Aroldo () is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Francesco Maria Piave, based on and adapted from their earlier 1850 collaboration, Stiffelio. The opera premiered in Rimini's Teatro Nuovo Comunale on 16 August 1857.
Composition history Stiffelio had provoked the censorship board because of “the immoral and rough” storylines of a Protestant minister deceived by his wife and also because making the characters German did not please an Italian audience, although, as Budden notes, the opera "enjoyed a limited circulation (in Italy), but with the title changed to Guglielmo Wellingrode, the main protagonist now a German minister of state".Budden 2001, p.13 Verdi had rejected an 1852 request to write a new last act for the Wellingrode version, but, by spring 1856, in collaboration with his original librettist, Francesco Maria Piave, he decided to rewrite the story line and make a small number of musical changes and additions.Verdi to De Sanctis, March 1856: "I've only got to write various recitatives and two or three pieces" in Budden 1984, pp. 337-338) However, as it turned out, the work was to be more complex than that.
It drew inspiration from novels of Edward Bulwer-Lytton, specifically his Harold: the Last of the Saxon Kings, for the re-location of the opera to England and—in the last act—to Scotland in the Middle Ages, and for the names of its characters, the principal being Harold, re-cast as a recently returned Crusader. Kimbell notes that "hints" Kimbell (2001), in Holden, pp. 997 - 998 came from the work of Walter Scott, whose novel of 1825, The Betrothed, would "already have been familiar to Italian audiences through Giovanni Pacini's 1829 opera, Il Contestabile di Chester".Budden (1984), p. 337 Also, the novelist's The Lady of the Lake was the inspiration for the hermit Briano.
The rewriting was delayed until after March 1857 by the preparation for Paris of Le trouvère, the French version of Il trovatore, and Verdi's work with Piave on Simon Boccanegra. However, as work resumed on Aroldo with Piave, the premiere was planned for August 1857 in Rimini. When Verdi and Strepponi arrived there on 23 July, they found both librettist and conductor, Angelo Mariani (with whom he had become friends over the previous years and who had been chosen to conduct the new opera) working together. While Phillips-Matz notes that there was "hysteria" at Verdi's presence, there was also opposition to Aroldo that was combined with an influx of people from other cities anxious to see the new opera.Phillips-Matz (1993), pp. 363 - 364 With Mariani, rehearsals began well; the conductor reported: "Verdi is very very happy and so am I".Mariani, letter quoted in Phillips-Matz, p. 363.
By the time of the premiere, considerable changes had been made to the three-act Stiffelio, the prime one being an added fourth act with new material, described by conductor Mariani to Giovanni Ricordi as "a stupendous affair; you'll find in it a storm, a pastoral chorus, and an Angelus Dei treated in canon and beautifully wrought".Budden (1984), pp. 339/340 Lina became Mina; Stiffelio, as discussed, was now Aroldo; Stankar morphed into Egberto; Jorg, the bass role, emerged as Briano.
Performance history
Rimini premiere On 11 February 1857, Luciano Marzi, co-impresario of Rimini's new Teatro Nuovo Comunale, announced that he and his brother and co-impresario, Enrico, had secured Verdi to premiere Aroldo in the theatre. Verdi had chosen to stage the premiere in Bologna, but was convinced by Giovanni Ricordi, his publisher and friend, to move it to Rimini. Verdi distrusted the Marzi brothers after they had modified Simon Boccanegra's production in a theatre in Reggio Emilia without his consent. The contract was signed in Venice's Europa Hotel on 12 March 1857. Verdi was paid 250 gold napoleons and Piave was paid 500 Austrian lire.
Verdi arrived in Rimini on 23 July 1857 to attend and direct rehearsals for Aroldo. He stayed at the Albergo della Posta, where he composed the opera's symphony. Its premiere was scheduled for 11 August, but postponed by a week as tenor was called to Florence to visit his ill wife before her death on 13 August. The opera thus premiered on 16 August 1857. At Verdi's insistence, the inaugural cast included soprano Marcellina Lotti Della Santa, Pancani as tenor, and baritone . The Marzi brothers completed the cast with soprano , mezzo-soprano Placida Corvetti, and bass Giovan Battista Cornago, with Angelo Mariani as conductor. The performance included 38 choristers, La Fenice's corps de ballet, led by Giovannina Pitteri and , at least 60 extras, and 18 band members.
The opera was an enormous success, and Verdi was called onto the stage twenty-seven times. The inaugural season consisted of twenty-two shows and some repeats, budgeted at 8,800 scudi, of which 5,000 were paid by Rimini's municipal government, and 3,800 by the box owners. It was a major event in the city, which attracted many visitors, with Verdi's portrait hanging in shop windows and on walls. The Marzi brothers supplemented the season with other entertainment, including football games, horse races, and three tombola games with a prize of 500 scudi.
19th century In the seasons which followed the premiere in Rimini, Aroldo appeared in the autumn 1857 season first in Bologna, then Turin, Treviso, and Verona.Database of 19th century performances of Aroldo on librettodopera.it Retrieved 6 April 2013
The winter carnival season of 1858 saw productions in Venice at La Fenice, Cremona, Parma (which chose it over the original Simon Boccanegra),Martin (1983), pp. 339 - 340 Florence, and Rome. In 1859, it was given in Malta and then, in the following two years, Aroldo appeared on stages in Genoa, Trieste, Lisbon, and Palermo at the Teatro Massimo Bellini. In the Spring of 1864 it was seen in Turin again and then, in the years up to 1870, performances were recorded as having occurred in Pavia, Como, Modena, and, once again, in Venice. Its success varied considerably, especially in Milan in 1859, where "it was a fiasco. It was the public, not the censors, who found it unacceptable".Budden (2001), p.14
20th century and beyond Today, Aroldo is one of Verdi's very rarely performed operas, "especially since the rediscovery in 1968 of its parent work Stiffelio ". A major revival occurred at the Wexford Festival in 1959 and it was not performed in the US until 4 May 1963 at the Academy of Music in New York. In February 1964 it was given its first performance in London.
The opera was presented in a concert version by the Opera Orchestra of New York in April 1979 (with Montserrat Caballé and Juan Pons), from which was produced the first recording. But the New York Grand Opera claims to have given the first New York staged performance, in 1993. In 1985-86 Venice's La Fenice mounted the two operas back to back.Lawton, David, "Stiffelio and Aroldo", Opera Quarterly 5 (23): 193. (1987) Sarasota Opera presented it as part of its "Verdi Cycle" in 1990, with Phyllis Treigle as Mina.A "pirate" DVD of this production has been distributed.
The opera was given at the Teatro Municipale di Piacenza in 2003 and, as part of its stagings of the total Verdi oeuvre, ABAO in Bilbao, Spain presented the opera in March/April 2009. Aroldo in Bilbao Retrieved 6 April 2013
By following its tradition to present rarely performed operas, UCOpera presented Aroldo in 2017.The Times
In August 2021, Aroldo was restaged in its original Riminese theatre after 164 years. Directed by Manlio Benzi, it was set in Rimini between the Italian campaign in Ethiopia and the theatre's destruction during the Second World War on 28 December 1943. Sopana Lidia Fridman played Mina, imagined as the podestà's daughter.
Roles RoleVoice typePremiere Cast, 16 August 1857List of singers taken from Budden (1984), p. 336(Conductor: Angelo Mariani)Aroldo, a Saxon KnighttenorMina, his wifesopranoMarcella Lotti della SantaEgberto, Mina's fatherbaritoneGodvino, an adventurer, guest of EgbertotenorSalvatore PoggialiBriano, a pious hermitbassGiovan Battista CornagoEnrico, Mina's cousintenorNapoleone SenigagliaElena, Mina's cousinmezzo-sopranoAdelaide PanizzaCrusaders, servants, the Knights and their ladies and hunters
Synopsis Time: Around 1200 A.D. Place: Kent, England and near Loch Lomond, Scotland
Act 1 Scene 1: A hall in Egberto's castle in Kent
The people of Aroldo's castle welcome him home from the Crusades. Then Mina enters distraught and remorseful, confessing her adultery (ciel, ch'io respiri / "Heavens, let me breathe"). She prays as Briano and Aroldo enter, the latter concerned about his wife's state of mind given that she had been his inspiration during the long period that he was away fighting the Saracens. He explains that Briano, now his faithful companion, had saved his life. Taking her hand, he is surprised to see that she is not wearing his mother's ring, which she had received upon his mother's death. He demands to know where it is, and tries to get to the bottom of her state of mind but they are interrupted by the return of Briano with news of the arrival of guests. Both men leave.
Mina's father, Egberto, enters and observes her writing a letter. Already suspicious of what he believes has been going on between Godvino and Mina, he demands to know if she is writing to Godvino. Snatching away the unfinished letter, he reads the words addressed not to Godvino but to Aroldo - "I am no longer worthy of you" - and realizes that he was not mistaken. He begins to demand that Mina keep silent and ensure Aroldo's continued love (Duet: Dite che il fallo a tergere / "You mean that your heart lacks the strength to wipe away your guilt?") while she further resists. Again, demanding that she obey him, he continues to make his demands: (Duet: Ed io pure in faccia agl'uomini / "And must I smother my rage....Must I conquer my shame?"). Finally, Egberto repeats his demands that she relent: it is his will, it is her duty as a wife, she must stop crying, and no one must suspect anything. She appears to relent (Duet: Or meco venite, il pianto non vale / "Come with me now, weeping will not help you").
Scene 2: A suite of rooms in the castle
Furtively, Godvino enters the room while a party is progressing in interior rooms. He laments that Mina has not contacted him in any way and, in a pre-arranged plan, leaves a letter within the pages of a book to which he has a key. However, unseen by Godvino, Briano has entered and observes Godvino's actions. He grows suspicious: "a friend of Aroldo?", he wonders. The guests flow into the room and Godvino is absorbed within the group. They all express their joy at Aroldo's return. Briano approaches Aroldo and explains what he has seen, pointing across the room to Enrico, Mina's cousin, as the one who planted the letter and who then picked up the book. But he is amongst the group and is dressed in the same way as Godvino, so there is some confusion. Suspicion falls on Enrico as Aroldo reveals that his honour has been betrayed. He tells of a similar situation in Palestine: Aria: Vi fu in Palestina / "In Palestine there was once a certain man....", and confronts Mina, since he knows that she has a key to the book and he believes that it too contains a secret letter. Mina's attempts to stall fail, and Aroldo breaks open the locked book and a letter drops from it to the floor. Quickly stepping forward, Egberto picks it up stating that no one shall see it. Aroldo is angry and Mina defends her father. Knowing the real culprit, Egberto confronts Godvino and demands that they meet in the churchyard.
Act 2
The castle cemetery