Newsgroup: it.arti.musica.classica
Titolo: La Ricusata, opera by Giuseppe Verdi

Mi e' stato spedito questo stamane da un amico che lavora al Metropolitan. 
C'e' qualche cosa che non funziona nella traduzione inglese-italiano, 
comunque e' molto carino...
Ciao a tutti,
Pierino
Following is a commentary on a lost opera, recently brought to light, by 
Giuseppe Verdi, called La Ricusata - the Woman Recused, or the Judgement of 
Catherine.
Ed Flaspoehler, research musicologist
***
La Ricusata, ossia il Giuramento di Caterina
opera semiseria di Giuseppe Verdi (perduta)
PERSONAGGI:
Alberto "Il Sanguinato" - baritono patetico
Giorgio "Il Cespuglio" - tenore ineptico
Caterina Harris, la secretaria del Florida - contralto repubblicano
oscuro e d'agilita'
La Vivandiera, moglie d'Alberto - mezzosoprano
Laura "La Professora", moglie di Giorgio - muta
Ralphone "Il Ecologico" e Patricio "Il Volcano di Spazzatura" -
comprimarii
Avocati, giudici, molti personaggi di famiglie e pressa.
A rough outline of the opera follows:
Atto primo: Urna Fatale
1. scena
-Coro degli Conventioni: "Va, Sombrero, nell'anello della scelta"
-Aria d'introduzione d'Alberto: "Sacra la scelta e' d'un doge"
-Scena non ascoltata di Ralphone e Patricio
-Aria d'introduzione e cabaletta da bravura di Giorgio - "I've got a little 
list"... " Non temo i vani accenti"
2. scena
-Coro della scelta: "Zitti! Zitti! Votiamo, votiamo!"
-Grido d'Alberto: "Son tradito"
Atto secondo: La Firma Sciagurata
-Grance scena e firma di Caterina: "Stride la ballotta democratica"
-Aria con cabaletta di Giorgio: "I voti, si', avranno"... "Di quella pira"
Atto terzo: La Contesta di Disonor
1. scena
-Balletto di football al campo della Casa Biana di Guglielmo Clinton, amico 
d'Alberto
2. scena
- Coro di popolo, giudici e avvocati: "Sul del lido sacro e palmato"
-Scena politica di Caterina: "Plebe! Patrizi!"
-Coro repubblicano: "Evviva la maga"
Atto quarto: La vendetta di Gioia Infama
1. scena
-Duetto d'Alberto e la Vivandiera: "Casa Bianca, o cara, non resteremo"
2. scena
-Brindisi di vittoria di Giorgio: "Merce, diletti amici"
-Aria finale di Caterina: "Era desso il democratico"
COMMENTARY:
Research has indicated the information above concerning the unknown and 
seemingly lost Verdi opera. There is only a partial list of characters, and 
merely a synopsis of the complex plot. The opera is interesting in that 
there seems to be no main soprano role, which may be one of the reasons for 
its failure. The only thing sure is that the role of Caterina is actually a 
contralto, whose main aria is "Stride la Ballotta democratica". Verdi, a man 
of the people, was dispirited at the failure of La Ricusata, and had a 
difficult time making a choice on the ultimate fate of the opera. Perhaps, 
because of his patrioric feelings, he was more sensitive to the character of 
Alberto, an Italian paysano, rather than Giorgio, an Austrian with family 
ties to a previous Doge. unlike Rossini and other composers of opera of the 
day, Verdi was not usually known to incorporate material from other works 
into his operas. In the case of La Ricusata, and due to the short time 
allowed for its composition, however, much of the material was pilfered from 
Nabucco, Luisa Miller, and Simone Boccanegra. And when the opera failed so 
completely, the better numbers in La Ricusata were reworked and included in 
later operas such as Aida, Il Trovatore and La Traviata, and Ballo in 
Maschera. Caterina's final aria looks back to Donizetti. The apparent plot 
of the opera is that Caterina passes judgement on Alberto and Giorgio after 
spurning the advances of Alberto, her political rival, who then tries to get 
her out of the way. Hence the title, La Ricusata, or the woman recused. She 
keeps coming back, however, and in the final scene, after singing a pathetic 
duet with his wife, la Vivandiera, Alberto is sent away in disgrace as 
Giorgio ascends the throne singing in a brindisi. As the curtain falls, the 
triumphant Caterina gloats while the populace weeps in confusion. A more 
detailed understanding of the plot can be had from acareful analysis of the 
musical numbers listed in the outline. Rumors of a lost performance with 
Leyla Gencer are erroneous,although there is some justification to think 
that Marian Anderson was at one time interested in the role, until she got 
butterflies when she discovered the purpose of her part. Eva Podles would be 
a good choice for Caterina if the opera could be done today. One is 
extremely hard pressed to understand why Marylin Horne has never performed 
any of Caterina's music. Miss Horne, like Caterina, was never onw to pass up 
a chance for gratitous display. Tommaso da Caccia of the Ricordi archives in 
Milano has unearthed at least one "vrano", Giorgio Cespuglio's big cabaletta 
da bravura, "Non temo i vani accenti " from act 1. Odd thing about the 
score: there are little holes punched out where the choral interjections in 
the stretta should be. Alsom, some letters by Verdi to Giuseppina included 
in the archives with the autograph, if authentic (there is some doubt) 
indicates that the subject for the opera came from a play called Giorgio 
Cespuglio, La Riconra di Florida, by the Italian playwright, Tennessi 
Guglielmi.
Ed Flaspoehler
***
Musicologist David Coyle has been able to provide additional information 
about La Ricusata. Your information, he says, is indeed sketchy. Everyone 
knows that Giorgio, after a misspent youth with his nose screwed alternately 
into brandy bottle and coke (bottle), publicly gave up drinking. Thus, a 
brindisi would be utterly inappropriate, as Verdi would have known. There is 
the prologue chorus "Va, sombrero", during which the candidates throw their 
hats into the ring. I suspect that there is an Italian musical form 
dedicated to big hats, which determines the structure of this chorus. And of 
course, there is the lost atto ultimo: "La Casa Bianca del Bandini", hastily 
removed from the opera when critics indicated that they could not quite.... 
well! There are those who say that "Madama Butterfly" was composed (later 
rethought -  alot) as a direct requel to this pathetic opera and that "Un 
bel di" was originally to be sung while the principals prayed for the day 
the waiting would be over. In the background are the two other characters, 
denied any solo singing: Ralphone "Il Ecologico" and Patricio " Il Volcano 
di Spazzatura" who are also contending for the prize but who have not 
chance. It is traditional that the sngers playing these roles are only paid 
at the first performance. The contralto role was originally written for a 
castrato who, unfortunately, was too attractive to be believable in the 
part. You might be interested to know that the alternate title (Pathologia: 
Il Principe, La Padella ed il Fuoco"). Machiavelli, as we know, wrote the 
libretto. Finally, this is certainly not a lost Verdi opera. It was 
obviously discarded!!!
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 comunque e' molto carino...
Bellissimo... Ma la cosa piu' bella e' che il compositore di questa
opera sia un italiano. Solo dalla nostra fervida fantasia poteva nascere
un'opera come questa.
Vedo che gli americani, finalmente, da saccenti maestri, stanno
diventando zelanti allievi.
Ciao
Rudy
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If the doors of perception were cleansed every 
thing would appear  to man as it is: infinite.
William Blake
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