La Principessa Liana

La Principessa Liana
Operetta by Tito Schipa
Tito Schipa
TranslationPrincess Liana
LibrettistAlcide Santoro, Ennio Neri
LanguageItalian
Premiere
22 June 1929 (1929-06-22)[a]
Teatro Adriano, Rome

La Principessa Liana (Princess Liana) is a three-act operetta in Italian composed by the tenor Tito Schipa with a libretto by Alcide Santoro and Ennio Neri.[1] The comedy premiered in Rome at the Teatro Adriano on June 22, 1929.[2] Schipa spent seven years writing the operetta, which was originally called Mimi.[3] Schipa dedicated the opera to his daughter Liana, born three weeks before the opera's premiere.[4]

Synopsis

Act One

Princess Liana's castle, near Rome, 1920s[5]

Princess Liana has inherited the castle of her father, Prince Disposti. She employs a maid, Lulú. The banker, Pilade Reali, plans to sell the castle. Wilfredo, the banker's son, is in love with Liana and wants to marry her. The Golden Scarab, a former lover of Wilfredo, wants him back. Zozó wants Liana to join his circus. Liana's aunt, the Baroness Clotilde, wants Liana to go gambling with her at the Monte Carlo Casino. Liana chooses to go with her aunt.

Act Two

Monte Carlo Casino

Clotilde wins 500,000 francs at roulette. Prince Orloff, who claims to be a member of the Russian royal family, tries to woo Liana. Wilfredo arrives and renews his courtship of Liana. Liana accepts him. The Golden Scarab and Wilfredo's father scheme to break up the couple and succeed. Wilfredo's father announces he is disinheriting his son and that he will marry Lulú. Liana and Clotilde, having lost their winnings, agree to perform in Zozó's circus.

Act Three

Backstage at the circus

Clotilde's dancing is booed by the circus audience. Liana is preparing to go on, riding a white horse. Lulú tells Liana that Wilfredo loves her and wanted to marry her even at the risk of being disinherited. Liana goes on and her equestrian act is a success. When she returns backstage, Wilfredo is there and professes his love. The Golden Scarab tells Liana and Wilfredo of her schemes. Liana and Wilfredo head back to her castle, singing of their love.

Roles

Roles, voice types, 1929 premiere
Role Voice type Teatro Adriano, Rome, 1929 Lecce, 1935[6]
La Principessa Liana Nanda Primavera Iris Adami Corradetti
Lulú Margherita Carosio
Scarabeo d'oro Marisa Merlo
La Baronessa Clotilde Edmea Pollini
Wilfredo Ettore Parmeggiani
Zozó Ernesto Badini
Il Banchieri Pilade Reali Eraldo Coda
Un Damerino Giueseppi Nessi
Il direttore del circo equestre Natale Villa
Il Principe Wladimiro Orloff Giuseppe Antonicelli
Max Renato Bellini
Il segretario Dante Leuzzi

Performances

A private concert performance of Liana was given in New York City on April 30, 1929; Schipa sailed for Italy the next day for the public premiere.[7]

Nanda Primavera created the title role in the June 22, 1929 premiere in Rome.[8] At that performance, Schipa was summoned for twenty-five curtain calls.[9] Time said Liana was a "success: immediate."[10] London's Morning Post called the premiere a "success" with "a return to light operatic methods" which "sounds a note of sentiment and romance. It is rich in melody, and several of the duets are sure to become popular because of their tunefulness."[11] The Musical Courier called Liana an "immense and enviable success . . . The music is flowing and melodious and the orchestration extremely clever."[12]

Liana was given in 1935 at Milan's Teatro Lirico on May 1, and in the composer's hometown of Lecce on June 6, both performances conducted by Schipa.[13] The Milan performance was called a "triumph."[14]

The next year Schipa conducted a performance at Turin's Teatro Vittorio Emanuele (now known as the Auditorium Rai di Torino).[15] The performance at La Scala in 1936 was well received.[16] Schipa conducted that performance but left the pit in the second act to go on stage to sing and to dance a tango.[17][18]

Italy's national broadcaster Radio Audizioni Italiane aired the operetta on June 13, 1938.[19][20] Iris Adami Corradetti sang the title role in a performance conducted by the composer.[21]

The libretto was published in Milan.[22]

Notes

  1. ^ A 1930 article in Musica d'Oggi and Tito Schipa, Jr.'s biography of his father both give June 22 as the premiere date but the New Grove Dictionary of Opera says the premiere was June 2.

References

  1. ^ Shawe-Taylor, Desmond (1994). "Tito Schipa". In Sadie, Stanley (ed.). The New Grove Dictionary of Opera. Vol. 3. London: Macmillan. p. 227. ISBN 0935859926. Retrieved July 1, 2025.
  2. ^ "Prospetto delle Opere nuovo Italiane rappresentate nell'anno 1929" [Overview of the new Italian operas performed in the year 1929]. Musica d'Oggi (in Italian). Vol. 12, no. 1. Milano: Casa Ricordi. January 1930. pp. 40–41. Retrieved July 1, 2025.
  3. ^ Schipa, Jr., Tito (1996). Tito Schipa: A Biography. Translated by Williams, Brian. Dallas: Baskerville. p. 117. ISBN 1880909480. Retrieved July 1, 2025.
  4. ^ Schipa, Jr. 1996, p. 110–11.
  5. ^ Carluccio, Gianni (January 7, 2014). "Tito Schipa e il tango, El Gaucho e la Principessa Liana" [Tito Schipa and the tango, El Gaucho and Principessa Liana]. Gianni Carliccio (in Italian). Retrieved July 1, 2025.
  6. ^ Carluccio 2014.
  7. ^ "Schipa Sails for European Performances: To Witness Premiere of His Own Operetta". Musical Courier. Vol. 98, no. 19. New York, N.Y.: Musical Courier Co. May 11, 1929. p. 22.
  8. ^ Schipa, Jr. 1996, p. 117.
  9. ^ Key, Pierre V. R. (1931). Pierre Key's Musical Who's Who (1st ed.). New York: Pierre Key, Inc. p. 275. LCCN 31019202. Retrieved July 1, 2025.
  10. ^ "Schipa's Show". Time. Vol. 14, no. 2. New York, N.Y. July 8, 1929. ISSN 0040-781X. Retrieved July 3, 2025.
  11. ^ "Schipa's 'Princess Liana'". The New York Times. Vol. 78, no. 26104. New York, N.Y. July 14, 1929. p. 9:6. Retrieved July 1, 2025.
  12. ^ D.P. (July 20, 1929). "Tito Schipa Scores as Composer". Musical Courier. Vol. 99, no. 3. New York, N.Y.: Musical Courier Co. p. 6.
  13. ^ Schipa, Jr. 1996, p. 254.
  14. ^ "Dischi Nuovi" [New Discs]. Radiocorriere (in Italian). Vol. 12, no. 32. Turin, Italy. August 2, 1936. p. 47. Retrieved July 1, 2025.
  15. ^ Schipa, Jr. 1996, p. 255.
  16. ^ "Il successo di 'Principessa Liana'" [The success of 'Principessa Liana']. Il Piccolo di Trieste (in Italian). Trieste, Italy. May 2, 1936. p. 2. Retrieved July 1, 2025.
  17. ^ "Schipa Conducts Own Operetta". The Advocate. Burnie, Tasmania. May 4, 1936. p. 1. Retrieved July 3, 2025.
  18. ^ "Milan". The Advertiser. Vol. 78, no. 24, 202. Adelaide, South Australia. May 4, 1936. p. 16. Retrieved July 3, 2025.
  19. ^ "Transmissioni di Operette" [Broadcast of Operetta]. Radiocorriere (in Italian). Vol. 24, no. 24. Turin, Italy. June 12, 1938. p. 10. Retrieved July 1, 2025.
  20. ^ "Monday, June 13" (PDF). World-Radio. Vol. 26, no. 672. London: British Broadcasting Corp. June 10, 1938. pp. 24–26, at 26. Retrieved July 3, 2025.
  21. ^ "Lunedí di sera, 13 Giugno 1938" [Monday evening, June 13, 1938]. Radiocorriere (in Italian). Vol. 24, no. 24. Turin, Italy. June 12, 1938. p. 27. Retrieved July 1, 2025.
  22. ^ La Gioia, Diana (1979). Libretti italiani d'operetta nella Biblioteca nazionale centrale di Roma [Libretti of Italian Operettas in the Central National Library of Rome]. Biblioteconomia e bibliografia, no. 11 (in Italian). Florence: Leo S. Olschki Editore. p. 108. ISBN 8822228391. Retrieved July 1, 2025.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.