on stage to sing the rondò finale. Chiarina, on the other hand, does not participate in the final scene: perhaps it is she who is now dismissed to a cloister until an accumulation of years will have brought her greater wisdom. Carlino, the equivalent of Bon’s Ferdinando, has by the end of the opera, we may assume, recovered from his infatuation for Chiarina, though whether or not he marries Antonia remains unclear. As far as one can glean from the existing evidence, the opera does not conclude with any marriages at all.

* * * *

Donizetti’s opera was performed at the Teatro del Fondo, the smaller of the two royal theatres of Naples, on 18 June 1831. None of the standard textbooks on the composer is able to give an accurate list of the original interpreters. Until recently, for example, the creator of the part of Chiarina had never been identified, while most accounts give baritone Antonio Tamburini and basso buffo Gennaro Luzio as Carlino and Fedele respectively _ without realising that these were both tenor roles. Once again, however, the discovery of the review in L’Indifferente radically changes the situation. While the interpreters of Nicola, the untrustworthy servant, and Giappone, ______as a wiser character than she superficially appears. Since, however, L’Indifferente explicitly dubs her ‘a simpleton’ and ‘a silly young girl’, we think this line of interpretation untenable, even if attractive.

–17– the major-domo of the household, remain unknown, and while some doubt persists concerning the identity of the singer who took the part of the Conte, Antonia’s father, we may nevertheless reconstruct the following cast-list:

Antonia...... Luigia Boccabadati Chiarina...... Marietta Gioia-Tamburini Trappolina...... Signora Manzi-Salvetti Filidoro...... Antonio Tamburini Il Conte...... Gennaro Ambrosini or Signor Tauro Tommaso...... Gennaro Luzio Nicola...... not known Carlino...... Signor Lombardi Fedele [a suitor for Chiarina’s hand]...... Signor Salvetti 3 Giappone [the Count’s steward]...... not known

L’Indifferente reserved its greatest praise for Tamburini in the part of

______3 There is a major problem concerning this singer and the part he interpreted. To judge from other roles he sang at the Teatro del Fondo (Bartolomeo in Il Furioso and the Marchese di Boisfleury in Linda di Chamounix ), he was a bass. One would therefore expect him to have interpreted Nicola or Giappone. The review from L’Indifferente nevertheless specifically mentions him as taking part, with Marietta Gioia-Tamburini and Luzio, in the Terzetto in which Tommaso (Luzio) expounds to Chiarina (Marietta Gioia-Tamburini) and Fedele the five senses and the meaning of the word ‘sentimento’. While this reference identifies Salvetti as the interpreter of Fedele, a glance at the score reveals that this is a role for a tenor. Did the critic of L’Indifferente name the wrong singer here? Clearly there has been a mistake somewhere...

–18– Filidoro. ‘Signor Tamburini,’ it stated, ‘performed his part both as an actor and as a singer; and in truth he neglected nothing to ensure the good success of the opera, even to the point of showing that the silly prejudices of some performers in not wanting to appear in rags and in not wishing to do things which they believe beneath them... are merely the whims of small minds, lacking true merit’. Like much in the review, this comment is tantalising, supplying information on the one hand and raising new questions on the other. Who, one wonders, were the performers who did not wish to appear in rags and perform actions they believed infra dig ?

L’Indifferente did not allow Signora Tamburini to come off quite as unscathed as her husband, for the reviewer did not scruple to deliver a measure of advice on how she might improve her performance:

Signora Tamburini sang with grace and acted... A proposito of acting, perhaps she will pardon us _ she who is so good and who is so ready to suffer the tiresome comments of others _ a small reflection on her acting?... When she performs simpletons, or young peasant girls, she adopts an excessively infantile air; she fidgets too much with her feet, her arms and her head... If she believes us sincere, let her accept our advice to move less, since in simple parts, where there is scant wit, there is little need of acting. Otherwise where would the difference be between an ingénue and a high-spirited young woman? Are we wrong or right?

–19–

Luzio and Salvetti, we are told, both pleased, but strangely enough there is no mention whatsoever of Luigia Boccabadati, the prima donna. And the remarks that are passed about Signor Tauro and Signora Manzi-Salvetti are, to put it mildly, cryptic to the point of leaving us bewildered. The name of Gennaro Ambrosini has sometimes been associated with the role of the Conte, but here in L’Indifferente we read:

A certain actor who took the part of the father attracted our attention. He was supplied with thick black eyebrows; he was dark of complexion, his skin the colour of tobacco, and everything about him breathed violence and ferocity. He was said to be a certain Tauro, but from his attributes we did not have much difficulty in recognising him.

What does this mean? Perhaps that the features of Signor Tauro were so well-known that he was readily recognised, even beneath his make-up? Or perhaps that ‘Signor Tauro’ was a pseudonym, an ‘in-company’ joke to conceal the identity of the singer, perhaps Gennaro Ambrosini? Attractive though we find this second possibility, we would be left with gnawing doubts if we were to accept it, since there was, in fact, a Signor Tauro active in the Neapolitan theatres, principally the Fondo and the Nuovo, between the years 1814 and 1846. Many of the parts he took were in minor works by strictly ‘local’ composers, but they also included Timoteo Spaccafronna (transformed into Don Pascaddozio) in Il borgomastro di Saardam , Cesare Salzapariglia in Le convenienzeed inconvenienze teatrali , Pasquale in Olivo e Pasquale , and

–21– Antonio Tamburini, Donizetti’s first Filidoro Leutoldo in Rossini’s Guglielmo Tell . Without exception, these were bass roles, just like that of the Conte in the present opera.

Of Signora Manzi-Salvetti we read:

Among the singers there is also another little woman: Signora Manzi-Salvetti. How good she is, how modest! _ she is neither seen nor heard!

Once again we must ask: what does this mean? Was Signora Manzi-Salvetti so seized with stage-fright that she failed to appear?!

The last member of the cast to receive individual mention was Signor Lombardi, who sang the tenor role of Carlino. The reference would seem anything but complimentary: ‘Signor Lombardi also plays a part. Who is he? One of the seven... Wonders of the World? Alas: one of the seven tenor voices that prop up the Royal Theatres!’

Despite the valiant exertions of Tamburini, the opera did not meet with success. L’Indifferente reported that it was found ‘a little long rather than otherwise’, and added that ‘the public neither applauded nor censured; and the maestro remained displeased with this indifference’. The Milanese journal, Il Censore Universale dei Teatri , in its issue of Saturday, 23 July 1831, first spoke of Donizetti’s immediately preceding opera, Francesca di Foix , and then went on: ‘Less fortunate was the outcome... of La romanziera [sic], ... but the

–23– greatest blame for this lesser fortune is attributed to the bad libretto of Signor Gilardoni’. As already stated, only two performances were given: the premiere on 18 June and another two days later on 20 June.

No mention of this opera is to be found in Donizetti’s surviving letters, though, as John Black has reported, Domenico Barbaja, the impresario of the Royal Theatres of Naples, in a memorandum of 22 June addressed to the Superintendent of Theatres and Spectacles, referred to its ‘unhappy outcome’. Black also found in the State Archives of Naples, where the document just mentioned is preserved, a further memorandum addressed to Barbaja on 17 June, the day before the first performance, saying that if the libretto were not in print by midday the following day, the performance would be forbidden 4. One suspects that this threatened prohibition proved an empty and rhetorical gesture, for the performance certainly took place. As for the libretto, the absence of any printed text makes one suspect that, official threats notwithstanding, none was ever printed.

Francesca di Foix and La romanzesca e l’uomo nero were the only new operas Donizetti produced in 1831: a slender output for one of the most prolific composers of his time. Zavadini, in the Vita that accompanied his 1948 publication of Donizetti’s Epistolario , goes at least some little way towards explaining this. He relates that the composer, following the production of ______4 See Alexander Weatherson, ‘ La romanziera e l’uomo nero and its origins, in the Donizetti Society Newsletter 28 (January 1982), pp. 2-3, note 2.

–24– Anna Bolena in Milan on 26 December 1830, left for Rome ‘after 31 January’. He continues:

Several more days pass, and Donizetti decides to leave [Rome] with his wife on his way to Naples. And in fact he departs on 19 February _ despite the widening panic produced as a result of the revolutionary movements spreading through Italy, despite the insecure roads and the rigorous police measures immediately decreed by the Pope, including the draconian one of an immediate closure of all the theatres. These events serve, in part, to explain the limited musical activity of the Maestro in this year of uncertain developments, rendered even more grave by the subsequent spread of cholera.

Only one other 19th-century production of La romanzesca e l’uomo nero has been traced: a short-lived production at the Teatro Carolino in Palermo during the carnival season of 1832-1833.

* * * *

The comments of the critic of L’Indifferente give us some notion of why Gilardoni’s libretto was considered a bad one. Two of the most prominent items, we are told, had very little connection with either the plot or the dramatic action:

–25– To be sincere, two pieces, in other respects the most graceful for their poetry and for their natural sallies _ that is to say, the terzetto between Luzio, la Tamburini and Salvetti [No. 4, ‘Cinque sensi appena nato’], and the duet between Tamburini and Marietta his wife [No. 5, ‘Che paura!’] _ are two formal items, built upon lightweight episodes, which have little connection with the subject and can arouse but little interest. The first, that is to say the terzetto, is entirely concerned with the explanation which Luzio gives to the other two singers of the word ‘sentiment’; the second with the fear that a silly young girl feels when she finds herself in the presence of a man dressed in black... And when two out of only a few pieces are superfluous, the opera must necessarily seem long, even though in itself it is not so.

If the libretto was vulnerable to criticism in this way, we may share Donizetti’s reported displeasure and disappointment that his music did not save the day. For, though unashamedly Rossinian in its inspiration, La romanzesca e l’uomo nero is, in terms of musical construction, a beautifully proportioned and strong little opera. The body of the work is taken up with two duets and two trios: it derives its strength, therefore, from ensembles. It is introduced, moreover, by a finely articulated introduzione for no fewer than seven voices; and rounded off with a finale, a rondò finale for Antonia followed by an air and variations in the manner of a vaudeville , with Filidoro and Antonia alternating their contributions and variants in an increasingly exuberant and pyrotechnically difficult envoi .

–26– This finale merits yet a further word, for its melody was not new. In the widely-practised manner of the day, Donizetti resorted at this point to recycling earlier work, drawing the melody from one of his drawing-room songs, ‘Occhio nero incendiator’ 5. Interestingly it had already, in that first version, taken the form of an air and variations, even though it was somewhat misleadingly labelled a romanza . Yet the two versions _ drawing-room song and operatic finale _ remain clearly distinct, the one elegant but comparatively simple, the other an unashamed display of bravura virtuosity.

We would also draw particular attention to the two duets. The second, for Chiarina and Filidoro, is probably the most ebullient item in the score: Donizetti at his comic best, writing with irrepressible zest and spontaneity. But the first, for Antonina and Filidoro, is also finely conceived, and reveals infinite felicities of workmanship. We may note, inter alia , the way in which both Filidoro’s mock-heroic narration of his cab-ride as he returned to Antonia’s roof, and her account of her sufferings and determination to ‘descend among the shades’ rather than wed Carlino, end in a series of vapid roulades as Filidoro describes how his pains are all forgotten the moment he claps eyes on his innamorata , and she wishes Heaven would strike him dead so that they might perish together. In either case romantic fatuity is translated into deliberate musical vacuity. We may also note Filidoro’s mock solemnity

______5 Published by Lucca in Milan in a Raccolta di canzonette e duettini. We wish to express our gratitude to Bruno Praticò and Alfonso Antoniozzi for drawing our attention to this self- borrowing.

–27– of utterance as he refers to his birth, ‘obscured amid clouds (of pomade)’, and the way it gives rise to one of Antonia’s most gorgeously self-indulgent melodies as she rhapsodizes on the ‘sublimity’ of origins wrapped in ‘enchanting obscurity’. And we should not overlook the manner in which the final address to all romantics, and the ecstatic contemplation of a ‘life according to Nature’, are mocked by being turned into a Rossinian crescendo.

If we except for a moment Filidoro’s single-page canzonetta, ‘Non v’è maggior dolore’, there are only two solo arias in the score: Antonia’s cavatina, following the Introduzione , and her rondò finale , preceding the final air and variations. Both are worthy of attention. Her cavatina, with its harp accompaniment, is not only beautiful in itself _ indeed it is as fine an example of a sustained yet decorated cantabile line as one could hope to find _ but it is also a precise illustration of the romanticism, the languorous sentimentalism and affectation, that the opera is satirising. In much the same way her rondò finale may be a statement of contrition and submission to her father, but it is also a last lingering and nostalgic indulgence in romanticism, before, abandoning it forever, she joins Filidoro in the extravagant and extrovert vaudeville .

In the music of Antonia, Donizetti and Gilardoni enter into Augusto Bon’s world of parody with relish and panache. But not only here. Filidoro’s ‘Non v’è maggior dolore’ is an anything-but-malicious take-off of Rossini’s setting, in the last act of Otello , of three of the most famous lines in all Dante.

–28– Its irreverence is perfectly in place, for it proclaims him the supreme charlatan, the ultimate poseur.

Nor is this the only example of deliberate parody. Somewhat disconcertingly, the second of the two trios _ that for Antonia, Nicola and Tommaso _ brings a slow section, ‘La mia vittima di faccia’, which reproduces the slow section, ‘Ei stesso! La mia vittima!’, of the terzetto finale of Act I of L’esule di Roma (Naples, 1828). Disconcertingly, because this cannot be regarded and conveniently dismissed as a normal ‘self-borrowing’. Composers of this period frequently recycled the better items of operas which had not as a whole met with success _ and might well go on recycling them until they became known and established in some new and popular context. But this is not the case here. L’esule di Roma was one of Donizetti’s better- received Neapolitan operas of the 1820’s, and owed its success to this very trio. In re-using it Donizetti was deliberately enjoying a joke at his own expense _ consciously ‘sending up’ one of the most admired ensembles he had ever composed. Not that the music is in any way distorted or mocked. But in L’esule di Roma it had depicted a heightened and serious situation: the confrontation of the hero, Settimio, with Murena, the treacherous senator who had earlier betrayed him and had him exiled from Rome, while Argelia, Murena’s daughter who is in love with Settimio, watches in anguish but also in ignorance of the true state of affairs. Here, by contrast, the situation is comic: Antonia sentimentally bids farewell to her ancestral halls, while Tommaso and Nicola bicker over the division of their loot. The use of such

–29– ‘elevated’ material in such a ‘low’ context deliberately and provocatively thumbs the nose at all principles of decorum.

* * * *

In 1982, long before the source of this opera had been identified, Opera Rara revived La romanzesca e l’uomo nero in a double-bill with Francesca di Foix at the Camden Festival. Both were given in English, La romanzesca _ or, as it was then called, La romanziera _ with a new and up-dated libretto by Don White in which a lady novelist of the 1920’s, who preferred the heroes of her novels to her patient fiancé of seven years, was finally brought to see the folly of her ways.

While the subsequent identification of Bon’s play as the source of the opera enables us to see that this rewritten libretto did some violence both to the original concept and to Donizetti’s music, the Camden performances at least admirably demonstrated the score’s resilience and lasting vitality. Both operas radiated good humour and were received in the spirit in which they were given; both proved themselves, in the words of Rodney Milnes, ‘delightful comedies and ideal Camden fare’.

The aim of that 1982 production was, of course, quite different from that of this present recording. At Camden the objective was to mount an evening of witty and enjoyable theatrical entertainment; here our goal is the more scholarly one of re-creating, insofar as is possible, a Donizetti opera for which not all the materials survive.

–30– It is to be hoped that the years ahead will see the discovery of more information concerning this opera. A number of scholars and researchers are now combing libraries in the hope of finding La romanziera e l’uomo nero , the intermediate farce that lay between Bon’s La donna dei romanzi and Donizetti’s opera. Others are searching for a copy, printed or manuscript, of the full libretto. No one would be more delighted than the present writer if future discoveries were to render this present account out of date. In the meantime, gentile Signor Lettore, we offer you this recording as a complete account of the music, and as a first foundation upon which to build, until further discoveries come to light, at least a partial knowledge and appreciation of this intriguing and little-known Donizetti opera.

© JEREMY COMMONS

–31– Gaetano Donizetti La romanzesca e l’uomo nero – Résumé de l’intrigue

LORS DES REPRÉSENTATIONS de cet opéra, en 1831, les arias étaient reliés entre eux par des dialogues parlés. Aucun exemplaire du livret complet n’ayant survécu à ce jour, toute trace des dialogues s’est perdue. Il semblerait que l’intrigue diffère sensiblement de celle de la pièce de théâtre dont elle s’inspire, La donna dei romanzi d’Augusto Bon (1819), aussi en sommes-nous réduits aux conjectures. La reconstitution qui suit ne saurait être un résumé authentique de l’opéra tel qu’il fut représenté en 1831.

La scène se déroule dans la demeure du comte, de retour dans son palais après un voyage de deux ans en compagnie du baron Ruperti, son ami. Pour sceller leur amitié, les deux hommes ont convenu que le fils unique du baron, Carlino, épouserait la fille unique du comte, Antonia.

Avant ce voyage, le comte a engagé Trappolina comme gouvernante et l’a chargée de s’occuper de l’éducation d’Antonia en son absence. Pour tenir compagnie à sa fille, le comte a également fait venir au palais sa nièce, Chiarina, jeune orpheline confiée jusque-là aux bons soins d’un couvent. Les deux jeunes filles ne tardent pas à découvrir qu’elles ont bien peu en commun. Lectrice avide de romans et de poésie, Antonia vit dans un monde imaginaire qu’elle a construit de toutes pièces. Ouverte et sans méfiance, Chiarina est plutôt vive, naïve et immature.

–33– Loin d'être à la hauteur de ses responsabilités, Trappolina est, en fait, une intriguante et une aventurière. Elle encourage le romantisme excessif d’Antonia pour mieux la dominer. A son incitation, Antonia a ordonné à Giappone, le fidèle domestique du comte, de démolir deux anciens pigeonniers encore en très bon état au fond du jardin pour y faire bâtir à la place une ruine gothique. C’est là que chaque soir Atala et Inès, alias Antonia et Trappolina, se retrouvent pour communier avec la Nature.

Trappolina s’est trouvé un allié en la personne d’un prétendu ‘tuteur’ hypochondriaque et mal odorant du nom de Tommaso. Ce dernier se plaint constamment du manque de générosité du comte, son employeur, mais par pure hypocrisie. Il s’agit, en effet, d’un ancien barbier devenu ambitieux et cupide. Il a pris de l’ascendant sur Antonia en se faisant appeler ‘il Solitario’ (‘le Solitaire’), et en prenant des airs de philosophe versé dans la métaphysique. Ses discours, de plus en incompréhensibles à mesure qu’on les écoute, regorgent de métaphores obscures et ridicules.

Profitant de l’absence du comte, Tommaso a introduit son neveu Filidoro au palais. Comme son oncle, Filidoro est un ancien barbier dénué de scrupules qui s’insinue dans les bonnes grâces d’Antonia en se faisant appeler ‘l’Uomo Nero’ (‘l’Homme noir’) et en se faisant passer pour un personnage mystérieux dont l’origine doit rester secrète. Le corps emmitouflé dans des vêtements sombres et la tête recouverte d’un feutre à larges bords orné d’une plume noire, il se dit lié par un serment lui interdisant de révéler le mystère de sa naissance pendant quinze ans, délai qui n’expirera, bien entendu, que l’année suivante. –34– En raison de l’amitié qui lie le comte à son père, Carlino se rend fréquemment au palais. Rebuté par la sottise d’Antonia et son romantisme débridé, il tombe amoureux ou, du moins, s’attache momentanément à Chiarina. Il est consternaté d’apprendre qu’il est censé épouser Antonia et que la cérémonie est imminente. Le comte, de plus en plus excédé par les folies d’Antonia, envoie Trappolina et Tommaso auprès de celle-ci pour lui faire savoir qu’elle épousera Carlino le lendemain. Le manque d’attirance étant réciproque, Antonia se jette dans les bras de Filidoro en le suppliant de lui prêter secours.

Avec l’aide de Trappolina et de Tommaso, Antonia et Filidoro décident de s’enfuir ensemble. Ils espèrent pouvoir compter sur l’assistance de Nicola, un autre domestique auquel ils demandent de mettre une chaise de poste à leur disposition non loin du palais la nuit suivante. Bien que la romantique Antonia se dise prête à vivre dans le dénuement et la pauvreté, elle obéit à Filidoro et Tommaso qui lui suggèrent d’emporter ses bijoux.

Le comte ignorant tout de son existence, Filidoro doit rester caché jusqu’au moment de l’enlèvement. Il fait l’erreur de mettre son sort entre les mains de Nicola. Le coquin l’enferme à l’intérieur d’un placard dans la chambre de Chiarina, avec la ferme intention de profiter de l’obscurité de la nuit pour prendre sa place et disparaître avec les bijoux d’Antonia.

Les péripéties se multiplient. Un jeune fat prénommé Fedele, qui poursuit Chiarina de ses assiduités, découvre l’homme caché dans la chambre de celle-

–35– ci et tourne son affection vers une autre _ Antonia. Lorsque Chiarina le libère, Filidoro en profite pour oublier la passion qu’il dit vouer à Antonia pour tenter de séduire Chiarina, à qui ‘l’Homme noir’ inspire une véritable terreur.

Mais le moment de l’enlèvement approche. Nicola essaie de se faire passer pour Filidoro. Mais l’honneur et la confiance ne règnent guère chez les voleurs. Persuadé que Tommaso, Trappolina et Nicola se sont ligués contre lui, Filidoro change de camp et s’assure le pardon du comte en lui révélant la conspiration. Les trois larrons en fuite sont arrêtés et justice est faite: Tommaso, Trappolina et Nicola sont renvoyés du palais. Quant à Antonia, elle comprend enfin qu’elle s’est leurrée en apprenant que Filidoro, loin d’être un personnage de mystère, est barbier de son état. Elle se voit alors placée devant une dure alternative: épouser Fedele ou quitter à tout jamais le palais de son père. Elle supplie qu’on lui épargne cette alliance et Carlino, lui venant en aide, dit à Fedele de renoncer au mariage. Antonia promet solennellement d’abandonner ses illusions romantiques et obtient manifestement le pardon de son père. Epouse-t-elle ou non Carlino? On ne saurait l’affirmer. La même incertitude pèse sur le sort de Chiarina: peut-être retrouve-t-elle le chemin du couvent où elle aura le temps de mûrir un peu. Filidoro accepte philosophiquement son destin: il retourne à son métier de barbier.

–36– La romanzesca e l’uomo nero – Die Handlung

BEI DER AUFFÜHRUNG dieser Oper im Jahr 1831 wurden die gesungenen Passagen durch gesprochenen Dialog miteinander verbunden. Soweit man weiß, ist kein vollständiges Libretto erhalten geblieben und der gesprochene Text ist offenbar verloren gegangen. Da die Handlung der Oper vermutlich stark von der Vorlage, Augusto Bons Drama La donna dei romanzi (1819), abweicht, kann die folgende Zusammenfassung nur eine Annäherung sein und keinen Anspruch darauf erheben, die tatsächliche Handlung der Opernfassung von 1831 getreu wiederzugeben.

Ort der Handlung ist der Palazzo des Grafen, der soeben von einer zwei Jahre währenden Reise mit seinem Freund Baron Ruperti zurückgekehrt ist. Die beiden wollen ihre Freundschaft durch eine Verbindung ihrer Familien besiegeln und beschließen deshalb eine Vermählung von Carlino, dem einzige Sohn des Barons, mit Antonia, der einzigen Tochter des Grafen.

Vor seiner Abreise hatte der Graf die Gouvernante Trappolina engagiert, die sich um die Erziehung seiner Tochter kümmern sollte, und zur Gesellschaft Antonias hatte er seine verwaiste Nichte Chiarina aus der Klosterschule ins Haus geholt. Doch die beiden Mädchen stellten bald fest, dass große Unterschiede zwischen ihnen bestehen. Antonia hat eine Vorliebe für romantische Romane und lyrische Dichtung und lebt in einer Welt, die wenig mit der Realität zu tun hat; Chiarina hingegen ist offen und vertrauensvoll, aber auch sehr naiv, unreif und impulsiv.

–37– Trappolina erwies sich sehr bald als intrigante Abenteurerin. Um Antonia für sich zu gewinnen, bestärkte sie sie noch in ihrer romantischen Exaltiertheit und drängte sie etwa dazu, von Giappone, dem getreuen Diener des Grafen, zwei alte, aber gut erhaltene Taubenschläge im Garten niederreißen und an ihrer Stelle eine gothische Ruine errichten zu lassen. Dorthin ziehen sich Antonia und Trappolina _ die sich bei diesen Gelegenheiten als Atala und Ines ausgeben _ jeden Abend zurück, um mit der Natur zu kommunizieren.

Einen Verbündeten hat Trappolina in der Gestalt Tommasos gefunden, des ältlichen, hypochondrischen und nicht sehr reinlichen Hauslehrers. Dieser beschwert sich unablässig über den Geiz seines Arbeitgebers, doch sind dies scheinheilige Klagen, denn Tommaso, der früher als Barbier sein Brot verdiente, ist ehrgeizig und habsüchtig geworden. Er nennt sich ‘il Solitario’ (‘der Einsame’) und hat übermächtigen Einfluss auf Antonia gewonnen, indem er sich zum metaphysischen Philosophen stilisierte. Seine Reden versteht man umso weniger, je länger man ihm zuhört, denn er spricht fortwährend in kunstvollen, aber bedeutungslosen Metaphern.

Auch Tommaso hat versucht, die Abwesenheit des Grafen zu seinem Vorteil zu nutzen, und seinen nicht minder skrupellosen Neffen Filidoro im Haushalt eingeführt. Dieser, ebenfalls Barbier, schmeichelte sich bei Antonia ein, indem er sich als ‘l’Uomo Nero’ ausgibt, ‘der Schwarze’, ein Mann von mysteriöser Herkunft. Er hüllt sich stets in schwarze Gewänder, einen breitkrempigen Hut mit schwarzen Federn auf dem Kopf, und behauptet,

–38– durch einen Eid gebunden zu sein, das Geheimnis seiner Geburt fünfzehn Jahre lang nicht aufdecken zu dürfen _ von denen das letzte noch nicht um ist.

Auch Carlino, der Sohn des Barons, ist aufgrund der Freundschaft seines Vaters mit dem Grafen häufig im Palazzo zu Gast. Er fühlt sich von Antonias romantischer Überstiegenheit abgestoßen und hat sich in Chiarina verliebt oder fühlt sich zumindest kurzzeitig zu ihr hingezogen. So ist er denn auch sehr bekümmert über die Pläne seines Vaters, ihn mit Antonia zu vermählen, und noch mehr entsetzt es ihn zu hören, dass die Eheschließung in allernächster Zukunft stattfinden soll. Voll Zorn über die romantische Verstiegenheit seiner Tochter lässt der Graf ihr durch Trappolina und Tommaso ausrichten, dass sie schon am folgenden Tag mit Carlino den Bund der Ehe schließen müsse. Antonia, die Carlinos Abneigung erwidert, wirft sich ‘hilfesuchend’ in Filidoros Arme.

Antonia und Filidoro schmieden Pläne, um mit der Hilfe Trappolinas und Tommasos zu fliehen. Auch bei Nicola, einem weiteren Angestellten des Grafen, hoffen sie Unterstützung zu finden und tragen ihm auf, in der kommenden Nacht eine Kutsche eine halbe Meile vom Haus bereitzustellen. Obwohl Antonia von einem Leben in romantischer Armut schwärmt, erhebt sie keinen Einspruch, als Filidoro und Tommaso ihr vorschlagen, ihren Schmuck mitzunehmen.

–39– Da Filidoro dem Grafen nicht bekannt ist, muss er bis zur Flucht verborgen bleiben. Unklugerweise wird er der Obhut Nicolas überlassen, der in Wirklichkeit nur seinen eigenen Nutzen im Sinn hat und ihn in einem Schrank in Chiarinas Zimmer einschließt. In der Dunkelheit will er sich als Filidoro ausgeben und mit dem Großteil von Antonias Schmuck verschwinden.

Die Komplikationen mehren sich. Chiarina wird von einem leidenschaftlichen Verehrer names Fedele verfolgt, doch als dieser entdeckt, dass sie einen Mann in ihrem Zimmer verbirgt, wendet er seine Aufmerksamkeit Antonia zu. Chiarina holt Filidoro aus dem Schrank, der _ Opportunist durch und durch _ seine angeblich unsterbliche Liebe zu Antonia augenblicklich vergisst und Chiarina umwirbt, die ihre Angst vor dem ‘schwarzen Mann’ aber nicht überwinden kann.

Der Zeitpunkt der Flucht ist gekommen, Nicola nimmt Filidoros Rolle ein. Doch Gauner kennen kein Gefühl für Anstand. Filidoro ist überzeugt, dass Tommaso, Trappolina und Nicola ihn übervorteilen wollen, und deckt dem Grafen den Fluchtplan auf, woraufhin dieser ihm verzeiht. Die Fliehenden werden abgefangen, die Gerechtigkeit nimmt ihren Lauf. Tommaso, Trappolina und Nicola werden aus dem Haus vertrieben. Als Antonia erfährt, dass Filidoro keineswegs ein geheimnisumwitterter Mann ist sondern ein einfacher Barbier, wird ihr schließlich das Ausmaß ihrer Narretei bewusst. Ihr Vater stellt sie vor eine unerquickliche Wahl: Entweder sie heiratet Fedele oder sie wird aus dem Haus verbannt. Als sie ihren Vater

–40– anfleht, er möge ihr die Ehe mit Fedele ersparen, kommt Carlino ihr zur Hilfe und verpflichtet Fedele, Junggeselle zu bleiben. Antonia schwört feierlich allen romantischen Träumereien ab und ihr Vater verzeiht ihr. Ob sie Carlino heiratet oder nicht, bleibt ebenso offen wie das weitere Schicksal Chiarinas; möglicherweise wird sie für einige Jahre ins Kloster zurückgeschickt. Filidoro seinerseits ergibt sich mit philosophischer Gelassenheit seinem Schicksal und wird wieder zum Barbier.

–41– La romanzesca e l’uomo nero – La trama

NEL 1831, ANNO in cui venne rappresentata, quest’opera riuniva brani cantati inframmezzati da alcuni dialoghi recitati. Poiché sembra che non sia rimasto un libretto completo, questi brani di dialogo sono andati perduti. E poiché sembra che la trama sia stata significativamente modificata rispetto a quella dell’originale teatrale a cui si ispira, La donna dei romanzi (1819) di Augusto Bon, la seguente narrazione è solo una congettura. È improbabile che sia fedele alla storia effettivamente rappresentata nel 1831.

La scena si svolge nel palazzo del Conte, appena rientrato da un viaggio durato due anni con un amico, il barone Ruperti. Entrambi hanno deciso di consolidare la loro amicizia con un’alleanza tra le due famiglie. Viene quindi stabilito che Carlino, unico figlio del barone Ruperti, sposi Antonia, unica figlia del conte.

Prima di partire, il Conte aveva assunto una governante, Trappolina, perché curasse l’educazione di Antonia, e aveva richiamato a casa Chiarina, una nipote orfana, dal convento dove veniva educata, perché le due ragazze si facessero compagnia. Ben presto le cugine avevano però scoperto di avere poco in comune. Antonia, appassionata lettrice di romanzi e poesia romantica, viveva in un mondo ideale tutto suo, mentre Chiarina, aperta e fiduciosa, era anche molto ingenua, immatura ed impetuosa.

–42– Anziché essere una governante responsabile, Trappolina si rivela un’avventuriera intrigante. Per riuscire a dominare Antonia, incoraggia apertamente i suoi eccessi romantici. Su suggerimento della governante, Antonia ha fatto demolire da Giappone, fedele maggiordomo del Conte, due colombaie vecchie, ma perfettamente funzionanti, in fondo al giardino, per far costruire al loro posto un rudere gotico. Qui, ogni sera, prende il nome di Atala e, con Trappolina, nelle vesti di Ines, entra in comunione con la Natura.

In casa, Trappolina ha trovato un alleato nell’anziano Tommaso, insegnante, ipocondriaco e poco pulito. Tommaso non fa che criticare la poca generosità del Conte, ma le sue sono le lagnanze ipocrite di un barbiere ambizioso e avido. ‘Il Solitario’ (questo, il nome da lui assunto), ha ottenuto un notevole ascendente su Antonia, che lo crede un filosofo metafisico, per i suoi discorsi interminabili e incomprensibili, infarciti di metafore complesse e senza significato.

Anche Tommaso ha cercato di sfruttare a proprio vantaggio l’assenza del Conte, introducendo in casa Filidoro, un suo nipote altrettanto privo di scrupoli. Filidoro è barbiere come lo zio, ed è entrato nelle grazie di Antonia, assumendo l’identità di ‘Uomo Nero’, una persona dal passato misterioso e segreto. Costantemente paludato in indumenti neri e con un cappello nero a tesa larga, adorno di una penna nera, dichiara di aver giurato di non rivelare il misterio della propria nascita per quindici anni; alla data della rivelazione manca, per curiosa coincidenza, proprio un anno. A causa dell’amicizia di suo padre con il conte, Carlino è ormai un

–43– visitatore frequente della casa. Ma viene respinto dal fatuo romanticismo di Antonia e si innamora, o si invaghisce temporaneamente, da Chiarina. Rimane sconvolto quando gli viene rivelato il progetto di fargli sposare Antonia, e si addolora ancora di più quando viene a sapere che la cerimonia potrebbe essere imminente. Il conte, sempre più irato al sentir parlare degli eccessi romantici di Antonia, invia Trappolina e Tommaso a dirle che dovrà sposare Carlino il giorno dopo. La fanciulla, che ricambia totalmente l’indifferenza di Carlino, si getta nelle braccia di Filidoro, in cerca di ‘protezione’.

Con l’aiuto di Trappolina e Tommaso, Antonia e Filidoro meditano di fuggire insieme. Sperano di farsi aiutare da Nicola, un altro servitore della casa, e gli ordinano di preparare una carrozza che dovrà attenderli quella notte, a mezzo miglio dalla casa. Nonostante il suo entusiasmo per la povertà romantica, Antonia non ha alcuna obiezione quando Filidoro e Tommaso le consigliano di portarsi dietro i propri gioielli.

Il Conte non conosce ancora Filidoro, che dovrà rimanere nascosto fino al momento della fuga. Malauguratamente, viene affidato alle cure di Nicola che, pensando al proprio personale tornaconto, lo chiude in un armadio nella camera da letto di Chiarina; intende prendere il suo posto con il favore dell’oscurità, per poi fuggire con una gran parte dei gioielli di Antonia.

Le complicazioni si moltiplicano. Fedele, un giovane fatuo, corteggia

–44– Chiarina; quando però scopre che c’è un uomo nascosto nella sua camera, rivolge la sua attenzione ad un’altra persona: Antonia. Chiarina libera Filidoro, che sempre opportunista, dimentica la passione dichiarata ad Antonia e inizia a corteggiare Chiarina. Lei, da parte sua, continua ad essere terrorizzata da quest’ ‘uomo nero’.

Arriva il momento della fuga degli innamorati: Nicola è travestito in modo da sembrare Filidoro. Ma non esiste onore né fiducia tra ladri. Convinto che Tommaso, Trappolina e Nicola siano in combutta contro di lui, Filidoro si trasforma in spia e si fa perdonare dal Conte, rivelandogli tutte le trame che si stanno preparando. Così il gruppetto di fuggiaschi viene catturato e si fa giustizia per tutti. Tommaso, Trappolina e Nicola vengono cacciati via; Antonia si rende conto dei propri errori quando viene a sapere che Filidoro non è un uomo misterioso, ma un semplice barbiere. Adesso ha davanti una scelta sgradevole: sposare Fedele o essere cacciata di casa dal padre. Davanti alle implorazioni della ragazza che non desidera questo matrimonio, Carlino interviene a suo favore, ordinando a Fedele di rimanere celibe. Antonia promette solennemente di rinunciare a tutte le aberrazioni romantiche e ottiene il perdono del padre. Non è chiaro se sposerà Carlino oppure no. Inoltre non si capisce bene quale sarà la sorte di Chiarina: forse verrà rimandata in convento, per maturare ancora un po’. Filidoro accetta il suo destino con filosofia e torna alla sua vocazione di barbiere.

–45– Elisabetta Scano (Antonia) LA ROMANZESCA E L’UOMO NERO Farsa in one act Libretto by Domenico Gilardoni Music by Gaetano Donizetti

First performed at the Teatro del Fondo, Naples, 18 June 1831.

Cast The Count (Il Conte)...... Antonia, daughter of the Count...... Chiarina, niece of the Count...... Carlino, the son of the Count’s close friend, Baron Ruperti... Trappolina, Antonia’s governess...... Filidoro, the ‘Black Man’ (l’uomo nero).... Tommaso, Filidoro’s uncle...... Nicola, a servant in the Count’s household... Fedele, an aspirant to Chiarina’s hand in marriage... Giappone, major-domo of the Count’s household...

[SINCE NO PRINTED libretto appears to survive, the words of the sung items have been drawn from Donizetti’s manuscript, preserved at the Naples Conservatorium of Music, S. Pietro a Majella, and from the vocal score published in the mid-19th century by the Parisian firm of Schonenberger. Originally the sung items were linked by passages of spoken dialogue, and at first we tried to reconstruct these by reference to the play on which the opera

–47– was ultimately based, La donna dei romanzi (1819), by the Venetian actor and author, Augusto Bon. We suspect, however, that there must have been a later revised version of this play, performed under the title La romanziera e l’uomo nero , since the action implied by the words of the opera’s sung items appears to be significantly different from that of La donna dei romanzi , even if the characters are often identical. Recourse has, therefore, frequently been had to the imagination. While we offer this reconstruction as one which is compatible with the words of the sung items, we can make no claim that it is the authentic action which was performed in 1831.]

The scene is laid in the palazzo of the Count, who has just returned from a two-year trip undertaken in the company of a friend, Baron Ruperti. In the course of their travels the two have decided to seal their friendship with an alliance between their families. They therefore plan that Carlino, Baron Ruperti’s only son, should marry Antonia, the Count’s only daughter.

Before he left home, the Count had engaged a governess by the name of Trappolina to take charge of Antonia’s education, and had also summoned home from the convent where she was at school his orphaned niece, Chiarina, so that the two girls could keep each other company. Chiarina, it should be added, is penniless and entirely dependent upon the goodwill of her uncle: all that her father has left her is a puppy which is now her constant companion (and which may be taken as a symbol of her own stage of mental immaturity).

–48– Antonia and Chiarina, in the Count’s absence, have soon discovered that they have little in common. Antonia, a great reader of romantic novels and poetry, lives in a totally unrealistic world of her own concocting; Chiarina, by contrast, is open and confiding, but also very naive, immature and impetuous.

Trappolina, far from showing herself a responsible governess, has proved a scheming adventuress. To bring Antonia under her sway, she has openly encouraged her romantic excesses. At her governess’s urging, Antonia has had Giappone, the Count’s faithful steward, demolish two ancient but perfectly serviceable dovecots at the bottom of the garden, and construct a Gothic ruin in their place. There she, calling herself Atala, and Trappolina, styling herself Ines, resort every evening to commune with Nature.

Trappolina has found an ally in the household in the form of the elderly, hypochondriac and unwashed tutor, Tommaso. Tommaso never stops complaining that the Count is an ungenerous employer, but these are the lamentations of a hypocrite. Originally a barber by trade, he has become ambitious and grasping. Calling himself ‘il Solitario’ (‘the Solitary’), he has gained an ascendancy over Antonia by passing himself off as a metaphysical philosopher. An orator whom one understands less as one listens to him more, he continually speaks in elaborate but meaningless metaphors.

Tommaso, too, has been trying to turn the Count’s absence to his advantage, for he has introduced his equally unscrupulous nephew, Filidoro,

–49– into the household. Filidoro, also a barber, has ingratiated himself with Antonia by calling himself ‘l’Uomo Nero’ (‘the Black Man’), a person of mysterious and secret background. Constantly muffled up in black clothes and broad-brimmed, black-plumed hat, he claims to be bound by an oath not to reveal the mystery of his birth for 15 years, one of which conveniently still has to run...

Carlino, as a result of his father’s friendship with the Count, is a frequent visitor to the house. But, repelled by Antonia’s romantic fatuities, he has fallen in love with, or at least become temporarily attracted to, Chiarina. It is therefore with great dismay that he learns of the plan that he should marry Antonia, and with considerable embarrassment that he comes early on the morning following the Count’s return, in obedience to his father’s orders, to pay his respects to the Count and his daughter. He is ushered in by the steward, Giappone.

No. 1. Introduzione, ‘Vi prego, avanti avanti’.

[1] GIAPPONE at the door Vi prego, avanti avanti. I pray you, come in, come in. Entrate. Potete. Enter. You may. CARLINO timidly Ma... (Ho paura...) But... (I’m afraid...)

–50– Clive Bayley (Giappone) GIAPPONE Per voi senz’ambasciata You need no introduction: È aperta l’entratura. The door is open to you. CARLINO Jer sera adunque... Last night then... GIAPPONE È giunto. The Count arrived back. CARLINO Oh! rovinato me! Oh, I’m lost! GIAPPONE Calate un’altro punto! Calm down a bit! CARLINO Ammazzami! Kill me, and put me out of my misery! GIAPPONE Perché? Why? CARLINO L’unica figlia, erede del Conte... The Count’s heir _ his only daughter _ GIAPPONE Che ha gran dote... Who stands to inherit a great dowry... CARLINO Mio padre per me chiede, My father has sought her hand for me, Mentr’amo la nipote... While I love the niece... GIAPPONE Corbiezzoli! Ohimè! Goodness gracious! Oh dear! IL CONTE calling from off-stage Giappone! Giappone! Giappone! Giappone! Giappone! Giappone!

–52– Paul Austin Kelly (Carlino) CARLINO Ammazzami! Kill me, put an end to me! GIAPPONE Ohimè! Alas! Il padrone non vuol... My master doesn’t wish... CARLINO holding Giappone back Per carità, per carità, deh senti! For pity’s sake, listen to me! GIAPPONE Poi, poi lasciate. That will do, that will do. CARLINO Ma tu, per carità... But you, for pity’s sake... GIAPPONE Dirò! Farò! I’ll say and do all I can for you. CARLINO No! pria... Ma no! per carità! No! rather... But no! for pity’s sake! IL CONTE still off-stage Giappon! sassate, Giappon! Giappone! Are you turned to stone? Giappone! GIAPPONE to Carlino Lasciate! Have done! calling to the Count Son qua! I’m here! CARLINO Senti, senti... Mio padre... Listen, listen... My father...

–54– GIAPPONE Lasciate! Ah! che totò! That’s enough! Ah! what a to do! IL CONTE entering (Chiarina also enters at this point, coming from the garden, and stands watching) E fia poter del mondo Has something come over the world Che ognun qui dorma ancora? That everyone’s still asleep here? Svegliatevi! in malora! Wake up! Devil take you all! Aprite gli occhi al dì! Open your eyes: it’s daylight! CARLINO to the Count Suo servo. Your servant. IL CONTE Addio, Carlino. Good day, Carlino. with rough affection Poltrone! Rascal! CARLINO Ben venuto. Welcome home. IL CONTE Addio. Thank you. FEDELE appearing on the threshold and trying to get the Conte to attend to him Pis, pis, pis, pis... Pst, pst, pst, pst... IL CONTE to Fedele Un momentino... One moment...

–55– Alfonso Antoniozzi (Il conte) FEDELE Vi seguito... I am here, following you... IL CONTE Un minuto... Give me a minute... FEDELE entering Facciam le cose in regola... Let us do things properly... CHIARINA, CARLINO & IL CONTE (Che goffo singolar!) (What an extraordinary fellow!) FEDELE Facciam le cose in regola: Let us do things properly: È usanza di collegio, That’s what I learned at college, A coppia sempre star. Always to come to a mutual agreement. CONTE Tommaso! Trappolina! Tommaso! Trappolina! Su presto! al mio cospetto. Quickly! I want to see them. CHIARINA coming forward Buon giorno, zio. Good morning, uncle . CONTE Chiarina. Chiarina. CHIARINA Di fiori ecco un mazzetto. Here is a bunch of flowers for you. CONTE Son grato. Tommaso... Thank you. Tommaso... CHIARINA Perdonatemi. Io stessa Forgive me. I’ll go myself Il vò appuntar. And tell him you want to see him. –57– FEDELE to Chiarina Si pure a me appuntatemi, Make an appointment for me, too, Anch’io voglio adorar. So that I can tell you I adore you. CHIARINA Chi è mai quell’uccellaccio? Whoever can this great ugly creature be? CONTE Sarà la tua metà. He is to be your husband. FEDELE Anticipa un abbraccio... Let me embrace you in anticipation... CHIARINA with naive eagerness Subito! I’m ready! CONTE Fermi là! Stop: that will do! Il bel candor dell’anima The pleasing openness of her nature Non alterò l’età. Does not allow us to overlook her age. CHIARINA Mi piace più la cagnola The puppy Papa left me Che mi lasciò Papà! Is more to my liking! CARLINO La rende assai più amabile Her artlessness makes her La sua semplicità. More lovable than ever. FEDELE Che pasta fina e morbida! What a fine smooth bit of flesh she is! Che bella qualità! What excellent qualities!

–58– TRAPPOLINA entering with Tommaso, and addressing the Conte Ben ritornato, signor garbato. Happy homecoming, dear sir. CONTE Grazie, grazie. Thank you, thank you. noticing that Tommaso, who is dirty and unkempt, is sweating profusely Che veggio? What’s this I see? TOMMASO Di male in peggio... From bad to worse... CONTE Che! voi sudate. Vi rasciugate. What! you’re perspiring. Rub yourself dry. TOMMASO Ah! sì, m’asciugo... per voi... Ah! yes, I’ll mop my brow... for you... CONTE Per me? For me? TOMMASO sighing Che floridezza! How well and flourishing you look! CONTE Non sospirate. Don’t sigh like that. TOMMASO Che robustezza! Lo meritate. How strong! You deserve your good health. CONTE Perché? Why?

–59– Bruno Pratic ò (Tommaso) TOMMASO Siet’uomo... You are a man... CONTE E l’uom...? And a man...? TOMMASO Tacete! Se non sapete, Silence! If you don’t know, Che bestia egli è! Let me tell you what an animal man is!

as if in a state of inspiration Il mondo è un vast’oceano, The world is a vast ocean, La vita una barchetta; And life a little vessel; La fame sta alla bussola, Hunger stands at the compass, La borsa il vento aspetta, And one’s purse waits for the wind; I flutti son le cause The waves are the lawsuits that buffet one, E l’albero il Paglietta. The mast is where one lays one’s head. Le vele son le femmine, The sails are the women of this world, Il remo la speranza; The oar is hope; La corda il matrimonio The cordage is marriage Ch’è sempre in dissonanza. Which is always out of tune. I figli? I figli ciurma e carico, One’s children? Children are a crowd and a burden, Burrasca la miseria; The storm is poverty; Insomma è cosa seria To sum up, life is a serious matter Per chi dee navigar. For anyone who must go sailing. CHIARINA Mi fa restar attonita! He leaves me astonished! Mi piace d’ascoltar. But I enjoy listening to him!

–61– TRAPPOLINA to the Conte Rammenta ch’egli è un barbaro... Remember that he’s a barbarian... Deh! non lo stuzzicar! Ah! be careful not to provoke him! CARLINO, FEDELE & GIAPPONE Non credo a quest’ippocrita I don’t trust this hypocrite Che vuol moralizzar! Who wants to moralise! CONTE Che son queste metafore? What are all these metaphors? Finite di scherzar. Let’s have an end to this joking.

TOMMASO Ah! è questa barca umana Ah! this is the human bark Ch’è sempre secca ai crediti; Which is always drained dry by creditors; Vai per tirarla sana, You try to get into safe waters, Vien carica di debiti, Yet you’re loaded down with debts Per cui l’usura insana Which insane usurers employ La sbatte e ne fa scempio; To buffet you and create havoc; Finch’entro la prigione Until in the prison of a certain shop D’un monte a tutti cognito, Advertised to all by its three balls Ti ligano il timone They tie down your rudder In nodo indissolubile. With a knot there’s no untying. Ahi! barca umana! Alas! frail human craft! Più manca la pecunia, The more you’re out of pocket, Più cresce in te l’inedia. The less able are you to help yourself. Amici, è una tragedia: Friends, it is a tragedy Mi viene a lagrimar... That sets my tears aflowing... –62– Bruce Ford (Fedele) and Alfonso Antoniozzi (Il Conte) he breaks into exaggerated tears Cosa seria, cosa seria: A serious matter, a serious matter: Mi viene a lagrimar! It sets my tears aflowing! Ah! Ah! Ah! Ah! TRAPPOLINA surreptitiously tugging his coat tails Tommaso! Tommaso! Tommaso! Tommaso! [2] CONTE to Giappone M’insulta, corbella! ’Pon my oath, he’s insulting me! E il soffro così? Do I have to suffer this? Spaccar le cervella I should like to split his head in two Gli voglio in tal dì! This very day! GIAPPONE Fingete, padrone, Pretend, my master, Conviene così; It’s the best thing to do; Credete a Giappone Trust Giappone Che mai vi tradì! Who never yet betrayed you! TRAPPOLINA Tommaso, rifletti... Tommaso, think twice... Via! basta così! Come now! that’s enough! Il Conte a quei detti Look! the Count has already Ve’ già scolorì. Turned pale at your words. TOMMASO to Trappolina Sta zitta, sta cheta, Be quiet, be silent, L’arringa finì; I’ve finished my harangue;

–64– Elena Monti (Trappolina) with Maria Cleva (Italian coach) La bocca indiscreta I’ve closed Si chiuse così. My indiscreet mouth. CARLINO noticing and resenting Fedele’s attentions to Chiarina Lo stolto imbecille The ridiculous imbecile Quel ben mi rapì! Has stolen my beloved from me! Le amate pupille He is snatching from me M’invola così! Those eyes I love so well! CHIARINA almost in a speaking voice Che ha detto? What was he saying? FEDELE also almost speaking L’oceano... The ocean... CHIARINA Che ha fatto? What was the ocean doing? FEDELE La barca... The vessel... CHIARINA Il remo... The oar... FEDELE La causa... La donna... Law suits... women... CHIARINA Il paglietta... One’s bed... FEDELE Il secco... One moment dry...

–66– CHIARINA Il bagnato. Il flutto... The next wet... The waves... FEDELE L’asciutto. Are dry. CHIARINA Capiste? Can you understand him? FEDELE Intendeste? Can you make head or tail of it? CHIARINA & FEDELE together Mi pare di sì! I believe I can! CHIARINA Il vecchio massaro I’ll go and find Men vado a trovar, The old farmer who runs the estate, Da lui me l’imparo, I’ll learn the meaning from him, Mel faccio spiegar. I’ll get him to explain it to me. TRAPPOLINA to Tommaso, warning him of the Conte’s wrath Ti guarda e minaccia, He’s looking daggers at you, Ti vuol bastonar! He’d like to give you a thrashing! La mira alle braccia He’s beginning Comincia a pigliar... To flex his arm muscles... CARLINO Ah! sempre è quest’alma Ah! this soul of mine Costretta a penar; Is forever doomed to suffer; Un raggio di calma No ray of calm Non veggio spuntar! Do I see dawning!

–67– FEDELE Non so se il donato I don’t know that his thesis Ne arriva a parlar. Can ever be clearly put into words. L’ho tutto scordato, I’ve forgotten it all already, Lo vuo riscontrar. I should like to try to repeat it. L’oceano la barca, The ocean... the bark... La causa il paglietta, The law suit... one’s bed... Il secco il bagnato, What’s dry... what’s wet.. Il flutto l’asciutto... The wave... that’s dry... Mi pare di sì. I think that’s it. CONTE La testa se ha pazza If he’s lost his wits, Son pronto a sanar: I’m ready to put his head in order for him: A colpi di mazza With a few good blows from my stick La posso aggiustar I can put all to rights. GIAPPONE to the Conte È saggio, non matto, He’s shrewd, not mad, Sa ben ragionar; He knows very well what he’s saying. L’arcan di soppiatto I’ll explain the mystery Mi serbo a svelar. Privately to you later. TOMMASO Anch’io colle mani I, too, am still agile enough Son svelto a giocar: To put my fists to work: Tai scherzi villani I know very well how to exact satisfaction So ben riparar! For such villainous tricks. –68– The Count becomes increasingly irate as he interrogates Trappolina and learns of his daughter’s romantic excesses. The final straw is to learn that Antonia, because her mother died when she was a child, now thinks of herself as an ‘abandoned orphan’, and, if ever she brings herself to mention her father, refers to him as a ‘tyrant’. In his exasperation, he sends Trappolina and Tommaso to inform Antonia that she is to marry Carlino the very next day.

Trappolina and Tommaso find Antonia lost in a deep reverie, reliving the sufferings of the latest heroine of romance she has been reading about, a certain ill-fated Elodia.

No. 2. Scena e Cavatina (Antonia), ‘Tu di rose inghirlandata’

[3] ANTONIA Oh Elodia solitaria, O lonesome Elodia, Io già vi veggo all’altare. Already I see you at the altar. TOMMASO trying to break into her reverie Ve’ ch’è giunto. Ascoltate, Look, your father’s returned. Listen, E’ arrivato. He’s come home. TRAPPOLINA to Tommaso Non ti sente. She doesn’t hear you. ANTONIA Oh! come di voi Oh! how my mind Piena è la mia mente. Runs upon you.

–69– Elisabetta Scano & Bruno Pratic ò Tu di rose inghirlandate Garlanded with roses, T’incamini ai sacri altari, You advance to the sacred altar, Ed ignori, o sventurata, And you know not, hapless creature, Quai versar dei pianti amari! What bitter tears you will have to shed! Fuggi, fuggi da quell’ara... Flee, flee from that altar... L’ara è quella del dolor! It is the altar of grief! TOMMASO Lascia l’ara, o figlia cara, Let the altar be, dear girl, Che sbarcato è il genitor. For your father has disembarked. ANTONIA as if in a state of trance Ah! Ah! Ah! Ah! Ah! Ah! Non mi porge Elodia ascolto... Elodia does not heed me... Carlo svela il nome odiato! Carlo reveals his hated name! Ogni nodo è infranto, è sciolto, Every knot is untied and broken, by coincidence turning and speaking directly to Tommaso Maledetto ed esecrato; Execrated and cursed; E l’incauta verginella And the unheeding virgin Sviene e cade, tace e muor. Faints and falls, falls silent and dies. Sviene... Faints... TOMMASO as if mocking her, counting on his fingers Uno! One! ANTONIA Cade... Falls! TOMMASO

–71– Due! Two! ANTONIA Tace... Falls silent... TOMMASO Tre! Three! TOGETHER E muor! And dies! TOMMASO Lascia i morti, o figlia bella... Let the dead be, dear girl... TRAPPOLINA Non ti sente. She does not hear you. TOMMASO Pensa al vivo genitor! Think of your living father! ANTONIA Ah! la fredda spoglia morta! Ah! the corpse all dead and cold! Carlo in braccio se la porta...Ah! Carlo carries it away in his arms...Ah! TOMMASO È pazza! She’s mad!

When Trappolina and Tommaso eventually manage to make Antonia aware of her father’s return _ and of her own impending marriage to Carlino _ she faints. Her recovery is attended by elaborate grief, and by protestations that she can never belong to anyone but her ‘black man’, Filidoro, even though he has been absent for several days and has, so she begins to fear, deserted her. She is led away distraught to her room. Filidoro now makes his appearance. He sums up his philosophy of life in

–72– Pietro Spagnoli (Filidoro) his introductory canzonetta, a parody of lines from Dante’s Divina Commedia . These lines would have been familiar to all opera-goers in the first half of the 19th century, as a result of their being sung _ in their correct form _ off-stage by a passing gondolier at the beginning of the last act of Rossini’s Otello . If Gilardoni’s libretto parodies Dante at this point, we should also add that Donizetti’s setting parodies Rossini.

No. 2b. Canzonetta (Filidoro), ‘Non v’è maggior dolore’.

[4] FILIDORO Non v’è maggior dolore There is no greater grief Che aver vuota la pancia Than having an empty stomach E far l’amore nella miseria. And making love with nothing in one’s pocket.

Antonia is overjoyed to hear of Filidoro’s return. Although she has no idea that he is only a barber, his references to pomade, scissors and beard in this next item leave the audience in no doubt.

No. 3. Duetto (Antonia & Filidoro), ‘Ciel! fia ver? mio Filidoro!’

[5] ANTONIA Ciel! fia ver? mio Filidoro! Heavens! can it be true? My Filidoro! Mi sostieni! io manco, io muoro... Support me! I’m fainting, I’m dying... she collapses upon a chair FILIDORO

–74– kneeling at her feet Chi a te serba amore e fede He who cherishes his love and faith for you Per miracolo è al tuo piede. Is _ by miracle _ here at your feet. ANTONIA Deh! ti spiega. Ah! explain yourself. FILIDORO still kneeling before her Ma così? Yes, but thus? ANTONIA raising him up Sorgi. Rise. FILIDORO Grazie. Thanks. ANTONIA Che seguì? deh! ti spiega! What has happened? Explain yourself! Filidoro, che seguì? Filidoro, what happened? FILIDORO brushing the dust from his knee; in emphatic tones Per tornarti a riveder As I was coming back to see you again, Lento assai pare a me il piè; All too slow seems my pace; Veggo un agile destrier Then I see an agile steed Che tirava un cabriolè. Drawing a cab. Monto in quello e col cocchier I get up, and come to terms Pattuisco la mercè. With the coachman on the fare. Giungo al loco sospirato, I reach the place I long for...

–75–

Pagar voglio il condottier, I wish to pay my conductor... E m’accorgo _ avverso fato! _ And I realise - hostile fate! _ Più moneta non aver. That I’ve no more money. Ah! per te fui bastonato Ah! on your account I was soundly thrashed Dal robusto calessier! By the sturdy cabby! ANTONIA Ah! ah! Ah! ah! FILIDORO Ma in vederti, oggetto amato, But when I see you, my dear, Il dolore andò a tacer. My pains are all forgotten. ANTONIA Quest’è un nulla. But this is nothing. FILIDORO Ti son grato. Parla or tu, I’m obliged to you. Now it’s your turn Ch’io sto a seder. Parla, parla. To speak while I sit here. Speak, speak. ANTONIA Il tiranno genitor My tyrant of a father Jeri sera qui arrivò; Arrived home last night; Questo mio ch’è pur tuo cor He has decided that my heart _ which is your heart too _ A un Carlino destinò: Should be Carlino’s: Come spunta il nuovo albor As the new dawn breaks Dar la mano a lui dovrò. I must give him my hand. in a tone of enthusiasm Ma pria d’esser trascinata But before I am dragged

–77– A quell’ara del dolor, To that altar of grief, O trafitta o avvelenata Either by dagger or by poison Scenderò fra l’ombra allor. I shall descend among the shades. Ma vorrei che all’impensata, But I should like it if you, too, Tu cadessi morto ancor! Were suddenly to fall dead! Lo vorrei, sì, lo vorrei! I should like it, yes, I’d like it! Ciel, tu compi questa scena, O heaven, bring this scene to pass! Deh! tu ammazza il mio tesor! Ah! strike my beloved dead! FILIDORO emphatically No, si viva. No, let me live. ANTONIA E qual pensiero And what thought Suggerisce a te l’amor? Does Love suggest to you? FILIDORO Non saprei... I couldn’t say... ANTONIA Svelarti al padre... Reveal yourself to my father? FILIDORO Mai, mai tal cosa! Never, never that! ANTONIA E chi tel vieta? And who forbids you? FILIDORO Una barbara cometa A barbarous comet Questa bocca sigillò. Has sealed these lips. ANTONIA

–78– Una cometa? A comet? FILIDORO Una cometa! A comet! ANTONIA La tua bocca? Your lips? FILIDORO Sigillò. Sealed. [6] Ahi! la mia nascita Alas! my birth Restò appannata Has been obscured In fra le tenebre Amid clouds 1 aside, to himself (Della pomata), (Of pomade), E sol fia cognita And may only be made known Quando è arrivata When my green years A un certo termine Are arrived Mia verde età. At a certain term. Tre lustri corsero Fifteen years have passed Ma non bastarono! But they are not enough! Un’ Olimpiade It is in vain to stipulate Invan si nomina! Another Olympiad! Mancano ancora There are yet wanting Tredici stelle, Thirteen moons, Venti procelle, Twenty tempests, Due siccità! Two droughts! ANTONIA ______1 Literally, ‘shades’. –79– Pietro Spagnoli and Elisabetta Scano with David Parry (conductor) Cielo! che nascita Heavens! what a Nuova e sublime! New and sublime birth! FILIDORO aside (Ah! la mia nascita è (Ah! my birth was sublime sublimissima!) beyond words!) ANTONIA Quel velo mistico That mystic veil Che non esprime!... That may not be spoken of!... FILIDORO aside (Lo sanno i pollini e l’acqual (My powders and warm water tiepida!) bear witness to it!) ANTONIA Qual dolce balsamo Like some sweet balsam L’anima opprime!... It oppresses my soul!... FILIDORO aside (Parrucche, e boccoli e gli (The effect of wigs and ringlets odoriferi!) and deodorants!) ANTONIA Quale incantevole What enchanting Oscurità! Obscurity! FILIDORO aside, to himself (Lo san li forbici!) (My scissors know the truth of that!) ANTONIA

–81– Perchè mai furono Why ever were those Al mondo cogniti Who conceived me, Chi generarono Afflicted and wretched as I am, Me afflitta e misera? Known to the world? FILIDORO aside, to himself (La barba il sa!) (My beard knows why!) ANTONIA Chi amar potevami Who could love me, Figlia d’oscura The daughter of a dark O d’una pura Or of a pure Necessità? Necessity? FILIDORO Dunque? Well then? ANTONIA Morte! Death! FILIDORO Atala mia, sempre vuoi My dear Atala, you are always Mortalità! Seeking death! E’ comune questa via, That’s the common way out, Bramerei più novità. I should like something more novel. ANTONIA Forse un chiostro? A cloister, perhaps? FILIDORO È triviale! Trivial! ANTONIA

–82– Una fuga occulta? A secret flight? FILIDORO Ah sì! Ah yes! ANTONIA È un’idea sentimentale? Does it count as a sentimental notion? FILIDORO Gigantesca in verità! Truly prodigious! È un’idea It’s a notion Gigantesca in verità! That is truly prodigious! ANTONIA Dunque una fuga... Well then, flight... FILIDORO Occulta... A flight that’s secret... ANTONIA E sentimentale... And sentimental... TOGETHER Sì! Yes!

[7] ANTONIA enthusiastically Fuggir da queste mura, To fly from these walls, Vagar pel piano il monte, To wander by plain and mountain, Cibarsi di verdura, To nourish ourselves upon plants, Abbeverarsi al fonte... To drink from a fountain... FILIDORO Ah! un umile capanna Ah! a humble cottage Sarà l’alloggiamento... Will be our lodging...

–83– ANTONIA Sì! Yes! FILIDORO Dell’erba e qualche canna With grass and a few reeds Il letto il pavimento... We’ll make our bed upon the floor... ANTONIA Il sol spuntar vedremo We’ll see the sun arise Dal balzo orientale... From the eastern cliff... FILIDORO L’argentea luna avremo We’ll have the silver moon Qual pallido fanale... As our pallid lamp... ANTONIA Ci addormiremo al canto We shall be rocked asleep by the song Del gufo lamentoso... Of the lamenting owl... FILIDORO Ci sveglieremo al pianto We shall be awoken by the weeping Dell’asino amoroso... Of the amorous ass... ANTONIA Con te m’avrai... You will have me with you... FILIDORO Con me starai... You will be with me... ANTONIA Con te... With you... FILIDORO Con me... With me...

–84– TOGETHER Romantici, apprendete! Romantics, list and learn! Fuggite le città! Fly the cities of this world! Ne’ boschi troverete In the woods you will find Ogni comodità! Everything you need!

Together with Trappolina and Tommaso, Antonia and Filidoro plan their flight. They hope to suborn another of the household servants, Nicola, and induce him to have a post-chaise waiting for them at an appointed hour half a mile from the house. Despite Antonia’s enthusiasm for living upon hips and haws, she voices no objection when Filidoro and Tommaso suggest that they should take her jewellery with them.

Filidoro is at this point totally unknown to the Count and must not be seen. The question arises of where he can be hidden for the hour or two until their plan can come into effect, and it would appear that they are unwise enough to entrust him to Nicola. Nicola is really out to play his own game, and when told to conceal Filidoro he sees his opportunity to get rid of him and take his place. He therefore shuts him in a cupboard in Chiarina’s room, which proves so dark and airless that in the middle of this next Terzetto Filidoro is heard knocking, trying to attract attention and so be released.

The Terzetto is sparked off when Fedele and Chiarina ask Tommaso to explain to them the meaning of the word ‘sentiment’. What follows is, in effect, a mock dissertation on the nature of man and love.

–85–

No. 4. Terzetto (Chiarina, Fedele & Tommaso), ‘Cinque sensi appena nato’

[8] TOMMASO Cinque sensi appena nato From the moment he is born L’uomo numera: odorato, Man numbers five senses: smell, Gusto, udito, vista e tatto, Taste, hearing, sight and touch, Ch’è il più semplice e più adatto. The last being the simplest and best adapted to him. Poi crescendo sorge il resto Then as he grows his remaining characteristic develops Che ne forma il compimento: Which forms their complement: Ora è docile, or molesto, One moment it’s docile, another malevolent, E si chiama sentimento... And it’s called sentiment... CHIARINA Donde sbuccia... So that sentiment springs... TOMMASO Dall’amore... From love... CHIARINA Ch’è l’amore? And what is love? TOMMASO Un raggazzaccio, Love is an overgrown boy, Scostumato traditore, Mannerless and treacherous, Che appiattato tende il laccio. Who lies in ambush and lays his snare. La sua freccia mai fallisce, His arrow never misses its mark: Scocca, punge, e ti ferisce. It flies, it pierces, and strikes you. FEDELE Dove? Where? –87– CHIARINA Dove? Where? TOMMASO In mezzo al core. In the depths of your heart. Ma piacevole è il dolore: But the pain is pleasing: Come punta di coltello You feel as if you’re being pricked Pizzicare poi ti senti... With the point of a knife... Mentre senti, colla mente voli... And while you feel, with your mind you fly... FEDELE Voli? Fly? TOMMASO Il volo cerca l’ale... Your flight seeks wings... CHIARINA L’ale? Wings? TOMMASO Dunque sei sentimentale Then you become a creature of sentiment Quando a morte pungerà! When love pricks you to death! CHIARINA Dunque... io son... In that case... I am... FEDELE La pizzicata, ed io volo! The one who’s pricked, and I’m the one who’s flying on air! TOMMASO No, v’ingannate! No, you’ve got it wrong!

–88– CHIARINA A me tocca la volata! I’m the one who should be in flight! FEDELE Ed io pizzico! And I the one who pricks! TOMMASO No, no, sbagliate! No, no, you’re mistaken! CHIARINA Ma il coltello? But the knife? TOMMASO Sì, signore. Yes, sir. FEDELE Voi l’avete? Do you have it? TOMMASO No, signore. No, sir. CHIARINA A voi l’ale... Do you have the wings? TOMMASO No. No. FEDELE Egli è il male! He’s the evil of the matter! TOMMASO No, signore, signor no! No, sir! no, sir! CHIARINA Ma chi punge? But who is it that pricks? FEDELE Punge amore. It is love that pricks.

–89– TOMMASO Bene! ma... Good! but... CHIARINA E il laccio? And the snare? FEDELE Poi v’impicca. Then it captures you. TOMMASO No. No. CHIARINA Punge... Pricks... FEDELE Impicca... Captures... TOMMASO No. No. FEDELE Come? Why not? CHIARINA Il coltello... The knife... FEDELE Fa la piaga... Makes the wound... CHIARINA Punge... Pricks... FEDELE Pizzica... Tickles... TOMMASO No, no, no, no! No, no, no, no!

–90– CHIARINA Vola... Flies... FEDELE Pizzica... Pricks... CHIARINA Fa piaga... Wounds... FEDELE Il coltello. The knife, all the work of the knife. TOMMASO No, no, no, no! No, no, no, no! CHIARINA & FEDELE with mock compassion E afforcato, impiccato, Man is caught on a spit, Coltellato, pizzicato, Knifed and stabbed, Ah! meschino disgraziato! Ah! the hapless wretch! Non v’andate ad affogar! But don’t go and drown yourself! TOMMASO Il malan che vi sia dato! Ah! the ills that are man’s lot! Ah! meschino disgraziato! Ah! the hapless wretch! Non vi fate fucilar, But don’t go and get yourself shot, Non v’andate ad affogar! Don’t go and drown yourself! Via, tacete, e attenti state That’s enough. Silence, and pay attention Colla pratica ad imparar So that you can learn through practice. to Fedele Tu la guarda e come io faccio... Look at her and do as I do... to Chiarina

–91– Stammi accorta ad imitar. Watch me closely and imitate me. [9] L’occhietto semi-chiuso Keep your eyes half closed Che cieco ognun lo creda, So that everyone thinks you’re blind, Ma intanto esplori, e veda But be on the lookout all the time Qual merlo può attrappar. For some simpleton you can catch. CHIARINA Così? Like this? TOMMASO to Chiarina Più chiuso. Close your eyes more. Brava! Well done! FEDELE Che bell’occhietto! What a clever ogling glance! TOMMASO Zitto! Hush! FEDELE Che zitto, zitto, zitto? Hush? Why should I hush? dancing round the room Io sono il merlo, I’m the simpleton, Attrappami! Attrappami! Catch me! Catch me! TOMMASO Sta’ zitto, non parlar. Hush, silence. FEDELE Io sono il... I’m the... TOMMASO Zitto, non parlar. Silence, no more talking. to Chiarina –92– La bocca più che stretta Close your mouth more Per muta ognun ti prenda, So that everyone will think you’re dumb, Ma sii la più perfetta But strive to be the most perfect Del prossimo a tagliar. At striking down your neighbour. CHIARINA Così? Like this? TOMMASO Più... Da maestra! Even more... That’s perfect! FEDELE Oh! come finge bene! Oh! how well she acts it! TOMMASSO to Fedele Sta’ sodo. Stand still. FEDELE Che sodo? e sodo e sodo e sodo? Still? still? Why should I stand still? Io sono il prossimo. Tagliami! I’m the neighbour. Strike me down! TOMMASO Sta’ zitto! non parlar. Silence! no more talking. to Chiarina Al mentre volte al giorno, At certain times of the day, Se occorre ogni momento, If need be every moment, Cadere in svenimento Fall in a faint Per farvi più adorar. To make yourself all the more adored. CHIARINA Va ben? All right like this? TOMMASO

–93– Bruce Ford (Fedele) and Adriana Cicogna (Chiarina) Più languissante. More languishing. FEDELE Con me languisci. Come languish here with me. TOMMASO E fermo! Stand still! FEDELE Fermo un cavolo! I don’t want to stand still! TOMMASO Sta’ fermo... Keep still... FEDELE Anch’io! Me, too? TOMMASO Sta’ fer... Keep still... A noise is heard coming from Chiarina’s room

CHIARINA Che strepitar? che strepitar? What’s that noise? that noise? FEDELE Chi picchia? Who’s knocking? TOMMASO È apprensione... I begin to fear... CHIARINA La cosa li dentro... It’s what has been hidden in there... TOMMASO (Nicola briccone...) (That rascal Nicola...) FEDELE

–95– Che cosa ci avete? What is going on? CHIARINA Ah! voi nol sapete... Ah! you do not know... FEDELE No...? No...? CHIARINA È brutta... It’s an ugly business... TOMMASO È apprensione... I begin to fear... CHIARINA La cosa.. It’s... FEDELE È brutta? Vediamo. An ugly business? Let’s see. CHIARINA Venite. Come. TOMMASO (Nicola briccone!) (That rascal Nicola!) FEDELE Vediamo! Let’s see. TOMMASO taking them both by the hand L’affare nascosto The hidden affair Là dentro riposto Concealed in there E’ appunto quel tale Is precisely what Che punge e fa male, Strikes and does harm, Che pizzica e vola, Pricks and flies,

–96– Che sbuccia e consola, Blossoms and consoles, Che appicca ed allaccia, Catches and entangles, Che sfodera, e sbraccia, Unsheathes and disarms, Che tira e rallenta, Hastens and slackens, Rallenta e ritira, Slackens and withdraws, Che sale scendendo, Mounts as it descends, Che scende salendo, And descends as it mounts, clapping his hands and then wringing them Che picchia e ripicchia, Strikes and strikes again, Si annoda, e si snoda, Ties and unties, In somma è l’amore In short it is love Che all’uscio bussò. That knocked on the door. CHIARINA È amor che la coda... It is love whose tail... TOMMASO Che coda? è scodato... What tail? it has no tail... FEDELE Ah! segue la moda... Ah! it follows the fashion... TOMMASO Che moda? è spiantato... What fashion? love’s out of fashion, reduced to beggary... CHIARINA Amore è pezzente? Love is a beggar? TOMMASO Fa barbe per niente... Trims beards for nothing... FEDELE

–97– Amore è barbiere? Love is a barber? TOMMASO Cioè per piacere. That’s to say, at your pleasure. CHIARINA to herself La coda... The tail... FEDELE to himself Scodato... It has no tail... CHIARINA to herself Barbiere... A barber... FEDELE to himself Pezzente... A beggar... CHIARINA & FEDELE to Tommaso, caressing him Maestro del core, Master of the human heart, Dal buco tu almeno At least let me see Quel tristo d’amore That sad fellow love Deh! fammi veder. Through the keyhole.

They continually try to run towards the door to Chiarina’s room. Tommaso continually tries to hold them back.

TOMMASO

–98– Allievi miei belli, My dear pupils, Quel buco è impedito; That keyhole is out of bounds; Voi siete zitelli: You are unmarried: Fa male il veder. It could only cause harm to look upon love. CHIARINA & FEDELE Fammi veder! Fammi veder! Let me see! Let me see! TOMMASO L’affare nascosto... The hidden affair... CHIARINA & FEDELE È amore che picchia? Is it love that knocks? TOMMASO L’affare nascosto... The hidden affair... FEDELE È amor che ripicchia? Is it love that knocks again? TOMMASO L’affare nascosto... The hidden affair... CHIARINA & FEDELE È amore che annoda? Is it love that entangles? TOMMASO No, l’affare nascosto... No, the hidden affair... FEDELE È amore che snoda? Is it love that unties? TOMMASO L’affare nascosto... The hidden affair... CHIARINA & FEDELE È amore che tira? Is it love that hastens?

–99– TOMMASO L’affare nascosto... The hidden affair... FEDELE Ciò è che ritira? Is it love that withdraws? TOMMASO (Nicola briccone!) (That rascal Nicola!) Allievi miei belli, My dear pupils, Quel buco è impedito! That keyhole is out of bounds! CHIARINA & FEDELE Io vo’ veder. I want to see. TOMMASO Fa male il veder. Seeing causes harm.

Allievi miei belli, My dear pupils, ecc. etc. CHIARINA & FEDELE Maestro del core, Master of the human heart, ecc. etc.

The discovery that there is a man hidden in Chiarina’s closet has one fortunate consequence: Fedele decides that she cannot be the virtuous girl he had believed, and ceases to force his attentions upon her.

Other consequences are less welcome. Filidoro, released from his imprisonment by Chiarina, immediately shows his true colours as an opportunistic adventurer by forgetting all about his vaunted passion for

–100–

Antonia, and switching his affections to Chiarina instead. He tries to flirt with her, but her naivety stands her in good stead: she is at first frightened of him, but even when she recovers her composure, her mixture of innocence and naivety _ and her resorting to the precepts taught her by Tommaso _ prevent him from making any headway.

No. 5. Duetto (Chiarina & Filidoro), ‘Che paura!’

[10] CHIARINA with mock terror Che paura! che paura! I’m frightened! I’m frightened! Sulle gambe reggo a stento... I can scarcely stand upon my feet... L’uomo nero?... uh! che spavento! The black man? uh! but I’m scared! Posso appena sillabar. I can scarcely speak.

FILIDORO Via, fa core! via, fa core! Come now, take heart! Perchè vai da me lontana? Why do you retreat from me? Sono un uomo di pasta umana... I’m a man of human flesh... Ah! cessa, o cara, dal tremar. Ah! my dear, stop trembling. CHIARINA Or mi punge! Ah! che spavento! Now he pricks me! Ah! I’m frightened! Posso appena sillabar. I can scarcely speak. FILIDORO Cessa, o cara, dal tremar. My dear, stop trembling.

–102– CHIARINA imitating Antonia’s theatrical behaviour Vi scostate! Mi pungete. Stand back! You’re pricking me. FILIDORO Qualche spina in me sapete...? You’ve discovered some thorn in me...? CHIARINA Deh! fuggite! Mi ferite! Ah! fly! You wound me! FILIDORO Cessa, o cara, dal tremar. My dear, stop trembling. CHIARINA Mi pungete! Mi pungete! You’re pricking me! You’re pricking me! Deh! fuggite! Mi ferite! Ah! fly! You wound me! FILIDORO Non ho più tanta virtù. I no longer have the power to do so. CHIARINA Ma voi sempre pizzicate! But you’re always pricking me! FILIDORO Non è vero, v’ingannate! That’s not true, you’re mistaken! CHIARINA Vi scostate! vi scostate! Stand back! stand back! FILIDORO Perché vai da me lontana? Why do you retreat from me? CHIARINA Voi pungete! Voi pungete! You’re pricking me! You’re pricking me!

–103– FILIDORO Ma se son di pasta umana? But if I’m human flesh and blood? CHIARINA Mi ferite! You wound me! FILIDORO No, signora, No, signora, Non ho più tanta virtù. I’m no longer capable of doing so. CHIARINA Deh fuggite! Deh fuggite! Ah! fly! Ah! fly! FILIDORO Via, fa’ core! Via, fa’ core! Come, take heart! Come, take heart! CHIARINA Mi ferite! Mi ferite! You’re wounding me! You’re wounding me! FILIDORO Ma se son di pasta umana? But if I’m human flesh and blood? CHIARINA Mi pungete! pizzicate! You’re pricking me! tickling me! FILIDORO Non ho più tanta virtù. I’m no longer capable of doing so. CHIARINA Che spavento! Che spavento! I’m scared! I’m scared! Posso appena sillabar. I can scarcely speak. Ed avete il sentimento And do you have that sentiment Che ben spesso sa volar? That very often takes wing? FILIDORO L’ho, e non l’ho, secondo il vento Sometimes yes, sometimes no, according

–104– Che potete suscitar. To the wind you are able to raise. CHIARINA looking at him with curiosity and compassion Poveretto, sta in bisogno... Poor fellow, he stands in need... È sprovisto, manca in tutto. He’s unprovided for, he has nothing. FILIDORO È minuta, è serpentina, She’s small, thin as a snake, Spolpatella come un stucco. No more flesh than on a plaster statue. CHIARINA Ma non è poi tanto brutto... But he’s not so ugly after all... FILIDORO Ma è possibile quel secco? Is such emaciation possible? CHIARINA Via, soffribile così. At least he’s sufferable as he is. FILIDORO Tollerabile così. At least she’s tolerable as she is. CHIARINA Così... As he is... FILIDORO Così... As she is...

Già so che in serbo I already know that you have Avete un sposo... A husband waiting for you... CHIARINA Signor, sì. Yes, sir. FILIDORO E spero che sarete fedele? And I hope you’ll be faithful to him?

–105–

CHIARINA Signor, no. No, sir. FILIDORO Ma come? ma come? How now? what’s this? CHIARINA E non mi deggio sposare And am I not to be allowed to marry Un uomo al dì? A man a day? FILIDORO Si può sentir di peggio? Did anyone ever hear worse? CHIARINA Non posso farlo? I can’t do it? FILIDORO Ma no! No! CHIARINA Proprio non posso? I really can’t? FILIDORO Ma no! No! [11] CHIARINA Ah! ah! ah! ah! Ah! ha! ha! ha! Mi fate ridere You make me laugh Ma tanto tanto, ma tanto! Oh, how you make me laugh! Sposarmi io giovane A young woman like me Un uom soltanto? To confine herself to a single husband? Che tirannia! che carestia! What tyranny! What a famine! Che limitata felicità! What restricted happiness! Tutti a me piacciono, All men please me, Non scarto alcuno, I don’t reject any of them,

–107– E avete stommaco And you have the presumption Di darmen’ uno? To confine me to one? Vo’ il vecchio, il giovane, Give me the old man, give me the young man, La mezza età; Give me the man of middle age; Il ricco, il povero, Rich man, poor man, La nobiltà! The nobleman in his castle! FILIDORO La nobiltà? The nobleman in his castle? CHIARINA La nobiltà! The nobleman in his castle. FILIDORO La vera immagine Truly you’re the mirror Sei del candore: Of candour: Com’acqua limpida Your heart is as transparent Hai paro il core; As limpid water; Ma è velenosa But this hungry simplicity Per chi ti sposa Is poison Quest’affamata semplicità! For the man who marries you! Figlia, il tuo genio Daughter, your whims M’ha sbalordito! Have astounded me! Comincio a piangere Already I begin to commiserate Già tuo marito, With your husband, Che se nei calcoli Who, if he makes a mistake Si sbaglierà, In his calculations, L’uno in moltiplico Will rapidly find himself Ritroverà. One multiplied by many.

–108– CHIARINA Ah! ah! ah! ah! Ah! ha! ha! ha! Mi fate ridere You make me laugh! Ma tanto tanto, ma tanto tanto! Oh! how you make me laugh! FILIDORO Mi fate piangere You make me weep! Ma tanto tanto, ma tanto tanto! Oh! how you make me weep!

The time comes for the elopement of Antonia and Filidoro, accompanied by Tommaso and Trappolina. Their indiscretion in seeking the assistance of Nicola, however, rapidly makes itself evident. Still believing Filidoro shut up in the cupboard, and hoping to win Antonia and her jewels for himself, Nicola muffles himself up in black cloak and plumed hat. In the darkness he tries to pass himself off as Filidoro. As the following Terzetto begins, he and Antonia are on stage alone together.

No. 6. Recitativo, ‘Fuggiam, fuggiam!’, e Terzetto, ‘Dopo tante e tante pene’ (Antonia, Nicola & Tommaso).

[12] NICOLA Fuggiam, fuggiam! Let’s fly, let’s fly! ANTONIA Fa d’uopo We must wait for Che si attenda il solitario. Il Solitario. NICOLA E che mai sta facendo? Whatever can he be doing?

–109– ANTONIA Di radunar procura He’s trying to gather up Le mie gioje. My jewels. NICOLA Le gioje? Io qui l’attendo. Your jewels? I’ll wait for him. ANTONIA Per me? On my behalf? NICOLA Per te. E perchè Don Tommaso On your behalf. And because Farebbe ora pro me. Don Tommaso would do the same for me. ANTONIA Non fu già mio pensier It was not my intention Di possederle... To take them with us... NICOLA Le gioje? The jewels? ANTONIA Ma siccome è lungo il viaggio... But since our journey will be a long one... NICOLA Oh! quanto ben facesti, Oh! how wisely you’ve acted, Arbitra de’ miei sensi You, the mistress of my senses Vecchi e nuovi! (Le gioje!) Old and new! (The jewels!) O mia speranza! You are all my hope! (E chi si move più da questa (And who would budge from this stanza?) room?)

–110– ANTONIA Dopo tante e tante pene After so many countless sufferings Premio avrà la nostra fede, Our mutual faith will have its reward, Ah! desio per sol mercede Ah! the only reward I want is that hymen Che mi annodi Imene a te. Should join me in marriage to you. Da quel caro e dolce istante From that sweet and welcome moment Che consorte a me sarai, When you will be my husband, Sempre accanto a te m’avrai, You will have me ever beside you, Spirerò vicino a te. I’ll breathe my last breath close to you. NICOLA getting anxious at Tommaso’s continued absence (Don Tommaso non si vede... (Still no sign of Don Tommaso... È’ un inferno io sento in me.) This is an inferno I feel inside me.) calling in a whisper Don Tommaso! Don Tommaso! to Antonia Sempre accanto... You will have me for ever... calling Don Tommaso! Don Tommaso! to Antonina A te m’avrai. Beside you. (Non si vede... spirerò.) (Still no sign of him... I shall die.)

TOMMASO from off-stage Atala. Atala.

–111–

ANTONIA Ascoltalo. Listen: that’s him. NICOLA E quando veniva...? And when is he coming...? TOMMASO entering with a canteen of silver and two silver candelabra Orba orfanella Antonia! O bereaved orphan Antonia! Antoniella! Antonia! Antoniella! Antonia! NICOLA (E chi è peggio?) (And which of us is the greater rogue?) ANTONIA Oh ciel! O heavens! TOMMASO Sei morta... o viva, Antonia? Are you dead... or alive, Antonia? ANTONIA Son viva. I’m alive. TOMMASO Eh! figlia mia? Eh! daughter? Vivi in sordia? Alive, yet deaf? Dimmi, ed Ines, dov’è? Tell me, and Ines, where is she? ANTONIA Finor non comparve... So far she has not appeared... Che adunaste? What have you gathered together? TOMMASO with mock contempt of his booty Metalliche pezze, Pieces of metal, Sarciture d’umane debolezze. The refuse of human weaknesses.

–113– NICOLA (Che farem debolmente a metà.) (Which, in our weakness, we’ll share.) TOMMASO Pria che giunge Nicola, vorrei Before Nicola arrives, I should like Saccheggiar questi avanzi Trojani To secure these Trojan remains in a sack, Chè se arriva, e ci mette le mani For if he comes and gets his hands on them, Vanno in fumo. They’ll vanish into thin air. NICOLA leaping upon Tommaso, while Antonia’s attention is elsewhere Sor zio! Sir uncle! TOMMASO taken by surprise Ah! Ah! NICOLA Date! Give me a share! TOMMASO taking him for Filidoro Ah! ah! ah! ah! Ah! ah! ah! ah! [13] Ei stesso! la mia vittima Filidoro himself! My intended victim Di faccia! Oh diavolo! In person! The devil! Ah, dove mai nascondermi? Ah, wherever can I hide? Che! I candelieri, si, son questi! What! The candlesticks? Here they are! Eccoli! vedili! Che sporchi e neri Here! Look at them! They’re black and dirty, Fra poco da un orefice But I’ll soon have them polished up –114– Polir farò. By a silversmith. Va, tira a quella l’umido Go, draw the dew of life from Antonia, Ogni brillante è un cancaro! Jewels are but dross by comparison! Fuggimi! or sono idrofobo, Leave me! I’m hydrophobic, E’ un cofanello scarso And a jewel casket is but scant water Acqua di maggio in tempo. In the month of May. Son proprio arso, son arso. I’m positively burnt dry, burnt dry. Gioitene gioitene, Usurers, rejoice, rejoice! Usurai vi pagherò! I shall be able to pay you my debts! NICOLA sotto voce Ferma le braccia, o barbaro! Put down the loot, you wretch! Siamo parenti We are birds of a feather, Pe’ tuoi futuri debiti We’ll be associated in your future debts, Non pei presenti. But not in your present ones. Ve’ il tutto non vuoi cedere, Watch out! if you don’t relinquish the lot, Che ti da pena! You’ll be the worse for it! Due terzi d’ogni rotolo Give me two thirds of every bundle Dammi e godrò. And I shall rest satisfied. E che? in gordigia What’s this? Why do you try Perchè mi scacci? To leave me out in the cold? Che mai ti feci, Whatever did I do to you, O lupo, che mi discacci? You wolf, that you try to chase me away? Ma son Nicola... acchetati! But I’m Nicola... calm down!

–115– Bruno Pratic ò and Elena Monti E con l’arena And I’ll polish up Posate e candelieri Both cutlery and candlesticks Io lustrerò. With sand. ANTONIA who has not heard this exchange between Tommaso and Nicola Asil di duolo e lagrime, Abode of grief and tears, Ti lascio... addio! I leave you... farewell! Pareti infauste ad Atala, Walls that proved fatal to Atala, Alfin, alfin v’obblio. At last, at last I forget you. Pietosi Dei, salvatemi Merciful Gods, save me Dal padre irato! From the wrath of my father! Ora che lieta a vivere Now that, eager to live, Lieta fra’ boschi io vò. Joyfully I take to the woods.

TRAPPOLINA entering in haste Siete pronti? Are you ready? Già in ordine è il legno. The carriage is already waiting. Discendete pian piano in giardino, Quietly, quietly come down into the garden, Pel viale più ignoto e vicino By the least-known and nearest avenue Noi possiamo sicuri fuggir. We can escape in safety. ANTONIA to Trappolina Tu precedi. You lead the way. Trappolina goes out again

–117– TOMMASO to Nicola Da’ braccio alla dama. Give your arm to the lady. NICOLA who would far rather carry the booty Ah! volpone! Ah! you old fox! ANTONIA to Nicola, still believing she is speaking to Filidoro Deh! vieni, mio bene... Ah! come, my love... NICOLA Sì, mia vita. Yes, my life. (E le gioje? che pena!) (And the jewels? What a curse!) TOMMASO Ah! potessi da loro sparir! Ah! if only I could give them the slip! NICOLA Il Tommaso già veggo sparir. I already see Tommaso giving us the slip. ANTONIA Fammi, o sorte, volando sparir! O destiny, make me invisible as I fly! [14] Destrieri infocati Fiery steeds, Ponetevi il morso, Take the bit in your teeth, Con rapido corso With rapid pace Ci fate scappar. Allow us to escape. NICOLA Alati giumenti, Winged chargers, Mettetevi sotto, Lift us upon your backs,

–118– Slanciatevi al trotto, Trot away, Ci fate sloggiar. Help us decamp. TOMMASO Puledri sfrenati, Unreinable horses, Schivate ogni intoppo, Skirt every obstacle, E a tutto galoppo And at full gallop Ci fate scappar. Enable us to escape. NICOLA In cima alle vette Upon the summits Di Monte Pulciano, Of Monte Pulciano Di Monte Gragnano And Monte Gragnano Mi vò a dissetar. I go to slake my thirst. ANTONIA In mezzo ai deserti In the midst of the deserts D’Arabia petrosa, Of stony Arabia Di Libia arenosa And sandy Libya Il duolo sfogar. I go to drown my sorrows. TOMMASO A basso agli scogli Beneath the cliffs Dov’è mare chiaro, Where the water is clear, O in riva al Fusaro Or on the banks of the Fusaro Mi voglio sfamar. I want to satisfy my hunger.

Filidoro, believing that Tommaso has betrayed him and entered into a conspiracy with Trappolina and Nicola, has decided to turn informant and buy his pardon from the Count by revealing the planned elopement. As a result the fleeing party is apprehended and justice is meted out to all.

–119–

Tommaso, Trappolina and Nicola are sent packing, and Antonia is at last brought to see the error of her ways when she learns that Filidoro, far from being a man of mystery, is a mere barber.

In La donna dei romanzi , Chiarina marries Ferdinando, the equivalent of Carlino, and Antonia is dismissed to learn a little common sense in a convent. This does not, however, appear to be the ending here. There is nothing in the operatic text to suggest that Chiarina marries Carlino, and it should, indeed, be noted that she does not participate in Antonia’s rondò finale . (Perhaps it is she who has been sent back to the convent _ to grow up a little.) As the rondò finale begins, Antonia would appear to have been given a choice of marrying Fedele or of being banished. She pleads against marriage to Fedele, and Carlino steps in and tells Fedele he must remain single. Antonia makes a solemn promise that she will renounce her romantic aberrations, and clearly gains her father’s pardon. Filidoro accepts his fate: that he must revert to his calling as a barber.

No. 7. Rondò finale (Antonia), ‘Sì, colpevole son io’.

[15] ANTONIA to the Conte Sì, colpevole son io, Yes, I am to blame, Tutto merto quel rigore... I deserve all your harshness... Ma pietà vi parli al core, But let mercy speak to your heart, Perchè opprimermi così? Why oppress me in this way? Deh! cedete a’ prieghi miei, Ah! yield to my prayers,

–121–

Quel comando rivocate; Call back that dire command; Il mio fallo perdonate, Forgive my error, Vostra figlia si pentì. Your daughter has repented. CONTE E Fedele? And Fedele? ANTONIA Ah! con tal nodo Ah! in such a union Sarei misera, infelice. I would be wretched, unhappy. CONTE Dunque a monte. Then there’s no bargain to be struck. FEDELE Ed io felice! But I would be happy! CARLINO Tu? You? FEDELE Sì! Yes! CARLINO Tu, resti celibe. Si sa. You must remain single. Understand? CONTE Nè mai più romanticismo. And no more romanticism. CARLINO to Fedele Sposa a voi! Antonia your wife! to the Count Con te, papà. I’m with you, Papa! CONTE E sentimento? And sentiment?

–123– ANTONIA No, mai più. Vel prometto. No, no more. I give you my promise. CARLINO to Fedele Sposa a voi... Antonia your wife... ANTONIA Mai più. No, no more. FILIDORO Mai più. No, no more. [16] Lascio l’ombre ed i fantasmi, I take leave of shadows and ghosts, Gli astri, i spettri degli Eroi, Of stars and the spectres of heroes, Torno ai pettini e rasoi, I return to my combs and razors, Le parrucche a impolverar. And to powdering wigs. ANTONIA Lascio il salice ed il cipresso, I take leave of willow and cypress, Il cenere ed il pianto, Of ashes and tears, Torno al ballo, torno al canto, I return to dancing and singing, Ogni moda, ogni moda ad imitar. Every fashion, every fashion to follow. FILIDORO Lascio il bosco ed il deserto, I take leave of wood and desert, Gl’antri opachi, foschi e muti, Of dark, shadowy, silent caves, Torno i peli più canuti I return to dyeing the whitest of heads A far neri diventar. So that they turn black once more. ANTONIA Lascio il lugubre castello, I take leave of lugubrious castle

–124–

Il ruscello cristallino, And crystalline stream, Torno all’opera, al festino, I return to the opera and the party, Con le belle a garreggiar. And to gossiping with other belles. Romanzieri, addio per sempre, Writers of romance, farewell for ever, Lo spuntar del nuovo giorno Tomorrow’s dawn Possa il tutto cancellar! Will see an end to all that’s past! FILIDORO Parrucchieri a voi ritorno; Barbers, I return to you; Lo spuntar del nuovo giorno Tomorrow’s dawn Possa il tutto cancellar! Will see an end to all that’s past! ALL Lo spuntar del nuovo giorno Tomorrow’s dawn Possa il tutto cancellar! Will see an end to all that’s past!

–126– David Parry (conductor) with Patric Schmid (producer) Sir Peter Moores