Opera Viewing Report

Posted: March 26th, 2020

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Opera Viewing Report

Opera Title

The Jewels of the Madonna “Gioielli della Madonna”

Composer

Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari

Dates

The opera first premiered in Italy in 1953 and received critical acclaim for its dramatic realism of verismo and a relatively colorful use of folk music. The opera featured at the Slovak National theatre on may 2015. The physical release date for the opera composition is on May 2016.

The opera was composed in Italian and utilizes Italian lyricism

The video contains English subtitles for non-Italian audiences

The main characters are namely:

• Maliella
• Gennaro, who is a blacksmith
• Rafaele, the head of Cammora
• Carmela, the mother
• Ciccillo, a Cammorista
• Rocco, a Camorrista

Solo artists were identified as:

Bernhard, Susanne; Čapkovič, Daniel; Ďuriač, František; Flórová, Katarína; Hlásny, Daniel; Horváth, Vladimir; Hricák, Peter; Keder, Ján; Kim, Kyungho; Klempár, Martin; Kľučár, Milan; Kovács, Attila; Kružliak, Peter; Kutsenko, Maksym; Malý, Peter; Marták, Ján; Maťašová, Miriam; Mikuš, Martin; Ofúkaná, Katarína; Palík, Patrik; Pasek, Igor; Polakovičová, Katarína; Rampáčková, Eva; Rychlo, Ivan; Rychlová, Mária; Smolnický, Martin; Tóth, Mário; Ushakova, Natalia; Vizvári, Andrea; Želonka, Michal

The lyricists included:

Golisciani, Enrico; Zangarini, Carlo

The opera has a number of controversial themes such as the love between an adopted daughter and her brother, implied criticism towards the Roman Catholic Church as well as an orgy that takes place on stage. The opera starts with a scene from an inn, known as Carmela’s house in the midst of the festival of Madonna that has brought about movement of a noisy crowd around the town. The work moves from the Petrushka style marking the street parties, towards private and public scenes that involve devotion and lust amongst the main characters within the performance.

The opera was comical as the author was able to include humor and criticism of various social issues at the time

The opera started with overture that was effective in providing a successful opening

Voices heard included chorus, small ensemble, and recitative (Clark and Clark 29).

Remarks

The opera adheres to traditional reception strategies of composition and subsequent interpretation, which the opera does effectively. The work is a an adaptation of an original post-romantic era veristic drama. The opera has an atmosphere of southern Italy, which is precipitated and influenced by realistic events, which serve the purpose of transforming the work into a colorful and rich performance that is charged with different emotions. It provides the audience with a captivating experience, with music being directed by Friedrich Haider. The work was charged with different emotions from the large number of performers, who were effective on communicating different moods to the audience (Kennedy 36). The work is excellently presented as it is a blend of a mystical atmosphere that includes sublimed detailed musical effects to a plot that is inherently suspenseful. In addition, the performance was adequate as it delivers powerful choruses, seductive theme songs, and use of serenades and orgiastic dances that rendered the opera as one of the most memorable works I have ever encountered.

Works Cited

Clark, Mark R, and Lynn V. Clark. Singing, Acting, and Movement in Opera: A Guide to Singer-Getics. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 2002. Print.

Kennedy, Emmet. Theatre, Opera, and Audiences in Revolutionary Paris: Analysis and Repertory. Westport, Conn: Greenwood Press, 1996. Print.