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Pia de' Tolomei

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Pia de' Tolomei

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For "Pia de' Tolomei", Rossetti's painting, see Pia de' Tolomei (painting).


Gaetano Donizetti
A grayscale portrait of a man in his late thirties. He has wavy, dark hair and a neat mustache and beard.

Pia de' Tolomei is a tragedia lirica, or tragic opera, in two acts by Gaetano Donizetti. Salvadore Cammarano wrote the Italian libretto after Bartolomeo Sestini's novella, in its turn after Dante's narrative poem The Divine Comedy part 2: Purgatorio. It premiered on 18 February 1837 at the Teatro Apollo in Venice.

Contents

Background

Pia de' Tolomei is a tragic figure whom Dante encountered in Purgatory.[1] Her story was so familiar to Dante's readers that an understated allusion was enough to call it to mind:

Italian
Translation in English

"Deh, quando tu sarai tornato al mondo,
e riposato de la lunga via",
seguitò 'l terzo spirito al secondo,
"Ricorditi di me, che son la Pia;
Siena mi fé, disfecemi Maremma:
salsi colui che 'nnanellata pria
disposando m'avea con la sua gemma"

Ah, when you have returned to the world,
and rested from the long journey,"
followed the third spirit after the second,
"remember me, the one who is Pia;
Siena made me, Maremma undid me:
he knows it, the one who first encircled
my finger with his jewel, when he married me."

Roles

Role Voice type Premiere Cast, 18 February 1837
(Conductor: - )
Pia, Nello's wife soprano Fanny Tacchinardi Persiani
Ghino Degli Armieri, Nello's cousin tenor Antonio Poggi
Nello Della Pietra baritone Giorgio Ronconi
Rodrigo, Pia's brother contralto Rosina Mazzarelli
Piero, a hermit bass Alessandro Meloni
Ubaldo, Nello's servant tenor Alessandro Giacchini
Bice soprano Marietta Bramati
Lamberto, old servant of Pia's family bass Alessandro Cecconi
Servants, bridesmaids, hermits

Synopsis

Place: Siena
Time: 1260

Ghino has fallen in love with Pia, wife of his cousin Nello, a Ghibelline lord. When she refuses his love, as revenge Ghino informs Nello that he has discovered a secret message (found by the mischievous servant Ubaldo) proving that Pia has an adulterous relation. It tells of a secret meeting to be held between Pia and her lover. Ghino goes to the place described in the message, and does find Pia with a man. Ghino does not know that the man is not her lover but her brother Rodrigo, a Guelph, whom she is helping to escape from Nello's prison. Rodrigo manages to escape, but Pia is captured and imprisoned.

Ghino again offers her his love, promising to give her freedom in exchange; but the woman still refuses. Impressed by Pia's virtue and informed of the true identity of her alleged lover, Ghino repents and, mortally wounded in battle, reveals the truth to Nello. However, Nello had already given to his servant Ubaldo the order to kill Pia by poisoning. Nello rushes to stop the servant, but it is too late: he finds his wife is dying. On her deathbed, Pia forgives her husband, and effects a reconciliation between him and Rodrigo.

Recordings

Year Cast
(Pia, Ghino degli Armieri, Nello della Pietra, Rodrigo)		 Conductor,
Opera House and Orchestra		 Label[2]
2004 Majella Cullagh,
Bruce Ford,
Roberto Servile,
Manuela Custer		 David Parry
London Philharmonic Orchestra and Geoffrey Mitchell Choir[3]		 Audio CD: Opera Rara
Cat: ORC 30
2005 Patrizia Ciofi,
Dario Schmunck,
Andrew Schroeder,
Laura Polverelli		 Paolo Arrivabeni
Teatro La Fenice Orchestra and Chorus
[3]
(Audio and video recordings made at performances in the Teatro La Fenice, April)		 Audio CD: Dynamic
Cat: CDS 488/1-2
DVD: Dynamic
Cat: 33488

References

Notes
  1. ^ Purgatorio V, 130-136; Italian Wikipedia: "Pia de' Tolomei"
  2. ^ Source of recording on operadis-opera-discography.org.uk
  3. ^ a b Performed in the Critical Edition prepared by Giorgio Pagannone for the Donizetti Foundation, Bergamo
Online sources
Other sources
  • Ashbrook, William, Donizetti and His Operas, Cambridge University Press, 1982, ISBN 0-521-23526-X ISBN 0-521-23526-X
  • Holden, Amanda (Ed.), The New Penguin Opera Guide, New York: Penguin Putnam, 2001. ISBN 0-14-029312-4
  • Osborne, Charles, The Bel Canto Operas of Rossini, Donizetti, and Bellini, Portland, Oregon: Amadeus Press, 1994 ISBN 0-931340-71-3
  • Weinstock, Herbert, Donizetti and the World of Opera in Italy, Paris, and Vienna in the First Half of the Nineteenth Century, New York: Pantheon Books, 1963. ISBN 63-13703

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