La finta parigina

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La finta parigina
Opera buffa by Domenico Cimarosa
Domenico cimarosa.jpg
The composer
LibrettistFrancesco Cerlone
LanguageItalian
Premiere1773 (1773)
Teatro Nuovo, Naples

La finta parigina (The false Parisienne) is an opera buffa in 3 acts by Domenico Cimarosa with an Italian libretto by Francesco Cerlone. The opera premiered at the Teatro Nuovo in Naples, in 1773. [1] [2]

Opera buffa is a genre of opera. It was first used as an informal description of Italian comic operas variously classified by their authors as commedia in musica, commedia per musica, dramma bernesco, dramma comico, divertimento giocoso.

Domenico Cimarosa Italian opera composer of the Neapolitan school

Domenico Cimarosa was an Italian composer of the Neapolitan school. He wrote more than eighty operas, the best known of which is Il matrimonio segreto (1792); most of his operas are comedies. He also wrote instrumental works and church music.

Italian language Romance language

Italian is a Romance language of the Indo-European language family. Italian, together with Sardinian, is by most measures the closest language to Vulgar Latin of the Romance languages. Italian is an official language in Italy, Switzerland, San Marino and Vatican City. It has an official minority status in western Istria. It formerly had official status in Albania, Malta, Monaco, Montenegro (Kotor) and Greece, and is generally understood in Corsica and Savoie. It also used to be an official language in the former Italian East Africa and Italian North Africa, where it plays a significant role in various sectors. Italian is also spoken by large expatriate communities in the Americas and Australia. In spite of not existing any Italian community in their respective national territories and of not being spoken at any level, Italian is included de jure, but not de facto, between the recognized minority languages of Bosnia-Herzegovina and Romania. Many speakers of Italian are native bilinguals of both standardized Italian and other regional languages.

Contents

The opera

La finta parigina was composed for Carnival of 1773 and, although the exact date of the work's premiere is now unknown. It is the second of the sixty-eight operas that Cimarosa wrote and is written in the then popular style of Neapolitan opera buffa. The libretto uses Neapolitan dialect and praises Cimarosa's home town of Aversa, notably its mozzarella cheese and Asprina wine. most of the opera consists of solo numbers, with only a few brief duets and ensembles. [1]

Carnival festive season which occurs immediately before Lent

Carnival is a Western Christian and Greek Orthodox festive season that occurs before the liturgical season of Lent. The main events typically occur during February or early March, during the period historically known as Shrovetide. Carnival typically involves public celebrations, including events such as parades, public street parties and other entertainments, combining some elements of a circus. Elaborate costumes and masks allow people to set aside their everyday individuality and experience a heightened sense of social unity. Participants often indulge in excessive consumption of alcohol, meat, and other foods that will be forgone during upcoming Lent. Traditionally, butter, milk, and other animal products were not consumed "excessively", rather, their stock was fully consumed as to reduce waste. Pancakes, donuts, and other desserts were prepared and eaten for a final time. During Lent, animal products are no longer eaten, and individuals have the ability to give up a certain object or activity of desire.

Aversa Comune in Campania, Italy

Aversa is a city and comune in the Province of Caserta in Campania, southern Italy, about 5 kilometres north of Naples. It is the centre of an agricultural district, the Agro Aversano, producing wine and cheese. Aversa is also the main seat of the faculties of Architecture and Engineering of the Seconda università degli studi di Napoli. With a population of 52,974 (2017), it is the second city of the province after Caserta.

Mozzarella Type of semi-soft Italian cheese

Mozzarella is a traditionally southern Italian cheese made from Italian buffalo's milk by the pasta filata method. Mozzarella received a Traditional Specialities Guaranteed certification from the European Union in 1998. This protection scheme requires that mozzarella sold in the European Union is produced according to a traditional recipe.

The opera relates the amorous misadventures of a group including the shopkeeper Cardillo (baritone), his sister Rosalina (soprano), the nobles Donna Olimpia (soprano) and Don Flaminio (alto), a Frenchman Monsiu Blò (tenor) and Donna Armida (soprano), the 'fake Parisienne'. [2]

A baritone is a type of classical male singing voice whose vocal range lies between the bass and the tenor voice types. Originally from the Greek βαρύτονος (barýtonos), meaning heavy sounding, music for this voice is typically written in the range from the second F below middle C to the F above middle C (i.e. F2–F4) in choral music, and from the second A below middle C to the A above middle C (A2 to A4) in operatic music, but can be extended at either end. The baritone voice type is generally divided into the baryton-Martin baritone (light baritone), lyric baritone, Kavalierbariton, Verdi baritone, dramatic baritone, baryton-noble baritone, and the bass-baritone.

The musical term alto, meaning "high" in Italian, refers to the second highest part of a contrapuntal musical texture and is also applied to its associated vocal range, especially in choral music. It is also the root word of contralto, the lowest standard female voice type. When designating instruments, "alto" likewise can refer either to the corresponding vocal range or to musical role. The term "alto" is also used to designate a specific kind of musical clef; see alto clef.

Roles

RoleVoice typePremiere Cast, Carnival 1773
(Conductor: - )
Donna Olimpia Onesti, Don Martino's wife who is supposedly dead soprano
Don Flaminio del Sole, a local dandy tenor
Mossiù Le Blò, a French doctor who is really a quacktenor
Don Martino Crespa, Donna Olimpia's supposedly widowed husband baritone
Donna Armida Gnoccolosa, engaged to Don Martinosoprano
Cardillo, an innkeeperbaritone
Malacarne, brother of Cardillo bass
Preziosa, a purveyor of cheesesoprano
Rosolina, Cardillo's young sister soubrette

Recordings

Conducting directing a musical performance by way of visible gestures

Conducting is the art of directing a musical performance, such as an orchestral or choral concert. It has been defined as "the art of directing the simultaneous performance of several players or singers by the use of gesture." The primary duties of the conductor are to interpret the score in a way which reflects the specific indications in that score, set the tempo, ensure correct entries by ensemble members, and "shape" the phrasing where appropriate. Conductors communicate with their musicians primarily through hand gestures, usually with the aid of a baton, and may use other gestures or signals such as eye contact. A conductor usually supplements their direction with verbal instructions to their musicians in rehearsal.

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References

Sources
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Notes
  1. 1 2 Rossi and Fauntleroy (1999), p. 56
  2. 1 2 Rossi and Fauntleroy (1999), p. 174