verdi's "un giorno di regno": two newly discovered movements and some questions of...

Verdi's "Un giorno di regno": Two Newly Discovered Movements and Some Questions of GenreAuthor(s): Francesco IzzoSource: Acta Musicologica, Vol. 73, Fasc. 2 (2001), pp. 165-188Published by: International Musicological SocietyStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/932896 .

Accessed: 17/06/2014 23:44

Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at .http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp

.JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range ofcontent in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new formsof scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected].

.

International Musicological Society is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access toActa Musicologica.

http://www.jstor.org

This content downloaded from 188.72.127.52 on Tue, 17 Jun 2014 23:44:32 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

http://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=inmuso

http://www.jstor.org/stable/932896?origin=JSTOR-pdf

http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp


Verdi's Un giorno di regno: Two Newly Discovered Movements and Some Questions of Genre'

Francesco Izzo NewYork University

THE PREMIERE OF MANY ITALIAN OPERAS of the nineteenth century resulted in a fiasco. Some of those operas, for example Bellini's Norma or Verdi's La traviata, made a

quick recovery, and gained a prominent position among the most popular works of the

operatic canon.2 Others were not so fortunate, and disappeared never to return, often

precipitating their authors to the realm of namelessness. This was nearly the fate of Un

giorno di regno, Giuseppe Verdi's second and least successful opera. After the disaster of the premiere at La Scala on 5 September 1840, the composer, at the age of twenty-six, apparently decided to quit his operatic career, and, according to Verdi himself, it took

many months and an exceptionally inspiring libretto, Nabucco, to change his mind.That the

composer remembered the period of the composition of Un giorno as a most traumatic

experience, not only for professional reasons, is evident from a well-known (but not

always reliable) racconto outobiografico of forty years later:

But here grave misfortunes begin: my child falls ill at the beginning of April: the doctors cannot understand what his illness is, and the poor boy, languishing, dies in the arms of his desperate mother And that's not enough: after a few days, the little girl falls ill too!... and her disease, too, ends lethally!... But that's not yet enough: at the beginning of June, my young wife is struck by violent encephalitis, and on June 19 1840 a third coffin leaves my house!... I was alone!... Alone!... In about two months, three persons dear to me had disappeared forever: my family was destroyed!... Amidst this terrible

anguish, to respect the commitment I had made, I had to compose and finish a comic opera!!... Un giorno di regno did not please. The music was partly to blame for it, but the performance had a role in it too. With the soul torn by my domestic misfortunes, exacerbated by the fall of my work, I became persuaded that from art I would have expected consolation in vain, and I decided never to compose again!...3

A shorter version of this article was presented at the Sixty-Fifth Annual Meeting of the American Musicological Society (Kansas City, 7 November 1999). I am deeply grateful to Stanley Boorman, Martin Chusid, Philip Gossett, and Jesse Rosenberg, who have read drafts of my work, and have improved it in a number of ways.

2 Both Norma and La traviata were revised after their unsuccessful premieres. 3 "Ma qui cominciano gravi sventure: il mio bambino si ammala al principio di aprile: i medici non riescono

a capire quale sia il suo male, ed il poverino languendo si spegne nelle braccia della madre disperatissima. Ne basta: dopo pochi giorni la bambina cade a sua volta malata!... e la malattia ha pure un fine letale!... ma non basta ancora: ai primi di giugno la giovane mia compagna 6 colpita da violenta encefalite ed il 19 giugno 1840 una terza bara esce da casa mia!... Ero solo!... solo!... Nel volgere di circa due mesi tre persone a me care erano sparite per sempre: la mia famiglia era distrutta!... In mezzo a queste angoscie terribili, per non mancare all'impegno assunto, dovetti scrivere e condurre a termine un'opera buffa!!... Un giorno di regno non piacque: vi ebbe di certo una parte di colpa la musica, ma pure una parte vi ebbe



166 Francesco Izzo

Even though this story has long been proven inaccurate--Verdi's two children had died in 1838 and in 1839--the loss of his wife in June 1840 was certainly a devastating event for the composer. That this young musician, destined to become Italy's most popular opera composer, and one of the greatest geniuses of music history, came so close to the

point of giving up composition altogether, is both touching and dramatically appealing. The traditional view according to which physical illness and psychological depression prevented Verdi from spending an adequate amount of time and concentration on the

composition of Un giorno di regno is found at a very early stage in the literature devoted to the composer. In B. Bermani's rarely-quoted Schizzi sulla vita e le opere di G. Verdi, for

example, published in 1846 as a supplement to the Gazzetta musicale di Milano, we read the following statement:

Facing this struggle with sorrow and anguish, could Verdi have thought of the demands of the public, who expected from the author of Oberto a continuation of that first revelation of a strong and

vigorous genius?4

Most contemporary Verdi scholars have accepted the essence of the composer's narrative and Bermani's commentary at face value. David Kimbell, for example, wrote:

Un giorno di regno would surely have turned out a more tender and a more sparkling piece had Verdi been able to spend the spring and summer months of 1840 working on it in a tranquil state of mind.5

For this reason, and for the fact that the libretto supposedly went against Verdi's will and

inclinations, scholars have regarded Un giorno di regno as hardly more than a parenthetical

episode in Verdi's early career, devoting scant attention to it. Many have blamed the

obsolete libretto that Felice Romani had written for Adalbert Gyrowetz in 1818,6 and

have criticized Verdi's music for lack of originality: thus Carlo Gatti, who wrote that most

pieces "follow beaten tracks, reveal too much that the composer is pressing in other

people's footsteps" ("seguono vie battute, svelano troppo che I'autore ricalca le orme

altrui").' The "orme altrui" here must be Rossini's. More than forty years later, Massimo

Mila essentially shared Gatti's view: "it is exactly this: La pietra di paragone is the original and Un giorno di regno the copy; the former has the authenticity of things that fall at

I'esecuzione. Coll'animo straziato dalle disawenture domestiche, esacerbato dall'insuccesso del mio lavoro, mi persuasi che dall'arte avrei invano aspettato consolazioni, e decisi di non comporre mai piui!..." Arthur

POUGIN, Vita oneddotica di Verdi, preface by Marcello Conati, Florence, Passigli, 1989; reissue of 1881, Ricordi

edition, p. 43. All translations are by the author of this article. 4 "[D]innanzi a questa lotta di dolori e di angoscie, potea il Verdi pensare alle esigenze del pubblico,

che aspettava dall'autore dell'Oberto una continuazione di questa prima rivelazione d'un ingegno forte e vigoroso?" B. Bermani, "Schizzi sulla vita e le opere di G. Verdi," Gazzetto Musicole di Milano, 5

(1846), supplement, p.Vlll. 5 David R. B. KIMBELL, Verdi in the Age of Italian Romanticism (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,

198 1), p. 99. 6 11 finto Stanisloo, melodromma giocoso del signor Felice Romani do rappresentorsi nell'lmperiale Regio Teatro

alloa Scala Ioutunno dell'anno 1818 (Milan: Giacomo Pirola, [I 818]). 7 Carlo GATTI, Verdi, Milan, Alpes, 1930, vol. I, p. 174.



Verdi's Un giorno di regno 167

the right time, the latter the opaqueness of repetitions that arrive when the taste has

changed." 8 Slightly more generous was Gabriele Baldini, who acknowledged that the piece "is not... as bad as is often stated,"9 and praised several numbers of the opera, although he condemned many parts of the score for being "constructed out of routine gestures, some of them even lacking that basic care which would have at least assured them the virtues of clear writing."10 And Julian Budden, in his paradigmatic opus on Verdi's operas, referred to opera buffa of the time of Un giorno di regno as "anachronistic,"" and issued his final judgment on the opera as follows:

Un giorno di regno cannot any more than Oberto be considered a repertory work. If it is more even from the point of view of technique it is far less of a musical and dramatic whole, while the level of invention fluctuates disconcertingly from one number to the next. How far Verdi's bereavement contributed to the failure it is difficult to say, since the creative mind works in unexpected ways, but

pressure of time undoubtedly was a factor.12

Roger Parker was the first to take a step towards rectifying this essentially negative perspective, showing that the old libretto by Romani was thoroughly revised for Verdi's

setting.'3 Parker advanced the hypothesis that "Verdi himself had a hand in these alterations, and was thus involved in the final shape of the work in a much more positive sense than has hitherto been supposed." '4 Nevertheless, the musical sources of Un giorno di regno have never been carefully investigated. Even the autograph score of the work, preserved in the archive of the Milanese publisher Ricordi, has remained untouched.Thus, this is one of the most significant lacunae in the rich production of source studies in

early Verdi,'5 the effects of which are evident even in the writings of the most prominent

8 "Si tratta precisamente di questo: che La pietra di paragone e I'originale e Un giorno di regno e la copia; quella ha I'autenticita delle cose che cadono al tempo giusto, questa ha I'opacita delle ripetizioni che arrivano quando il gusto e cambiato." Massimo MILA, Verdi, edited by Pietro Gelli, Milan, Rizzoli, 2000; reissue of La giovinezza di Verdi,Turin, ERI, 1974 edition, p. 187.

9 Gabriele BALDINI, The Story of Giuseppe Verdi: 'Oberto' to 'Un ballo in maschera', edited and translated by Roger Parker (Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1980), p. 44.

10 lbid, p. 47. II Julian BUDDEN, The Operas of Verdi, second edition, Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1992, vol. I, From Oberto

to Rigoletto, p. 72. 12 Ibid, p. 87.

13 Roger PARKER, "Un giorno di regno: From Romani's Libretto to Verdi's Opera," in Studi Verdiani, 2 (1983), pp. 38-58. Another reassessment of the opera is Ronnie Apter's article, "Verdi and Romani's Un giorno di regno: Better than Remembered." in Ars Lyrica 9 (1998), pp. 8 1-89.

14 PARKER, "Un giorno di regno: From Romani's Libretto to Verdi's Opera," p. 40. 15 Aside from the publication of two early Verdi operas in critical editions (Nabucodonosor, edited by Roger

PARKER, Milan, Ricordi, and Chicago, University of Chicago Press, 1987, and Emrnani, edited by Claudio GALLICO, Milan, Ricordi, and Chicago, University of Chicago Press, 1985), important source studies in early Verdi include Roger PARKER, "The Autograph Score of Oberto, Conte di Son Bonifacio," in Studies in Early Verdi 1832-1844: New Information and Perspectives on the Milanese Musical Milieu and the Operas from Oberto to Ernani (New York and London: Garland Publishing, 1989), pp. 64-82, and Philip GOSSETT, "The Composition of Emrnani," in Carolyn ABBATE and Roger PARKER, eds., Analyzing Opera: Verdi and Wagner, Berkeley, University of California Press, 1990, pp. 27-55. In addition to Un giorno di regno, the sources of I lombardi alla prima crociata are also awaiting thorough research.



168 Francesco Izzo

Verdi scholars. For example, Julian Budden wrote about the cantabile section "Ricompensi amica sorte" in the duet for Edoardo and Belfiore (No. 2):

Curiously enough no change of tempo is marked for the start of the movement; and indeed the

opening melody can be sung quite comfortably and without losing its character at the pace of the

preceding section. But Belfiore's comment... most certainly cannot. It almost seems as if we are dealing with the kind of miscalculation to be found later in the overture to Nabucco. Doubtless the cause was extreme haste in both cases.'6

But Verdi's autograph score does contain a tempo indication for the section-Andante, as opposed to the opening Allegro moderoto, and so does the first Ricordi edition of the

piano-vocal score. It is only in the Ricordi edizione popolare that the engraver,

in "extreme haste," left out the indication.

In fact, Verdi was not in such a tremendous hurry. If, as it seems likely, the composition of Un giorno di regno began in the second half of June 1840,"' he had more than two months to complete the opera; and this is a relatively long time by standards of the primo ottocento. An examination of the primary sources of Un giorno di regno suggests thatVerdi did not waste any of that time. The old libretto by Romani was heavily modified: old numbers were cut, others were added, entire sections and brief passages were modified. As we shall see, the composer himself was responsible for many of these revisions. An

examination of the autograph score demonstrates that much time and effort were spent on the music as well. Furthermore, the manuscript contains two complete unknown

movements-the stretta of the Act-I Terzetto (No. 6) "Amanti siamo e giovani," later

replaced by "Noi siamo amanti e giovani," and the cabaletta of Edoardo's Aria (No. 8) "Lasciate ch'io speri," later replaced by "Deh lasciate a un'alma amante." Before I discuss

these two pieces and address some of the possible reasons for their replacement, it may be useful to describe the physical layout of the autograph of Un giorno di regno, and the

most significant aspects of it.

Like the autograph score of Verdi's first opera, Oberto, and that of his first extraordinary success, Nabucco, the manuscript of Un giorno di regno is in oblong folio format.'8 As is

customary in Verdi's autographs, most numbers of Un giorno di regno are written in large

gatherings of nested bifolios, which, in all likelihood, indicates that Verdi sketched his music

carefully before writing it down in orchestral score.'9 Alterations in the gathering structure, such as missing or added folios, indicate changes at an advanced stage of composition. In

16 BUDDEN, The Operas of Verdi, vol. I, pp. 77-78. 17 Cf. Markus ENGELHARDT, "Nuovi dati sulla nascita dell'opera giovanile di Verdi Un giorno di regno," Studi

Verdiani 4 (1986-87): pp. 11-17. 18 Subsequently Verdi adopted the upright format for his full scores, and employed it consistently from

I lombardi to Falstaff 19 Cf GOSSETT, "The Composition of Emani," pp. 33-35.




the autograph of Un giorno di regno, Verdi used several paper types (see Table I), three of which, indicated in the table as types A, B, and C, of 20, 16, and 24 staves each, form the basic layer of the manuscript. Table I:The Autograph of Un giorno di regno: Physical Layout

Folio Number Title as Given in Autograph PaperType Staves

f. I - Sinfonia D 16

f. 21 [spartitino] D 16

Act One

f. 23 No. I Introduzione A 20 f 55 [spartitino] B 16 f. 57 Rec.' Dopo I'lntroduzione B 16 f 58 No. 2 Duetto [Edoardo, Cavaliere] B 16 f 77 [spartitino] D 16 f 78 No. 3 Cavatina Marchesa B 16 f. 88 No. 4 Coro, e Cav. Giulietta D 20 f. 03 [recitativo] Dopo iHDuetto Due Cavatine E 16 f. 104 No. 5 Sestetto C 24 f. 26 [recitativo] Dopo il Sestetto B 16 f. 127 No. 6 Terzetto [Marchesa, Giulietta, Edoardo] A 20 f. 33 [stretta "Noi siamo amanti e giovani"] D 20 f. 39 [stretta "Amanti siamo e giovani" (early version)] A 20

f. 145 [recitativo] Dopo ilTerzetto B I 6 f. 146 Seguito della Scena Dopo iDuetto il Terzetto D I 6 f 147 No. 7 Finale I.' B 16 f. 61 [Allegro "Tesorier! io veder voglio"] A 20 f. 69 [concertato "In qual punto il re ci ha colto"] C 24 f. 185 [spartitino] A 20

Act Two

f. 187 No. 8 Introduzione [e Aria Edoardo] A 20 f. 199 [cabaletta "Deh lasciate a un'alma amante"] B 16 f. 203 [cabaletta "Lasciate ch'io speri"] A 20 f. 210 [recitativo] Dopo I'Aria Edoardo B 16 f. 21 I No. 9 Duetto Atto 2.d [Tesoriere, Barone] B 16 f 236 No. 10 Duetto [Marchesa, Cavaliere] B 16 f. 250 [recitativo] Dopo il duetto B 16 f. 25 I No. I I Aria con Cori [Marchesa] A 20 f. 267 No. 12 Rec.vo e Duetto [Giulietta, Edoardo] B 16 f. 287 [recitativo] Dopo ii Duetto B 16 f. 288 No. 13 Settimino C 24 f. 296 No. 14 Finale A 20 f. 308 [spartitino] D 16

Paper type D, found in two formats (16 and 20 staves), belongs to a late stage of the

composition. Sections of the score written on this paper type include the Sinfonia (the last piece to be composed in all Verdi operas), the recitative on f. 146 (which must have been a last-minute addition, since it was not printed in the libretto for the premiere),



170 Francesco Izzo

and the spartitini for No. 2 and No. 14. Furthermore, two sections of Act I are written on this type of paper One is Giulietta's cavatina, which may well have been intended to replace a pre-existing version of No. 4-perhaps, one may speculate, a cavatina that followed more closely Romani's original libretto, which in this place had a more concise

scene, without introductory chorus and with a different metric structure. However,

the

indication crossed out at the beginning of the recitative on f. 103 (Dopo il Dueto Due

Cavatine) suggests that originally No. 4 was not a cavatina, but a duet. Paper type E,

employed only for this page of recitative, also suggests a late change.

Finally, the conclusion of No. 6 (the act-I terzetto), is also on paper type D. This is the

stretta "Noi siamo amanti e giovani," transmitted in all manuscript and printed sources of

the opera.The gathering structure of this number and the placement of the interpolation are described in figure I.

Figure I: (fascicle structure of No. 6: f. 127-144)

127 128 129 130 13

- paper type A 132 paper type D 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 144

No. 6 originally consisted of six nested bifolios of type-A paper (ff. 127-132 and 139-144), which included the primo tempo and the tempo di mezzo20 of the terzetto, as well as

the original version of the strettoa.2 The three nested bifolios on which the new stretta

is written (ff. 133-138) were interpolated at the center of this pre-existing gathering.The

beginning of the original stretta is exactly in the middle of the fascicle, on f. 139r, which

allowed the composer to insert the new piece without modifying the original structure

of the gathering, and without having to cross out a single measure of music.

The insertion of the new stretta must have happened at a very late stage of the

composition. This is indicated not only by the presence of a different paper type, but

20 In ottocento opera numbers, the middle section that connects the slow movement to the final, fast-moving section of the number

21 The form of this terzetto is unusual, consisting only of an opening cantabile section (without a proper tempo d'attacco), a tempo di mezzo, and a stretta.




also by the fact that the original piece is complete, and fully orchestrated. A glance at the

opening of this piece, reproduced in piano-vocal reduction as example I, will be sufficient to understand its character

Example I. (No 6: Stretta "Amanti siamo e giovani," first version)

MARCHESA stac.

"t) rr r GIULIETTA A - man-ti sia-mo e gio - va-ni, ab - bia-mo spir-to e

EDOARDO

Allegretto [vn.1]

7

co - re, se il fa-to 6 a noi con - tra - - rio 6 dal - la no-stra a - mo - - re.

man-ti sia-moe g - va-ni, ab - ba-mo spr-toe co re seil fa-to a no con -

SIo ob.]



172 Francesco Izzo

17

6 dal - la no-straa-mo - re

tra - rio dal - la no-straa-mo - re.

[etc.] A man - ti siamo e gio va-ni,

[vni l. fl. ob., bsn.]

> ] [

[etc.]

The three voices in succession present a short melodic idea, in which the four lines of the

text are delivered quickly, in a light sillabato whose rhythm is entirely dependent on the

prosody of the libretto.The brisk duple meter and the regularity of the syllabic articulation

are reminiscent of primo ottocento strettas such as the famous "Zitti zitti, piano piano" in

the second-act terzetto of Rossini's II barbiere di Siviglia. In the new stretta, Verdi radically modified the character of the original piece (see exam-

ple 2).

He manipulated the metric organization of the poetry, introducing a textual repetition in

the middle of each line. "Amanti siamo e giovani" became "Noi siamo amanti - amanti

e giovani," "Abbiamo spirto e core" became "Abbiamo spirto - abbiamo spirto e core," and so forth. Thanks to these repetitions, the fast-moving settenario meter sometimes

acquires a quinario doppio character, and the delivery of the first quatrain was consequently

expanded from eight to sixteen measures, in a more tuneful setting. In fact, the theme of

the new stretta is one of the most effective of Un giorno di regno. Furthermore, the three

voices present this theme simultaneously and in unison, which provides an effective musical

and dramatic contrast with the first part of the number In the opening movement, "Bella

speranza invero," the Marchesa, having just recognized Belfiore, is somewhat distracted

by her own heart's affections, and Giulietta and Edoardo fear that they might lose her

support. In the stretta, however, the three characters are united by the enthusiasm typical of their youth, and by faith in the strength of their loves.To the extent permitted by the

comic context, Verdi produced a movement as stirring as many of the far better known

Risorgimento choruses which were to follow in his operas of the 1840s.

The replacement of the original cabaletta of No. 8 (Edoardo's aria, in act II) is more

problematic. The paper types are of little help in determining the compositional history of this number While the insertion of the new cabaletta "Deh lasciate a un'alma amante"

is on a different paper type (B, as opposed to A, which was employed for the rest of the




Example 2: No 6:"Noi siamo amanti e giovani:' final version)

MAR. AUegro

Noi sia - - mo a- man - - ti a- man - - ti e GIU..

Noi sia - - - mo a- man - - ti a- man - - ti e

Noi sia - - mo a - man - - ti a -man - ti e

Allegro

P

5

gio - va-ni, ab- bia - - mo spir - to ab- bia-mo spirto e co - re; se il

r I

faO - - - to a noi a noi con - -tra - e

--

I

fa to a noir a nor tcon- a--- t

1N

>

>

.

A i

fa - to a noi a noi con tra

f f



174 Francesco Izzo

14 A> > >

- no dal - - la no - - stra a-mor: col suo fa

A > > >

rio 6 dal - - la no - stra a-mor : col suo fa

- rio e dal - la no - stra a-mor: col suo fa

P

19

vo - re fa -vor com bat te - re si pu col fa to col r F

vo - re fa -vor com bat -te - re si pu6 col fa to col

vo - re fa -vor com bat te re si pu col fa to col

24

fa - to an - - cor si pu6 col fa - - to col

fa - to an - - cor si pu6 col fa - to col

fa to an - . orb.

si pu6 col fa -

- to col

SW[etc.]

number), this paper type, employed in the autograph score wherever a 16-staff layout was

required, does not indicate per se a later stage of composition.The gathering structure,

described in fi gure 2, is more significant. The number divides into two gatherings, of

which the first (ff. 187-194) contains the opening chorus and the ensuing scena, and the




other consists of Edoardo's cantabile, a brief tempo di mezzo for the chorus, and the

original cabaletta.The single bifolio in the middle of the number (ff. 195-196) may be a miscalculation on Verdi's part in preparing the fascicle for this piece. As we have seen in No. 6, here, too, a small gathering (in this case, two nested bifolios, ff. 199-202) with the new cabaletta "Deh lasciate a un'alma amante" was inserted into the pre-existing fascicle, after the latter had been completed and orchestrated.That the new cabaletta is meant to replace the original "Lasciate ch'io speri" is clear from alterations on ff. 207r and 208r, where the second statement of the piece is to be found.

Figure 2: (fascicle structure of No. 8: ftf. 187-209)

187 188 189 190 191

- paper type A

192 paper type B 193 194 195

[ 196 197 198 199 200

201 202 203 204 205 206 207 208 209

Furthermore, the text of the original cabaletta is different from that of the final version:

Original Cabaletta

Edoardo Lasciate ch'io speri

Amici pensieri, Lasciate un momento Di gioia al mio corn

Deh, sorte, il contento Mi lascia di speme, Quest'ultimo bene Non togliermi

ancor. (Let me indulge in amiable thoughts, leave a moment of joy to my heart. Destiny, leave me with the pleasure of hope, don't deprive me yet of this last comfort.)

Final Cabaletta

Edoardo Deh! lasciate a un'alma amante

Di speranza un solo istante,

Si che al gaudio un sol momento S'abbandoni il mesto cod

Ah! se il debile contento A noi manca della speme, Non e meta d'ogni bene, E uno spasimo I'amor

(Ah, leave just one moment of hope to this loving soul, so that this sad heart may indulge itself in

joy for a moment! If we lack the feeble relief of

hope, love is not the end to all good, but a painful agony)



176 Francesco Izzo

The original senari, clumsily written, could hardly satisfy any composer From the first measures of the musical setting (see example 3), it is evident that Verdi found the short

senario meter rather cumbersome. He tried to extend the initial line by stretching the

second "a" of"lasciate" through the first half of the first measure.The accented F in the

vocal line, however, is ill-suited for a vocalized passage, and seems to demand a syllable

to accompany it. In his setting of the following two lines ("amici pensieri / lasciate un

momento"), Verdi appropriately repeated the words "amici" and "lasciate" for the sake

of melodic design.

Example 3. (No 8: Original Cabaletta "Lasciate ch'io speri")

EDOARDO

Q * - 1r d1?

La- scia - - te ch'io spe - ri a -mi ci a-mi -

cipen

[woodwinds] Lwoo. .I a-

[vni 1]

sie - ri, la scia -te, la scia-te un mo-men to di gio - ia al mio

'I .oN ......

cor Ceh sor - te ii con-ten - to mi la - scia - di

largo Mosso

13>

speme Quest ul- ti - mo, quest' ul-ti-mo be -

- ne non

1 :- >0

m-b




16 >- > >

oge mo lIe F it I g "I [etc.] to-glier - mi, non to-glier-mi an-cor, no, no non to-glier-mi,

S I -

. I. [etc.]

The new text, which preserves the general meaning and several line endings of the original, is more comfortably written in ottonari, whose characteristic rhythm found an effective realization in the dotted figure of the upbeat of the new cabaletta (see example 4). The original 6-syllable meter was preserved in the interventions of the chorus ("Ah si, del contento"). Aside from metric and rhythmic considerations, the vocal line is much more comfortable in the new cabaletta than in the original piece. In the old cabaletta, the initial rise to the high G occurs at the end of an arpeggio, and on a weak beat, and is immediately nullified by the descending fourth that follows (example 3, mm. 4-5). Other problematic points are the ending of the second phrase (mm. 8-9), in which the descent from the high G is abrupt, and the harmonically clumsy passage that follows

(mm. 10-13).The ensuing "Mosso" (example 3, mm. 14ff.) is rhythmically incisive, and, once

again, contains large intervals (see especially the ascending ninths from G to the high A), which require an energetic approach and agilita di forza.

The new setting is organized in a simpler lyric form (aa'ba" instead of aa'bc), and entirely set in tempo Moderato. At the beginning, the voice moves by smaller intervals, and reaches and holds the high G at the climax of a rising stepwise motion (example 4, mm. 7-8).The ensuing descent is equally gradual.The second part enhances the pathos inherent in the text by a temporary shift to the relative minor. The melodic design avoids the rigid cadential figures and difficult leaps of the original, and provides the high notes with greater prominence.

The vocal writing of the new cabaletta must have pleased Lorenzo Salvi, the tenor who created the role of Edoardo. Salvi, who had already sung the role of Riccardo in Verdi's Oberto, was at the time one of the most prominent tenors on the Italian stage. According to contemporary critics, and judging from his parts in Oberto and Un giorno di regno, as well as from the operas he had in his repertory (at that time his reputation was largely due to his interpretations of Edgardo in Lucia di Lammermoor and Gennaro in Lucrezia Borgia), he had a natural gift for lyrical expression and for the delivery of smooth, cantabile melodies. It is possible that Salvi, feeling uncomfortable with the vocal style of the first version of the cabaletta, requested its substitution. In the new cabaletta, all high notes are approached gradually, and there are performance indications such as stentato and con grazia, perfectly suitable for Salvi's voice.



178 Francesco Izzo

Example 4. (No. 8: Final cabaletta "Deh ! lasciate a un' alma amante")

Moderato r P

5 EDOARDO

OP

9

- ran - za un so - - loi-stan - te si cheal gau - dio un sol mo -

I2Uarg. [a rempo]

men - - to s'ab-ban-do - ni ii me - sto cor! Ah! seil

col canto - - - - - - - - - - - - - a tempo

15 allarg. 15 • -•

> > >

,

de - bi - le con - ten - - to a noi man-ca a noi man-ca del -la spe-me, non

con grazia allarg.

I19 - 0W 09 11d'NIM101gV.

me - ta d'o - gni be - -

- ne, u-no spa-si-mo I'a - - - mor

[etc.]




The substitution of Edoardo's cabaletta reveals that, even in those sections of the

poetry that have no equivalent in the 1818 libretto, a great deal of work was done on the text during the compositional process. This, indeed, reinforces Parker's hypothesis that Verdi himself had a direct impact on the revision of the libretto. The hypothesis is confirmed, and enriched with significant information, not only from the printed librettos, but also from a number of passages of the verbal text in the autograph score. As a result, it becomes clear that Verdi made many textual revisions at an advanced stage of

composition. While the original poetry set by Verdi is often illegible, as the composer smeared it or wrote the new text directly over the old one, applying greater pressure on the nib of his pen, there are cases in which the words are still legible. Since the

composition of the opera had probably progressed significantly by July 24, when the Milanese censors returned the approved libretto to the impresario Merelli,22 it may very well be that some of the textual alterations found in the autograph score of Un giorno di regno were due to the censorship, at least in those cases in which the original text contained slightly disdainful references to political authority.The following passage shows the original text and the revision of the Marchesa's cabaletta (No. 3):

Original text in the autograph Marchesa Se dee cader la vedova

Non cada in peggio imbroglio, lo lascio i grandi principi Allo splendor del soglio [etc.]

(If the widow must fall, may she not fall into a worse predicament; I leave the great princes to the splendour of throne [etc.])

Revised text in the autograph

Marchesa Se dee cader la vedova

Non cada in peggio imbroglio, lo sprezzo il fasto inutile, Viver non so d'orgoglio [etc.]

(If the widow must fall, may she not fall into a worse imbroglio; I despise useless pomp, I cannot live on pride [etc.])

Probably the Milanese censors disapproved of the contemptuous attitude towards the "great princes" contained in the original poetry, and suggested the more generic expression of the final version, which says something about the Marchesa's personality without any political overtones. It is worth recalling that the Marchesa's cavatina is a new addition to the libretto for Verdi's opera.

However, many textual revisions were apparently made on literary grounds.This example, taken from the act- I Sestetto (No. 5), shows the Marchesa's original lines and their revision into the definitive version:

22 Cf. ENGELHARDT, Nuovi dati sulla nascita dell'opera giovanile di Verdi Un giorno di regno," pp. 15-16.



180 Francesco Izzo

1818 libretto Original text in the autograph Final text in the autograph and 1840 printed libretto

(A quel sembiante, A quel sembiante (Pur dell'amante A quell'aspetto, A quell'aspetto Quello e I'aspetto! Oh! come in petto Ah come in petto Come nel petto Mi batte il cor. Mi batte il cor. Mi batte il cor!

Ah! che I'immagine Ah che I'immagine Forse I'immagine Dell'incostante Dell'incostante Dell'incostante In ogni oggetto In ogni istante In tutto pingere Mi pinge amor) Mi [pinge amor] Gode I'amor.)

(Oh! How my heart beats in (Oh! How my heart beats in (But that is my lover's appear-

my breast at that face, at that my breast at that face, at that ance! How my heart beats in my

appearance. Ah, love paints the appearance. Ah, [love paints] the breast! Perhaps love delights in

image of the faithless one on all image of the faithless one at all painting the image of the faithless

that I see.) times.) one on everything.)

Here, the most significant change occurred at the beginning of the first quatrain, where

an explicit reference to "l'amante" is introduced. Parker argued that such alteration is

useless from a dramatic standpoint, and that the introduction in Verdi's opera of an entire

solo scene for the Marchesa (No. 3) anticipates the identification of her disguised lover.23

However, this point in the Sestetto marks the first encounter between the Marchesa and

Belfiore, and there are indeed good dramaturgical reasons for emphasizing her emotional

response, although the second quatrain of this passage is irrelevant to the plot. Indeed,

this revision of the text may indicate a desire to improve the literary quality of this

passage. The original classical symmetry of the first two lines ("At those looks, at that

appearance...") is broken, and changed into the more direct expression "Pur dell'amante /

Quello e I'aspetto!" ("But that is my lover's appearance!")

Similarly, in the Finale Primo, when Giulietta promptly welcomes the Marchesa's suggestion that she might marry Edoardo, Romani's original words "Si, papa, se a me lo date / II

nipote prender6" ("Yes, papa, if you give him to me, I will take the nephew"), were first

set to music in their original form, and then changed to "Si, papa, se /o approvate [emphasis

mine] / II nipote prender6" ("Yes, papa, if you approve of it I will take the nephew").We cannot presume that the materialistic approach suggested by the original version may have been rejected by the censors and changed to the more chaste and noble notion

of paternal approval, as the Milanese censors were not overly concerned with issues of

morality. Indeed, in the same libretto of Un giorno di regno, a far more licentious sentence

survived: "Sappiam da che proviene la tristezza / D'una bella ragazza innocentina; / Ma

sarete pita gaia domattina" ("We know what provokes the sadness of a beautiful innocent

girl; but you will be merrier tomorrow morning"). The alteration of Giulietta's text is a

small but revealing stylistic change in the direction of a more direct verbal expression, which coincidentally gives a more lyrical nuance to her words.

23 PARKER, "Un giorno di regno: From Romani's Libretto to Verdi's Opera," p. 53.




Finally, and most importantly, numerous revisions of the original text occur in places where the music was revised as well. The following passage, taken from the cabaletta

"lnfiammato da spirto guerriero" from the duet for Edoardo and Belfiore (No. 2), shows an interesting example of this procedure:

1818 libretto and original text in the autograph Final text in the autograph and 1840 printed libretto

a2 a2

Edoardo Edoardo Sempre, O Sire, al vostro fianco, Infiammato da spirto guerriero

Pugner6 securo e franco; Scorrer6 della gloria il sentiero:

Soprawenga a me la morte, Me vedrete contento per voi Pur che abbiate a trionfar I perigli di morte sfidar

Belfiore Belfiore

Si... potrete a questo fianco Si!.. vicino, mio giovin guerriero,

Sempre star securo e franco, Mi sarete nell'aspro sentiero! E vi accerto che la morte Le ghirlande serbate agli eroi Deve entrambi rispettar Fora bello alle chiome intrecciar.

(E: Always, Sire, at your side, will I fight secure (E: Burning with warlike spirit I will run along the and bold; and as long as you triumph, death may paths of glory. You will see me challenge gladly come for me. the danger of death for you. B:Yes, by my side you may always be secure and B:Yes, my young warrior, you will be at my side bold, and I promise you that death must respect on that difficult path. It will be beautiful to braid both of us.) the garlands of glory through the locks of our

hair)

Here, as in the case of Edoardo's cabaletta, the replacement of the text coincides with a new musical setting of the piece.This can be inferred from the orchestral introduction on f. 69r (a transcription is given here as example 5), which was crossed out but is still

present in the autograph, whereas the folios containing the rest of the original piece were removed.

Example 5. (No 2: Introduction of original cabaletta ["Sempre, o Sire, al vostro fianco"])

A6.* marziae >

ff!; " , J I • LJ ! • - •

J



182 Francesco Izzo

This revision, as well as the substitutions in No. 6 and No. 8 described above, concerns the final movement of a number-a cabaletta or a stretta. In all three cases, the musical revision of the closing section of a number coincided with a lengthening of the original poetic meter. In this duet, the original ottonari were replaced by decasillabi.24 In the stretta "Noi siamo amanti e giovani," as I have shown, the settenari of the libretto were stretched to produce a quinari doppi effect. In the cabaletta for Edoardo, there was a change from 6- to 8-syllable lines. To establish whether the lengthening of these poetic lines is a

coincidence, or the indication of a consistent predilection for longer meters, is beyond the scope of this article. However, it is interesting that for a long time after struggling with the senari of "Lasciate ch'io speri," Verdi's cabalettas in other operas use longer meters: it took him until 1846 to try one in quinari (Attila's "Oltre quel limite"), and he didn't write another in senari until 1847 ("La patria tradita" in Macbeth). Most of them use

longer lines, although occasionally he employed quinari and senari for slow movements in his early operas (e.g. the sextet "Pur dell'amante" in Un giorno di regno, and the canon

"S'appressan gl'istanti" in Nabucco).25

To sum up: based on this examination of the autograph score, it becomes clear that neither the adverse circumstances of Verdi's private life, nor the uninspiring libretto which

was so thoroughly revised, prevented him from sketching, scoring, and even revising many

parts of Un giorno di regno with great care. At this point, even if we share the negative

opinions of this opera expressed by critics from 1840 to the present day, perhaps we

should no longer blame the fiasco on the personal difficulties that Verdi had to face at

the time of its composition.

All this notwithstanding, by public decree Un giorno di regno certainly was a fiasco. After the

unfavorable verdict of the Milanese audience of 1840, it was produced only three times

in the nineteenth century, when Verdi had already become one of Italy's leading opera

composers. On only one occasion-in Venice in 1845, when the title returned to the

original II finto Stanislao-was the work well received by the public.26That was not enough to grant it a complete recovery from the critical wounds of the premiere. However,

24 Roger Parker argued that the decasillabo created problems of rhythmic setting in this piece, and that in the revision of Odabella's cabaletta in the prologue of Attila, the meter change went in the opposite direction, the original decasillabi being replaced by ottonari. "Arpa d'or dei fatidici vati:" The Verdian Patriotic Chorus in the 1840s, Parma: Istituto Nazionale di Studi Verdiani, 1997, pp. 66-72.

25 This information is based on Rita GARLATO, Repertorio metrico verdiano,Venice, Marsilio, 1998, possim. 26 This revival took place at the Teatro San Benedetto on II October 1845, and led to the printing by Ricordi

of the first complete piano-vocal score of the opera (also under the title of II finto Stanislao). The other two nineteenth-century productions took place at Rome,TeatroValle, in 1846, and at Naples,Teatro Nuovo, 1849. No librettos survive for either of these two productions. However, a manuscript orchestral score for

the Neapolitan revival is found in the Naples Conservatory Library (I-Nc), and on microfilm at the American Institute forVerdi Studies, NewYork University. This score reveals that the libretto was heavily censored, and that all secco recitatives were removed, presumably replaced with spoken dialogue.




it is possible that the critical reception of Un giorno di regno was affected more by comparison with other operas byVerdi, including Oberto, than by an attentive assessment of its significance and of its artistic value. Verdi himself, who never made any effort to rescue this opera from the oblivion into which it had fallen, felt that perhaps the Milanese

public had received it more harshly than it deserved. In a well-known letter of 4 February 1859 he wrote to Tito Ricordi:

I have not seen Un giorno di regno since those days, and for sure it must be a bad opera, yet who knows how many operas not better than that were tolerated, or perhaps even applauded.27

In the remainder of this article, I will suggest that Un giorno di regno should be viewed not as an unfortunate and embarrassing incident between Oberto and Nabucco, one for which we (and Verdi) need to set forth excuses, but rather as a typical opera buffa of 1840. Most commentators, and Verdi himself, have touched on the problem of the genre of Un giorno di regno, recalling that opera buffa was undergoing a phase of crisis, that Verdi did not want to write a comic work, and that the cast which premiered the opera was put together to perform a serious one-Otto Nicolai's II templario.28 And Roger Parker, in concluding his study of the libretto, stated that "the purpose behind all the textual revisions of Un

giorno di regno [was] to involve the audience more directly in the dramatic events; to take

away the sheen of objectivity so traditional in opera buffa; to concentrate on character rather than plot.... [T]hese alterations have one thing in common--they all force points of

comparison with opera seria."29 This is a crucial statement, which emphasizes the generic attributes of the revisions of the libretto. However, its implications are complex, and require some clarification. If the opera buffa tradition referred to by Parker is that of the comic canon of the late 1810's, when the libretto of II finto Stanislao was written, then one might suggest that those points of comparison are to be found not so much in the abstract

category of "opera seria," but rather in sentimental or semiseria works of the 1830s, such as Romani's librettos for Donizetti's L'elisir d'amore and Bellini's La sonnambula. If it is the opera buffa tradition of 1840, however, the issue becomes much more problematic, since we know very little of that tradition. In either case, two questions arise: I) Did Verdi

deliberately try to introduce serious or sentimental elements in Un giorno di regno because

27 "lo non ho pi' visto da quell'epoca il Giorno di Regno, e sara certo un'opera cattiva, pure chissa quante altre non migliori sono state tollerate o forse anche applaudite." Gaetano CESARI and Alessandro Luzio, I copialettere di Giuseppe Verdi, Milan, 1913, p. 557.

28 //II templario, a melodramma in 3 acts after Walter Scott's Ivanhoe, received its premiere at Turin, Teatro Regio, on I I February 1840. At La Scala it was given on 13 August, and obtained a tremendous success. It was performed 46 times in the fall season.The cast included Luigia Abbadia, Antonietta Marini, Raffaele Ferlotti, Lorenzo Salvi, and Raffaele Scalese, all of whom were to appear in the premiere of Un giorno di regno a few weeks later Although most of these artists in fact specialized in serious opera, Raffaele Scalese, who created the role of Kelbar, had earned a solid buffo reputation, performing a number of comic roles at La Scala in the late I 830s. In 1840, he also appeared in Speranza's I due Figaro, and in the Italian premiere of Donizetti's La figlia del reggimento.

29 PARKER, "Un giorno di regno: From Romani's Libretto to Verdi's Opera," pp. 57-58.



184 Francesco Izzo

he felt uncomfortable with comedy, or at least with the type of comedy represented by

II finto Stanislao? 2) If so, was that attitude a widespread phenomenon, or an individual trait of a composer with a natural vocation towards serious opera? To answer these questions, it is necessary to examine briefly the discourse on comic opera at the outset of Verdi's

career, and to investigate the context of and the motives behind the revisions in the

poetry of opere buffe around the time of Un giorno di regno.

Carlo Ritorni, whose Ammoestramenti alla composizione d'ogni poema e d'ogni opera

appartenente alla musica (1841) provides one of the most fascinating contemporary views

of the state and conventions of Italian opera,30 discussed in general terms the frequent introduction of serious elements in opera buffa, a phenomenon of which he strongly

disapproved:

At the best point of the comedy, there comes a great concerted piece as in Zelmira or II crociato

[in Egitto]; the cavatinas are [like] entrance arias for heroes; the final rondo must be Rossinian, in

opera seria style; the orchestra [must be] full, with a coarse sound, like a Tartar trumpet; recitatives

accompanied, singing in full voice; and the buffo basses, whether they like it or not, must go with the

others along this path. Even the subject, albeit taken from some true comedy, French or Italian, is

pushed back to the time of the middle ages, because costumes must be of shiny velvet, and because

people, they say, want this, not because of their own ignorance, but for the ignorance reflected on

them by those who give such performances.Then, the chorus shouldn't even be mentioned. Without

chorus, it is impossible to do operas; and an opera with chorus only is more likely to support itself

than one with Malibran, Rubini, Lablache and Tamburini, but without the chorus.3'

Ritorni's sarcasm is deliberately exaggerated, but it is indicative of the fact that the dramatic

and musical attributes of opera buffa were changing, and doing so in the direction of a

contamination from its serious counterpart. The crisis and loss of identity of the comic

genre were also noted by Pietro Cominazzi, one of the most prominent music critics of his

time,3 who hailed the world premiere of Antonio Giovanni Speranza's I due Figaro (given at Turin, Teatro Carignano, on 30 October 1839), which he considered an exceptional

example of true opera buffa, and disparaged opera semiseria and generic mixtures:

30 On Ritorni and his Ammaestramenti, cf. Scott BALTHAZAR, Ritorni's Ammaestromenti and the Conventions of

Rossinian Melodramma," in journal of Musicological Research, 7 (1988-89), pp. 281-311.

31 "Sul piO bello della commedia eccoti un gran concertone da Zelmira e da Crociato; le cavatine sono

sortite da eroi; il rond6 finale dee essere rossiniano da opera seria; I'orchestra piena con accordatura in

rauco suono di tartarea tromba; recitativi concertati; canti sfogati; ed i buffi, voler o non volere, debbono

andar cogli altri di questo passo; fino I'argomento, ancorche cavato da qualche vera commedia francese

o italiana, si respinge ai tempi del medio evo, perche gli abiti debbono essere di velluto lustrinato, e

perche il popolo, dicesi, vuol cosi, non per ignoranza che sia in lui, ma per quella che su lui riflettono i

datori di tali spettacoli. De' cori poi non si parla. Senza cori e impossibile far opere; ed e piu facile che

si sostenga un'opera di soli coristi, che colla Malibran, Rubini, Lablache e Tamburini, ma priva di cori." Carlo RITORNi, Ammaestramenti alla composizione d'ogni poema e d'ogni opera apportenente alla musica, Milan, Luigi di Giacomo Pirola, 1841, p. 204.

32 Pietro Cominazzi (1802-1877) worked for II Figaro from 1836, and subsequently became editor of La

famo. He was a friend of Felice Romani and of Gaetano Donizetti. On the latter,

he published an important series of articles in La fama (1875). Cf. Annalisa BINI and Jeremy COMMONS, eds., Le prime rappresentozioni delle opere di Donizetti nella stampa coeva, Milan, Skira, 1997, pp. 1576-1577.




[T]o serve a certain ridiculous gravity, sentimentalism was thrown into comic operas, and something hybrid came out of this, which is known as melodramma semiserio, which would like to be serious and funny at the same time, and in the end is neither one, nor the other Such mixture of genres that cannot be fused, took character away from the music, which, being a simple and expressive language, cannot laugh and cry simultaneously. Between the two genres continued the fight, which seemed to end with the killing of the comic genre, fallen, as everyone knows, into that shameful abjection into which it was pushed by the prevailing tragic drama...33

From these writings, it is clear that the introduction of serious elements in Un giorno di

regno was not an isolated occurrence, but a widespread phenomenon typical of opera buffa of the post-Rossinian era. Many comic operas of that period did not employ original texts, but revised versions of librettos written between at end of the eighteenth century, or during the first two decades of the nineteenth. Sometimes the revisions were marginal, and did not alter the overall structure and character of the original libretto. The libretto of Speranza's I due Figaro, originally written by Felice Romani for Michele Carafa in 1820, is a case in point: little in the revised version differs from the original.The protagonist is an

aged and evil Figaro, who plots against the Count and tries to get his hands on the dowry of Inez, daughter of the Almavivas, by marrying her to a swindler. At the end, Figaro is defeated and fired, while Inez marries her beloved Cherubino, now a grown-up man and a colonel. The libretto, based on a French comedy by Martelly, is quick-paced and full of characters in disguise, amusing situations, and unexpected events. Its old-fashioned comic character explains why Cominazzi praised this opera. However,

one revision is worth noting, for it involves a shift from an overtly humorous text to a more sentimental one-the same kind of revision found in many parts of Un giorno di regno. The passage comes at the conclusion of a love duet in Act I between Cherubino and Inez:

1820 libretto 1839 libretto

Amor che i timidi - Audaci rendi, Or ti vedo, e tutto obblio; Con noi discendi - a congiurar Ora immenso e il mio contento:

Colle tue solite - astuzie e frodi In amor basta un momento Ne insegna i modi - di tr'onfar.34 Mille affanni a cancellar

Ah! Stancarmi non poss'io D'abbracciarti e giubilar.35

(Love, you who make the timid ones daring, (Now I see you, and I forget everything; descend to plot with us. With your usual tricks now my happiness is immense: in love a and deceptions, show us the ways in which we moment suffices to cancel a thousand sighs. Ah! can triumph.) I can never get tired of embracing you and

rejoicing.)

33 "[P]er servire ad una certa buffona gravitd si 6 gittato il sentimentalismo framezzo ai drammi giocosi, e ne usci un nonsoche d'ibrido, che appellasi il melodramma semiserio, il quale ad un tempo essere vorrebbe e serio e buffo, e all'ultimo non e ne I'uno, ne I'altro. Cotesta commistione di generi, che non pu6 fondersi, tolse il carattere alla musica, la quale, perche linguaggio semplice ed espressivo, non pu6 ridere e piangere a un tratto, e perpetuossi fra i due generi la lotta, che parve aver termine coll'uccisione del genere buffo, caduto, come a tutti e noto, in quella svergognata abjezione a che lo sospinse il vincitore dramma tragico... Pietro COMINAZZI, review of I due Figaro, in II Figoro, 8, no. 89 (9 November 1839), p. 359.



186 Francesco Izzo

The meaning of the two cabalettas is radically different. In the original text, written in

fast-moving quinari, love is neoclassically portrayed as a divinity, which comes to aid needy lovers.That aid is delivered, of course, in the form of intrigue, plotting, and deception-all the conventional ingredients of opera buffa. In contrast, the new cabaletta, more comfort-

ably structured in ottonari, places a strong emphasis on a more romantic conception of

love, viewed first and foremost as a human sentiment.The two lovers are alone with their

feelings, and the comic plot that surrounds them is altogether forgotten.

Speranza's I due Figaro reached La Scala on 15 June 1840, and this makes it particularly

important from our point of view, since Verdi must have seen this work just before he

set to work on the composition of his first comic opera. As in the case of Un giorno di regno, the authorship of the revisions remains unknown. It is possible that Romani

himself, who resided in Turin at the time of the premiere, may have agreed to make a

few changes to this libretto, although there is no evidence that he ever revised librettos at that point in his career

The revisions of other librettos were far more radical. An interesting example is Un

avvertimento ai gelosi, a farsa giocosa in one act set to music by William Balfe in 1831 to

a libretto originally written by Giuseppe Foppa for Stefano Pavesi in 1804. Here, too, the

author of the changes is unknown.The story concerns Sandrina, a young married peasant who pretends to reciprocate the courtship of Count Ripaverde in order to take revenge on her jealous husband, Berto. The conclusion, reminiscent of Le nozze di Figaro, is a scene

in the dark, in which Sandrina deceives the Count, and forces him to marry his legitimate

fiancee, Ernesta, while Berto has to acknowledge Sandrina's innocence, and promises that

he will no longer be jealous. Scene 3 is devoted to the first encounter between Sandrina,

the Count, and his verbose secretary and confidant, Don Fabio. In the original libretto, Don Fabio introduces himself with an entirely comic aria, which begins as follows:

Fille tu sei Graziosa, e bella, Ma eterni Dei! Non fai per me.

Le chiacchere son chiacchere, Ma i bezzi sono bezzi, E le tue grazie, e i vezzi

Troppo vuoi far pagar....36

34 Felice ROMANI, I due figaro, o sia II soggetto di uno commedio: Melodromma di Felice Romani do rappresentarsi nell'lmperiale Regio Teotro allo Scala la primavero dell'oanno /820, Milan, dalla Stamperia di Giacomo

Pirola, [1820], p. 2 1. 35 Felice ROMANI, I due figoro, o sia II soggetto di uno commedia: Melodromma do rappresentorsi nel Teatro

Carignano I'Autunno del 1839,Turin, per i Fratelli Favale, [1839], pp. 20-21. 36 Giuseppe FOPPA, Un aowertimento ai gelosi, e Lamante anonimo: farse giocose per musica do rappresentorsi nel

Teatro Carcano nel Dicembre 1804..., Milan, nella Tipografia Bianchi, [1804], p. 8.




(Fille, you are graceful and beautiful, but eternal Gods! You are not for me. Chatter is chatter, but

money is money, and you want to be paid too much for your graces and your charms.)

Of this piece, no trace is left in the 183 I1 revision. Instead, the scene concludes with an aria for the Count, who did not have one in this position in 1804.The text, full of pathos, was most likely intended to be set to music in two sections (slow movement and cabaletta), and ends with this double quatrain:

D'Amor deliro e peno, D'Amor lo strale ho in petto, D'inusitato affetto Sento awamparmi in sen.

Se non sorride amica A' miei desir la sorte, Ah! Venga allor la morte,

Venga a colpirmi almen.37

(I am delirious and suffer for Love, I have the dart of Love in my breast, I feel an unusual affection that burns in my bosom. If destiny does not smile benignly on my desires, ah, let death come then, at least let it strike me.)

The removal of Don Fabio's aria buffa with the insertion of an aria for the Count in its place completely changes the character of the scene, which acquires a more serious tone, and puts a greater emphasis on the character of the young lover rather than on the buffo.38

These examples show that the procedures adopted in the transformation of Romani's

II finto Stanislao into Un giorno di regno were similar to those employed in the adaptation of other earlier comic librettos to new music.The young Verdi, already an attentive reader and listener, must have been aware of contemporary tendencies in the field of opera buffa. It is these tendencies, rather than any alleged personal distaste for the genre, which should be viewed as the primary cause for the final shape of the libretto of Un giorno di regno.

Aside from the patterns of revision of the libretto, Un giorno di regno shows musical and dramatic affinities with a number of contemporary comic operas.This is an aspect that deserves separate treatment, but it may be worthwhile to touch on it to conclude this article. Among the principal Italian opera houses, La Scala was the one that produced opera buffa most frequently and consistently. Furthermore, the other Milanese opera houses, the Canobbiana and the Carcano, were very important venues for the production

37 [Giuseppe FOPPA], Un owvvertimento oi gelosi: forso giocoso posto in musico dol moestro Sig. Guglielmo Bolfe, do rappresentorsi nel Teotro di Pavia La Primovero del 1831, Pavia, Tipografia Bizzoni, [1831], p. 9.

38 In both settings of the farsa, the role of Don Fabio was played by prominent buffo basses-in 1804 by Luigi Pacini, father of Giovanni, and in 183 I1 by Carlo Cambiaggio.



188 Francesco Izzo

of comic operas. Thus, in Milan Verdi had the opportunity of seeing a number of old and new operas, which must have affected his view of the comic genre. Among the

operas he must have seen at La Scala after his arrival in February 1839 are Donizetti's

L'elisir d'amore (18 May 1839, 9 performances) and Gianni di Parigi (10 September 1839, 12 performances), Giacomo Panizza's I ciarlatani (libretto by Callisto Bassi; 29 October

1839, 3 performances), Giacomo Cordella's Gli avventurieri (libretto by Felice Romani; 28

April 1840, 10 performances), and of course Speranza's I due Figaro. Furthermore, during his first Milanese sojourn (1832-1835), he had codirected a production of Rossini's La

Cenerentola, and he had numerous chances of seeing the most popular comic operas of

the Pesarese on stage. If, and in what way, these works resonated in the composer's mind

as he composed Un giorno di regno is not an easy question, but it is certainly a fascinating one, which we should attempt to answer if we want to gain a deeper knowledge of Un

giorno di regno and of Verdi's acquaintance with the contemporary comic repertory at

the outset of his career.

The issues discussed here clearly suggest that it is time for Un giorno di regno to reign for

more than one day in the realm of Italian opera studies, and hopefully on the operatic

stage as well.As far as the musical setting is concerned, the substitution of two movements

and the other compositional emendations discussed above, show that this opera was

not composed without serious thinking and rethinking. Indeed, the autograph score of

Un giorno di regno provides strong testimony of Verdi's creativity, and suggests that there

was a consistency of compositional procedures and artistic aims from Oberto to Nabucco. The stylistic similarities between this and other comic operas of the time suggest that

this work is not an atypical specimen of opera buffa, but rather a noteworthy example of

contemporary trends in the comic genre-trends that Verdi knew and understood quite well. The verbal and musical texts that Un giorno di regno transmits, if examined in the

context of contemporary opera buffa, enrich on many levels not only our perception of

an admirable work and of the man who created it, but also, and perhaps most importantly, of the historical period that saw its first, ill-fated appearance.



verdi's "un giorno di regno": two newly discovered movements and some questions of...

Documents