First performance 27 November 1903 Librettist Luigi Sugana | Composer Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari Language Italian | |
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Similar Il campiello, Il segreto di Susanna, I gioielli della Madonna, Sly, L'a dei tre re | ||
Ermanno wolf ferrari le donne curiose l sugana after c goldoni 1902 03
Le donne curiose (English: The Inquisitive Women) is an opera in three acts by Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari to a text by Luigi Sugana after Carlo Goldoni's play.
Contents
Arturo toscanini the nbc symphony orchestra wolf ferrari le donne curiose the curious women
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 in New York on 3 January 1912 with a distinguished cast led by Arturo Toscanini, including Geraldine Farrar and Hermann Jadlowker. Tullio Serafin conducted the first performance in Milan on 16 January 1913.
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.
Style
Wolf-Ferrari is an eclectic. The artistic lineage of Le donne curiose is plainly traceable to Mozart, though the influence of both Die Meistersinger and Falstaff is apparent. The orchestra is a relatively small one and in some respects the treatment harks back to an earlier day, when leading motives were less known. The music is distinguished by lyric simplicity and rhythmical variety. The prevailing character is improvisational, well adapted to the slight tale of harmless intrigue which it accompanies. There are several easily recognized numbers: the trios in the first act, the quartet in the second, Rosaura's love soliloquy and the succeeding pages of almost Mozartean simplicity, the prelude to the last act, the barcarolle chorus and the final ensemble. There is no great emotional intensity, nor intellectual depth. The means fit the end.