Pittsburgh Opera The Life of the Impresario, Education thanks our from the time of Cimarosa to Verdi . generous supporters: by Jill Leahy Gallery. nd a fight. nd a e disastrous e disastrous n one another another n one In order to understand the role of the impresario in early Italian Allegheny Regional Asset District e original opera, one must understand what life was like in Italy before it American Eagle Outfitters, Inc. -hogarth-marriage-a-la-mode Bayer USA Foundation was unified into one country. Bertati The Berkman Charitable Trust Italy was a group of 9 or 10 different states in the Italian Benedum Foundation BRIDGES & Company, Inc. Peninsula; each state had its own dialect, laws, and Marriage la à Mode Jack Buncher Foundation censors. Despite the differences, the people did seem to Anne L. & George H. Clapp Charitable Trust shows signs that the marriage has begun marriage begun the has signs shows that have a “cultural unity”—their love of theater and music, Chautauqua Opera Guild more specifically, Clearview Federal Credit Union opera. For the Dominion Foundation Eaton Corporation upper classes in Eden Hall Foundation the towns, the EQT Foundation http://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/william theater was the First Commonwealth Financial center of their FISA Foundation William Hogarth painted about th warning a moralistic were pictures The six The#2 TêteTête à results of an ill-considered marriage for money. money. Th for marriage results an ill-considered of London’s National in are from engravings 1743-1745 Fort Pitt Capital Group, Inc. i uninterested appear wife and toThe husband fail. a adventures adulterous of indicators there are and social lives; it was Frick Fund of The Buhl Foundation Opera Vancouver at Tim Matheson by Photo Production “where they met, Giant Eagle Foundation talked, ate, drank, The Grable Foundation A Legend about The Secret Marriage by Jill Leahy The Guilds of Pittsburgh Opera gambled, and were The Hearst Foundation Domenico Cimarosa wrote over 80 operas in his lifetime, but Il matrimonio entertained.” i/File:Italy_unification_1815_1870.jpg Hefren-Tillotson, Inc. segreto , written in the middle of his career, is considered his masterpiece. The Heinz Endowments Working with a libretto by Giovanni Bertati that was itself based on a play The high point of Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield (The Secret Marriage) the year was the Levin Furniture called The Clandestine Marriage (by playwright George Colman the Elder The Massaro Corporation carnival season. Giovanni by ● Libretto Domenico Cimarosa by Music and actor/playwright David Garrick), Cimarosa composed a wildly popular William V. & Catherine A. McKinney We know it as comic opera and the only one of his works that is still being performed. Charitable Foundation Mardi Gras, but in McCreery Fund of The Buhl Foundation Il matrimonio Il segreto Opera legend Il matrimonio segreto was first th th R. K. Mellon Foundation the 18 and 19 performed on February 7, 1792 in Vienna, at the centuries, carnival season ran from post-Christmas until National Endowment for the Arts 1984. Map 1984. http://en.wikipedia.org/wik found at Pennsylvania Council on the Arts Imperial Hofburg Theatre, in the presence of © Lent. During this time, everyone expected to be entertained Pennsylvania Department of Community & Emperor Leopold II. Its premiere is said to have with all new opera productions, including ballo grande Economic Development created the longest encore in opera history. As Pennsylvania Department of Education (grand ballet). This is where the impresario came in. the story goes, “Leopold II was so impressed that, The PNC Financial Services Group, Inc. The impresario (from the Italian impresa , meaning "an PPG Industries, Inc. after offering dinner to all the performers, he had Bobby Rahal Motorcar Company them repeat the opera in a private performance on enterprise or undertaking") was the key figure in the University(Cambridge Press), Reed Smith LLP the same day. This was a considerable feat organization of the carnival season. He was very much like The Techs today’s film and television producers: responsible for Triangle Tech Group considering that, according to contemporary organizing all aspects of a production, hiring the artists, United States Steel Corporation reports, the première lasted close to three hours UPMC Health System because of public acclamation and the repetition arranging for costumes and sets, working with lawyers to TheRolethe of Impresario Domenico Cimarosa draw up contracts for the various people involved in bringing of arias and ensembles.” ¹ For more information on 1749 – 1801 the production to the stage, getting the right venue, working Pittsburgh Opera's education It’s interesting to note that this opera opened in “Cimarosa’s skill at writing with the censors to get content approved, and so on. He programs, please contact: Vienna two months after Mozart’s death, and was arias free from the spent days traveling from one town to another, making sure conventional strictures of the more successful than any of Mozart’s works at that form comes through in to connect with the key people in those towns to ensure that Marilyn Michalka Egan, Ph.D. time. Over the years, the richness and complexity Director of Education Geronimo’s “Che saltino i his production would run smoothly and that he would be of Mozart’s operas have gained him a more dinari,” which stopped the [email protected] invited back the following season. Often, impresarios took enduring reputation. However, Il matrimonio show at the premiere.” ² on big financial risks; many of them went bankrupt. The role 412-281-0912 ext 242 TheOpera IndustryCimarosa from Italy in Verdi: to segreto offers a story that showcases human folly of the impresario lost importance in the late 1800s, as music Pittsburgh Opera without using disguises or mistaken identity so common in opera buffa , and publishers began to take over the role of producing operas. 2425 Liberty Avenue Study Guide to the Opera Study the simple beauty of Cimarosa’s music continues to provide audiences with John Rosselli, Publishers controlled the composers as well as the casting, Pittsburgh, PA 15222 a refreshing break from the complexity of contemporary life. leaving little for the traditional impresario to do. www.pittsburghopera.org Sources: ¹ Oxford Music Online: Il matrimonio segreto (The Secret Marriage) by Gordana Lazarevich ² Anthony Tommasini — http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/30/arts/music/30cima.html?_r=0 Marriage à la Mode , a series of six paintings by William Hogarth, 1743 – 1745. The Secret Marriage Synopsis Characters of the Opera A Master of Dramma Giocoso by Jill Leahy Adapted from Opera Theatre of St. Louis Domenico Cimarosa was born on December 17, 1749 in Setting: We are in the household of Geronimo, a wealthy citizen of Paolino [pah-oh-LEE-noh] tenor Clerk of Geronimo who is secretly married to Aversa, a small town in southern Italy not far from Naples. His Bologna. He has two daughters, Elisetta and Carolina, and a sister parents were poor but, as was often the case in those times, they Fidalma, who runs the household. He also has a young secretary, his daughter Carolina. In order to gain Paolino, who is secretly married to the younger daughter, Carolina. Geronimo’s approval of their marriage, sent Cimarosa to a nearby monastery where he could receive a Paolino arranges a marriage contract free education. Showing great promise, Cimarosa was awarded a between Elisetta and Count Robinson. scholarship to a prestigious music school in Naples and he ACT I. Paolino and Carolina discuss how to stay calm ("Cara, non dubitar" ). Paolino is working to arrange a continued his studies there under several Italian music masters. Carolina [kah-roh-LEE-nah] soprano marriage contract between Elisetta and his patron, Count Geronimo’s younger daughter who is #1 The Marriage Contract shows an Beginning at the age of 23, and for much of the rest of his life, Robinson, hoping that as soon as Geronimo's older secretly married to Paolino. arranged marriage between the son of bankrupt Earl Squanderfield and the daughter of a Cimarosa composed operas, mostly dramma giocoso (a.k.a. daughter is well married, his marriage to the younger one wealthy, miserly city merchant. (Painting #2 on p 1.) opera buffa ), and sacred pieces. He traveled throughout Italy will be acceptable. Count Robinson has written a letter Geronimo [jay-ROH-nee-moh] bass conducting his music and creating works for the “ stagione” , which expressing interest—tempted by Elisetta's substantial A rich merchant who is deaf. He is the father is Italian for “season”, an organizational system used by larger dowry—and Geronimo is thrilled to think that his daughter of Elisetta and Carolina, brother of Fidalma, and employer of Paolino. houses for presenting opera. He was a member of the Neapolitan will be a Countess ( "Udite, tutti udite" ). Fidalma School, a group of composers who lived and worked around confesses to her niece that she is in love, too, but only Elisetta [eh-lee-ZEH-tah] soprano Naples, which was a significant musical center in the 1700s. reveals in an aside to the audience that she has her eye Older daughter of Geronimo and sister of on Paolino. Carolina. As the elder daughter, she must be Cimarosa composed over 80 operas and was celebrated as a married before Carolina. composer during his lifetime, although he is not as famous today When the Count arrives, he is disappointed to find that it is #3 The Inspection shows the Count as some of his contemporaries, such as Mozart and Salieri. not Carolina who has been offered to him ( "Senza tante Fidalma [fee-DAHL-mah] contralto and a prostitute, with syphilis, visiting a quack. Sister of Geronimo, aunt of Carolina and In 1787, he received an invitation from the Empress Catherine II cerimonie" ).