L’Italiana in Algeri
By Gioachino Rossini
of the
Finding Lindoro alone, singing of Isabella, Mustaf interrupts to present his gift of Elvira. Lindoro attempts to politely refuse, while Mustaf insists, describing her every virtue.
At sea, Haly and his crew come upon an Italian ship wrecked in a storm the night before. They capture the survivors. Isabella, now captive, laments her cruel misfortune in her quest to find her fianc Isabella is accompanied by Taddeo, her middle-aged traveling companion who is also in love with her. The corsairs threaten to sell Taddeo into slavery, but he convinces them he is Isabella’s uncle and must remain to protect her. Haly realizes Isabella is the perfect Italian woman for Mustaf takes them to the palace. Isabella and Taddeo quarrel, but resolve to join forces in order to make an escape.
CHARACTERS
Mustafà (bass) Known as a basso buffo, Mustafà’s character is easily fooled, although he believes he is in control as the Bey of Algiers.
introduces him as her uncle. Lindoro, Elvira, and Zulma enter to say goodbye when Isabella and Lindoro meet face to face. Stunned at the sight of each other, they quickly realize that if they are going to be reunited, they must remain discreet. Isabella cleverly insists Mustafà cannot banish his wife and Lindoro must stay to be her personal servant. Confused emotions of love, lust, and jealousy reach a climax with everyone’s head reeling as Act I comes to a
Elvira (soprano) Sweet and demure, Elvira is Mustafà’s wife.
Zulma (mezzo-soprano) Zulma is Elvira’s servant and confidante.
Lindoro (tenor) A young Italian lover, Lindoro has been captured, enslaved and is the favorite of Mustafà
Haly (bass) Captain of the Algerian corsairs, Haly, in true pirate form, does not side with anyone.
Isabella (contralto) Searching for her longlost fiancé Lindoro, Italian Isabella is confident and clever.
Taddeo (bass) Also a basso buffo and a little dense, Taddeo thinks he is Isabella’s lover, but is actually just her traveling companion.
Elvira and Zulma admire how Isabella has “a way with men” and can fool them easily. Mustafà interrupts and orders Lindoro and Taddeo to be Isabella’s personal attendants and to report of any plots against him. then orders Elvira and Zulma to inform Isabella he will be taking his coffee in her
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The Story,
Meanwhile, Isabella and Lindoro catch a quiet moment alone together. Isabella is disheartened by Lindoro’s agreement to marry Elvira, but is reassured it is all in an effort to return to her. They promise each other they will soon escape.
Mustafà bestows Taddeo with the honorable title of Kaimakan, meaning personal bodyguard, in exchange for his help winning Isabella’s affections. Taddeo dislikes the situation into which he has been coerced, but is afraid to decline his new title.
In her apartment Isabella dresses in Turkish costume in preparation for Mustafà’s visit as she counsels Elvira to be more assertive with her husband. She asks Elvira make sure there are three cups of coffee prepared. Elvira obeys knowing Isabella must have a plan. As Isabella finishes dressing alone, Isabella is aware that Mustafà is eavesdropping and sings a romantic song to tease him and make him wait. At last, she receives him and he introduces Taddeo as his Kaimakan. Mustafà sneezes (as the signal for Taddeo to leave them alone), but Taddeo pretends not to hear and stays. To Mustafà’s increasing displeasure, Isabella then invites Elvira to join them for coffee!
Later, Haly predicts Mustafà is no match for Isabella, while Lindoro and Taddeo discuss their plan for escape. Taddeo, unaware of Lindoro’s affections for Isabella, boasts that he is not Isabella’s uncle, but her lover. Lindoro is surprised and amused, but knows he has Isabella’s heart.
In a report to Mustafà about Isabella, Lindoro tells him of her plans to surprise the him with the ceremonial bestowal of the (ficticious) Italian title of Pappataci, meaning a man unable to resist a woman. Eavesdropping, Zulma and Haly wonder what Isabella is up to.
In her apartment, Isabella shares the plan with the other Italian slaves who are to play the fellow Pappataci. For their help in this charade, she promises they will also be able to escape.
As the fictitious ceremony begins, Mustafà delights in his new title. He repeats the oath to eat, drink, and keep silent. Isabella flirts with Lindoro in front of them and upsets Mustafà, but Taddeo explains that it is a test and he must keep silent. Soon, Mustafà catches on and begins to enjoy eating and drinking. Seeing the Bey at ease, all of his subjects join in the festivities. Behind them, a ship draws up and the Italians sneak aboard. Taddeo realizes his ignorance of Isabella’s love for Lindoro, but accepts the situation and joins them aboard. As the ship sails away, Mustafà, comes to his senses and calls for his troops, but they are all drunk! He begs the forgiveness of Elvira and everyone exclaims the cleverness of Italian women.
COMPO S ER
Gioachino Rossini was born February 29, 1792, in Pesaro, Italy into a family of musicians. His father played the horn and his mother was a singer. By age six, he was playing the triangle in his father’s band. He began his music instruction early and quickly outgrew several music instructors so that at age 15, Rossini was admitted to the prestigious Bologna Conservatory. After a short amount of time, he left the Conservatory having learned everything the professors could teach him and began composing on his own. Rossini completed his first opera, La cambiale di matrimonio (1810), at age 18. Three years later, he wrote L’italiana in Algeri, his first opera buffa, in only 27 days. On May 22, 1813, premiered at the Teatro San Benedetto in Venice. By the age of 37, Rossini had written over 30 operas, and was hailed all over Europe as a revolutionary musical genius. He married the leading soprano in Naples, Isabella Colbran, who was the mistress of the conductor at the time they met. He was largely influenced by the work of Mozart and Haydn, and his work went on to influence Donizetti, Verdi, and Wagner. Some of Rossini’s most famous operas include: Il barbiere di Siviglia (1816), La cenerentola (1817), and Guillaume Tell (1829). Guillaume Tell was the last opera he wrote and is considered his chef d’oeuvre (French for “masterpiece”). In 1829, he returned to Italy from Paris, where he had been living and composing, to be with his recently widowed father. Rossini’s first wife died in 1845, and he later remarried in 1847. He died on November 13, 1868.
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THE SETTING
Angelo Anelli lived in Italy his entire life and most likely only heard horror stories of Barbary pirates capturing Italian ships and enslaving their captives in the exotic city of Algiers. Facts often become easily intertwined with fiction to create a captivating story to engage audiences. In composing the music to the libretto, Rossini helped paint the picture of an Italian’s perspective of foreign land. Anelli twisted it even further by telling the story from the Algerian’s point of view, seeing the Italians as the foreigners. This phenomenon is not uncommon in opera. Other librettists and composers have set opera in foreign lands they themselves may have never seen. For example, Italian composer Giacomo Puccini’s Turandot took place in China; his opera Madama Butterfly was set in early 20th century Japan; and French composer Georges Bizet’s Carmen was in Seville, Spain.
Separating Out the Facts: A Brief History Lesson
Italy, the united country we know today, is relatively young, and its rich colorful history can be difficult to unravel. Prior to 1946, when the current Democratic Republic was established, most of the regions that are familiar today (such as Umbria, Roma, and Venetia) were city-states under their own rule. For over 3,000 years Italy endured many migrations, invasions, and occupations by various other countries, empires, and regimes. During the time that L’italiana in Algeri takes place, the regions of Mantua, Milano, Bologna, and Venetia were called the Kingdom of Italy, ruled by emperor Napoleon Bonaparte from 1804 to 1814. His regime controlled most of Northern Italy and France. Napoleon had many civilian supporters, including Angelo Anelli (librettist). The Kingdom of Italy was part of Europe’s colonial expansion, and because of emerging technology to build bigger and faster ships, international trade was growing exponentially.
LIBRETTIST
Angelo Anelli, a well-known librettist of his period, lived from 1761 to 1820. He enjoyed writing comedic libretti that were satiric or fantastic. Most of the opera libretti he wrote were produced by Teatro alla Scala in Milan. Anelli rewrote the libretto for L’italiana in Algeri from an earlier version he had written for composer Luigi Mosca in 1808. Besides writing libretti, Anelli was politically active under the regime of Napoleon Bonaparte and was also a professor of rhetoric. Upon the fall of Napoleon’s empire, Anelli quickly fell into poverty that plagued him the rest of his life.
L’italiana in Algeri takes place in the city of Algiers, which is now part of The People’s Democratic Republic of Algeria. Algeria was ruled by various imperialist nations, most recently France, until 1962. In the early 1800s, the coastal portion of the country was ruled by the Ottoman Empire, a large regime that spanned the Northern coast of Africa, Greece, Turkey, and the Middle East. At the time, the Ottoman Empire was one of the largest powers in the Middle East and rivaled the countries of Western Europe and the Americas.
OPERA BUFFA
Italian opera spanning 18th century into the beginning of the 19th century can be separated into two different genres: opera buffa and opera seria Opera seria was seen as “high opera,” with intricate and sophisticated musical composition dominating and the storyline deemphasized. The music of this time period was composed almost entirely for the church, so opera seria libretti contained mythical and supernatural themes, often relating to or in contrast to religious themes. Opera buffa was born in the decline of opera seria in a successful attempt to make opera more widely accessible. It distinguished itself by borrowing stories from popular culture and using everyday language. By paying more attention to telling a story through music, elements of theater were more tightly woven with the music and recitative was used much more frequently as a clear way to propel the story. With this new spoken-sung text, audience members could now better understand the singers’ words and thus felt more drawn into the story.
Opera buffa was also greatly influenced by commedia dell’arte, a style of improvised comedic theater popular in Renaissance Italy. Commedia dell’arte consisted of a cast of stock characters each defined by specific one-dimensional archetypal traits that represented social stereotypes of the time. These actors brought comedy from the royal courts to the common people throughout Italy by traveling from town to town, and presenting situations that the common villager could relate to. Dialogue was wittily exchanged and cleverly timed, often including local slang and profanity. The physical aspect of comedy was also an integral part of commedia dell’arte, whether it was exaggerated pantomime, acrobatic feats, or staged brawls.
Opera buffa, literally meaning “comic opera” in Italian, could sometimes contain serious themes, but always retained an overall tone of light-heartedness and generally ended happily. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro is one of the most well-known opera buffa, as well as Gioachino Rossini’s Il barbiere di Sivigli. Today, opera buffa comedies on film.
A scene from Act I of Rossini’s L’Italiana in Algeri
P hoto: Marty Sohl/Metropolitan Opera
PIRATES!
There are many legends and myths that surround the subject of pirates. Some are historically accurate and others are not, but piracy did exist. Beginning in the 16th century, colonial expansion created a boom in shipping and trading. Competition was fierce for opposing colonial powers and sailors always found ways around the rules to engage in the cruelest acts of piracy, which included acts such as attacking foreign ships, seizing property, committing murder, and enslaving captives. In a historical context, there are three main types of pirates: Privateers, Corsairs, and Buccaneers.
A Privateer was a sailor who was independently contracted by the government and authorized to seize and destroy merchant ships of other nations and/or colonies. Privateering was a cheap way of weakening the competition in the colonial race and keeping costs down for the royal navy. Officially, no privateer could be charged with an act of piracy since it was recognized by international law as legal. It was not uncommon however, for privateers to be captured and charged in the victim’s country. All privateers were pirates, but not all pirates were privateers.
Corsair refers to a privateer or pirate, usually Muslim, who operated in the Mediterranean. Most corsairs were from the Barbary Coast of North Africa and were commonly known as the Barbary Pirates. These corsairs were authorized by their governments to prey upon ships of Christian countries. In L’italiana in Algeri, Haly is captain of the corsairs.
Corsair captains would base a crew out of major Barbary coastal cities, including Algiers, and command ships outfitted by wealthy sponsors who then received 10 percent of what was stolen. The most well known leader in corsair history was Barbarossa (meaning “red beard”), who united Algeria and Tunisia as military states under the Ottoman sultan. This sultan maintained his revenue solely through piracy. By 1650, over 30,000 of their captives were imprisoned in Algiers. After several attempts by different European countries and America to suppress piracy off the Barbary Coast, the French ended it in 1830 by colonizing much of Northern Africa. Today the term “piracy” is most commonly associated with the internet.
Buccaneer refers to a deserter, runaway slave, or other who hated the Spanish and sought vengeance on their colonies in the Caribbean Sea. A buccaneer is distinguished from a privateer in that they rarely received commissions from any government to “legalize” their piracy. The first headquarters of the buccaneers was on the island of Tortuga off the coast of Haiti.
A scene from Act II of Rossini’s L’Italiana in Algeri.
P hoto: Marty Sohl/Metropolitan Opera
You will see a full dress rehearsal, an opportunity to get an insider’s look into the final moments of preparation before an opera opens. The singers will be in full costume and makeup, the opera will be fully staged, and a full orchestra will accompany the singers, however they may choose to mark in order to save their voices for the performances. A final dress rehearsal is often a complete run through, but there is a chance the director or conductor will ask to repeat a scene or two. This is the last opportunity the performers have to rehearse with the orchestra before opening night, and therefore need this valuable time to work. The following will help you to better enjoy your experience of a night at the opera:
• Dress in what is comfortable for you, whether it is nice jeans or a suit. "Fun casual" is usually what people wear - unless it is opening night, which is typically dressier. A night at the opera can be an opportunity to get dressed in formal attire.
• Arrive on time. Latecomers will be seated only at suitable breaks and often not until intermission.
• Please respect other patrons' enjoyment by turning off cell phones, pagers, watch alarms, and other electronic devices.
• At the very beginning of the opera, the concertmaster of the orchestra, will ask the oboe player to play the note “A.” Listen carefully. You will hear that all the other musicians in the orchestra will tune their instruments to match the oboe’s “A.”
• After all the instruments are tuned, the conductor will arrive. Be sure to applaud!
• Feel free to applaud (or shout BRAVO!) at the end of an aria or chorus piece to signify your enjoyment. The end of a piece can be identified by a pause in the music. Singers love an appreciative audience!
• Go ahead and laugh when something is funny!
• Taking photos or making audio or video recordings during a performance is not allowed.
• Do not chew gum, eat, drink, or talk during the performance. If you must visit the restroom during the performance, please exit quickly and quietly. When you return, an usher will let you know when you can re-enter.
• Let the action on stage surround you. As an audience member, you are a very important part of the process that is taking place. Without you, there is no show!
• Read the English supertitles projected above the stage. Operas are usually performed in their original language. Opera composers find inspiration in the natural rhythm and inflection of words in particular languages. Similar to a foreign film, the supertitles help the audience gain a better understanding of the story.
• Listen for subtleties in the music. The tempo, volume, and complexity of the music and singing depict the feelings or actions of the characters. Also, notice repeated words or phrases; they are usually significant.
• Have fun and enjoy the show!!
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CREDITS
Writer:
Rebecca Kirk
Education and Community Programs Associate
Editors:
Michelle Krisel
Director, Center for Education and Training
Caryn Fraim
Associate Director, Education and Community Programs
Stephanie Wright
Education and Community Programs Manager
Graphic Design:
LB Design
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