- Arlecchino (opera)
"Arlecchino" "oder Die Fenster" ("Harlequin, or The Windows") is an
opera byFerruccio Busoni , with thelibretto in German written by the composer. Busoni composed the opera whilst living in Zurich.Performance history
Its first performance was by the
Zürich Opera on11 May 1918 . The first British performance was in 1954 atGlyndebourne . [Stevenson, Ronald, "Busoni's "Arlecchino" (1954). "Musical Times", 95 (13): 307-308.]Critical appreciation
The opera is unusual in that the title role of Arlecchino is a speaking role, with no singing. Arlecchino and the other roles in the opera are derived from the Italian "commedia dell'arte". Guido M. Gatti has commented that the opera itself illustrates Busoni's own particular ideas about opera as not depicting "realistic events", and also making use of music not continuously, but instead when it is needed and words are insufficient alone to convey the ideas of the text. The opera can be seen as falling into four movements, where Gatti has titled the movements, with a corresponding representation of Arlecchino in each of them: [cite journal | url=http://mq.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/citation/XX/3/267 |last=Gatti |first=Guido M. (translated A. Arbib-Costa) | title=The Stage-Works of Ferruccio Busoni | journal=The Musical Quarterly | volume=20 | issue=3 | pages=267–277 | month=July | year=1934 | accessdate=2007-08-12 | doi=10.1093/mq/XX.3.267]
* "Allegro" - "rogue"
* "Heroic March" - "warrior"
* "Scherzoso" - "husband"
* "The Final Triumph" - "conqueror"Because "Arlecchino" was too short in duration for a full evening's entertainment, Busoni allowed his composition "Turandot" to act as an accompanying work. The composer himself once characterized "Arlecchino" as follows:
["Arlecchino"] "has a tendency to ambiguity and hyperbole in order to place the listener momentarily in a position of slight doubt". [Puffitt, Derrick, "Busoni Elucidated" (review of Antony Beaumont's "Busoni the Composer" (January 1986). "Musical Times", 127 (1715): 29.]
Ronald Stevenson has described "Arlecchino" as a "theatre caprice", an "anti-opera", and an "anti-war satire". [Stevenson, Ronald, Review of "Ferruccio Busoni: Selected Letters" (edited by Antony Beaumont) (December 1987). "Tempo" (New Ser.), 163: pp. 27-29.]
Henry Cowell characterised this composition as "the only opera to betray knowledge of Schoenberg's early style before "Wozzeck". [cite journal | url=http://mq.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/reprint/XXXVIII/1/123 | last=Cowell | first=Henry | title=Current Chronicle: New York | journal=The Musical Quarterly | volume=XXXVIII | issue=1 | pages=123–136 | year=1952 | accessdate=2008-02-17]Roles
Recording
* Virgin Classics: Philippe Huttenlocher, Michael Kraus, Ernst Theo Richter; Opera de Lyon;
Kent Nagano , conductor (VCD7 59313-2) [William Lloyd, "Busoni: Arlecchino & Turandot". "Musical Times", 112 (1994).]References
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