I masnadieri (The Bandits or The Robbers) is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Andrea Maffei, based on the play Die Räuber by Friedrich von Schiller. As Verdi became more successful in Italy, he began to receive offers from other opera houses outside the country. The London impresario Benjamin Lumley had presented Ernani in 1845 and, as a result of its success, commissioned an opera from the composer which became I masnadieri. It was given its first performance at Her Majesty's Theatre on 22 July 1847 with Verdi conducting the first two performances.
While reasonably successful there and in Italy up to the mid-1860s, the opera disappeared for about ninety years until revived in 1951. It has been staged and filmed several times in the 21st century.
Composition history
In 1842 Lumley took over the management of Her Majesty's Theatre, the traditional home of Italian opera in London. Three years later Verdi's Ernani received its first British production at his theatre to great public acclaim, which convinced Lumley that he should commission an opera from Verdi, who was by then emerging as Italy's leading composer. Initially, the opera was to be Il corsaro based on the Byron poem of 1814, The Corsair. Verdi accepted Lumley's proposal and production was scheduled for the world premiere of the new opera in the summer of 1846. Unfortunately, Verdi's health deteriorated and the premiere of the new work had to be postponed until 1847.
During his period of recovery, one of Verdi's close friends, Andrea Maffei, a distinguished poet who had translated both Shakespeare and Schiller into Italian, suggested that Macbeth and Schiller's Die Räuber might provide suitable operatic subjects. With an offer to present a new opera in Florence, Verdi had the choice of two locations, Florence or London. In the end, the decision to present the opera Macbeth in Florence came about because of the availability of a suitable bass, which Florence produced in the form of Felice Varesi. Thus, I masnadieri became destined for London, but with the condition that both Jenny Lind and the tenor Fraschini would be available. Maffei himself worked to complete the libretto of the Schiller opera with the composer.Budden, p. 315 However, while Verdi had specified Fraschini, Budden notes that the management were not able to guarantee his presence and, besides, Muzio's "ear to the ground for news of the London opera season" had discovered that the preferred tenor there was Italo Gardoni, who did sing the premiere.
Verdi left Italy at the end of May 1847, accompanied by his long-time assistant and student Emanuele Muzio, with his work for London completed, except for the orchestration, which he left until the opera was in rehearsal. Apart from this being somewhat standard practice, another reason is noted by Gabiele Baldini in The Story of Giuseppe Verdi: the composer wanted to hear "la Lind and modify her role to suit her more exactly."
However, there had already been rumblings that Lind may not be present; in a letter to Lumley in April, the composer had warned the impresario that he "would not put up with the slightest shortcoming" and that he would withdraw the opera "if my opera is not put on at the proper time and with everything done as it ought to be done"Verdi to Lumley, 10 April 1847, in Budden, p. 316 An additional issue emerged. The travelers having reached Paris, Verdi heard rumours that Lind was not willing to learn new roles and, therefore, Muzio was sent across the English Channel ahead of the composer, who waited for an assurance that the soprano was in London and willing to proceed. From London, Muzio was able to give Verdi that assurance, informing him that Lind was ready and eager to go to work. Verdi continued his journey, crossing the Channel on 5 June.Baldini, p. 132Budden, pp. 316–317: Budden expands on the reasons behind Lind's hesitations about coming to London, one of which was due to a threat from Bunn, the manager of the Drury Lane Theatre, to have her arrested upon arrival in England for not fulfilling a contract he had negotiated with her. Eventually, all was worked out.
Lumley had assembled a cast of the highest international standard, specifically the Swedish coloratura soprano Jenny Lind, who came to create the role of Amalia, the opera's heroine. Thus, this opera became the highlight of her first season in England. After considerable persuasion Verdi agreed to conduct the premiere on 22 July 1847 and also conducted the second performance and after Verdi's departure, it was given two more times before the end of the season.Budden, pp. 318–319 Queen Victoria and Prince Albert attended the first performance, together with the Duke of Wellington and every member of the British aristocracy and fashionable society who was able to gain admission.
Overall, the premiere was a triumphant success for the composer himself, and the press was for the most part generous in its praise, although the critic Henry Chorley was to describe it as "the worst opera that has been given in our time at Her Majesty's Theatre. Verdi is finally rejected".Chorley quoted in Budden, p. 319 (but taken from Toye, p. 56)
The libretto
As Gabriele Baldini in The Story of Giuseppe Verdi examines this opera, the quality of the libretto preoccupies him over several pages, as much for the unsuitability of Maffei as a librettist as his lack of skill in crafting Schiller's story into an acceptable libretto.Baldini, pp. 129–134 He stresses the fact that Maffei's strengths lay in the field of translation, mostly from the German and English literature, and Baldini sums him up as "neither a poet nor a good man of letters ... who found himself at the centre of cultural currents to which he was contributing nothing really vital".Baldini, p. 126–127 Implicit, therefore, is the notion - as noted in the quotation from Basevi below under "Music" - of whether composer and librettist were really suited to each other. Musicologist Julian Budden, who describes Maffei's libretto as "indigestible",Budden, p. 337 agrees with this assessment when he states that, along with Salvadore Cammarano, the librettist employed by the composer for the first time in 1845 to write Alzira, there was "an exaggerated regard on Verdi's part for the librettist" and he continues: "such complaisance [from the composer] was a bad sign."Budden, pp. 319–320
Performance history 19th century
While never entirely successful elsewhere, perhaps (at least in part) for the inconsistencies and excesses of its libretto, following its premiere performances, stagings in Italy were quite numerous until 1862, with performances having been given in about 17 Italian cities, including three in Milan (two of which were at La Scala) between 1849 and 1862.Performances listed on librettodopera.it Retrieved 17 June 2013 Budden notes that the opera did not do well on the continent, although it was translated into French, Hungarian and German and given in Russia under the title Adele di Cosenza "before it joined Alzira in the limbo of Verdi's least performed operas".
20th century From the 1970s on, the work has begun to reappear in the repertoire. A staged production in 1972 at the Rome Opera was recorded that November, with some outstanding singers of the era who included Boris Christoff, Gianni Raimondi, Renato Bruson and Ilva Ligabue. In New York, a concert performance was given by the Opera Orchestra of New York in February 1975. Other 1970s examples include a September 1976 performance in the Coliseo Albia in Bilbao, with Matteo Manuguerra and Cristina Deutekom appearing in major roles. La Scala in Milan presented the opera in 1978 under Riccardo Chailly.
In Australia in June/July 1980 at the Sydney Opera House Richard Bonynge conducted performances - which featured Joan Sutherland as Amalia. Nello Santi conducted a 1982 Zurich Opera production with Giorgio Zancanaro and Cristina Deutekom. In the US, the San Diego Opera staged it during their "Verdi Festival" in summer 1984 and brought in both Joan Sutherland and her husband.San Diego Opera's performance history 21st century There was a staging in Palermo in 2001 with Dimitra Theodossiou, Roberto Servile, and Carlo Ventre. The next year the Royal Opera Covent Garden presented a new production featuring Delligatti, René Pape, Franco Farina and Dmitri Hvorostovsky. I masnadieri is naturally programmed by companies presenting every one of Verdi's operas: it appeared in Bilbao as part of the ABAO company's 2003/2004 "Tutto Verdi" series, at the Sarasota Opera in 2006 in its "Verdi Cycle" series, and at Teatro Regio di Parma in its 2013 "Festival Verdi". 2013 "Festival Verdi" announcement on the company's website The work has in recent years also been in the repertory of Zurich Opera, Frankfurt Opera, Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires, Teatro di San Carlo in Naples and Bavarian State Opera in Munich.Zurich Opera performances, 2010/11 seasonI masnadieri in Frankfurt Opera The latter three stagings were filmed in 2008, 2012 and 2020, respectively, and have been issued as DVDs or streamed online. I masnadieri was revived in Munich in 2023.
Roles
RoleVoice typePremiere Cast, 22 July 1847List of singers taken from Budden, p. 314.(Conductor: Giuseppe Verdi)Massimiliano, Count MoorbassLuigi LablacheCarlo, elder son of MassimilianotenorItalo GardoniFrancesco, younger son of MassimilianobaritoneFilippo ColettiAmalia, orphaned niece of MassimilianosopranoJenny LindArminio, servant to the CounttenorLeone CorelliRolla, senior member of the band of robbersbaritoneDal-FioriMoser, a priestbassLucien BouchéChorus of robbers
Synopsis Place: Germany Time: between 1755 and 1757.
Act 1
Scene 1: A tavern on the borders of Saxony.
During a break from his studies at Dresden University, Carlo, the elder and favourite son of Count Massimiliano Moor, has fallen amongst thieves, literally. He has become a member of a notorious gang of highwaymen and cut-throats who terrorise the local community by robbery, extortion and rowdy singing at all hours of the day and night.
But already Carlo has tired of living a life of depravity and longs to return home to be with Amalia, his gentle cousin and lifelong sweetheart (O mio castel paterno / "O castle of my fathers"). He is awaiting the reply to a letter he has sent to his father begging for forgiveness for his recent misdemeanors.
Rolla and the other robbers arrive with the longed-for reply from the Count. Carlo's joy soon turns to sorrow, and then anger (Nell'argilla maledetta / "Let my wrath plunge these swords into the accursed clay"), as he finds that the letter is not from his father but from his younger brother Francesco, who warns him not to return home because, far from having forgiven Carlo, the old Count is intent on punishing him and locking him away.
Carlo renounces his former life and swears an oath to remain with his new comrades for the rest of his days. The robbers unanimously elect him as their new leader.
Scene 2: A room in Count Moor's castle in Franconia.
Francesco is congratulating himself on having intercepted the letter from his brother to their father, knowing that Massimiliano would certainly have forgiven Carlo if he had received it. Now only the elderly, infirm Count stands between Francesco and the family title and estates, and he has devised a plan to hasten his father's death (La sua lampada vitale / "The lamp of his life burns low").
He forces Arminio, one of the castle servants, to disguise himself as a soldier recently arrived with tragic 'news' of Carlo's death, and sings his cabaletta, Tremate, o miseri / "Tremble, you wretches, you shall see me in my true terrible aspect".
Scene 3: Count Moor's bedroom in the castle.
Amalia is watching over the ailing Count. Each of them is thinking affectionately of the missing Carlo (Lo sguardo avea degli angeli / "His face had the smile of the angels").