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Felice Romani, librettist by trade

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 August 2008

Alessandro Roccatagliati
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Extract

As anyone who has worked in the theatre will know, the journey from deciding to stage a work to its performance has two characteristics: the close interdependence of various artistic and organisational forces, and unpredictability. It should thus come as no surprise that a collection of documents concerning Felice Romani, a figure central to early nineteenth-century operatic life, presents an image both complex and constantly shifting; nor that in such sources the tasks of the librettist, even one of distinction, are always interwoven with those of other theatrical personalities: impresarios, singers and composers, administrators, executives, mediators, journalists, dancers, set-designers, craftsmen and factotums. This exploration of Romani and his trade seeks to describe these collaborations, while remaining sensitive to those fundamental aspects of nineteenth-century librettistic work that were their raison d'être. It will therefore be useful to proceed in two stages: first, to reflect on the nature and function of Romani's dramatic-poetic creations; then to provide synchronic sketches of his working relationships, dwelling on three of the most important – with theatrical institutions, with singers and with composers.

Type
Research Article
Information
Cambridge Opera Journal , Volume 8 , Issue 2 , July 1996 , pp. 113 - 145
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1996

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References

1 See Stendhal, , life of Rossini (1824), ed. and trans. Coe, Richard N. (London, 1956), 207–11;Google ScholarWagner, Richard, Sämtliche Schriften und Dichtungen (Leipzig, 1911–1917), I, 244ff. (his 1841 review of Halévy's La Heine de Chypre);Google Scholar and Boito, Arrigo, ‘Cronaca musicale’, La perseveranza, 13 09 1863, in his Tutti gli scritti, ed. Nardi, Piero (Milan, 1942), 1079–84, esp. 1079–81.Google Scholar

2 See Chapter 1.2 of Roccatagliati, Alessandro, Felice Romani librettista (Lucca, 1996).Google Scholar

3 The notion of a ‘performance text’, though hardly current in opera scholarship, is well known in theatre studies, where it has received sophisticated treatment. See, for example, Ruffini, Franco, Semiotica del testo: l'esenipio teatro (Rome, 1978);Google Scholar and Marinis, Marco De, Semiotica del teatro: l'analisi testuale dello spettacolo (Milan, 1982). These works have much to say about the mechanisms that govern both the realisation and reception of ‘theatrical texts’.Google Scholar

4 According to Maria Grazia Accorsi, a study of libretto texts faces both ‘the philological and bibliographical difficulties inherent in a poetic – and dramatic – text disseminated in print’, and ‘the critical-textual problems surrounding those texts … traditionally contaminated, that change through innovations and continual remodelling’. See her ‘Problemi testuali dei libretti d'opera fra Sei e Settecento’, Giornale storico della letteratura italiana, 166 (1989), 212–25, here 213.Google Scholar A more recent treatment of this subject is Bianconi, Lorenzo, ‘Hors-d'oeuvre alia filologia dei libretti’, Il saggiatore musicale, 2 (1995), 142–54.Google Scholar

5 Two fundamental contributions on the structure of libretto texts and their interaction with music are Fabbri, Paolo, ‘Istituti metrici e formali’, in Storia dell'opera italiana, ed. Bianconi, Lorenzo and Pestelli, Giorgio, VI (Turin, 1988), 163–233;Google Scholar and Benedetto, Renato Di, ‘Il Settecento e l'Ottocento’, in Letteratura italiana, ed. Rosa, Alberto Asor, VI (Turin, 1986), 365–10, esp. 381–401.Google Scholar The use of different metres in libretti and related musical formulas in the late eighteenth and nineteenth century are catalogued and investigated in Lippmann, Friedrich, ‘,Der italienische Vers und der musikalische Rhythmus. Zum Verhältnis von Vers und Musik in der italienischen Oper des 19. Jahrhunderts, mit einem Rückblick auf die 2. Halfte des 18. Jahrhunderts’, Analecta Musicologica, 12 (1973), 253–369; 14 (1974), 324–410; and 15 (1975), 298–333.Google ScholarPowers, Harold S., ‘Il Serse trasformato’, The Musical Quarterly, 47 (1961), 481–92; and 48 (1962), 73–92, is sensitive to theatrical practices of eighteenth-century librettists.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

6 For an initial overview of studies free from traditional preconceptions, see Bellina, Anna Laura, ‘Rassegna di studi sul libretto d'opera (1965–1975)’, Lettere italiane, 29/1 (1977), 81–105, esp. 98–103.Google ScholarDalmonte, Rossana, ‘Il libretto d'opera nel labirinto della critica’, Intersezjoni, 2/3 (1982), 643–54,Google Scholar discusses modes of libretto criticism in the 1970s and '80s through a reasoned critique of Portinari, Folco, Pari siamo! Io la lingua, egli ha il pugnale. Storia del melodramma ottocentesco attraverso i suoi libretti (Turin, 1981).Google Scholar

7 The collaboration between Verdi, a young debutante at La Fenice, and a poet found for him there – Francesco Maria Piave – was in its infancy, and thus presumably still tied to current usage, when Verdi received the first act of a new libretto, Allan Cameron. He wrote to Piave: ‘Ho ricevuto il primo atto che trovo eccellente sia per la poesia sia per la forma musicale’ (I have received the first act, which I find excellent both in terms of the poetry and in terms of the musical form); letter dated Milan, 19 August 1843, quoted from Abbiati, Franco, Giuseppe Verdi, 4 vols. (Milan, 1959), I, 472, emphasis mine.Google Scholar

8 For dramatic-musical analyses along the lines suggested here, see the second part of my Felice Romani librettista (n. 2).Google Scholar

9 All unpublished documents cited in this article are transcribed complete in the appendix to my Felice Romani librettista.Google Scholar

10 One of the first Romani biographers, Giacomo Da Fieno, attested to its existence on the basis of a ‘private agreement’ of 14 December 1813, of which he owned the original; see his ‘Delia vita e delle opere del Comm.re Felice Romani, poeta lirico’, Gazzetta musicale di Milano, 25/49–52 (1870), 398–400, 410–13, 422–4 and 430ff.; here 400.Google Scholar

11 See the September 1816 correspondence between Porta, Carlo and Lancetti, Vincenzo, in Le letter di Carlo Porta e degli amici della cameretta, ed. Isella, Dante (Milan–Naples, 1967), 214–22.Google Scholar

12 In 1834, having learnt from experience, Romani only agreed to deadlines calculated from the day when the company would be announced, contrary to what he agreed to ten years earlier, when he was obliged to deliver in forty days starting from when he was formally notified.Google Scholar

13 Apart from the Gottardi Copialettere, two documents discovered at ASM, Autografi Galletti, Romani, 105, are also helpful in reconstructing events relating to Caterina di Guisa: a letter to the chief of police ‘Cavaliere di Lansfeld’ and two drafts of the same letter to Gottardi.Google Scholar

14 See Guccini, Gerardo, ‘Direzione scenica e regia’, in Storia dell'opera italiana, V, 123–74, esp 146–8.Google Scholar

15 The work was premièred the day after the dress rehearsal, Tuesday, 12 March 1822.Google Scholar

16 The amount indicated by Giacomo Da Fieno (see n.10) for the mysterious contract with the ‘Governo’ of 1813–14 – for which there is no other evidence – seems so disproportionate compared to those of the other annual contracts (and to the average annual incomes mentioned below) that its reliability is doubtful.Google Scholar

17 Apart from that relating to the Turin contract, in Branca, Emilia, Felice Romani ed i più riputati maestri di musica del suo tempo. Cenni biografici ed aneddotici (Turin, 1882), 60 (see cited on this page the agreement mentioned, to the amount – almost certainly Piedmontese – of ‘8,000 lire annually’),Google Scholar all other information is taken from Berengo, Marino, Intellettuali e librai nella Milano della Restaurazione (Turin, 1980), 362–76.Google Scholar On the salaries of civil servants at the time, see Tucci, Ugo, Stipendi e pensioni dei pubblici impiegati del Regno lombardo-veneto dal 1824 al 1866 (Rome, 1960).Google Scholar

18 In addition to the posthumous publication undertaken by his widow (mentioned several times in Branca, Felice Romani), at least three such attempts by the poet are known. He wrote his Progetto d'associazione, dated 8 05 1832, for a never-published Teatro drammatico ed altre poesie meliche di Felice Romani promoted by the Milanese publisher Bonfanti (I-Mc, included in Luigi Lianovosani's volume with the shelf-mark Fiaschi I.h.52). On the uncertainties, but also on the efficacy of bookshop ‘associations’ in Milan, see Berengo, Intellettuali e librai, 103–9.Google Scholar

19 See Seta, Fabrizio Della, ‘Il librettista’, in Storia dell'opera italiana, IV, 259.Google Scholar

20 In a letter to Simon Mayr of 8 06 1820 the poet wrote: ‘Questa infame censura avea proibito un mio dramma, poi approvato, indi proibito di nuovo, e ultimamente ripreso con dei cambiamenti. In tutti questi andirivieni io era imbrogliato e dovea con ogni sollecitudine rattoppar qua e lá il mio povero Vallace, perché non fosse manomesso del tutto’ (This infamous censor has banned one of my dramas, then approved it, then banned it again, and finally approved it again with changes. I was embroiled in all these comings and goings, and had with each request to patch up here and there my poor Wallace, to avoid it being mauled by everyone); I-Mt, C.A. 3392. A few years later, however, he would have to deal with the controversial subject of Ducange's Orpheline de Genève, in which there is a murder on stage. After taking account of the theatre's preventative instructions, he was able to claim: ‘In quanto alle osservazioni della censura, comunicatemi quando il lavoro era già terminato, io mi lusingo di averle prevenute, se non per l'argomento, la scelta del quale non è tutta mia, almeno nella maniera di trattarlo’ (Concerning the observations of the censor, communicated to me when work was already finished, I natter myself for having anticipated them, if not in the plot, which I did not select, then at least in the manner of treating it); Romani to Franchetti, Venice, 26 February 1824: ASM, Spett. Pubb., Gest. Govern., 17.Google Scholar

21 A great deal of evidence for comings and goings in the approval of libretti – concerning L'esule di Granata, Adele ed Emerico, Chiara e Serafina, Amleto and Elena e Malvina – can be found at ASM, Spett. Pubb., Gest. Govern., 17.Google Scholar

22 See the letter from Mercadante to Visconti of 16 11 1834, at AVDM, cart. 286L, Autografi artisti.Google Scholar

23 Sanquirico to Delegazione Governativa II. RR. Teatri’, Milan, 12 05 1823 (ASM, Spett. Pubb., Gest. Govern., 14). Sanquirico wrote the letter to vindicate himself, with a view to renewing his contract.Google Scholar

24 See the sixth chapter (‘Agents and Journalists’) of Rosselli, John, The Opera Industry in Italy from Cimarosa to Verdi: The Role of the Impresario (Cambridge, 1984), 135–53.Google Scholar

25 Letter from Romani to Carlo Conti, Milan, 24 05 1830, published in Antonio Petino, ‘Musicisti della scuola napoletana.Google Scholard'Arpino, Carlo Conti’, Rivista musicale italiana, 46 (1942), 300–18, here 304.Google Scholar

26 Among the many, see for example the letter from Bellini to Francesco Florimo of early August 1828 (in his Epistolario, ed. Cambi, Luisa [Milan, 1943è, 146ff.);Google Scholar from Mercadante to Romani of 27 November 1835 (Palermo, Santo, Saverio Mercadante. Biografia, epistolario [Fasano di Puglia, 1985], 150–2);Google Scholar and from Donizetti to Lanari of 22 August 1833 (Zavadini, Guido, Donizetti. Vita, musiche, epistolario [Bergamo, 1948], 332ff.).Google Scholar

27 Idee economiche applicate praticamente agli II.RR. Teatri alla Scala ed alia Canobbiana (Milan, 1821), 95–7.Google Scholar

28 See introductions to the libretti for the premières of Colombo (Genoa, 1828)Google Scholarand Gianni di Parigi (Milan, 1817), both set to music by Morlacchi.Google Scholar

29 Mercadante to Romani, 22 09 1835, in Palermo, Mercadante, 150.Google Scholar

30 Letter dated Piacenza, 26 04 1834 (I-Tc, Fondo Cossilla, 3).Google Scholar

31 Bellini to Florimo, 1 07 1835, in Bellini, Epistolario, 571–75, here 574.Google Scholar

32 Also illuminating is a letter from Donizetti to the impresario Consul of July 1835: ‘l o credo che Romani, che Consul, che Lamped stesso abbiano perduto il cervello; come, Donzelli amoroso? ma sapete voi che Donzelli avrà 50 anni! e con 50 anni in groppa far l'appassionato, o per Bacco ai miei tempi, no! So che Donzelli nel 1822 a Roma già era tiranno, so che a Milano nella Norma parea di già grandicello come nell’ Ugo [conte di Parigi’’ (I think that Romani, Consul and Lamperi must have lost their minds; Donzelli a lover? but do you know that Donzelli is fifty years old! and with fifty years behind you to be passionate; even at my age, no! I know that Donzelli was already playing tyrants in Rome in 1822, and I know that in Norma at Milan and in Ugo he already seemed too old); Zavadini, Donizetti, 375. The ‘tragic’ aspirations of Blasis, who in 1834 had already been on the stage for twelve years, might even be connected with her age, if it was thought that she was ‘dotata di voce argentina’ (bestowed with a voice of silver):Google Scholar at least at the beginning of her career, she had a predominantly Rossinian repertory (Zanetti, Emilia, ad vocem, in Enciclopedia dello spettacolo, II [Rome, 1954]).Google Scholar

33 Undated letter to Donizetti of 26 January 1833, housed at I-Fn, Carteggi vari 290, 67.Google ScholarAngelis, Marcello De quotes the text but not the verses in his Le carte dell'impresario. Melodramma e costume teatrale nell'Ottocento (Florence, 1982), 35.Google Scholar

34 See the libretto for the première, La solitaria delle Asturie o sia La Spagna ricuperata … (Milan, 1838), 33–5.Google Scholar

35 Letter from Romani to Melzi of 30 June, year not given (I-Mt, C.A. 4647).Google Scholar

36 ‘L'impresa vi prega a voler passare oggi alle ore due pomeridiane, onde combinare d'accordo col Maestro Mercadante l'argomento pet l'Opera che deve mettere in musica pel prossimo carnevale’ (The management asks you to come by today at two in the afternoon so that agreement can be reached with Maestro Mercadante on the plot for the opera that has to be composed for next Carnival); letter to Romani of 29 May 1833 (AVDM, Copialettere Gottardi).Google Scholar

37 Letter from Gyrowetz to ‘Monsieur de Candler’ (Franz Sales Kandler) of 6 August 1818, the day after the fiasco of his Il finto Stanislao;Google ScholarD-Bds, Musikabteilung; and letter from Meyerbeer to Kandler of 2 November 1819, in Meyerbeer, , Briefwechsel und Tagebücher, I, ed. Becker, Heinz (Berlin, 1960), 391.Google Scholar

38 See Zavadini, Donizetti, 352 and 357.Google Scholar

39 Mercadante to Romani, in Palermo, Mercadante, 136. The composer wrote from Novara to Turin, where Romani was staying and Francesca Donato would be staged.Google Scholar

40 From the correspondence between Rossi and Meyerbeer included in the Briefwechsel und Tagebücher, see for example from volume I: selection of subject, 494, 514 and 520; discussion of framework, 443, 469ff., 472, 474, 476, 478, 480, 490, 500, 502ff., 510 and 557; structure of ‘numbers’, 444, 476 and 527ff.; and the structure of verses, 461, 464, 470, 543ff. and 553.Google Scholar

41 Bellini to Florimo, Milan, 14 March 1829; Epistolario, 185–7, here 186.Google Scholar

42 Bellini to Alessandro Lamperi, Milan, 17 November 1830;Google ScholarSchlitzer, Franco, Mondo teatrale dell'Ottocento (Naples, 1954), 12.Google Scholar

43 Schlitzer described them in Mondo teatrak, 14–41. At ASM, Autografi Galletti, Romani, 121, there is also the draft autograph of a scene from La sonnambula (see note 44); for a complete index of Romani sources in the Galletti archives, see Mauceri, Marco, ‘Inediti di Felice Romani. La camera del librettista attraverso nuovi documenti degli archivi milanesi’, Nuova rivista musicale italiana, 26 (1992), 391–432, esp. 394ff.Google Scholar

44 In the surviving version the duet is incomplete: after the recitative scena and the strophes of the tempo d'attacco, adagio and tempo di mezzo, the versified text ends with the indication ‘a due’ without, however, verses for the cabaletta. Is this the sign of an early abandonment?Google Scholar

45 Branca, , Felice Romani, 170.Google Scholar

46 Bellini to Florimo, 24 09 1828, in Bellini, Epistolario, 158–61, here 160.Google Scholar

47 See the already mentioned studies by Lippmann, ‘Der italienische Vers und der musikalische Rhythmus’, and Fabbri, ‘Istituti metrici e formali’ (for the primo Ottocento, see 210'19).Google Scholar

48 From his letter-article in the Gazzetta privilegiata di Venezia, 75 (2 04 1833).Google Scholar

49 Bellini to Florimo, 1 and 24 03 1828 (Epistolario, 60 and 68); reference is to the Genoese revision of Bianca e Fernando.Google Scholar

50 Bellini to Florimo, mid-September 1828, Ibid., 157ff.

51 For the anecdotes about a version of the piece from Norma and those for La sonnambula, see Branca, Felice Romani, 169 and 163ff.; for the draft from Norma see Schlitzer, Mondo teatrale, 26.Google Scholar

52 For the problem of the Zaira/Capuleti passage, see Brauner, Charles S., ‘Parody and Melodic Style in Bellini's I Capuleti e i Montecchi’, in Studies in Music History 2: Music and Drama (New York, 1988), 124–51.Google Scholar

53 Letter to the Turin impresario Giuseppe Consul, early 07 1835, in Zavadini, Donizetti, 376.Google Scholar