Indd 1 12/07/2019 10:55:49 Giacomo Puccini

PUCCINI LE WILLIS

Sir Mark Elder Ermonela Jaho, Arsen Soghomonyan, Brian Mulligan London Philharmonic Orchestra, Opera Rara Chorus Rediscovering, restoring, recording and performing the forgotten operatic heritage of the 19th century

Giacomo Puccini LE WILLIS

ORC59

Opposite: Giacomo Puccini (1858-1924)

ORC59 Le Willis (12.07.19).indd 1 12/07/2019 10:55:49 Giacomo Puccini

LE WILLIS (1884) Opera-ballet in one act

APPENDIX Scenes from LE VILLI (1889) Opera-ballet in two acts

Libretto by Ferdinando Fontana Critical edition by Martin Deasy

Guglielmo Gulf ...... Brian Mulligan

Anna, his daughter ...... Ermonela Jaho

Roberto ...... Arsen Soghomonyan

Mountain folk, Willis, Spirits ...... Opera Rara Chorus

London Philharmonic Orchestra Pieter Schoeman, leader

Sir Mark Elder, conductor Recorded at the Henry Wood Hall, London, November 2018

ORC59 Le Willis (12.07.19).indd 2 12/07/2019 10:55:49 Assistant conductor & chorus Production manager director Aurelie Baujean Eamonn Dougan Essay Répétiteur Martin Deasy Steven Maughan Photo credits Italian language coach Russell Duncan (pages 41, 44, 50, Matteo Dalle Fratte 53, 58, 62, 64, 67, 70) Fondazione Cariplo (page 35) Recording engineer Morgan Library, New York Steve Portnoi (page 47)

Assistant engineer Clamshell-box, wallet, CD face and Vanessa Nuttall booklet cover design C&CO Design Editing Mark Elder, Jeremy Hayes, The scores and parts for this Steve Portnoi recording were hired from Casa Ricordi. Producer © 2018 Casa Ricordi, Milan Jeremy Hayes (a division of Universal Music Publishing Group)

ORC59 Le Willis (12.07.19).indd 3 12/07/2019 10:55:49 London Philharmonic Orchestra

First violins Second violins Cellos Pieter Schoeman, Tania Mazzetti Kristina Blaumane leader Helena Smart Francis Bucknall Vesselin Gellev, Kate Birchall Laura Donoghue sub-leader Nancy Elan David Lale Katalin Varnagy Fiona Higham Elisabeth Wiklander Catherine Craig Nynke Hijlkema Helen Rathbone Thomas Eisner Joseph Maher Sibylle Hentschel Martin Höhmann Marie-Anne Mairesse Iain Ward Geoffrey Lynn Ashley Stevens Robert Pool Kalliopi Mitropoulou Double Basses Sarah Streatfeild Judith Choi-Castro Kevin Rundell Yang Zhang Sioni Williams George Peniston Tina Gruenberg Tom Walley Grace Lee Violas Laurence Lovelle David Quiggle Nathan Knight Michael Casimir Katharine Leek Flutes Susanne Martens Juliette Bausor Benedetto Pollani Renate Sokolovska Daniel Cornford Stanislav Popov Piccolo Richard Cookson Stewart McIlwham

ORC59 Le Willis (12.07.19).indd 4 12/07/2019 10:55:49 Oboes Horns Cimbasso Ian Hardwick John Ryan Lee Tsarmaklis Alice Munday Martin Hobbs Elise Campbell Timpani Cor Anglais Gareth Mollison Simon Carrington Sue Böhling Trumpets Percussion Clarinets Jason Lewis Andrew Barclay Thomas Watmough Anne McAneney Keith Millar Paul Richards Jeremy Cornes Cornets Feargus Brennan Bass Clarinet Paul Beniston Paul Richards Gwyn Owen Harp Flicorno Sopranino Sally Pryce Alto Saxophone Paul Beniston Martin Robertson Trombones Bassoons David Whitehouse Gareth Newman Charlotte Van Passen Ide Ni Chonaill Bass Trombone Contrabassoon Lyndon Meredith Simon Estell

ORC59 Le Willis (12.07.19).indd 5 12/07/2019 10:55:49 Opera Rara Chorus

Sopranos Tenors Bass Helen Bailey Nick Allen Stephen Alder Rosanna Harris Robert Amon Jochem van Ast Susan Jiwey Rhys Bowden Thorvald Blough Bernadette Lord Philip Brown Damian Carter Sarah Minns Andrew Friedhoff Gerard Delrez Natalie Montakhab Paul Hopwood Matthew Duncan Sarah Parkin Gerald Place Bryn Evans Hannah Sawle Ian Massa-Harris Spiro Fernando Helen Withers Stuart McDermott Russell Matthews Nicola Wydenbach Henry Moss Martin Nelson Edward Saklatvala Philip Shakesby Mezzo-sopranos James Scarlett Alistair Sutherland Joanna Arnold Julian Smith Lawrence Wallington Leilani Barratt Martin Hindmarsh James Birchall Caroline Carragher Tamsin Dalley Amanda Floyd Zoe Haydn Vanessa Heine Melanie Lodge Gemma Morsley Alison Place

ORC59 Le Willis (12.07.19).indd 6 12/07/2019 10:55:49 EVERY PROJECT that Opera Rara undertakes is only made possible by the generosity of our supporters, who believe in our mission to rediscover, restore, record and perform the forgotten operatic heritage of the 19th century. We would like to take this opportunity to thank our current supporters and those who have contributed towards our work during the period of this recording.

Circle Members Timothy Congdon Charles Alexander Edward Gasson Carlo Grosso Patrick and Marian Griggs Michael Hartnall Malcolm Herring Glenn Hurstfield Madeleine Hodgkin Costas and Evi Kaplanis Alan Jackson Trifon and Despina Natsis Simon Lyell Stefan Olsson and John Tierney Chris and Dominique Moore Sir Simon and Virginia Robertson Simon Mortimore QC Islée Oliva Salinas Alison Nicol Patrick Radcliffe Patrons Peter Rosenthal Sir David Bean Imogen Rumbold Roger Bramble Martin and Patricia Spiro Anthony Bunker Gerry Wakelin and Ivor Samuels Sir Anthony Cleaver

ORC59 Le Willis (12.07.19).indd 7 12/07/2019 10:55:49 Friends Trusts and Foundations Claus Ambos The Monument Trust David Bernstein Foyle Foundation Jennifer Bryant Pearson The Vernon Ellis Foundation David Buchler Fondation Caris David Castles Colin Craig Mark Field Paul Foss Marian Gilbart Read Julian Herveau Edward Herzog Yvonne Horsfall-Turner Richard Jacques Douglas Jones Chris Knight Eric Leynes Barry Lock Karen McHugh Carolyn Newbigging John Nickson Opera Rara is particularly grateful Alex Reinhard to the late Sir Peter Moores Andrew Simmons who, through the Peter Moores Kenneth Stampp Foundation, supported our work Richard Williams from 1978 to 2010.

ORC59 Le Willis (12.07.19).indd 8 12/07/2019 10:55:49 Contents

Track listing Page 10

“Freshness of fantasy, and phrases that touch the heart”: Page 12 the story of Puccini’s Le Willis, by Martin Deasy

The Story Page 36

Argument Page 37

Die Handlung Page 38

Trama Page 39

Libretto Page 40

Appendices Page 63

ORC59 Le Willis (12.07.19).indd 9 12/07/2019 10:55:49 Track listing

LE WILLIS (1884) Opera-ballet in one act Duration Page

[1] No. 1 – Preludio 2:34 40

PARTE PRIMA

[2] No. 2 – Coro d’introduzione 5:46 42 ‘Evviva i fidanzati!’ (Coro, Guglielmo) No. 3 – Duetto [3] ‘Non esser, Anna mia’ (Roberto, Anna) 1:46 45 [4] ‘Tu dell’infanzia mia’ (Roberto, Anna) 3:35 46 No. 4 – Preghiera [5] ‘Presto! Presto in viaggio!’ (Coro, Roberto, 2:00 48 Anna) [6] ‘Angiol di Dio’ (Guglielmo, Anna, Roberto, 6:10 49 Coro)

INTERMEZZO SINFONICO [7] No. 5a – L’abbandono 5:15 52 [8] No. 5b – La tregenda 3:39 52

ORC59 Le Willis (12.07.19).indd 10 12/07/2019 10:55:49 PARTE SECONDA Duration Page No. 6 – Preludio e scena [9] ‘No! Possibil non è che invendicata’ 3:27 55 (Guglielmo) [10] ‘Anima santa della figlia mia’ (Guglielmo) 2:06 56 No. 7 – Scena finale [11] ‘Ei giunge! Anna!’ (Coro, Roberto, Anna) 3:30 56 [12] ‘Tu dell’infanzia mia’ (Anna, Roberto, Coro, 6:20 59 Guglielmo)

APPENDICES

LE VILLI (1889) Opera-ballet in two acts

Atto I, No. 3 – Scena e Romanza di Anna [13] ‘Se come voi piccina io fossi, o vaghi fior’ 6:53 63 (Anna, Roberto) Atto II, No. 9 – Scena drammatica e Romanza di Roberto [14] ‘Ei giunge!... Ecco la casa...’ (Coro, Roberto) 2:32 65 [15] ‘Torna ai felici dì’ (Roberto, Coro) 9:39 66

ORC59 Le Willis (12.07.19).indd 11 12/07/2019 10:55:49 “Freshness of fantasy, and phrases that touch the heart”: the story of Puccini’s Le Willis

ON 1 APRIL 1883, under the When Sonzogno’s advertisement heading ‘Incoraggiamento ai appeared, Puccini was preparing giovani compositori italiani’, Il for his final examinations at the teatro illustrato, the Sonzogno the Milan Conservatorio. After publishing firm’s house journal, graduation in July, he emerged advertised a prize of 2,000 lire from the protected environment for a one-act opera by a young of the Conservatorio into a Italian composer who had not yet sophisticated cosmopolitan made a stage debut. Anonymous world for which, as a diffident, submissions were to be evaluated provincial youth, he was poorly by a panel to include the composer equipped. Puccini was fortunate Amilcare Ponchielli and the in that Ponchielli, his composition conductor Franco Faccio; two teacher, recognised his potential shortlisted works would be judged and exerted himself on his pupil’s at a gala performance. It was hoped behalf. It was probably he who first that the music would be inspired suggested that Puccini enter the ‘in the best traditions of Italian Sonzogno competition. Ponchielli opera, but without renouncing introduced his ex-pupil to the poet contemporary advances in musical Ferdinando Fontana, brokering an knowledge, home-grown as well agreement whereby Fontana would as foreign’. The deadline was 31 provide a libretto for a negligible December. fee and at short notice.

ORC59 Le Willis (12.07.19).indd 12 12/07/2019 10:55:49 Fontana (who had already Libretto in hand, Puccini provided the libretto for one of worked on the opera during the the eventual competition winners, autumn of 1883, based mainly Luigi Mapelli) furnished the in the family home at Lucca. promised libretto in instalments Although he was laid low by during the course of August, and tonsillitis at the beginning of Puccini had a near-complete text the autumn, dated drafts of the by the beginning of September. Duetto and Nebulosa confirm The scenario was based on that by October he had already Alphonse Karr’s short story, Les begun to make inroads into the Willis (1852), originating in a composition. By mid-December, Slavic legend first recounted by pressed for time, he was working Heinrich Heine in De l’Allemagne day and night to complete the (1835). The Willis of Karr’s tale opera. The orchestration was are jilted fiancées, who, having finished at the last possible died of grief, are transformed moment and his entry (consisting into malevolent dancing spectres of both an orchestral and a vocal doomed to seek revenge on score) was submitted just before their perfidious lovers. Milanese the deadline on 31 December. audiences would already have The Sonzogno jury met on 6 been familiar with the term, since April 1884 to consider 28 entries, it had been the subtitle of the 1843 publishing the results in the La Scala production of Adolphe May issue of Il teatro illustrato. Adam’s 1841 ballet Giselle, based In what appears to have been a on the same subject. calculated hedging of bets steered

ORC59 Le Willis (12.07.19).indd 13 12/07/2019 10:55:49 Interior of Milan’s Teatro Dal Verme, where Le Willis had its premiere on 31 May 1884

ORC59 Le Willis (12.07.19).indd 14 12/07/2019 10:55:49 by Sonzogno’s editorial staff, the As an untried 25-year-old, Puccini judges shortlisted works from was rather less self-confident both sides of the operatic turf war than his subsequent successful then being contested on the Italian career might suggest, and it seems stage. At the gala performance on unlikely that he would have 4 May, Luigi Mapelli’s traditionally counted on winning. Nor, it seems conceived Anna e Gualberto and certain, would he have had the Guglielmo Zuelli’s ‘Wagnerian’ self-assurance to take the matter La fata del nord were awarded further were it not for the fact that joint first place, but critics were Fontana also had a stake in the unconvinced. The Corriere della opera’s success. Possessing a shrewd Sera opined that Mapelli was understanding of the workings hardly the composer for whom of Milanese artistic patronage, Italy had waited so long; Zuelli was the veteran librettist arranged for viewed as a potential symphonist Puccini to present Le Willis at the rather than a writer of operas. salon of the aristocratic dilettante In all of this, Puccini’s name composer Marco Sala. As a result of was nowhere to be seen, not even the enthusiastic reception, a dozen among the list of composers or so sympathetic patrons (among awarded honourable mention. them the librettist and composer Since little of his correspondence Arrigo Boito) agreed to fund a survives from this period, it is public performance. hard to gauge his reaction, but it The impresario Cesare Steffenoni, should not necessarily be assumed who had the running of the that he had expected to succeed. Teatro Dal Verme in Milan, was

ORC59 Le Willis (12.07.19).indd 15 12/07/2019 10:55:49 already planning to stage a single Enthusiastic reports from the performance of Alberto Favara’s rehearsals and trails in the press Marcellina on 24 May, one of had aroused public curiosity, the runners-up in the Sonzogno and there was a palpable sense of competition. He seems to have anticipation on opening night. The been persuaded to stage Puccini’s reception was extremely favourable, opera the following week, bringing even triumphant. The duet and the his season to a close. The premiere baritone’s aria were applauded, as of Le Willis thus took place at was the Intermezzo sinfonico, but the Dal Verme on 31 May 1884, it was the Preghiera – particularly conducted by Achille Panizza and the concluding C-major orchestral programmed as a triple bill with perorazione (encored twice) – that Filippo Marchetti’s opera Ruy Blas made the biggest impact. The and a ballet entitled La contessa success of the opera was such that d’Egmont. The soloists were Steffenoni laid on an additional Rosina Caponetti-Bassi (Anna), performance, doubtless delighted Antonio d’Andrade (Roberto) and at the opportunity to balance Erminio Peltz (Guglielmo). To his books with a late-season hit augment the limited forces of the (Puccini’s brother reported that Dal Verme’s resident orchestra, 9,000 francs were taken in the first Puccini co-opted students and three nights alone). Reviews were supporters from the Conservatorio glowing. Antonio Gramola, in Il as supplementary string players, Corriere della Sera, wrote that in Le among them one Pietro Mascagni Willis there is ‘freshness of fantasy, on double bass. phrases that touch the heart [...],

ORC59 Le Willis (12.07.19).indd 16 12/07/2019 10:55:49 and craftsmanship so elegant and feel for musical pacing and large- polished that we seem to have scale syntax (in fact he envisaged before us not a young student, but the performance of this movement a Bizet, a Massenet’. as a freestanding orchestral piece). Bearing in mind Puccini’s Such finesse obscures the fact uncertainty in the period following that Puccini was a slow worker, his graduation, one can only marvel at least as far as musical structure at the remarkable poise and was concerned (orchestration, by assuredness of Le Willis. Whereas contrast, was a much more rapid other composers can often be procedure). As the surviving seen learning their trade in early vocal-score draft shows, fluency works, Puccini seems in this, his and seeming spontaneity were first full-scale effort, to have sprung often hard-won, the result of forth fully formed. There is hardly experimentation and redrafting. a trace of roughness. Stylistically Musical motives may have come to and technically, everything Puccini freely enough, but it cost seems fully developed: deft him significant time and effort to orchestration, ingratiating melody, craft them into their final forms unerring formal control. Puccini’s (in this, he recalls Bellini, another remarkable ability to handle long systematic self-borrower whose musical spans distinguished him apparent spontaneity was the from his contemporaries (and result of strenuous labour). Loath indeed from his teachers): the to ‘waste’ good material, Puccini ravishing orchestral Nebulosa frequently adapted promising clearly demonstrates this uncanny motives and even whole passages

ORC59 Le Willis (12.07.19).indd 17 12/07/2019 10:55:49 António d’Andrade (1854-1942) He created the role of Roberto in Le Willis (1884)

ORC59 Le Willis (12.07.19).indd 18 12/07/2019 10:55:49 from works he had written as a setting the terms that would student: the slow movement of the govern the work’s reception for Duetto originated as a Romanza the next century at least. Although d’amore, while the Preghiera is not identified among Puccini’s a reworking of an 1882 Salve direct financial supporters, the Regina. In the opening Chorus, influential music publisher Giulio the A minor Gira! Balza! waltz Ricordi had printed the libretto originates as a scherzo written for the production for no fee, an around 1882, and the F major indication that he had a close episode derives from an Adagio eye on the young composer well dating from 1881. What is striking, before the new opera was heard in however, is that in most of these public. Ponchielli must have been cases Puccini’s reworking involved involved in these dealings: he had extensive re-orchestration of the spoken to Ricordi about his pupil pre-existing model; in one case as early as July 1883, but it was only (the Preghiera) the reworking in February 1884 that a personal involves sophisticated rhythmic introduction was made – by which reinterpretation. time Ponchielli was certainly in a Unsurprisingly, there was position to influence the outcome considerable public interest in of the Sonzogno competition. the rejection of Le Willis by the Ricordi’s paramount command of Sonzogno committee; as a result, Milanese musical life and shrewd the story of Puccini’s hasty, artistic judgement make it hard to poorly drafted and incomplete believe that the subject of Puccini’s submission was widely rehearsed, opera would not have arisen

ORC59 Le Willis (12.07.19).indd 19 12/07/2019 10:55:49 during this meeting, or indeed with Puccini began much earlier that Ricordi would not have been than publicly known, and certainly curious to hear extracts at the piano. well before the premiere of Le Puccini biographer Michele Willis in Milan. Girardi has suggested obliquely This knowledge forces a that Ponchielli and Ricordi may change to the way in which the actually have conspired to keep episode has traditionally been Puccini’s work out of Sonzogno’s framed: rather than the vindication orbit in order to ensure that of a talented provincial youth Ricordi was subsequently able to unjustly overlooked in a national bring him under his own aegis. competition, the real story could It is worth noting, however, that well be about Giulio Ricordi’s crafty under the terms of the competition acquisition of a promising new Sonzogno made no prior claim to addition to his roster in a campaign the winning operas: for instance, that probably began as early as it was Ricordi, not Sonzogno, Puccini’s graduation performances who quickly acquired the rights and was furthered with Ponchielli’s to Zuelli’s La fata del nord, at the connivance. Of course, none of same time commissioning a new this would have been known work just as he was soon to do to the wider public, which was with Puccini. Nevertheless, there understandably intrigued that are grounds to take Girardi’s a work so obviously surpassing suggestion seriously: for instance, those of the actual finalists, heard it is evident from Giulio Ricordi’s in public only weeks earlier, could correspondence that his association have been overlooked by the prize

ORC59 Le Willis (12.07.19).indd 20 12/07/2019 10:55:49 Notice in Gazzetta Musicale di Milano (June 1884) announcing Ricordi’s publication of Le Willis and its contract with Puccini to write a second opera with Fontana, which would be Edgar (1889)

ORC59 Le Willis (12.07.19).indd 21 12/07/2019 10:55:50 committee. Unsurprisingly, the involved the cannibalising of the jury attempted to save face. The original one-act manuscript; the legibility of the score was a topic 1883 portions of the score are in that frequently surfaced over the fact some of the tidiest manuscript coming days. One of the judges pages that Puccini ever wrote.) It (Cesare Dominiceti) was quoted does appear, however, that the full as saying that Puccini’s script was score as submitted was not quite illegible, a claim that will seem all complete. Il teatro illustrato (a too plausible to anyone familiar Sonzogno publication with first- with the composer’s characteristic hand knowledge) noted that the hand. Yet, as it happens, on this Coro d’introduzione had not been occasion Puccini went to some fully orchestrated; this is borne out trouble to provide a legible by the existing autograph score, manuscript, to the extent of having the ink colour and character of the two numbers professionally copied. drafting suggesting this number Giulio Ricordi gave this explanation was added later. short shrift, retorting (not without On 5 June Puccini signed a reason) that Puccini’s score could contract ceding Casa Ricordi the hardly have been illegible, since rights to Le Willis, undertaking to the copyists were able to extract expand it into a two-act work and from it the orchestral parts for accepting the commission for a the Dal Verme performance. (The new opera to another libretto by autograph score’s untidiness in its Fontana. At this point, the history present state results from the 1884 of Le Willis comes to a close. two-act revision, a process that During the summer and autumn

ORC59 Le Willis (12.07.19).indd 22 12/07/2019 10:55:50 of 1884, Puccini undertook the One of the most fascinating (and, alterations specified by Ricordi. for some, problematic) aspects A Romanza was added for Anna, of Le Willis is the way in which it chorus parts inserted into the seems to float free of the rest of Nebulosa, the Finale rewritten and Puccini’s oeuvre – not just because expanded, and the orchestration its legendary setting is removed amplified throughout, parts being from the hyperbolic realism of added for contrabassoon and his so-called verismo operas, but cornets (a Romanza for Roberto also because it seems calculatedly was added subsequently). The to forego the emotional drama revised work was divided into two characteristic of his later works. As acts, becoming known as has often been noted, major plot Le Villi. Now wholly supplanted, incidents that might conventionally the one-act Le Willis was never have been seized on as striking again performed. The original operatic coups de théâtre occur orchestral score was largely offstage: Roberto’s seduction by the incorporated into the two-act Willi and Anna’s death are both revision, accreting several layers of narrated indirectly, in verse and in revisions; the latter portion of the Puccini’s symphonic intermezzo. manuscript (the original Finale) The result is a work that can seem was detached and given away. curiously static: the critic Filippo Filippi aptly characterised the opera *** as a ‘symphonic cantata adapted for the stage’.

ORC59 Le Willis (12.07.19).indd 23 12/07/2019 10:55:50 To understand this aspect of gathered around Iginio Ugo the opera, we need to consider Tarchetti, Cletto Arrighi and Arrigo the experimental aesthetic of the Boito in the years between 1860 librettist Ferdinando Fontana and 1890. These bohemian artists (1850-1919), one of the more belonged to the generation whose colourful personalities of late 19th coming of age coincided with a century Milan. A playwright and realisation that unified Italy’s noble crusading journalist, over the ideals of autonomy and self-rule course of an eccentric portmanteau were evaporating in the face of career he became aligned with industrial capitalism and grasping the Milanese workers’ movement, forms of commerce. Their protest and during the 1880s edited the took the form of a consciously left-leaning newspaper L’Italia del anti-bourgeois artistic stance, popolo in collaboration with his which, rather than retreat from the friend, the subversive republican modern world, sought to engage Dario Papa. Following the bloody with it critically. Seeking new forms socialist uprisings in Milan in of artistic expression in order to 1898 he was sentenced in absentia revivify the ossified conventions of to three years’ imprisonment for traditional genres, the scapigliati inciting class hatred, and fled into experimented with unconventional exile in Switzerland. narrative structures and new Fontana was intimately amalgams of the various arts. associated with the scapigliati (‘the Boito’s anarchic opera Mefistofele dishevelled ones’), the group (1868; revised 1875) is probably the of Northern Italian writers who best known of these experiments,

ORC59 Le Willis (12.07.19).indd 24 12/07/2019 10:55:50 Cover page of the libretto and programme for Le Villi, for the Teatro alla Scala (January 1885)

ORC59 Le Willis (12.07.19).indd 25 12/07/2019 10:55:50 melding as it does literature, were intended as descriptive scenography, ballet and music into epigraphs to be read by the a ‘total artwork’. audience during the intermezzo, Fontana was also committed not to be recited in performance.) to this type of theatrical fusion. In The displacement of the 1884, the same year as Le Willis, he opera’s dramatic crux into the published a polemical pamphlet (In musical intermezzo was therefore teatro) in which he proposed a new a deliberate strategy on Fontana’s genre dubbed the sinfonico scenico. part, in keeping with the principles Instead of libretti, audiences were outlined in In teatro. Fontana must to be given descriptive poems must have been pleased to have serving as ‘guides to the action’. the chance to collaborate with Fontana envisaged the inclusion of Puccini, a composer who (as an Intermezzo sinfonico, consisting he knew already) had precisely of a programmatic sinfonia those symphonic gifts required performed with lowered curtain, to succeed in Fontana’s new coupled with short portions of lyric genre. Puccini had already gained verse describing the programme. some notice for the orchestral The pamphlet casts an interesting Capriccio sinfonico he produced light on Le Willis, which includes as a graduation piece, which had many of the elements outlined in been performed to some acclaim Fontana’s manifesto. (It also in July 1883. Puccini wrote to confirms that the two poems, his mother that ‘there was ample L’abbandono and La tregenda, scope in [Fontana’s scenario] for included in the libretto of Le Willis the descriptive, symphonic kind

ORC59 Le Willis (12.07.19).indd 26 12/07/2019 10:55:50 of music’, a remark that points to position elaborated most famously discussions between the two at an in Boito’s poem Dualismo (1866; early stage. published 1877), scapigliato writers The alignment of Le Willis habitually exploited a logic of with the scapigliatura extends to double vision to draw attention to content and aesthetic as well as the moral and social decay they unconventional form. Libretti perceived beneath the vaunted derived from German legend progress and social gentility of late appear to have predominated 19th-century Italy. Viewing the among the Sonzogno competitors, world through the lens of Gothic in most cases as a calculated fantasy, they set out to reveal the response to the continuing grotesque and macabre as a latent success of Catalani’s Elda (1880). presence in everyday life, always (Zuelli’s winning La fata del Nord aware, like T.S. Eliot’s Webster, is explicitly subtitled ‘Leggenda of the skull beneath the skin. A del Reno’ in explicit emulation of preoccupation with dualisms – the Catalani.) However, while Fontana simultaneity of good and evil, dark framed Le Willis as a ‘leggenda’ set and light, growth and decay – is one in the Black Forest, his scenario of the hallmarks of scapigliatura, draws less on Catalani’s misty often expressed using optical Wagnerism than the folkloric imagery in which shifts of light register of Tarchetti’s fantastic tales, reveal an object’s double character which are distinctively Gothic – consider Tarchetti’s novel Fosca, in style. This too is characteristic with the twin personae of Fosca and of the scapigliatura. Adopting a Clara (‘Dark’ and ‘Light’).

ORC59 Le Willis (12.07.19).indd 27 12/07/2019 10:55:50 Ferdinando Fontana (left) with Giacomo Puccini (circa 1885)

ORC59 Le Willis (12.07.19).indd 28 12/07/2019 10:55:51 The scapigliatura’s world-view scène that seems indebted to the inflects (and indeed structures) contemporary fascination with Le Willis in a number of ways. new photographic technologies, The Willis’ grotesque tregenda the landscape is represented as a (witches’ dance) is a ghastly double exposure of a single image, re-envisioning of the betrothal polychrome, then monotint: the dance that opens the work – the winter landscape is a wan facsimile villagers’ waltz viewed through a of the opening scene. distorting lens. In a symmetry that While Le Willis might outwardly fits the punishment to the crime, appear to be a straightforward retribution is administered as an retelling of Karr’s romantic fairy horrific replaying of the scene of tale, it includes inflections and Roberto’s perfidious betrothal, a shifts of emphasis that align textbook example of scapigliatura’s it closely with contemporary subversive take on bourgeois aesthetics. Indeed, it turns out that tradition. The staging instructions there is rather more to the libretto clearly bring out this dualism: than is apparent, and that the roots the simple set is conceived as two of Fontana’s interest in the subject identical forest scenes differentiated of the Willi are to be found in his only by contrasting illumination. earlier writings. The antiquarian Summer day turns to winter night Natale Gallini, who interviewed as the rustic domesticity of the Fontana at length shortly before first part is transformed under his death, reported that the earliest moonlight into the unwholesome drafts of Le Willis were written Gothic of the second. In a mise en during his sojourn in Berlin as

ORC59 Le Willis (12.07.19).indd 29 12/07/2019 10:55:52 correspondent for the Gazzetta metaphor for society as a whole. piemontese during the late 1870s. His uncomplimentary description These sketches, with the working of the dancing in the petit bourgeois title Le tradite (The Betrayed Berlin ballrooms is particularly Women), are lost. However, we striking: ‘[the women] leap with find unmistakeable early traces in body erect, with legs stiff, neck a collection of travel writing dating strained, in the manner of crazed from the same period, entitled In hens. Hardly does one take a lady tedescheria (In German Fashion). in one’s arms than this German Fontana’s response to Germany creature begins to vibrate from the was ambiguous. Repelled both by ground upwards, methodically, Bismarckian militarism and by the mechanically, automatically, cloying bourgeois falsity of Berlin instinctively, unceasingly, rotating society, he nevertheless found independently of her partner, himself delighted by the medieval always under her own power, aesthetic of the smaller provincial as if under the sway of a higher cities. One of the fascinations of and ineluctable law, as if making his scenario for Le Willis lies in a sacrifice, resigning herself to a the way in which material from punishment imposed on her for this collection (much of it already some mysterious wrongdoing, described with a theatrical eye) some original sin!’ With its is realised in the context of the pointed use of the word ‘creature’, operatic stage. Fontana takes a this dehumanising description of particular interest in the forms of Berlin’s female dancers evokes the social dance, which he uses as a vampiric associations of Karr’s

ORC59 Le Willis (12.07.19).indd 30 12/07/2019 10:55:52 Willis. Particularly striking is the A local informant sniffily described figuring of dance as punishment the source of the music as an (‘for some original sin’), an ‘insalubrious venue... a tavern allusion to the tradition in which where servants and workers dance the Willi legend is rooted. with their lovers... soldiers, barbers, Passing southwards through artisans... you know... the plebs!’ the Rhineland on his way home to Fontana followed the music to its Milan, Fontana broke his journey source, and happened upon a in the city of Worms. Wandering prospect that left an indelible through the outskirts, he became impression on his imagination: aware of distant music on the evening air: It was a beautiful popular tableau. At the top of a hillock It might have been just a a clearing opened out, couple of hundred paces away; surrounded by trees garlanded but, try as I might, I could with little Venetian lanterns. I not identify the source of the have stated elsewhere that in sounds. They were the strains Germany people do not know of a dance; the fat notes of how to dance. Very well, I now trombones, embroidered and recant. In Worms they dance, strung together with shrieks and how well they dance! The in the tempo of a waltz, plebs, at least, I have seen the whine of clarinets and dancing divinely with my own piccolos. eyes. The orchestra began a polonaise, a most difficult

ORC59 Le Willis (12.07.19).indd 31 12/07/2019 10:55:52 dance – midway between life waltz is one facet of a dual a waltz, schottisch and representation of social dance. Just mazurka.... What a sight!... as the Willis’ tregenda is a monstrous O you Milanese, if only you inversion of the opening betrothal were present at this great waltz, so Fontana’s utopian vision spectacle!... you would have of tavern dancers is framed as died of envy! the obverse of the grotesquery of the Berlin ballrooms: bourgeois Comparison with the libretto soullessness set against proletarian reveals that this tableau is authenticity. For the scapigliati, unmistakeably the model for the of course, Gothic was always a opening scene of Le Willis (the critique of contemporary morals. clearing, the garlanded trees, etc.). Lit by the eerie glow of Fontana’s This partially explains the earlier writings, perhaps it should incongruity, remarked on by not be so surprising to detect the several commentators, of a waltz lines of modern life beneath Le being performed by a group of Willis’ folkloric exterior. Black Forest peasants. Faithfully The opera’s rootedness in the rendered by Puccini as a genteel cultural milieu of late-century Viennese dance wholly out of Milan, as an expression of the place in the Black Forest of legend, scapigliatura, is thanks to Fontana it appears that the solecism is in rather than Puccini. Set to Fontana’s fact a lingering vestige of Fontana’s ‘off-the-peg’ libretto, Le Willis is the original Rhineland vision. only Puccini opera for which he More striking still, the real- did not actively collaborate in the

ORC59 Le Willis (12.07.19).indd 32 12/07/2019 10:55:52 crafting of the text. Nevertheless, It is not difficult to see how to appreciate the nature and extent powerfully effective this could be of the opera’s debt to scapigliato on the stage, particularly given the aesthetics is to reassess criticisms sophisticated visual techniques of its undramatic character and available to modern opera directors ‘static’ quality – the fact that the (if we can be certain of one thing, opera deals more in the it is that Fontana would have been anticipation and aftermath of both delighted and intrigued by the events than their actual staging. potential of, say, video projection). For when viewed as a diptych Unorthodox in form, Le Willis whose paired panels are mutually certainly challenges the director; inverted images, these static yet its very unconventionality also qualities cease to appear as offers rich potential, worth taking weaknesses. In keeping with seriously for the sake of the work’s scapigliatura’s characteristic rich seam of melodic invention and distrust of conventional narrative technically accomplished orchestral structures, the ‘argument’ of writing. Le Willis does not take the ©Martin Deasy, 2019 traditional form of story with a beginning, middle and end. Instead, the opera centres on a dramatised shift in perspective, as the pastoral opening tableau is reframed in negative terms.

ORC59 Le Willis (12.07.19).indd 33 12/07/2019 10:55:52 MARTIN DEASY is a musicologist specialising in 19th- century opera. He studied Music at Cambridge and Berkeley, and has held academic posts at the Universities of Cambridge and Oxford. His reconstruction and critical edition of Puccini’s Le Willis (published by Ricordi) is the basis of this recording. His edition of the two-act revision Le Villi was premiered in Modena in 2018.

ORC59 Le Willis (12.07.19).indd 34 12/07/2019 10:55:52 Detail from Le Villi (oil on canvas, 1906) by Bartolomeo Giuliano (1825-1909)

ORC59 Le Willis (12.07.19).indd 35 12/07/2019 10:55:52 THE STORY It is winter now, and Guglielmo, still mourning his daughter, asks It is spring in the Black Forest. the Willi to avenge Anna (No. 6: Roberto and Anna are celebrating Prelude and Guglielmo’s scene). their engagement with family When Roberto returns to the forest, and friends (No. 2: Introductory Anna’s spirit appears and speaks of Chorus). Everyone is cheerful, the sorrows she has experienced. except Anna. Roberto must go to Roberto asks for forgiveness, but Mainz before the ceremony but Anna compels Roberto to dance Anna has a dream that she will die until he dies (No. 7: Final Scene). waiting for his return. Roberto tells Anna that she should not worry and that she may doubt anything but not his love for her (No. 3: Duet). Before leaving, Roberto asks Anna’s father Guglielmo for his blessing (No. 4: The Prayer). In Mainz, Roberto is seduced by a courtesan and forgets about Anna, who dies of a broken heart, turning into a Willi. According to the legend, the Willis will force the heartbreaker to dance until death (Nos. 5a & 5b: Orchestral interlude).

ORC59 Le Willis (12.07.19).indd 36 12/07/2019 10:55:52 ARGUMENT L’hiver venu, Guglielmo, qui pleure toujours sa fille, en appelle La Forêt-Noire au printemps. aux Willis pour venger Anna (n°6: Roberto et Anna fêtent leur Prélude et Aria de Guglielmo). À fiançailles en compagnie de leurs son retour dans la Forêt-Noire, proches (n° 2: Chœur inaugural). Roberto voit Anna venue en esprit Tous sont en liesse, à l’exception lui conter les souffrances qu’elle d’Anna. Roberto doit se rendre à a endurées. Robert la supplie Mayence avant la cérémonie de en vain de le pardonner et elle mariage et Anna a rêvé qu’elle l’entraîne dans une danse débridée mourrait avant son retour. Roberto qui le conduit à la mort (n° 7: Le la rassure en lui disant qu’elle peut Dénouement). douter de tout, sauf de l’amour qu’il lui porte (n° 3: Duo). Avant son départ, Roberto demande au père d’Anna, Guglielmo, de lui accorder sa bénédiction (n° 4: La Prière). À Mayence, Roberto se laisse séduire par une courtisane. Il en oublie Anna, qui meurt de chagrin et rejoint les Willis, créatures dont la légende dit qu’elles ont le pouvoir de faire danser jusqu’à la mort les traîtres à l’amour (n° 5a et 5b: Intermezzo symphonique).

ORC59 Le Willis (12.07.19).indd 37 12/07/2019 10:55:52 DIE HANDLUNG Es ist Winter geworden. Guglielmo, der noch um seine Im Schwarzwald ist es Frühling. Tochter trauert, bittet die Willis, Roberto und Anna feiern mit ihrer Anna zu rächen (Nr. 6: Vorspiel Familie und ihren Freunden ihre und Guglielmos Szene). Als Verlobung (Nr. 2: Introduktion). Roberto ins Dorf zurückkehrt, Alle sind ausgelassen, bis auf Anna: erscheint der Geist Annas vor Roberto muss vor der Hochzeit ihm und schildert den Kummer, noch nach Mainz fahren, und im den sie erlitten hat. Roberto Traum sah sie sich beim Warten auf bittet sie um Vergebung, doch seine Rückkehr sterben. Roberto Anna zwingt ihn zu tanzen, bis beschwört sie, sich keine Sorgen zu er tot zusammenbricht (Nr. 7: machen, sie dürfe nicht an seiner Schlussszene). Liebe zweifeln (Nr. 3: Duett). Vor seiner Abreise bittet er Annas Vater Guglielmo um seinen Segen (Nr. 4: Gebet). In Mainz wird Roberto von einer Kurtisane verführt und vergisst Anna, die an gebrochenem Herzen stirbt und zu einer der Willis wird. Der Legende nach zwingen diese Geister den Herzensbrecher, sich zu Tode zu tanzen (Nr. 5a und 5b: Intermezzo).

ORC59 Le Willis (12.07.19).indd 38 12/07/2019 10:55:52 TRAMA Adesso è inverno e Guglielmo, ancora in lutto per la figlia, chiede È primavera nella Foresta Nera. alle Willi di vendicare Anna (N. 6: Roberto e Anna festeggiano il loro Preludio e Scena di Guglielmo). fidanzamento insieme a parenti e Quando Roberto ritorna nella amici (N. 2: Coro d’introduzione). foresta, compare lo spirito di Anna Tra l’allegria generale, la fidanzata e descrive i dolori che ha sofferto. è triste: Roberto deve andare a Roberto chiede perdono, ma Anna Magonza prima della cerimonia lo obbliga a ballare fino alla morte e Anna ha sognato che morirà in (N. 7: Scena finale). attesa del suo ritorno. Il fidanzato la esorta a non preoccuparsi e a non dubitare mai del suo amore (N. 3: Duetto di Anna e Roberto). Prima di allontanarsi, Roberto chiede la benedizione di Guglielmo, padre di Anna (N. 4: Preghiera). A Magonza Roberto viene sedotto da una cortigiana e dimentica Anna, che muore di dolore e si trasforma in una Willi. Secondo la leggenda, le Willi obbligano l’uomo che le ha tradite a ballare fino alla morte. (N. 5a e 5b: Intermezzo sinfonico).

ORC59 Le Willis (12.07.19).indd 39 12/07/2019 10:55:52 Libretto

[1] N. 1 Preludio No. 1 Prelude La scena è nella Foresta Nera. The scene takes place in the Black Forest.

PARTE PRIMA PART ONE

N. 2 Coro d’introduzione No. 2 Introductory chorus Spianata nel bosco. A destra, A clearing in the forest. To the right, sul dinanzi, una casa modesta, in front, is Guglielmo’s modest house. quella di Guglielmo. In fondo, a At the rear, to the left, a path sinistra, un sentiero che si perde disappears into the thick of the woods nel folto d’una boscaglia salendo climbing up the cliff-side. A small una rupe. Da questa ad un’ altra bridge spans the drop between this rupe un ponticello. È primavera. cliff and another. It is spring. Garlands Festoni di fiori pendono da ogni of flowers hang down on all sides. The parte. La scena è pavesata a festa. scene is set for a celebration. Near the Mensa presso la casa, con bottiglie, house is a table with bottles, glasses bicchieri, cibarie, ecc. Suonatori and plates of food. Near the table are presso la mensa. some musicians. Guglielmo, Anna e Roberto sono Guglielmo, Anna and Roberto are seduti a capotavola. Coro di seated at the head of the table. Montanare e Montanari. Suonatori Chorus of Mountain Folk. Musicians. Roberto è in abito da viaggio. Roberto is wearing travelling clothes.

ORC59 Le Willis (12.07.19).indd 40 12/07/2019 10:55:52 Mark Elder rehearsing with Arsen Soghomonyan (Roberto) and Ermonela Jaho (Anna)

ORC59 Le Willis (12.07.19).indd 41 12/07/2019 10:55:54 MONTANARI E MONTANARE MOUNTAIN FOLK [2] Evviva! Evviva! Evviva! Hurrah! Hurrah! Hurrah! Evviva i fidanzati! Hurrah for the newly betrothed!

Anna e Roberto si allontanano dal Anna and Roberto come forward, fondo dandosi il braccio. Guglielmo arm in arm. Guglielmo remains by resta a mensa a trincare con qualche the table, drinking with some old vecchio. Il coro dei Montanari e delle men. The chorus of Mountain Folk Montanare viene verso il proscenio. comes to the front of the stage.

MONTANARI E MONTANARE MOUNTAIN FOLK Della vecchia di Magonza Roberto received an inheritance Roberto è ereditier! From the old woman from Mainz! I tesori accumulati She amassed Son molti davver! A lot of gold! Dunque povero stasera So, a poor Roberto Roberto partirà... Will leave this evening... E a sposar la fidanzata But he will come back rich Ei ricco tornerà! To marry his fiancée! Evviva! Evviva i fidanzati! Hurrah for the newly betrothed!

Si odono i preludi di un valzer. A waltz begins to play. Some people Alcuni si accoppiano e ballano, altri pair off and dance; others return to vanno verso la mensa a ribere. their drinks.

ORC59 Le Willis (12.07.19).indd 42 12/07/2019 10:55:54 Gira! Gira! Gira! Spin! Spin! Spin around! Balza! Gira! Balza! Jump! Spin! Leap and jump! La musica freme e delira, Music thrills and creates delirium, La danza sospinge ed incalza! Dance incites and urges. Oh, volano rapide l’ore Oh, how fast the hours fly by Se il piede alla danza è legger! If we dance on nimble feet! Il ballo è rival dell’amore: Dancing can rival love: Il core fa batter davver! It really makes the heart beat fast! Gira! Gira! Gira! Spin! Spin! Spin around! Balza! Gira! Balza! Jump! Spin! Leap and jump! (a Guglielmo) (to Guglielmo) Ohè! Babbo Guglielmo! Hey there! Father Guglielmo! Venite voi pure a danzar! Come and dance, you too! GUGLIELMO GUGLIELMO Ebben, perché no? Poffar mio! Well, why not? By Jove! Son vecchio, ma in gambe so star! I may be old, but I can still shake a leg!

Va a prendere una ragazza e la He gallantly asks one of the girls to invita a ballare con galanteria. dance. Old Guglielmo, dancing amid Il vecchio Guglielmo, ballando applause and laughter, exits with fra gli applausi e le risa, esce colla his partner to the right, behind the danzatrice per la destra dietro house. All the others follow him. la casa. Tutti lo seguitano. Continua The Chorus continues. il coro.

ORC59 Le Willis (12.07.19).indd 43 12/07/2019 10:55:54 Brian Mulligan (Guglielmo)

ORC59 Le Willis (12.07.19).indd 44 12/07/2019 10:55:56 MONTANARI MOUNTAIN FOLK Gira! Gira! Gira! Spin! Spin! Spin around! Balza! Gira! Balza! Jump! Spin! Leap and jump! La! La! La! La! La! La!

La scena rimane vuota per qualche The stage remains empty for a few momento; poi tornano dal fondo moments; then Anna and Roberto Anna e Roberto. enter again from the rear.

[3] N. 3 Duetto No. 3 Duet

ROBERTO ROBERTO Non esser, Anna mia, mesta sì Don’t be so sad, my dear Anna; tanto; Passeran pochi giorni e tornerò. In a few days I shall be back. ANNA ANNA Io tento invan di trattenere il pianto, I try in vain not to cry, Ho una tristezza che vincer non But I can’t overcome my sadness... so... Foschi presagi mi turban la mente... My mind is troubled by foreboding... Mi par ch’io non ti debba più I feel I shall never see you again... veder... ROBERTO ROBERTO Anna! Anna!

ORC59 Le Willis (12.07.19).indd 45 12/07/2019 10:55:56 ANNA ANNA Stanotte sognai Last night I dreamed I was dying Che morente t’attendevo... As I waited for you. ROBERTO ROBERTO Suvvia!... Quali pensier! Come now! What frightful thoughts! Pensa invece ai dì lieti Think, rather, of the happy days Che il destino ci promette, Which Fate, smiling on our love. Benigno al nostro amor!... Promises us! ANNA ANNA Ma… m’ami tu davver?... But do you really love me? ROBERTO ROBERTO Mio cherubino, perché My angel, why Dell’amor mio dubiti ancor? Do you still doubt my love? [4] Tu dell’infanzia mia It was you who shared I giuochi dividesti e le carezze; The games and caresses of my childhood; Da te soave e pia imparai I learned about the sweetness of life Della vita le dolcezze; From you, so gentle and virtuous; Ero povero, e tu l’affetto mio I was poor, yet you resolved Più d’ogni ricco volesti pregiar. To prize my love above that of any wealthy man. Ah! Dubita di Dio, Ah! Doubt God, Ma no, dell’amor mio non dubitar! But no, never doubt my love! Io t’amo! I love you!

ORC59 Le Willis (12.07.19).indd 46 12/07/2019 10:55:56 First page of the continuity draft for the Preghiera in Le Willis

ORC59 Le Willis (12.07.19).indd 47 12/07/2019 10:55:57 ANNA ANNA Dolci e soavi accenti, deh! Sweet, gentle words, Vi scolpite nel mio mesto cor, You are engraved on my sad heart, E nei foschi momenti dell’attesa And in the darkest moments of waiting Alleviate il mio dolor! May you comfort my grief! Dolci e soavi accenti, Sweet, gentle words, Oh! quante volte il labbro mio Oh! How many times shall my lips Vi dee mormorar: Murmur them: ‘Ah! Dubita di Dio, ‘Ah! Doubt God, Ma no, dell’amor mio non dubitar! But no, never doubt my love! Io t’amo!’ I love you!’

S’ode la campana dell’Angelus. The Angelus bell rings.

[5] N. 4 Preghiera No. 4 Prayer

Scena III Scene 3 Anna, Roberto, Guglielmo e Coro Anna, Roberto, Guglielmo and Chorus

MONTANARI MOUNTAIN FOLK Presto! Presto in viaggio! Quickly! Quickly be on your way! È l’ora di partir! The time has come to leave! Pria che il giocondo raggio Before the sun’s merry rays have Del sole abbia a svanir, si parta! Vanished, you must be on your way!

ORC59 Le Willis (12.07.19).indd 48 12/07/2019 10:55:57 ROBERTO ROBERTO Anna, coraggio! Anna, be brave! ANNA ANNA Io mi sento morir! I feel that I am dying! MONTANARI (a Roberto) MOUNTAIN FOLK (to Roberto) Della foresta al limite We shall go with you Noi verrem con te. As far as the forest’s edge. ROBERTO (a Guglielmo) ROBERTO (to Guglielmo) Padre mio, benediteci! Dear father, give us your blessing! GUGLIELMO GUGLIELMO Tutti qui intorno, intorno a me! All gather round me, then.

Anna e Roberto s’inginocchiano ai Anna and Roberto kneel at his feet; piedi di Guglielmo; tutti li imitano. all the others do the same.

GUGLIELMO GUGLIELMO [6] Angiol di Dio, Angel of God, who spreads Che i vanni rivolgi al ciel stasera, Your wings tonight towards Heaven, Reca questa preghiera Carry this prayer Al trono del Signor: To the throne of the Lord: ANNA, ROBERTO, GUGLIELMO ANNA, ROBERTO AND E CORO GUGLIELMO ‘Sia propizio il cammino ‘May the way be good Ad ogni pellegrino; For every pilgrim! Non serbi disinganni Let every dream of love

ORC59 Le Willis (12.07.19).indd 49 12/07/2019 10:55:57 Recording session at the Henry Wood Hall with the cast of Le Willis and the Opera Rara Chorus

ORC59 Le Willis (12.07.19).indd 50 12/07/2019 10:55:59 Ogni sogno d’amor!’ Be free from disillusion!’ Reca questa preghiera Carry this prayer Al trono del Signor! To the throne of the Lord!

Finita la preghiera. Guglielmo The prayer ends. Guglielmo embraces abbraccia Roberto, poi Roberto Roberto, who then embraces Anna, abbraccia Anna e stringe la mano e and shakes hands with each of the saluta i Montanari e le Montanare. Mountain Folk.

ROBERTO (con alcuni amici si ROBERTO (sets off with several avvia; giunti al ponticello ultimo friends; he bids a last farewell on saluto.) reaching the bridge.) Padre, Anna, addio! Father, Anna, farewell!

ANNA, GUGLIELMO E ANNA, GUGLIELMO AND MONTANARI MOUNTAIN FOLK Addio, Roberto, addio! Farewell, Roberto, farewell!

FINE DELLA I PARTE END OF PART ONE

ORC59 Le Willis (12.07.19).indd 51 12/07/2019 10:55:59 INTERMEZZO SINFONICO ORCHESTRAL INTERLUDE

[7] N. 5a L’abbandono No. 5a The abandonment Di quei giorni a Magonza una In those days in the town of Mainz sirena I vecchi e i giovinetti affascinava. A siren bewitched young and old alike. Ella trasse Roberto all’orgia oscena She lured Roberto to the lewd orgy E l’affetto per Anna ei vi obliava. And there he forgot his love for Anna. Intanto, rôsa da ineffabil pena, Meanwhile, consumed with unspeakable anguish, La fanciulla tradita lo aspettava. The betrayed maiden waited for him. Ma invan l’attese…Ed al cader del But she waited in vain: when winter verno came Ella rinchiuse gli occhi al sonno She closed her eyes in eternal rest. eterno.

[8] N. 5b La tregenda No. 5b The Witches’ Sabbath V’è nella Selva Nera una leggenda In the Black Forest there is a legend Che delle Willis la leggenda è detta Which is called the Legend of the Willis, E ai spergiuri d’amor suona And it terrifies all faithless lovers. tremenda. Se muor d’amore qualche giovinetta If a maiden dies of love, in the wood, Nella selva ogni notte la tregenda Each night, the witches gather

ORC59 Le Willis (12.07.19).indd 52 12/07/2019 10:55:59 Sir Mark Elder with the London Philharmonic Orchestra and the Opera Rara Chorus

ORC59 Le Willis (12.07.19).indd 53 12/07/2019 10:56:02 Viene a danzare, e il traditor vi And dance, waiting there for the aspetta; betrayer; Poi, se l’incontra, con lui danza e Then, if they find him, they dance ride and laugh with him Insieme alle compagne, indi l’uccide. And he dies in the frenzy of dancing. Or per Roberto venne un triste Now for Roberto there came an giorno. unhappy day. Dalla sirena in cenci abbandonato Abandoned in rags by the siren, Egli alla Selva pensò far ritorno, He decided to return to the forest, E questa notte appunto ei v’è And tonight he has indeed returned. tornato. Già nel bosco s’avanza; intorno, Already he is approaching through intorno the wood: Riddan le Willis nell’aer gelato… Around him, the Willis whirl in the frosty air. Ei, tremando di freddo e di paura, Trembling with cold and with terror È già nel mezzo della Selva oscura. He is already in the heart of the dark forest.

ORC59 Le Willis (12.07.19).indd 54 12/07/2019 10:56:02 PARTE SECONDA PART TWO

[9] N. 6 Preludio e Scena No. 6 Prelude and Scene Paesaggio come nella parte prima, Same landscape as in Part One, ma con effetto d’inverno. Tutto è but it is now winter. Everything is coperto di neve. È sera inoltrata. covered with snow. It is late evening. Guglielmo, solo, siede sulla porta di Grief-stricken Guglielmo sits by the casa in atto di dolore profondo. door of his house.

GUGLIELMO GUGLIELMO No! Possibil non è No, it is not possible Che invendicata resti la colpa sua. That his guilt should not be avenged. Vivea beata e tranquilla My sweet daughter lived Al mio fianco la mia dolce figliola, Blissful and tranquil at my side, Ed egli venne e, Then along he came, Colla sua parola, d’amor And, with his words, awoke Le smanie in lei destò… The longing for love in her heart. Chi, dunque, o scellerato, Who then, villain, Chi l’amor tuo ti chiese? Asked you for your love? Quali orribili offese What horrible offences T’abbiam mai fatto noi Did we ever inflict on you Per uccider quell’angelo, That you should kill that angel E agli estremi miei giorni And fill my last days Serbar cotanta angoscia? With so much sorrow? No, possibil non è No, it is not possible

ORC59 Le Willis (12.07.19).indd 55 12/07/2019 10:56:02 Che invendicata resti colpa sì That so great a guilt should go grande! unavenged! [10] Anima santa della figlia mia, Blessed soul of my daughter, Se la leggenda delle Willis è vera, If the legend of the Willis be true, Deh! non esser con lui, qual fosti, Ah! Do not be merciful to him, as pia… you were, Ma qui l’attendi al cader della sera. But wait for him here when evening falls. S’io potessi saperti vendicata, If I could know that you were avenged Lieto saluterei l’ultimo dì. I should gladly greet my last day. Ah, perdona, Signor, l’idea spietata Ah, forgive, Lord, the ruthless thought Che dal mio cor, che sanguina, fuggì! That escaped from my bleeding heart.

Rientra nella casa. Il sole è tramontato He goes back into the house. The sun affatto. has completely set.

[11] N. 7 Scena finale No. 7 Final Scene Coro di Willis interno, indi Roberto Final scene. Chorus of Willis offstage, ed Anna. then Roberto and Anna.

LE WILLIS (interno un poco THE WILLIS (offstage, sounding lontano) far-off) Ei giunge! He is coming! Anna! Anna! Anna! Anna! Anna! Anna! Di morte alla condanna To meet his ordained death

ORC59 Le Willis (12.07.19).indd 56 12/07/2019 10:56:02 Ei viene il traditor! The betrayer now comes! Eccolo, s’avvicina… Here he is, he draws nearer! Su, dannato, cammina! Come, damned soul, make haste!

Roberto appare sul ponticello. Roberto appears on the bridge.

ROBERTO (fra sé) ROBERTO (to himself) Ecco la casa. Here is her house. Dio, che orrenda notte! God, what a horrible night! Strane voci m’inseguon. Strange voices pursue me. Le Willis…Evvia! The Willis: away with them! Son fole! They are illusions! LE WILLIS THE WILLIS Su, dannato, cammina! Come, damned soul, make haste! ROBERTO (soffermandosi) ROBERTO (lingering) Pur d’intender parmi I seem to hear Davvero un canto lugubre... A funeral dirge... LE WILLIS THE WILLIS Cammina! Cammina! Cammina! Make haste! Make haste! ANNA (appare sul ponte) ANNA (appearing on the bridge) Roberto! Roberto! Roberto! Roberto! ROBERTO (con sorpresa e spavento. ROBERTO (with surprise and fear, Volgendosi e scorgendo Anna.) turning to see Anna) Ciel! Heavens! La sua voce! Dunque morta non è! Her voice! So she is not dead!

ORC59 Le Willis (12.07.19).indd 57 12/07/2019 10:56:02 Arsen Soghomonyan and Ermonela Jaho

ORC59 Le Willis (12.07.19).indd 58 12/07/2019 10:56:03 ANNA (scende lentamente verso ANNA (slowly walking down Roberto) towards Roberto) Non son più l’amor. I am no longer Love. Son la vendetta! I am Revenge! ROBERTO ROBERTO Gran Dio! Good Lord! ANNA (avanza lentamente) ANNA (slowly approaching) Ricordi quel che dicevi Do you remember what you said Nel mese dei fiori? In the month of flowers? [12] ‘Tu dell’infanzia mia ‘It was you who shared I giuochi dividesti e le carezze… The games and caresses of my childhood; Da te soave e pia imparai I learned about the sweetness of life Della vita le dolcezze… From you, so gentle and virtuous; Ero povero e tu l’affetto mio I was poor, yet you resolved Più d’ogni ricco volesti pregiar. To prize my love above that of any wealthy man. Ah, dubita di Dio, Ah, doubt God, Ma no, dell’amor mio non dubitar! But no, never doubt my love! Io t’amo!’ I love you!’ T’amai… mi tradisti. I loved you... You betrayed me. T’attesi… e non venisti. I waited for you...You didn’t come. Ma è tremendo dolore But what a terrible sorrow In silenzio soffrir! It is to suffer in silence!

ORC59 Le Willis (12.07.19).indd 59 12/07/2019 10:56:03 Senza speranza in core With all hope gone from my heart Mi facesti morir! You caused me to die! ROBERTO ROBERTO La scordai, l’ho tradita, I forgot her, I betrayed her, E per me perdé la vita. And because of me she died. È tremendo il dolore But what a terrible sorrow Che mi tocca soffrir! I shall have to suffer! Col rimorso nel core With remorse in my heart Io mi sento morir! I feel that I am dying!

Roberto va verso Anna come spinto Roberto walks towards Anna as da una forza ignota; poi fa uno though impelled by an unknown sforzo per togliersi dal fascino che force. He makes an effort to conquer lo investe, ma non può, e si slancia the fascination that assails him, verso di lei. Anna, avanzandosi, but he cannot and he rushes to her. stende le braccia e lo attira a sé. Advancing, Anna opens her arms Intanto le Willis accorrono, and draws him to her. The Willis circondano Roberto ed Anna. Anna swiftly gather around the couple. lo cinge più forte colle braccia, ed Anna holds him tighter and they entrambi cadono affranti; Roberto both fall to the ground, overcome. muore. Roberto is dying.

ROBERTO ROBERTO Anna, pietà! Anna, mercy!

ORC59 Le Willis (12.07.19).indd 60 12/07/2019 10:56:03 ANNA ANNA Sei mio! You are mine! LE WILLIS THE WILLIS Hosanna! Hosanna! Hosanna! Hosanna! Hosanna! Hosanna! GUGLIELMO (esce di casa e vede GUGLIELMO (seeing Roberto’s il cadavere di Roberto a terra) body from his house) È giusto Iddio! God is just!

Le Willis ed Anna scompaiono. The Willis and Anna disappear.

FINE DELL’ OPERA END OF THE OPERA

ORC59 Le Willis (12.07.19).indd 61 12/07/2019 10:56:03 Sir Mark Elder

ORC59 Le Willis (12.07.19).indd 62 12/07/2019 10:56:05 APPENDICES LE VILLI (1889) Opera-ballet in two acts [13] Atto I, N. 3 – Scena e Act I, No. 3 – Anna’s Scene and Romanza di Anna Romance

ANNA ANNA Se come voi piccina io fossi, If I were small like you, O vaghi fior, sempre sempre Pretty flowers, then I could Vicina potrei stare al mio amor. Always stay close to my love. Allor, dirgli vorrei: Then I should say to him: ‘Io penso sempre a te!’ ‘I think of you always!’ Ripeter gli potrei: Then I could say to him: ‘Non ti scordar di me!’ ‘Forget me not!’ Voi, di me più felici, Now you, luckier than I, Lo seguirete, o fior; Will follow him, my flowers; Per valli e per pendici Over hills and dales Seguirete il mio amor. You will follow my love. Ah, se il nome che avete Ah, if the name you bear Menzognero non è, Is not false, Deh! Al mio amor ripetete: Then say again to my love: ‘Non ti scordar di me!’ ‘Forget me not!’

Anna va a mettere il mazzolino Anna goes to put the posy in nella valigia di Roberto. Roberto’s suitcase.

ORC59 Le Willis (12.07.19).indd 63 12/07/2019 10:56:05 Ermonela Jaho

ORC59 Le Willis (12.07.19).indd 64 12/07/2019 10:56:08 ROBERTO (vedendo l'atto di Anna ROBERTO (seeing Anna and e avvicinandoselo sorridendo) approaching her with a smile) Ah, ti ho colta! Ah, I’ve caught you! ANNA ANNA Tu! You! ROBERTO (prendendo dalla ROBERTO (taking the posy from valigia il mazzolino, lo bacia, poi lo the suitcase, kisses it and then ripone con grazia.) gracefully puts it back) Grazie, Anna mia. Thank you, dear Anna. Ma un più gentil ricordo But I should like Io chiederti avea. An even sweeter souvenir. ANNA ANNA Quale? What? ROBERTO (scuote mestamente la ROBERTO (shaking his head testa) sadly) Un sorriso… A smile.

[14] Atto II, N. 9 – Scena Act 2, No. 9 – Roberto’s dramatic drammatica e Romanza di scene and Romance Roberto Scena ultime. Coro di Villi interno, Final scene. Chorus of Villi offstage, poi Roberto. then Roberto. LE VILLI (interno, un poco lontano) THE VILLI (offstage, sounding far-off) Ei giunge! He is coming!

ORC59 Le Willis (12.07.19).indd 65 12/07/2019 10:56:08 Anna! Anna! Anna! Anna! Anna! Anna! Di morte alla condanna To meet his ordained death Ei viene il traditor! The betrayer now comes! Eccolo… s’avvicina! Behold him! He approaches! Su… dannato… cammina! Come, damned soul, make haste!

Roberto appare sul ponticello. Roberto appears on the bridge.

ROBERTO (fra sé) ROBERTO (to himself) Ecco la casa… Here is her house... Dio, che orrenda notte! O God, what a horrible night! Strane voci m’inseguon… Strange voices pursue me... Le Villi…Evvia! The Villi... Away with them! Son fole! (scende) They are illusions! (walking down) No! Delle Villi me non perseguita No! The fatal revenge of the Villi la vendetta fatal! Does not pursue me! Tu sol m’insegui, rimorso! You alone, remorse, plague me. Vipera infernal! Viper of Hell! Vipera dal veleno infernal! Viper with your hellish poison! [15] Torna ai felici dì My anguished thoughts Dolente il mio pensier… Return to those happy days... Ridean del maggio i fior, When May was gay with flowers Fioria l’amor, fioria per me l’amor! And love blossomed for me! Or tutto si coprì Then everything was clouded Di mister. By mysteries.

ORC59 Le Willis (12.07.19).indd 66 12/07/2019 10:56:08 Arsen Soghomonyan

ORC59 Le Willis (12.07.19).indd 67 12/07/2019 10:56:10 Or tutto si coprì Everything was clouded Di lugubre mister By gloomy mysteries, Ed io non ho nel cor And I have nothing in my heart now Che tristezza e terror! But sadness and terror! Forse ella vive! Perhaps she still lives!

Guarda verso la casa, poi va verso di He looks at the house, then walks essa come avesse presa una decisione. towards it as if he has made a decision.

Bussiam! I shall knock!

Fa per bussare, ma indietreggia come He is about to knock, but steps back as se una forza ignota glielo impedisse. if hindered by some mysterious force.

Qual brivido mi colse! What a shudder ran through me! Invan di quella soglia I could not lift Tentai sul limite levar la man! My hand to her door! LE VILLI THE VILLI Su, dannato, cammina! Come, damned soul, make haste! ROBERTO (con spavento) ROBERTO (with fear) Pur d’intender parmi I seem to hear Davvero un canto lugubre! A funeral dirge!

Si inginocchia, come estenuato, per He kneels to pray, seemingly pregare. exhausted.

ORC59 Le Willis (12.07.19).indd 68 12/07/2019 10:56:10 ROBERTO ROBERTO O sommo Iddio! del mio cammino, Oh great God! This is the end Del mio destin quest’è la mèta… Of my journey, of my destiny. Fa che il perdono la renda lieta Let forgiveness bring me Un solo istante, A single moment of happiness, E poi morrò! Then I shall die! LE VILLI THE VILLI Su! dannato, cammina! Come, damned soul, make haste! ROBERTO (balzando in piedi) ROBERTO (leaping to his feet) Pregar non posso! I cannot pray! Ah, maledetto il dì, Ah, cursed be the day Il dì che andai lontan di qui! When I left this village! Maledetta sia la tua bellezza, And cursed be your beauty, O cortigiana vil! Oh vile courtesan! Maledetta in eterno! maledetta! Be cursed forever! Forever cursed!

ORC59 Le Willis (12.07.19).indd 69 12/07/2019 10:56:10 The cast of Le Willis during the curtain call at the Royal Festival Hall, 70 November 2018

ORC59 Le Willis (12.07.19).indd 70 12/07/2019 10:56:11