Product Code Database
Gasparone is an operetta in three acts by Carl Millöcker to a German libretto by Camillo Walzel and Richard Genée. The libretto was later revised by and . An amusing feature of the work is that the title character never appears and acts as a scapegoat upon which all the misdeeds in Syracuse, Sicily, can be blamed.Lamb, Andrew. 150 Years of Popular Musical Theatre, p. 56 (2000) Yale University Press
After its debut, Millöcker revised the piece, creating eight versions. However, the most commonly used performing edition is that prepared in 1932 by the composer Ernst Steffan.Traubner, Richard. Operetta: A Theatrical History, pp. 138–140 (2003) Routledge This version includes "Dunkelrote Rosen" which Millöcker wrote as a vocal trio in the operetta Der Vizeadmiral. Ernst Steffan expanded the piece and Paul Knefler wrote new lyrics. "Karl Millöcker Gasparone" by Jürgen Gauert, 30 April 2010 (in German) Nevertheless, as Andrew Lamb has pointed out, this revision introduced new material and "reduced the effectiveness of Millöcker's comic-opera structures" in order to suit the taste of the 1930s.Lamb, Andrew (1992), "Millöcker, Carl" in The New Grove Dictionary of Opera, ed. Stanley Sadie (London)
| +
!Role
!Voice type
!Premiere cast, 26 January 1884 Conducting: Carl Millöcker) | ||
| Carlotta, widowed Countess Santa Croce | soprano | Maria Therese Massa |
| Count Erminio Saluzzo | tenor | Josef Josephi ("Joseffy") |
| Baboleno Nasoni, Mayor of Toresino | bass | Felix Schweighofer |
| Sindulfo, his son | tenor | |
| Benozzo, landlord of the Fisherman's Inn | tenor | Alexander Girardi |
| Sora, his wife | soubrette | Rosa Streitmann |
| Zenobia, duenna of the Countess | alto | |
| Massaccio, a smuggler, Benozzo's uncle | baritone | |
| Marietta, the Countess's maid | mezzo-soprano | |
| Luigi, Erminio's friend | speaking role | |
| Colonel Ruperto Corticelli | speaking role | |
| Lieutenant Guarini | speaking role | |
| Smugglers, Sora's friends, milkmaids, peasant girls, citizens of Syracuse, policemen, customs officers, boatmen (chorus) | ||
The countess' duenna and the mayor fancy each other. The duenna approaches the nobleman with the idea that everyone might end up with the love of their life if only there was a way to convince the mayor that the countess has no way of actually getting her hands on her millions. The nobleman bursts in on the countess pretending to be a masked bandit, and fantasy role plays that she should convince the mayor that her millions were stolen by Gasparone. The search for Gasparone intensifies. The mayor's son is convinced by the innkeeper that he could worm his way out his comic pickle by walking around with a gun borrowed from one of the smugglers and fib that he shot Gasparone single-handedly. The mayor and the duenna will marry. The countess and the nobleman will marry. The innkeeper and his wife are offered the ten thousand unused/phoney ransom as their gift to pay off the mortgage on the inn and close down the petty smuggling operation.
|
|
