"Florence is like a flowering tree" (romanza by Rinuccio)
The one-act comic opera Gianni Schicchi by Giacomo Puccini in the form of a concert by the Roma Sinfonica Orchestra, conducted by Isabella Ambrosini, is staged in the Auditorium.
Chosen as a tribute to Dante Alighieri in the year of the celebrations for the 700th anniversary of his death, the opera on libretto by G. Forzano is inspired by the figure of the scammer of the same name from Canto XXX of Hell and, together with Il tabarro (The tabard) and Suor Angelica (The nun Angelica) is the third and last of the Trittico (Triptych), the name by which the three works in one act by the famous Tuscan composer are known.
Of the Triptych, Gianni Schicchi, staged for the first time in 1918 at the Metropolitan Theater in New York, was the opera that immediately enjoyed the greatest success and therefore began to have an independent life, despite Puccini wished the three operas to be always staged together. Set in Florence in 1299, the work is about the cunning of Gianni Schicchi called by a noble family because their close relative Buoso Donati, who died a few hours ago, seems to have left nothing to his relatives and everything to a convent of friars. Thus begins the hunt for the will, which confirms any previous fear. Initially reluctant, Schicchi then takes the place of the corpse and dictates a new will to the notary. On this occasion he makes fun of everyone by reserving the most precious assets for himself, including the house in which they are.
In the opera, the composer interweaves a musical score worthy of a ballet, with a pressing rhythm full of references to dance, dragging the protagonists into the vortex of their own emotions, at times with a wild tarantella, at other times with a waltz and even with a tango. (a very daring experiment for the time), all punctuated by percussion of Stravinsky style. The tonal possibilities of the voices and the orchestra are widely exploited to express the most varied nuances, from the ironic to the grotesque exasperation: it is above all the woods, especially the reed instruments, that highlight the caricatured glimpses of the work.
The work is part of the 5th Edition of the New Voices of Opera Review organized by the InCanto Association as part of the project aimed at promoting young opera talents from all over the world in Italy and Italians around the world, selected by Maestro Ambrosini.
Isabella Ambrosini, artistic and musical director of the Roma Sinfonica Orchestra and of the Choir of the Roma Tre University, has collaborated with various prestigious musical institutions such as the Accademia di Santa Cecilia, the Teatro dell'Opera di Roma, the Philharmonic Orchestra of St. Petersburg and the Moscow Symphony Orchestra.
Photo credits: courtesy of Puccini Festival official site
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