Crispino e la comare

Crispino e la comare (The Cobbler and the Fairy) is an opera by Luigi Ricci and Federico Ricci with an Italian libretto by Francesco Maria Piave.

Performance history

The premiere took place on 28 February 1850 at the Teatro San Benedetto in Venice. The work was very popular during the 19th Century, and was an especial favourite of touring Italian companies in the Americas, and in the Asia-Pacific region generally.

It had its London premiere on 17 November 1857 at St James's Theatre, its Calcutta premiere in 1867 at the Calcutta Opera House^[1] and its Australian premiere on 11 August 1871 at the Princess's Theatre, Melbourne.^[2]

Roles

Role	Voice type	Premiere cast[3] 28 February 1850 (Conductor: - )
Crispino Tachetto, the cobbler	bass	Carlo Cambiaggio
Fabrizio, a doctor	baritone	Luigi Rinaldini
Mirabolino, a doctor and apothecary	bass	Luigi Ciardi
Contino del Fioro, a Tuscan nobleman	tenor	Giuseppe Pasi
Don Astrubale di Caparotta, a Sicilian miser	bass	Angelo Guglielmini
Bortilo, a mason	tenor
Annetta, Crispino's wife	soprano	Giovannina Pecorini
Lisetta	mezzo-soprano	Paolina Prinetti
La Comare, the fairy	mezzo-soprano	Giovannina Bordoni

Synopsis

The scene of the story is set in 17th century Venice. Crispino is a poor cobbler who cannot make ends meet. He is helped by a fairy who encourages him to start practicing medicine, though he cannot even read. He is successful with the fairy’s help but cannot bear prosperity gracefully and mistreats his wife. The fairy makes him aware of his faults and the cobbler’s family is happily reunited.

Recordings

A complete recording was made in 1994 by the San Remo Symphonic Orchestra. An Italian film based on the opera was produced in 1938, directed by Vincenzo Sorelli.

References

1. ^ Esmeralda Rocha, Opera in Calcutta 1833-1900
2. ^ Eric Irvin, Dictionary of the Australian Theatre 1788-1914
3. ^ "Almannaco 28 February 1850" (in Italian). AmadeusOnline. http://amadeusonline.net/almanacco.php?Start=0&Giorno=28&Mese=02&Anno=1850&Giornata=&Testo=&Parola=Stringa. Retrieved 29 august 2010. 

Source

• The Oxford Dictionary of Opera, by John Warrack and Ewan West (1992), 782 pages, ISBN 0-19-869164-5