Le donne curiose

Le donne curiose
Opera by Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari
The composer in 1906
TranslationThe Inquisitive Women
LibrettistLuigi Sugana [it]
LanguageItalian
Based onLe donne curiose [it]
by Carlo Goldoni
Premiere
27 November 1903 (1903-11-27) (in German)
Hoftheater, Munich

Le donne curiose (English: The Inquisitive Women) is an opera in three acts by Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari to a text by Luigi Sugana [it] after Carlo Goldoni's play of the same name [it].

Performance history

The first dramatic work by Wolf-Ferrari to achieve more than local notice, it was first performed in Munich on 27 November 1903 in a German translation as Die neugierigen Frauen. The first performance in Italian was at the old Metropolitan Opera House in New York on 3 January 1912 with a cast led by Arturo Toscanini, including Geraldine Farrar and Hermann Jadlowker. Tullio Serafin conducted the first performance in Milan on 16 January 1913.

Roles

Geraldine Farrar and Hermann Jadlowker as Rosaura and Florindo
Scene from act 3
The men at their club, act 1
Roles, voice types, premiere casts
Role Voice type Premiere cast, 27 November 1903[1]
Conductor: Hugo Reichenberger 		First performance in Italian,
3 January 1912[2]
Conductor: Arturo Toscanini
Arlecchino bass Georg Sieglitz Antonio Scotti
Beatrice mezzo-soprano Charlotte Huhn Rita Fornia
Colombina soprano Hermine Bosetti Geraldine Farrar
Florindo tenor Hans Koppe Hermann Jadlowker
Leandro tenor Hans Breuer Jeanne Maubourg
Lelio baritone Andres de Segurola
Ottavio bass Paul Bender Adam Didur
Pantalone baritone Friedrich Brodersen Antonio Pini-Corsi
Rosaura soprano Ella Tordek Bella Alten
Lunardo bass
Mènego bass
Mómolo bass
Eleonora soprano
Asdrubale tenor
Almorò tenor
Alvise tenor
First gondolier tenor
Second gondolier bass

Synopsis

The story is a comedy set in 18th-century Venice about two wives checking up on the goings-on at their husband's club.

Notes

  1. ^ Casaglia, Gherardo (2005). "Le donne curiose, 27 November 1903". L'Almanacco di Gherardo Casaglia (in Italian). (gives Hugo Josef Rheinberger as conductor)
  2. ^ Casaglia, Gherardo (2005). "Le donne curiose, 3 January 1912". L'Almanacco di Gherardo Casaglia (in Italian).

References

  • Warrack, John and West, Ewan (1992), The Oxford Dictionary of Opera, 782 pages, ISBN 0-19-869164-5
  • Lewis M. Isaacs (1920). "Inquisitive Women" . In Rines, George Edwin (ed.). Encyclopedia Americana.