Baltimore Opera Company

Study Guide

La Sonnambula
The Sleepwalker

About the Librettist – Felice Romani

Felice Romani, the most popular and celebrated opera librettist of the first half of the 19 th century, was born into impecunious means in Genoa on January 31, 1788. Given to poor health, his mother doted on him to such a degree that he became rather vain in the Beau Brummel mode, and rather difficult in the Napoleon mode, attributes that were the despair of the many composers with whom he would collaborate in his relatively long life. He was a bright, precocious child, and his family saw a chance to recoup their long-lost fortunes by encouraging him to study law. His own tastes ran towards belles lettres and he was ultimately invited to join the faculty of the University of Genoa , where he oversaw a dictionary of mythology that was the standard textbook for many years. While still in his 20's he moved to Milan where he was introduced to the Northern Italian literati, most notably the playwright Vincenzo Monti, who did much to establish the young writer in the appropriate social and professional circles. He met the transplanted Bavarian composer Simon Mayr who offered him the opportunity to write two libretti for him: La rosa bianca e la rosa rossa (for Romani's hometown of Genoa ) and Medea in Corinto (for Naples ). On the basis of the success of those two works Romani was offered a staff position as librettist for La Scala, a position that he held until the Austrian takeover. Fortunately, he had so many successes that he was able to venture out on his own as the premier opera librettist in the world for the next 25 years. His catalogue lists works with renowned composers such as Rossini ( Il Turco in Italia –1814); Donizetti ( Anna Bolena –1830; L'Elisir D'Amore - 1832); and of course Bellini ( Il Pirata –1827; I Capuleti ed i Montecchi –1830; La Straniera – 1829; La Sonnambula –1831; Norma –1831). The majority of his libretti, however, were set by composers now long forgotten, although most certainly lionized in their day – primarily Vaccai, once well known for his book of singers' vocalises, and Mercadante, Pacini, and Nicolini, now known for their contributions to the infamous Schirmer edition of “Early Italian Songs,” the standard book of songs given to the budding opera singer. Many of the libretti that he produced were “recycled” in various ways, with the most famous example being the libretto for the opera Il finto Stanislao for the composer Gyrowetz – it was recycled by a young, unknown Italian composer in 1840 for the dismal failure Un Giorno di Regno.

Romani's libretti are known for their dramatic tautness and classical restraint, particularly when compared with other writing styles of the time that were efflorescent with floridness. In contrast to his lean writing style, his personal life was a labyrinthine maze. He was always accepting too many commissions, and was legendary for his unpunctuality and bellicose ways. He and Bellini appeared to have a love/hate relationship, although Romani apparently had a great respect for the composer, to the point of re-writing the text to “Casta diva” several times in order to suit Bellini. Things came to an ugly head in 1833 when they bitterly parted company. Unfortunately they never spoke again, but when Bellini died Romani was said to be disconsolate.

His last notable libretto was for Donizetti's Lucrezia Borgia in 1833, although he continued to write until 1855. He is said to have publicly disparaged the works of the emerging Verdi, who perhaps might have felt that Verdi's emphasis on drama rather than poetry was the antithesis of his life's work. Felice Romani died on January 28, 1865 on his family's farmland at Moneglia. His monument is his tremendous corpus of works that single-handedly lifted the art of libretto writing to the artistic level of the best of the bel canto composers.

James Harp

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