Puccini Le villi 1885 La Scala Version 2 - Romanza

Here is the first version of Roberto's romanza "Torna ai felci dì" from the new edition of the opera by Michael Kaye and Herbert Handt © 2008, available from Masters Music Publications, Inc., Boca Raton, Fl.)

Puccini's librettist of "Le villi," Ferdinando Fontana, documented the genesis of this romanza:

"One evening, while he was attending a performance of 'Le villi' in the wings at La Scala, Ponchielli advised Puccini to cut the dramatic scene [for Roberto]. Giacomo took me by the shoulder and literally pushed me into the dressing room. He sat himself at the pianoforte and commanded me to describe, in verse, the desolate emotional state of Roberto, the tenor. In an instant I improvised the poetry and he composed the aria. That young rascal, instead of shortening the dramatic scene, as Ponchielli had advised, lengthened it, introducing a new piece in the middle." (Recounted by Fontana to Natale Gallini; see "Approdo musicale," anno 2, No. 6, 1959, pp. 44-46.)

The traditional version of this music dates from Puccini's further revisions of the score made in 1889 for a production at the Teatro dal Verme in Milan. Listeners familiar with that version will notice that the original setting of the romanza presented here ends differently and more forcefully for the tenor. It also lacks the orchestral postlude and the Wagnerian transition to "Per te quaggiù sofferse," which still figured in the 1885 La Scala version of the opera.

See also:    • Puccini Le villi 1885 La Scala Version 1- ...  
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