Arcifanfo is the recently rediscovered collaboration between two 18th century Venetians, Baldassare Galuppi and Carlo Goldoni, whose work on many operas together was seminal in the development of opera buffa. For this piece, premiered at the end of 1749, the libretto was known but the score largely lost, until a manuscript came to light a few years ago. This has enabled the recreation of the opera now by director Bepi Morassi, with musical additions as necessary by conductor Francesco Erle. The recitatives (apart from the accompanied ones) have not been recreated (presumably their music doesn’t survive) and so the text, as adapted by Morassi, is given as spoken dialogue.
The whole project serves as a lively musical and scenographic vehicle for the students, respectively, of the Benedetto Marcello Conservatoire and the Academy of Fine Arts in Venice. Compared with many of Galuppi and Goldoni’s typical examples of opera buffa, Arcifanfo, king of fools, is more of an allegorical piece, in which the characters exemplify various vices or moral traits. They are each described as a ‘madness’ (pazzo/a) hence they come to seek admission to Arcifanfo’s fantastical kingdom, with the chaos and competition that ensue. But rather than seeing this as a condescending or insensitive examination of certifiable medical conditions, it would be more in the spirit of the opera and its era to see them as affectations, or the drama as akin to a comedy of humours – part of a long tradition of literary satires upon the quirks and imperfections of human nature.
Arcifanfo’s kingdom is conceived here as a gaudy gypsy wagon, attracting the various larger-than-life characters encountered along the way that we meet in the drama. It is presumably also a sort of visual pun upon the notion of a ship of fools, but here a wagon of fools, moving along or rotating on dry land instead (all the more ironically, perhaps, in Venice of all places). Beatrice Raspanti’s colourful, clownish costumes mix the ancient Italian practice of the commedia dell’arte with the modern style of a drag show or cabaret.
The performers get into character enthusiastically, and certainly held the attention of the groups of schoolchildren who attended the performance I witnessed – there’s no reason they won’t also have delighted the adult audience for the last rendition of the run. The seven conservatoire singers are adept interpreters of this repertoire, with particularly notable contributions from Marcus Vinicius Bezzerra Dias, paradoxically displaying much bravura as the miserly Sordidone; Eugenia Siliberto in her coquettishness and levity as Madama Gloriosa (pride); and Xiyi Wang’s irrepressible fizz in the vivacious aria for the cheerful (allegra) Madama Garbata. Yukiko Shimizu captures Madam Semplicina’s shy character with her thinner tone, while Sanlin Wang is curiously soft-voiced for the choleric Furibondo. Xushuan Cai turns in a decent performance as the prodigal Malgoverno, though there could be more extravagance vocally. Samy Timin presides over them all with gravitas as the eponymous king.
The Conservatoire orchestra bring much vitality to the sequence of arias under Francesco Erle’s reliable conducting. There is particularly strong support from the continuo and bassoon, which provides the springboard for the higher instruments to take off with some energy and to maintain that momentum from one number to the next, in unbroken succession without an interval. Whether foolish or not, it’s cheerful alacrity that win the day here.
Curtis Rogers
Arcifanfano re dei matti
Composer: Baldassare Galuppi
Libretto: Carlo Goldoni
Cast and production staff:
Arcifanfo – Samy Timin; Sordidone – Marcus Vinicius Bezzera Dias; Madama Gloriosa – Eugenia Siliberto; Madama Semplicina – Yukiko Shimizu; Madama Garbata – Xiyi Wang; Furibondo – Sanlin Wang; Malgoverno – Xushan Cai
Director – Bepi Morassi; Set Designer – Matteo Corsi; Costume Designer – Beatrice Raspanti; Lighting Designer – Andrea Benetello; Conductor – Francesco Erle; Orchestra of the Benedetto Marcello Conservatoire, Venice
Teatro Malibran, Venice, Italy, 2 April 2025
Top image: Eugenia Siliberto as Madam Gloriosa, Yukiko Shimizu as Madama Semplicina, Xushan Cai as Malgoverno, Samy Timin as Arcifanfo, Sanlin Wang as Furibondo, Marcus Vinicius Bezzera Dias as Sordidone, Xiyi Wang as Madama Garbata spell out the world.
All photos © Michele Crosera.