La ville morte
by Nadia Boulanger and Raoul Pugno
LanguageFrench
Based onGabriele D'Annunzio's play La città morta  [it]
Premiere
2005
Siena

La ville morte is an opera by Nadia Boulanger and Raoul Pugno to the text of Gabriele D'Annunzio's play La città morta  [it]. It has been called Boulanger's "most significant achievement as a creative artist".[1]

History

After hearing her examinations at the Conservatoire de Paris in 1904, Pugno became Boulanger's teacher, collaborator and promotor.[2] Some writers say that Pugno and Boulanger became lovers, while others do not.[3] In 1909 they wrote a song cycle, Les heures claires, together.[4] Work on the opera probably began in 1909 and was finished in 1912.[5] Pugno died on 3 January 1914, before the opera could have its premier. Opéra-Comique had finished casting by July 1914, and choir rehearsals were scheduled to start on August 17 that same year when the outbreak of World War I disrupted all plans.[6] With many echoes of Pelléas et Mélisande, the story follows the lives and loves of an archeologist, Léonard, his sister Hebé, Alexandre, a colleague, and his wife Anne, amidst the ruins of Mycenae.[7]

A fully orchestrated version of the opera has not survived.[8] The opera was reconstructed from surviving scores by Mauro Bonifacio and had its world premiere at the 2005 Chigiana festival in Siena.[9] It was performed for the second time in a concert staging by Mia Nerenius, using screens and projections, in March 2020 at the Gothenburg Opera.[7][10]

A US premiere by Gotham Chamber Opera, postponed due to the Covid-19 pandemic, is planned for 2024.[11][12]

Roles

Role Voice type Premiere cast, 16 March 2005[13]
(Conductor: Luca Pfaff) 		Gothenburg Opera cast, 8 March 2020[14]
(Conductor: Anna-Maria Helsing)
Hebé soprano Michelle Canniccioni Katarina Karnéus
Anne mezzo-soprano Letitia Singleton Matilda Paulsson [sv]
Léonard tenor Lorenzo Carola Markus Pettersson
Alexandre Baritone Randal Turner Anton Ljungqvist

References

Citations

  1. ^ Potter 2006, p. 87.
  2. ^ Brooks 2013, p. 21.
  3. ^ Francis 2005, pp. 123–126.
  4. ^ Potter 2000, p. 397.
  5. ^ Francis 2005, pp. 54–78.
  6. ^ Potter 2006, p. 85.
  7. ^ a b Coughlan, Alexandra. Report from Gothenburg, Sweden. Opera, June 2020, Vol.71, No.6 p742-743.
  8. ^ See Potter 2006, p. 84 for a list of known manuscripts.
  9. ^ Potter 2006, pp. 85–86.
  10. ^ Dammann, Guy (28 February 2020). "Missa inte chansen att se glastaket krossas". Svenska Dagbladet (in Swedish).
  11. ^ Cooper, Michael (9 January 2019). "A New Company Rises From the Ashes of Gotham Chamber Opera". New York Times.
  12. ^ "La ville morte". catapultopera.org.
  13. ^ Toschi, David. "Siena – Chiesa di Sant'Agostino: La ville morte". www.operaclick.com. Retrieved 9 March 2020.
  14. ^ "La ville morte". opera.se. Göteborg Opera. Retrieved 9 March 2020.

Bibliography

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