Fra i due litiganti il terzo gode

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Fra i due litiganti il terzo gode
Dramma giocoso by Giuseppe Sarti
Giuseppe Sarti (1729-1802).jpg
Giuseppe Sarti
LanguageItalian
Based on Carlo Goldoni's Le nozze
Premiere
14 September 1782 (1782-09-14)
La Scala, Milan

Fra i due litiganti il terzo gode (While Two Dispute, the Third Enjoys) is a dramma giocoso in two acts by Giuseppe Sarti. The libretto was after Carlo Goldoni's Le nozze (The Marriage).

Contents

One aria from this opera, "Come un agnello", is famously quoted by Mozart at the end of Don Giovanni . [1]

Performance history

It was first performed at the Teatro alla Scala in Milan on 14 September 1782. [2] It became very successful, being produced under different names, in different languages, and in numerous European cities. For instance, it was performed as Le nozze di Dorina, with inserted arias by Giovanni Battista Viotti, for the opening of the Théâtre de Monsieur in Paris on 6 January 1791. [3] [4] The work also used music composed by Pasquale Anfossi, Antonio Salieri, and Stephen Storace in addition to the composer himself.

Roles

Roles, voice types, premiere cast
Role Voice type Premiere cast, 14 September 1782 [2]
Count Belfiore bass Giovanni Marliani
Countess Belfiore soprano Angela Marzorati
Masotto, steward to the Count and Countess, in love with Dorina tenor Antonio Palmini
Dorina. a serving maidsoprano Nancy Storace
Titta, servant to the Count, also pursuing Dorina baritone Francesco Benucci
Mingone, the gardener, likewise interested in DorinatenorGiuseppe Lolli
Livietta, the Countess's maidsopranoVittoria Moreschi Balzani

Synopsis

The opera has a story similar to Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro (1786) involving complex intrigues between a pair of jealous, quarrelling aristocrats and their servants.

Notes

  1. For a detailed discussion of this borrowing, see Daniel E. Freeman, Mozart in Prague (Minneapolis: Calumet Editions, 2021), 285-86.
  2. 1 2 Casaglia, Gherardo (2005). "Fra i due litiganti il terzo gode, 14 September 1782" . L'Almanacco di Gherardo Casaglia (in Italian).
  3. Warwick Lister, Amico: The Life of Giovanni Battista Viotti, p. 147. (Oxford, 1992) ISBN   978-0-19-537240-3.
  4. "Sarti, Giuseppe" in The New Grove Dictionary of Opera , ed. Stanley Sadie, vol. 4, p. 185. (London, 1992) ISBN   0-333-73432-7.

Further reading

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