Luisa Miller is an opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Salvadore Cammarano, based on the play Kabale und Liebe (Intrigue and Love) by the German dramatist Friedrich von Schiller.
Verdi's initial idea for a new opera – for which he had a contract going back over several years – was rejected by the Teatro San Carlo in Naples. He attempted to negotiate his way out of this obligation and, when that failed, Cammarano came up with the idea of adapting the Schiller play, with which Verdi was familiar. The process was set in motion, with Verdi still living and working on initial ideas from Paris, where he had been living for almost two years before moving back to his home town of Busseto in the summer of 1849. It was from there that he wrote the music and traveled to Naples for rehearsals. The first performance was given on 8 December 1849.
This was Verdi's 15th opera (counting Jérusalem, the French translation and revision of I Lombardi alla prima crociata), and it is regarded as the beginning of the composer's "middle period".Parker, p. 82: He refers to 19th century writer Basevi's description as this begins Verdi's "second manner".Chusid, (Ed.): Chusid notes that the eight operas of the "middle period" begin with this opera and end with Un ballo in maschera (1859).
Composition history
In August 1848, Verdi had written to the Naples opera house cancelling his contract of three years previous, in which he had agreed to write an opera for them. However, the management held him to it by threatening his librettist for failing to provide a libretto, and Verdi relented, encouraging Cammarano to develop "a brief drama with plenty of interest, action and above all feeling – which would make it easier to set to music".Verdi to Cammarano, 24 September 1848, in Budden, p. 419
In Verdi's mind, he had the perfect subject, to be based on the novel L'assedio di Firenze ("The Siege of Florence") by Francesco Domenico Guerrazzi, which glorified the life of the 16th-century Florentine soldier Francesco Ferruccio. This new subject was also a patriotic piece: Verdi had taken to heart the admonitions of the poet Giuseppe Giusti, who had pleaded with him after Macbeth and after Milan's political turmoil of March 1848 and its aftermath to "do what you can to nourish the [sorrow of the Italian people], to strengthen it, and direct it to its goal".Giusti to Verdi, date unknown, in Osborne, p. 189
Attempting to get a new libretto underway, Verdi approached Francesco Maria Piave, found him engaged as a soldier for the new Venetian republic, and so contacted Cammarano in Naples with the idea of L'assedio. But, as it turned out, Cammarano had to tell Verdi that the Naples censors rejected the outline of a subject which had interested Verdi very much since the time he prepared his previous opera, La battaglia di Legnano.Phillips-Matz, pp. 241–242 His inability to continue to develop the project came as a blow. Verdi's biographer Julian Budden notes that "next to Re Lear (King Lear), this was to be the most fascinating of Verdi unrealized subjects"; another biographer Mary Jane Phillips-Matz adds that she regards L'assedio di Firenze as "one of Verdi's most important uncomposed works."Phillips-Matz, p. 235
Cammarano advised the composer to avoid a story which had any sort of revolutionary tinge, and he came back with an idea which Verdi himself had once proposed in 1846 when he was recovering from his illness and in the company of Andrea Maffei (who was writing the libretto for I masnadieri): to adapt Schiller's Kabale und Liebe. Therefore, he sent a synopsis of Luisa Miller (which he called Eloisa Miller) to Verdi on 14 May 1849.
Verdi's reply to Cammarano on 17 May outlines some of his concerns; these revolved around the shift of some elements (especially in act 2) and the addition of a duet for Walter and Wurm. As Budden notes, "the only one of these points on which Verdi got his way was the new duet" (because the librettist raised various objections regarding the conditions at the San Carlo and various others), but Budden emphasizes the "spirit of give and take" which prevailed through their relationship. One example regarded the ending of act 1 where Verdi emphasized that there should no stretta, and the librettist agreed provided that "the act did not end in slow tempo but should quicken towards an animated finish."Budden, pp. 421–422(See "Music" below).
Cammarano moved the action from a princely court (in the 18th century) to a Tyrolean village (in the 17th century), and shifted the characters away from the princely intrigues which preoccupied Schiller. He therefore moved the focus much more toward the "Liebe" (Love) and away from the "Kabale" (Intrigue) aspects of the play.
With the idea of Luisa Miller agreed upon, from Paris Verdi approached the Naples management, trying to obtain a delay or, at least, to allow the new opera to be presented in his absence.Verdi to Flauto, letters of 1 June and 26 July 1849, in Budden, p. 423 When this approach was rejected, the composer made plans for both himself and his companion Giuseppina Strepponi to leave Paris; Verdi went to his native Busseto, arriving about 10 August, and took up residence in the Palazzo Orlandi (also referred to as the Palazzo Cavalli, after its architect)Phillips-Matz, p. 250 which he had bought in 1845; Strepponi joined him there a month later, for what was to be a difficult period in both their lives.Phillips-Marz, pp. 249–253
It was from Busseto that Verdi then began work on the score of this opera, having received the libretto from Cammarano on 13 August. In October he left for Naples, accompanied by Antonio Barezzi, whom he continued to refer to as his "father-in-law".
Distinctive elements of the libretto When music writer Charles Osborne describes the libretto as "inadequate as an adaptation of Schiller's excellent play [but] Cammarano's Luisa Miller is, in its own right, a very fine libretto",Osborne, pp. 206–209 he continues by comparing it with Cammarano's previous libretto for La battaglia di Legnano, which contrasts: the domesticity of the story as opposed to the larger, public nature of the earlier opera. Verdi's Luisa Miller, his first attempt at portraying something of bourgeois "respectability" on the stage, is a direct predecessor of La traviata, which deals, amongst other things, with bourgeois hypocrisy.
Baldini makes a similar point when he comments in his 1970 book The Story of Giuseppe Verdi that the opera "is in every sense a bourgeois tragedy [and] it feeds on the extraordinary fascination we have for everyday violent crimes. Nothing so far written by Verdi comes close to the concept of realism"Baldini, pp. 157–159 and he also comments on the essentially "private" nature of the opera; before Luisa, "something had always been raging, striving beyond the limits of private interests".
Performance history
19th century The premiere, on 8 December 1849, was well received, although for Verdi, the experience of dealing with the authorities at the San Carlo Opera in Naples caused him to vow never to produce another opera there.Osborne, p. 202 In fact, he never did, in spite of having initially written Un ballo in maschera for that house.
In Italy following the premiere, Luisa was given in Rome in 1850 and in Venice, Florence and Milan again up to 1852. Performances listed on librettodopera.it Retrieved 17 June 2013 The US premiere was staged by the Caroline Richings Company at the Walnut Street Theatre in Philadelphia on 27 October 1852 with Caroline Richings in the title role. This was followed on 3 June 1858 by the first UK presentation at Her Majesty's Theatre in London.Kimbell, p. 989
20th century and beyond While not as popular as the most often performed of Verdi's works such as Rigoletto, La Traviata or Aida, Luisa Miller is fairly often seen on the stages of the world's opera houses.
Following its initial six performances during the 1929/30 season at the Metropolitan Opera in New York, the opera was not given there again until 1968 under Thomas Schippers. The Luisa was Montserrat Caballé, the Rodolfo Richard Tucker, the Miller Sherrill Milnes, the Walter Giorgio Tozzi, and the Wurm Ezio Flagello. The Met has revived the work numerous times since then.
Notable revivals include those featuring Caballé at the Gran Teatre del Liceu in January 1972 and at the Teatro alla Scala in May 1976. Katia Ricciarelli sang the title role along with Luciano Pavarotti several times in those years, particularly in San Francisco and again in Turin along with José Carreras. In 1978 the opera was presented at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, also with Ricciarelli in the title role. Luciano Pavarotti sang the role of Rodolfo in the original run; later seasons saw Ricciarelli reprising the title role with tenor José Carreras, followed by Plácido Domingo and then Carlo Bergonzi
Three opera companies, which plan to present all of Verdi's operas, have given this opera: the Sarasota Opera in 1999 as part of its "Verdi Cycle"; the Teatro Regio di Parma in October 2007 as part of their ongoing "Festival Verdi"; Parma's 2007 "Festival Verdi" and the ABAO in Bilbao, Spain, in 2012 as part of its "Viva Verdi" series. The Paris Opéra at the Bastille Opera presented the work with Ana Maria Martinez and Ramón Vargas as Luisa and Rodolfo respectively on 8 March 2008.
In April–May 2010, a new production of the Zurich Opera House included Barbara Frittoli as Luisa, Fabio Armiliato as Rodolfo and Leo Nucci as Miller. In 2012, productions were seen in three German cities including Berlin, Stuttgart, and Munich, as well as Malmo in Sweden. In 2013, the opera was presented by the Israeli Opera company in Tel Aviv, by the Deutsche Oper am Rhein in Duisburg and Düsseldorf, and in Budapest. The San Francisco Opera opened their 93rd season in September 2015 by performing the opera.
Roles
RoleVoice typePremiere Cast, 8 December 1849List of singers taken from Budden, p. 418(Conductor: - )Miller, a retired soldierbaritoneAchille De BassiniLuisa, his daughtersopranoMarietta GazzanigaCount Walter bassAntonio SelvaRodolfo, his sontenorFederica, Duchess of Ostheim, Walter's niece contraltoTeresa SalandriWurm, Walter's stewardbassMarco AratiLaura, a village girlmezzo-sopranoMaria SalvettiA peasanttenorFrancesco RossiDamigelle di Federica, Paggi, Famigliari, Arcieri, Abitanti del villaggio
Synopsis Time: Early 17th Century Place: The Tyrol
Act 1 Scene 1: A village
On Luisa's birthday, the villagers have gathered outside her house to serenade her. She loves Carlo, a young man she has met in the village (Lo vidi e 'l primo palpito /"I saw him and my heart felt its first thrill of love") and looks for him in the crowd. Luisa's father, Miller, is worried by this mysterious love since Carlo is a stranger. Carlo appears and the couple sing of their love (Duet: t'amo d'amor ch'esprimere / "I love you with a love that words can only express badly"). As the villagers leave to enter the nearby church, Miller is approached by a courtier, Wurm, who is in love with Luisa, wishes to marry her, and previously attained permission to marry Luisa from Miller. But Miller tells him that he had agreed to give his blessing but she had to agree to the marriage herself and Miller will never make a decision against his daughter's will (Sacra la scelta è d'un consorte / "The choice of a husband is sacred"). Irritated by his reply, Wurm reveals to Miller that in reality Carlo is Rodolfo, Count Walter's son. Alone, Miller expresses his anger (Ah fu giusto il mio sospetto / "Ah! My suspicion was correct").
Scene 2: Count Walter's castle