Music composed by Giacomo Puccini. Libretto by Giuseppe Adami based on
Didier Gold’s play La houppelande.
First Performance: 14 December 1918, Metropolitan Opera,
New York
| Principal Roles: | |
| Michele, a barge-owner (age 50) | Baritone |
| Giorgetta, Michele’s wife (age 25) | Soprano |
| Luigi, a stevedore (age 20) | Tenor |
| Il ‘Tinca,’ a stevedore (age 35) | Tenor |
| Il ‘Talpa,’ a stevedore (age 55) | Bass |
| La Frugola, Talpa’s wife | Mezzo-Soprano |
Setting: A bank of the river Seine, Paris, 1910
Synopsis:
The stevedores relax with a drink and dance after the day’s work. Michele
is moody, aware that Giorgetta no longer returns his love. Frugola comes to
collect her husband Talpa. Luigi’s reflections on the futility of existence
cause the others to relate their dreams of happiness: Frugola’s in a cottage
with her cat, Giorgetta’s in Paris instead of on the dreary barge. She and
Luigi realise that they came from the same village near Paris and recall its
pleasures.
Luigi and Giorgetta arrange an assignation for later that night, but then
he surprises her by asking Michele to leave him in Rouen on the next trip. He
explains to Giorgetta that he cannot bear to share her with her husband, but
agrees to come on board when she lights a match as a signal. Michele asks
Giorgetta why she no longer loves him and both reflect sadly on how their
lives have changed since the death of their child. She evades his question
and goes inside, while he broods over the likelihood that she has a lover,
dismissing Luigi as a possibility because of his request to go to Rouen.
He lights his pipe and Luigi, believing this to be the signal, comes on
board. Michele forces him to admit his love for Giorgetta, then strangles him
and hides the body under his cloak. He invites Giorgetta to protect herself
from the night air under his cloak as she used to, flinging it open to reveal
Luigi’s body.
[Synopsis Source: Opera~Opera]
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product_by=Michele (Juan Pons); Luigi (Miroslav Dvorsky); Tinca (Carlo Bosi); Talpa (Luigi Roni); Giorgetta (Paoletta Marrocu); Frugola (Anna Maria Chiuri); A ballad-seller (Andrea CarÈ); A lover (Leonardo Cortellazzi); A lover (Ye Won Joo). Orchestra del Teatro alla Scala. Riccardo Chailly, conducting. Live performance, 13 March 2008, Milan.
Note: There is an echo during a portion of this performance attributable to the RAI broadcast, the original source.