Les vêpres siciliennes (; The Sicilian Vespers) is a grand opera in five acts by the Italian romantic composer Giuseppe Verdi set to a French libretto by Eugène Scribe and Charles Duveyrier from their work Le duc d'Albe of 1838. Les vêpres followed immediately after Verdi's three great mid-career masterpieces, Rigoletto, Il trovatore and La traviata of 1850 to 1853 and was first performed at the Paris Opéra on 13 June 1855.
Today the opera is performed both in the original French and (rather more frequently) in its post-1861 Italian version as I vespri siciliani. The story is based on a historical event, the Sicilian Vespers of 1282, using material drawn from the medieval Sicilian tract Lu rebellamentu di Sichilia.Backman, p. 6
Composition history
After Verdi's first grand opera for the Paris Opéra – his adaptation of I Lombardi in 1847 given under the title of Jérusalem – the composer had wanted to write a completely new grand opera for the company, the appeal being the same as that which influenced all Italian composers of the day: the challenges of a form different from that of their homeland and the ability to appeal to an audience which welcomed novelty.
Verdi began discussions with the Opéra but negotiations were stalled by the 1848 revolutions and the composer broke them off for a period of time. It was not until February 1852 (while Il trovatore was still being prepared) that he returned to Paris and entered into a contract to write an opera, the libretto to be prepared by Scribe, who was given a deadline for a "treatment" to be delivered on 30 June 1853Budden, p. 169 with rehearsals to begin in mid-1854 and the opera staged in November/December of that year. Verdi was guaranteed the choice of suitable artists as well as forty performances in the ten months following the premiere.Budden, p. 169
In July 1852, Verdi had written to Scribe outlining his hopes: I should like, I need a subject that is grandiose, impassioned and original; a mise-en-scène that is imposing and overwhelming. I have consistently in view so many of those magnificent scene to be found in your poems ... Indeed, these scenes are miracles! But you work them so often that I hope you will work one for me.Verdi to Scribe, 27 July 1852 in Budden, pp. 171–172
When Scribe missed his July 1853 deadline, Verdi went to Paris to negotiate directly and it was then that the librettist proposed a solution, using a revised version of the libretto for Le duc d'Albe,Parker, pp. 924–925 one which had been written about 20 years before at the height of the French grand opera tradition and which had previously been offered to Halévy (who refused it) and to Donizetti (who partly set it to music in 1839 under the original title).Everist, p. 12 Verdi raised many objections, many of these being outlined in a letter from Scribe to Duveyrier of December 1853.Budden, pp. 173–174 They included a change of location, of characters' names, certain specific situations (there being no beer halls in Sicily, for example), plus a demand for a "standard" fifth act to make it equivalent to Meyerbeer's Les Huguenots or Le prophète.
However, this "meant that Verdi was writing his first (original) opéra at a point at which the genre was in a state of flux". Musicologist Julian Budden adds: "In opting for the grandest possible scale, Verdi was running against the current of fashion" (which he notes had significantly shifted in the months and years following the 1848 uprising, so that the country was now firmly in the epoch of Napoleon III, meaning "that the social foundation on which [grand opera] rested was now withdrawn").Budden, pp. 170–171
Verdi spent 1854 forcing Scribe to make revisions while writing the music, "complaining about the sheer length demanded by audiences at the Opéra". Overall, it was a frustrating time for the composer, especially in dealing with Scribe's 5th act. The librettist was unresponsive to Verdi's pleas for revisions, until finally, he was forced in late 1854 (with no premiere in sight and the mysterious disappearance from rehearsals of Sophie Cruvelli, who sang Hélène) to write to the Opera's director, Louis Crosnier: "To avoid the catastrophe that menaces us ... I see but one means and I do not hesitate to propose it: dissolution of the contract".Verdi to Crosnier, in Kolodin, p. 7 However, Verdi persevered and was present at the June 1855 premiere, by then having spent close to two years in Paris working on the opera.
Performance history 19th century
The first performance at the Paris Opéra on 13 June 1855 was received to great acclaim. La Presse noted: "Verdi's music has conformed to the procedure invented by French genius without losing anything of its Italian ardour.La Presse, quoted in Kolodin, p. 8
Hector Berlioz wrote: "In Les vêpres the penetrating intensity of the melodic expressiveness, the sumptuous, wise variety of the instrumentation, the vastness and poetic sonority of the concerted pieces, the hot colour that shines throughout (...) communicate to this opera an imprint of grandeur, a species of sovereign majesty more distinguishable than in this composer's earlier products."Quoted in Kolodin, p. 8
Budden notes that "the critics found much to admire in the new opera. ... Adolphe Adam declared that Les vêpres had converted him to Verdi's music",Budden, p. 187 but Verdi himself, in a letter of late June, notes that three Italian writers were the most critical".Verdi to Clara Maffei, in Budden, p. 187.
However, its success was not long-lasting. Because the original version never entered the established repertory, performances "limped along" until Verdi attempted to aid its revival at the Paris Opéra on 6 July 1863 by revising some of the roles for selected singers. However, after a few performances, the opera disappeared and was replaced by the French version of Il trovatore, Le trouvère. Except for this one revival in Paris in 1863, "it vanished from the Parisian stage altogether" Budden, pp. 238–240
Italian-language versions Verdi was aware that in Italy at that time, it would have been impossible to place the story in Sicily, as he notes to his publisher Giulio Ricordi in April 1855: "I shall ... (change) the subject so as to render it acceptable for Italian theatres."Letter from Verdi to Ricordi, 29 April 1855, quoted in Budden, p. 238 Based on Scribe's suggestions for changing the location – "I suggested that the Duke of Alba should just pack his bags once more and move to Lisbon"Scribe to unknown, quoted in Budden, p. 238 – it became Portugal in 1640 while under Spanish control. An Italian translation of the libretto with the new location and new role names was prepared by the poet Eugenio Caimi, and the title was changed to Giovanna de Guzman.Parker, p. 925 This version was performed on 26 December 1855 in Parma and at La Scala in Milan on 4 February 1856. Alfred Loewenberg credits the translation used for the performance in Parma to and the one used in Milan to Caimi,Loewenberg, column 918. but Julian Budden states that the two translations are virtually identical and argues both were by Caimi.Budden, p. 239 However, some modern performances credit the Italian translation to Fusinato (for examples, see the DVDs of performances in 2003 at the Teatro Verdi, Busseto, and in 2010 at the Teatro Regio di Parma). In 1857, Italian versions were performed in Naples: at the Teatro Nuovo with the title Giovanni di Sicilia in the spring and at the Teatro San Carlo with the title Batilde di Turenna in the autumn.
Overall, Verdi was not happy with the translation, which Budden regards as "one of the worst ever perpetrated". Some improvements were made after the unification of Italy in 1861, when the title of the Italian version of the opera was changed to I vespri siciliani. Verdi wrote to Ricordi on 6 June 1865: "I now know what it means to translate and I feel sympathy for all bad translations that are around because it is impossible to make a good one".Budden, p.238
The opera was also performed outside of Italy in Italian translation: Barcelona (4 October 1856), Lisbon (12 March 1857), Saint Petersburg (1857), Santiago, Chile (1857), London at the Drury Lane Theatre (27 July 1859), New York City (7 November 1859), Constantinople (October 1860), Buenos Aires (23 May 1862), Havana (1862), Malta (1862), Mexico (November 1864), Sydney (May 1870), and Rio de Janeiro (1872).
Other languages It was performed in Hungarian in Budapest (1856); in German (in a translation by ) in Darmstadt (14 March 1857; revived 12 September 1887), Vienna (19 November 1857), and Prague (1859); and in Polish in Warsaw (1872). A Swedish translation by Fritz Arlberg was published in 1872.
20th century and beyond
After a long period of relative neglect, the opera in its original French version has begun to appear onstage more regularly in the 21st century. In March 1994, Sarasota Opera earned the honor of premiering Verdi's original French text in North America as part of the "Verdi Cycle," an effort to produce all of the composer's music. A production was mounted at the Bastille Opera in 2003Recordings of the opera, operadis-opera-discography.org.uk] and a 2010 production by the Netherlands Opera. In May 2011 French versions were presented at the Grand Théâtre de Genève and at the Teatro San Carlo in Naples and, in February 2013, the ABAO company in Bilbao presented the opera.
Other presentations have included stagings by Frankfurt Opera in 2013 and Bavarian State Opera in 2018.
The Royal Opera House Covent Garden's staging of the full version for the first time in its history (minus the ballet) in October/November 2013 drew a variety of critical responses.Andrew Clements, "Les vêpres siciliennes – review", The Guardian (London), 18 October 2013Rupert Christiansen, "Les Vêpres Siciliennes, Royal Opera, Royal Opera House, review", The Daily Telegraph (London), 18 October 2013"Les vêpres siciliennes at ROH", 23 October 2013 on capricciomusic.blogspot.co.uk. Retrieved 11 December 2013
Roles
+RoleVoice typePremiere cast, 13 June 1855List of singers taken from Budden, p. 168Conductor: Narcisse GirardGuy de Montfort, Governor of Sicily under Charles d'Anjou, King of NaplesbaritoneMarc BonnehéeLe Sire de Béthune, a French officerbassThéodore-Jean-Joseph CoulonLe Comte de Vaudemont, a French officerbassJacques-Alfred GuignotHenri, a young SiciliantenorLouis GuéymardJean Procida, a Sicilian doctorbassLouis-Henri ObinLa Duchesse Hélène, sister of Duke Frederick of AustriasopranoSophie CruvelliNinette, her maidcontraltoClarisse-Françoise SannierDaniéli, her servanttenorJean-Jacques BouloThibault, a French soldiertenorM. AimesRobert, a French soldierbaritoneMécène Marié de l'IsleMainfroid, a Sicilian, adherent of ProcidatenorJoseph Koenig
Synopsis Place: Palermo, Italy Time: 1282
Prior to the events of the opera, Procida, a leading Sicilian patriot, was wounded by French troops during their invasion of Sicily, and was forced into exile. Montfort, leader of the French troops, raped a Sicilian woman who later gave birth to a son, Henri. Montfort became governor of Sicily, while the Sicilian woman brought up her son to hate him, without revealing to Henri that Montfort was his father.
Act 1 Palermo's main square
Thibault, Robert and other French soldiers have gathered in front of the Governor's palace. As they offer a toast to their homeland, they are observed by the local Sicilians, unhappy with the occupation.