Crispino e la comare o Il medico e la morte (The Cobbler and the Fairy or The Doctor and Death) is an opera written collaboratively 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 it was a favourite of Italian touring companies in the Americas and in the Asia-Pacific region.
The piece had its London premiere on 17 November 1857 at St James's Theatre. It was first performed in Paris on 4 April 1865 in Italian by the Théâtre Italien and was performed on 18 September 1869 as Le Docteur Crispin, with a French translation by Charles Nuitter and Alexandre Beaumont, at the Théâtre de l'Athénée on the rue Scribe.Loewenberg 1978, column 879; Lecomte 1912, p. 99. Its Calcutta premiere was in 1867 at the Calcutta Opera House,Esmeralda Rocha, Opera in Calcutta 1833–1900 and its Australian premiere was on 11 August 1871 at the Princess Theatre (Melbourne).Eric Irvin, Dictionary of the Australian Theatre 1788–1914
The opera debuted in the United States in 1865 in New York. It was later staged by the Metropolitan Opera in 1919 and by the Amato Opera in 1980.
Though it was rarely performed in the 20th century, the Festival della Valle d'Itria in Martina Franca, Italy, staged the work as part of its 39th opera festival in July 2013. Bass-baritone Domenico Colaianni sang Crispino, while the role of Annetta was taken by Stefania Bonfadelli.Dino Foresio, "Italy: Martina Franca", in Opera (London), December 2013, pp. 1575—1576
Roles +RoleVoice typePremiere cast, 28 February 1850Crispino Tachetto, the cobblerbassCarlo CambiaggioFabrizio, a doctorbaritoneLuigi RinaldiniMirabolano, a doctor and apothecarybassLuigi CiardiContino del Fioro, a Tuscan noblemantenorGiuseppe PasiDon Asdrubale di Caparotta, a Sicilian miserbassAngelo GuglielminiBortolo, a masontenorAnnetta, Crispino's wifesopranoGiovannina PecoriniLisettamezzo-sopranoPaolina PrinettiLa Comare, the fairymezzo-sopranoGiovannina Bordoni
Synopsis Place: Venice Time: the 17th century
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 1938: An Italian film based on the opera was directed by Vincenzo Sorelli. 1974: Complete recording, RAI orchestra & chorus, conductor Marco della Chiesa; Mario Chiappi (Crispino), Emilia Raveglia (Annetta), Luisella Ciaffi-Ricagno, Gianfranco Pastine, Alesandro Corbelli & Angelo Nostri. MRF Records, private edition. 1994: A complete recording was made by the San Remo Symphonic Orchestra. 2015: A DVD recorded live at the 2013 Festival della Valle d'Itria was released by Dynamic with Domenico Colaianni as Crispino and Stefania Bonfadelli as Annetta; Chorus of the Teatro Petruzzelli di Bari; Orchestra Internazionale d'Italia; Jader Bignamini (conductor)
References Notes
Sources Lecomte, Louis-Henry (1912). Histoire des théâtres de Paris: Les Fantaisies-Parisiennes, l'Athénée Le Théâtre Scribe, l'Athénée-Comique (1865–1911). Paris: H. Daragon. Copy at the Internet Archive. Loewenberg, Alfred (1978). Annals of Opera 1597–1940 (third edition, revised). Totowa, New Jersey: Rowman and Littlefield. .
Further reading Warrack, John and Ewan West, The Oxford Dictionary of Opera, 1992,
External links
Vocal score of Le Docteur Crispin at the Internet Archive