La straniera

Historical background

At the heart of the plot of this opera is a complicated series of historical events beginning at the end of the twelfth century. King Philip Augustus of France (Philip II of France) married the Danish princess Ingeborg in 1193. For unknown reasons, he separated from her the day after the wedding and sought an annulment from Pope Celestine III. Ingeborg, however, insisted that the marriage had been consummated, and that she was his wife and the rightful Queen of France. Philip ultimately obtained an annulment through an assembly of French bishops. He then sought to marry Marguerite, daughter of William I, Count of Geneva, but she was kidnapped on the way to Paris by Thomas I of Savoy, who married her instead. Ultimately, in 1196 Philip married Agnes of Merania ("la straniera"), the daughter of a nobleman, Bertold IV of Dalmatia. Denmark continued to complain about Philip's treatment of Ingeborg and in 1200 Pope Innocent III required Philip to take her back, rendering him essentially a bigamist and subject to excommunication. Agnes died in 1201, however, ending the threat of excommunication.

Adjustments to the story in order to create the libretto

Bellini in 1830 by Natale Schiavoni

Librettist Felice Romani

Domenico Barbaja, Naples in the 1820s

Bellini and his librettist Romani took tremendous liberties with this already unusual story and devised a plot where the King, in order to resolve the problem of his double marriage, sends Agnes to live at a cottage on Lake Montolino. Philip then sends her brother to secretly watch over her, while masquerading under the name Valdeburgo. Agnes has assumed the name of Alaide and hides under a veil. Count Arturo has fallen in love with her, in spite of his engagement to Isoletta, daughter of the Duke of Montolino. At this point the opera begins.

Preparing La straniera

After Bianca e Fernando, Bellini remained in Genoa and then returned to Milan, but with no specific opportunities in place. Some complications had emerged in his relationship with Domenico Barbaja, the impresario who controlled both the Naples and the Milan theatres. However, when Barbaja visited Milan in June, he offered Bellini the opportunity to choose between working for either Naples or Milan as the venue for his next opera. For the composer, the decision hung on the availability of singers for each of the houses, especially because Giovanni Battista Rubini, his preferred tenor, was contracted to sing only in Naples.[2] However, by 16 June, he had decided on the location to be Milan, and then signed a contract to write a new opera for the Carnival season for a fee of one thousand ducati. This compared to 150 ducati for his first opera.[1]

Therefore, for La straniera, Bellini received a fee which was sufficient for him to be able to make his living solely by composing music, and this new work became an even greater success[3] than Il pirata had been. As for singers, it appears there was some doubt about the tenor, but that the soprano, Henriette Méric-Lalande and, for the baritone role, Luigi Lablache or Tamburini, would be available.

In consultation with Romani as to the subject, it was agreed that it would be based on the novel L'Étrangère of 1825 by Charles-Victor Prévot, vicomte d'Arlincourt, and planned for the premiere on the opening night of the season on 26 December. In the 1820s, the popularity of this author, upon whom was bestowed the epithet "the prince of the romantics", rivalled that of Victor Hugo. Prévot's Le Solitaire appeared in 1821 and achieved an "extraordinary, even colossal, celebrity." In the space of several months, the book was reprinted a dozen times; it was translated into ten languages; there were no fewer than seven operas based on its story, and twice as many dramatic adaptations; and it was the subject of innumerable songs, parodies, paintings and lithographs. The success of his next three novels, Le Renégat in 1822, Ipsiboé in 1823, and L'Étrangère in 1825, was almost as great.

However, by 20 September, Bellini told his Neapolitan friend Francesco Florimo that he did not think the performance could take place as scheduled due to Romani being ill. In addition, he was concerned about who would sing the tenor role when he had been unable to obtain Rubini's release from his Naples contract. Fortunately, having received good reports of the young tenor Domenico Reina, he was able to secure his services, describing him in a letter to Florimo as "one who will want to do himself honour; everyone tells me that his voice is beautiful, and that he has all the acting and spirit one could wish for."[4]

Following Romani's recovery, the libretto was delivered piecemeal, but Bellini set to work again, albeit that progress was slow. By 7 January 1829, with Romani having recovered and set off for Venice to fulfill another contract, the composer was "almost up to the 2nd act". Filippo Cicconetti, in his 1859 biography, gives an account of Bellini's working methods, explaining how he set texts to music always with the words in front of him in order to see how inspired to compose he might become. When it came time to compose the final aria Or sei pago, o ciel tremendo, the librettist's words gave him no inspiration at all and, at their next meeting, Romani agreed to re-write the text. Returning within half an hour, the second version left Bellini equally cold—as did a third draft. Finally, when asked what it was that he was seeking, Bellini replied: "I want a thought that will be at one and the same time a prayer, an imprecation, a warning, a delirium....". A fourth draft was quickly prepared: "Have I entered into your spirit?" asked the librettist—and he was immediately embraced by the young composer who was totally satisfied.[5]

Rehearsals began in early January with the premiere planned for 14 February 1829.

Baritone
Antonio Tamburini,
sang Valdeburgo

Soprano
Henriette Méric-Lalande, sang Alaide

Tenor
Domenico Reina,
sang Arturo

Mezzo
Caroline Unger,
sang Isoletta

The premiere

The opera was an immediate success and, in the words of the writer for the Gazzetta privilegiata di Milano,

a clamorous success...[with] the poet [serving] the composer well, and the composer could not have served the singers better; all competed to render themselves pleasing to the public, and succeeded in such a way as to be applauded greatly.[6]

Three days later, the same publication praised the quality of the music, describing Bellini as "a modern Orpheus" for the beauty of his melodies.[6]

Reporting to Romani, who was still in Venice, Bellini gave an account of the success: "The thing went as we never had imagined it. We were in seventh heaven. With [this letter] receive my gratitude more than ever...."[7]

Others wrote equally enthusiastic reports, with abundant praise being given to the singers as well. However, there were detractors who criticised both the opera and its composer: its new style and its restless harmonic shifts into remote keys did not please all. 45 years later it was stated that "Bellini's style was abstruse, discontinuous, distorted, and lacking in distinction, that it alternated between the serio and the buffo and the semi-serio."[8]

19th century performances

The opera was first performed at La Scala, Milan on 14 February 1829, with Henriette Méric-Lalande and Domenico Reina in the leading roles. Alessandro Sanquirico, the well-established set designer of the time, designed the sets, and the opera was presented on a triple bill, along with the ballets Buondelmonte and L'avviso ai maritati.[9]

Within Italy it received performances in over 50 cities until Turin in 1866: these included a revival at Milan's La Scala plus a performance in Bologna in 1836 with Carolina Ungher, in Florence and Regio di Calabria in 1840, Brescia in August 1850, Milan again in 1857, and then in Turin in 1866.[10] As noted by Tom Kaufman, its last-known presentation in the 19th century was in Catania in 1875 with Ana Eyre as Alaide.[11]

Abroad, it was first presented in Vienna in 1831, in Paris in 1832, in London on 23 June 1832, in New York on 10 November 1834, in Lisbon in 1835, and in Madrid as La estranjera in January 1850.[10][12][13]

20th century and beyond

Following its last-known performance in 1875, the opera was first revived in April 1935 at La Scala[11] with other revivals beginning in 1954 in Bellini's hometown of Catania. It was staged again between 1968 (at the Teatro Massimo in Palermo) up to 1972 with Renata Scotto in the title role.[11]

Since the 1970s the opera has made several appearances within Europe with Scotto again performing in Venice in 1970 under conductor Ettore Gracis, while in 1969 a concert performance at Carnegie Hall featured Montserrat Caballé under the baton of Anton Guadagno. Recordings exist of all three of these performances.[14] Another production in Catania, with Elena Souliotis in the major role, was given at the Teatro Massimo in 1971.

A recording exists of a concert performance in the Cour Jacques Coeur in Montpellier in August 1989.[14] There was also a performance that year as part of the Spoleto Festival USA given in the Gaillard Auditorium, Charleston, USA on 26 May with Carol Neblett in the major role.[14]

In December 1990, the Teatro Verdi di Trieste presented the opera[14] and that was followed in 1993 with another concert performance at Carnegie Hall, starring Renée Fleming in one of her very early roles, presented by the Opera Orchestra of New York.[15]

A complete concert performance was given in November 2007 in London, with Patrizia Ciofi as Alaide, Dario Schmunck as Arturo, and Mark Stone as (Valdeburgo) in the principal roles, conducted by David Parry with the London Philharmonic Orchestra and a complete studio recording was made with this cast the same week.[16]

Only occasional modern-day performances continue to be given. In November 2012, the opera was presented in concert in Baden-Baden with Edita Gruberova as Alaide and José Bros as Arturo di Raventel. The Zurich Opera presented the opera in June/July and again in September/October 2013. The Alaide for these performances was Gruberova, with staging by Christoph Loy.[17]

Concert performances were given in Marseilles in late October/November 2013 with Patrizia Ciofi as Alaide. The Theater an der Wien in Vienna presented it from 14 January 2015 in Loy's production with Gruberova alternating with Marlis Petersen as Alaide.[18] The Washington Concert Opera presented it in November 2017, with Amanda Woodbury as Alaide, Gerard Schneider as Arturo, Javier Arrey as Valdeburgo, and Corrie Stallings as Isoletta.[19]

Disegno per copertina di libretto, drawing for La straniera (undated).

Place: Brittany

Time: 14th century

Notes

Cited sources

• Cicconeti, Filippo (1859), Vita di Vincenzo Bellini. Prato, 1859. Nabu Press, United States, 2013 (Book on demand) ISBN 1289392072 ISBN 9781289392079
• Galatopoulos, Stelios (2002), Bellini: Life, Times, Music 1801–1835. London, Sanctuary Publishing Ltd. ISBN 978-1-86074-405-1
• Kaufman, Tom (2008), "Historical performances of La straniera", in the booklet accompanying the Opera Rara recording
• Lippmann, Friedrich; McGuire, Simon (1998), "Bellini, Vincenzo", in Stanley Sadie, (Ed.), The New Grove Dictionary of Opera, Vol. One. London: Macmillan Publishers, Inc. ISBN 0-333-73432-7 ISBN 1-56159-228-5
• Walton, Benjamin (2008), "The Creation of La straniera", in booklet accompanying the Opera Rara recording
• Warrack, John and West, Ewan (1992), The Oxford Dictionary of Opera New York: OUP. ISBN 0-19-869164-5
• Weinstock, Herbert (1971), Bellini: His life and His Operas, New York: Knopf. ISBN 0394416562

Other sources

• Casa Ricordi (pub.), "Vincenzo Bellini": Outline of his life (in English) and list of critical editions of his works published by Ricordi on ricordi.it. Retrieved 13 December 2013.
• Kimbell, David (2001), "La straniera" in Holden, Amanda (Ed.), The New Penguin Opera Guide, pp. 48–49. New York: Penguin Putnam. ISBN 0-140-29312-4
• Maguire, Simon; Forbes, Elizabeth (1998), "La straniera", in Stanley Sadie, (Ed.), The New Grove Dictionary of Opera, Vol. Four. London: Macmillan Publishers, Inc. ISBN 1-56159-228-5
• Osborne, Charles (1994), The Bel Canto Operas of Rossini, Donizetti, and Bellini, Portland, Oregon: Amadeus Press. ISBN 0931340713
• Orrey, Leslie (1973), Bellini (The Master Musicians Series), London: J. M. Dent, Ltd. ISBN 0-460-02137-0
• Rosselli, John (1996), The Life of Bellini, New York: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-46781-0
• Thiellay, Jean; Thiellay, Jean-Philippe (2013), Bellini, Paris: Actes Sud. ISBN 978-2-330-02377-5 (in French)
• Willier, Stephen Ace (2002), Vincenzo Bellini: A Guide to Research. Routledge. ISBN 0-8153-3805-8 and on books.google.com.

• La straniera: Scores at the International Music Score Library Project
• Libretto (in Italian)
• L' Etrangere vol 1 by Charles-Victor Prevot (1825)
• L' Etrangere, vol 2 by Charles-Victor Prevot (1825)