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La fanciulla del West

La fanciulla del West (The Girl of the West) is an opera in three acts by Giacomo Puccini to an Italian libretto by Guelfo Civinini and Carlo Zangarini, based on the 1905 play The Girl of the Golden West by the American author David Belasco. Fanciulla followed Madama Butterfly, which was also based on a Belasco play. The opera has fewer of the show-stopping highlights that characterize Puccini's other works, but is admired for its impressive orchestration and for a score that is more melodically integrated than is typical of his previous work. Fanciulla displays influences from composers Claude Debussy and Richard Strauss, without being in any way imitative. Similarities between the libretto and the work of Richard Wagner have also been found though some attribute this more to the original plot of the play, and have asserted that the opera remains quintessentially Italian.

"Girl of the Golden West" redirects here. For other uses, see The Girl of the Golden West (disambiguation).

La fanciulla del West

The Girl of the West

Italian

10 December 1910 (1910-12-10)

At the time of its debut performance, Puccini declared La fanciulla del West to be the greatest composition of his career as a composer. The work had a highly publicized premiere at the Metropolitan Opera, New York City, in 1910 that was immensely popular with audiences, but, to the disappointment of Puccini, received a less than positive reaction from American critics who felt the composer failed to effectively integrate an American aesthetic into the opera's score. The opera was widely performed internationally in the three years following the premiere for performances in cities throughout the United States, Europe, and South America. However, critical reaction to the work was largely negative internationally with the exception of critics in Italy at this time in history.


After 1913, stagings of La fanciulla del West during the early and mid 20th century were more infrequent; although the opera has never left the performance repertoire. While overall public reception of the work has remained mixed, critical assessment of the opera underwent a reversal among Puccini scholars beginning in the late 20th century. Despite the plot being a source of significant criticism, the majority of published writers on Puccini and his music in the late 20th century and 21 century agree in calling La fanciulla del West Puccini's magnum opus, particularly lauding its craftsmanship.


This critical reassessment of La fanciulla del West coincided with an increase of performances of the opera at opera houses internationally during the late 20th and 21st centuries. Today performances of the opera are not rare, but the work is still not as frequently programmed as Puccini's other mature operas, such as La bohème and Tosca.


In 2006 the philanthropist Bruce Kovner donated a large collection of original manuscripts to the Juilliard School, including Puccini's manuscript for La fanciulla del West.

Later performance history[edit]

While La fanciulla del West has failed to gain the popularity of some of Puccini's other works, such as La bohème and Tosca, the work has never completely left the opera reportory. For periodic stretches of time in the 20th century performances of the opera occurred with less frequency, but the opera has had a resurge of interest on the opera stage internationally in the late 20th and early 21st century.[24] Today the opera is not performed nearly as often as Puccini's other mature operas,[2] but stagings of the opera are not a rare occurrence.[25]


In 1921 the opera was staged at the Opéra de Monte-Carlo where Puccini was particularly impressed by soprano Gilda dalla Rizza, remarking, "At last I have seen my true Fanciulla."[26] In 1922 the Chicago Civic Opera staged the opera with Rosa Raisa as Minnie; a production which the company toured to New York's Manhattan Opera House.[27] In 1927 the Vienna State Opera staged the work with a critically lauded performance by Maria Jeritza in the role of Minnie; with the soprano receiving fourteen curtain calls in her final performance of the production.[28] In 1934 the opera was given its Swedish premiere in Stockholm at the Royal Swedish Opera with Jussi Björling as Dick Johnson and Helga Görlin as Minnie.[29]


The Metropolitan Opera has revived La fanciulla del West several times during the company's history after the initial production of the opera left its repertoire in 1914. The first time was in 1929 with Jeritza as Minnie and Giovanni Martinelli as Dick Johnson; a production which remained in the Met's performance repertoire through 1931.[30][31] In 1930 the opera was presented for the first time on the Metropolitan Opera radio broadcasts for a live national broadcast with New Zealand soprano Frances Alda singing the role of Minnie.[32]


After a 30-year absence from the Met stage, La fanciulla del West was revived again at the Met in 1961 with a production directed by Henry Butler with an initial cast of Leontyne Price as Minnie and Richard Tucker as Dick Johnson.[33] Butler's staging of the work remained in the Met's performance repertoire for periodic performances over the next nine years; with its final performances being in 1970 with soprano Renata Tebaldi as Minnie.[34] The work as staged by Butler was notably the very first opera performance presented at the newly built Metropolitan Opera House at Lincoln Center on April 11, 1966, with soprano Beverly Bower in the role of Minnie.[35] More recently the Met revived the opera in 1991 with Barbara Daniels as Minnie; using a staging by Giancarlo del Monaco which has remained in the Met's rotating repertoire for periodic performance; most recently in 2018 with Eva-Maria Westbroek as Minnie.[36] The Met also presented this staging of the work in the 2010–2011 season with Deborah Voigt as Minnie to mark the 100th anniversary of the opera's premiere in 1910.[37]


The San Francisco Opera (SFO) staged the work for the first time on September 15, 1930, with Jeritza as Minnie, Frederick Jagel as Dick Johnson, and Gaetano Viviani as Jack Rance.[38] The company has since presented the opera in five more of its opera seasons, including productions in 1943 with Florence Kirk as Minnie and Robert Weede as Jack Rance; in 1960 with Dorothy Kirsten as Minnie and Sandor Konya as Dick Johnson;[39] in 1965 with Chester Ludgin as Jack Rance and Marie Collier as Minnie using a production staged by Lotfi Mansouri;[40] in 1979 with Carol Neblett as Minnie and Giovanni Gibin as Dick Johnson;[41] and in 2010 with Deborah Voigt as Minnie.[42]


In 1949 the Festival Puccini in Torre del Lago, Italy staged a new production of La fanciulla del West to commemorate the 25th anniversary of Puccini's death; and the opera has remained a part of the festival's rotating repertoire into the 21st century.[43] In 1950 the Teatro dell'Opera di Roma mounted the opera in a production starring Maria Caniglia as Minnie and Vasco Campagnano as Johnson.[39] In 1954 soprano Eleanor Steber portrayed Minnie at a production at La Fenice.[39] La Scala staged the opera in 1956 with tenor Franco Corelli as Johnson; a role he repeated at the Teatro di San Carlo in 1957.[39] The opera remained in La Scala's repertoire for several seasons with the role of Minnie being performed at the theatre by sopranos Gigliola Frazzoni (1956-1957) and Birgit Nilsson (1958).[39] In 1958 soprano Anny Schlemm performed the role of Minnie at the Oper Frankfurt, and soprano Gerda Scheyrer sang the part at the Vienna State Opera.[39]


In 1963 the opera was staged by the Fujiwara Opera in Tokyo with Antonietta Stella as Minnie.[39] The Theatro Municipal (Rio de Janeiro) mounted the work in 1964 with Magda Olivero as Minnie; a role the soprano repeated at the Teatro Lirico Giuseppe Verdi in 1965.[39] The Philadelphia Lyric Opera staged the work at the Academy of Music in 1964 under the music direction of Anton Guadagno.[44]


The New York City Opera (NYCO) first presented the opera in 1977 in a production directed by Frank Corsaro with Maralin Niska as Minnie and Ermanno Mauro as Dick Johnson with Sergiu Comissiona conducting.[45] The NYCO unveiled a new production of the opera staged by James De Blasis in 1990 starring Linda Roark-Strummer as Minnie and Stefano Algieri as Dick Johnson.[46] The NYCO staged the opera a third time in 2005 with Stephanie Friede as Minnie, Renzo Zulian as Dick Johnson, and George Manahan conducting.[47] Most recently the NYCO presented the opera in 2017 with Kristin Sampson as Minnie.[48]


In 1979 the Teatro Colón performed La fanciulla del West with Plácido Domingo as Dick Johnson.[49] In 1982 the Deutsche Oper Berlin staged the opera with Ghena Dimitrova as Minnie.[50] That same year the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden mounted a production of the opera starring Domingo and Carol Neblett which was filmed for television broadcast in the UK and the United States.[51] In 1983 the Canadian Opera Company performed the work with Johanna Meier as Minnie.[39] In 1985 the Spoleto Festival USA performed the opera with Belgian soprano Anne-Marie Antoine as Minnie.[52] In 1991 the Santa Fe Opera presented the work during its 35th season with Mary Jane Johnson as Minnie and Craig Sirianni as Dick Johnson.[53] That same year La Scala revived the opera with Mara Zampieri, Plácido Domingo, and Juan Pons singing under the baton of Lorin Maazel; a performance which was recorded live for commercial release.[54]


An incomplete list of more recent stagings include performances at the Teatro Real (1983),[39] the Liceu (1984),[39] Arena di Verona (1986),[39] Vienna State Opera (1988 and 2013),[39][55] Lyric Opera of Chicago (1990 and 2011),[39][56] Welsh National Opera (1991),[39] the Teatro Regio Torino (1991),[39] Tulsa Opera (1991),[57] the Los Angeles Opera (1991 and 2002),[39][58] Oper Frankfurt (1992),[39] Opéra de Marseille (1993),[59] the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden (1994 and 2005),[39][60] La Scala (1995),[39] the Zürich Opera House (1998 and 2014),[61][62] the Teatro del Giglio (2000),[63] the Austin Lyric Opera (2002),[64] Seattle Opera (2004),[65] Glimmerglass Opera (2004),[65] the Opera Orchestra of New York (2004),[66] the Deutsche Oper Berlin (2006, 2015, and 2021),[67][68][69] the New National Theatre Tokyo (2006),[68] the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra (2007),[39] the Malmö Opera (2007),[39] the Opéra de Montréal (2008),[70] the Teatro dell'Opera di Roma (2008-2009),[39] the Dutch National Opera (2009),[71] the Adelaide Festival Theatre (2009),[39] the Edinburgh International Festival (2010),[72] Opera Australia (2010),[73] the Mobile Opera (2013),[74] the Castleton Festival (2013),[75] the Minnesota Opera (2014)[76] the Paris Opera (2014),[61] Opera Holland Park (2014),[24] the English National Opera (2014),[77] Opera North (2014),[25] the Virginia Opera (2017),[78] the Michigan Opera Theatre (2017),[79] the Hungarian State Opera (2018),[80] the Bavarian State Opera (2019),[81] the National Centre for the Performing Arts (China) (2019, Chinese premiere),[82] the Mariinsky Theatre (2019 and 2022),[18] the Berlin State Opera (2021),[83] the Seoul Arts Center (2021, South Korea première),[84] the Romanian National Opera, Cluj-Napoca (2022),[85] the Teatro Sociale, Como (2022),[86] the Teatro Fraschini (2022),[87] and the Estonian National Opera (2022-2023).[88]


In 2006 the philanthropist Bruce Kovner donated a large collection of original manuscripts to the Juilliard School, including Puccini's manuscript for La fanciulla del West.[89]

Instrumentation[edit]

La fanciulla del West is scored for piccolo; three flutes; three oboes; one English horn; three clarinets in B-flat; one bass clarinet in B-flat; three bassoons; one contrabassoon; four French horns in F; three trumpets in F; three tenor trombones; one bass trombone; a percussion section with timpani, cymbals, one triangle, one snare drum, one bass drum, and one glockenspiel; three onstage fonicas;[a] one celesta; two harps; and strings.[92]

Other influences[edit]

The melody for Jake Wallace's song near the beginning of the first act is derived from two songs in a collection of Zuni melodies "recorded and harmonized" by ethnomusicologist Carlos Troyer, published in 1909. Puccini had obtained this publication in an effort to find authentic Native American music for the role of Wowkle, but he ended up using it for Jake Wallace instead. (Several books about Puccini repeat Mosco Carner's claim that the song is based on Stephen Foster's "Old Dog Tray"; it is not.)[97]


A climactic phrase sung by Johnson, "E provai una gioia strana" (alternatively "Ho provato una gioia strana" in some versions of the libretto) from "Quello che tacete" near the end of the first act, is widely cited to resemble a similar phrase in the Phantom's song "The Music of the Night" in Andrew Lloyd Webber's 1986 musical The Phantom of the Opera.[98][99][100][101] The Puccini estate sued Lloyd Webber over copyright infringement and the matter was settled out of court.


The opera was first portrayed in film in 1915 by famed director Cecil B. DeMille, and subsequently by directors Edwin Carewe in 1923, and John Francis Dillon, whose 1930 film was lost. A 1938 film directed by Robert Z. Leonard was based not on the opera but on the original play by Belasco; Sigmund Romberg wrote songs for this film.

Randall, Annie J.; David, Rosalind G. (2006). Puccini & the Girl: history and reception of The Girl of the Golden West. Chicago: . ISBN 0226703894.

University of Chicago Press

Smith, Peter Fox (2004). A Passion for Opera. Trafalgar Square Books.  978-1570762802.

ISBN

: Scores at the International Music Score Library Project

La fanciulla del West

(Italian, Russian)

Libretto

Retrieved 26 October 2010

fanciulla100.org, an educational website dedicated to the opera's centenary