LE VILLI

The Fairies

Giacomo Puccini (1858-1924)

Opera in two acts (originally one), text by Ferdinando Fontana after Alphonse Karr's story Les Willis. Premiere Milan, Teatro dal Verme, 31 May 1884; revised version, Turin, 26 December 1884.

Puccini, nearing 30, entered his first opera in a competition organised by the publisher Sonzogno in 1883. It had no success (the score was said to be illegible) but its librettist was a member of a group of avant-garde writers known as the 'Scapigliati' (Bohemians), and the composer Boito, another member, helped to arrange a performance of it in Milan. There the opera was noticed by the publisher, Giulio Ricordi, who took the composer on contract, advised a revision into two acts, and asked him to write a new opera for la Scala. Neither Le Villi nor Edgar, the new opera, more conventional affair had much success, but with Manon Lescaut a few years later, Italy discovered that it had another candidate for the mantle of Verdi.

Act I.

Mountaineers celebrate the engagement of Roberto and Anna and the news that Roberto is about to leave for Mainz where he has been left a fortune. Anna goes to deposit her bouquet in Roberto's luggage as a keepsake (aria. 'Se come voi piccina'), and a love duet develops before Roberto leaves with the good wishes of all. An Intermezzo of two orchestral movements contains spoken descriptions of Roberto's seduction in Mainz by a witch, of Anna's death and funeral, and of the fate which can befall a faithless lover; danced to death by the Willis (probably, suggests Julian Budden, intended to be read rather than declaimed from the stage.

Act II.

Guglielmo, in one of Puccini's grandest arias for baritone, laments the death of his daughter and hopes for the vengeance of the Willis on Roberto, ('Anima santa'). An extensive solo ('Torna ai felici di'), written for an 1885 revival at la Scala, depicts the remorse of Roberto and the shock he feels when he realises Anna is dead. She reappears as the Villis take over to wreak vengeance.

The opera is far from negligible, in spite of its curious, untraditional shape, and contains much attractive music, some of it, not unexpectedly, looking towards the past - 'Anima santa', impressive as it is, might be from an opera by Puccini's teacher, Ponchielli. Anna's romance on the other hand is a seductive tune, the tenor solo the longest the composer ever wrote and the second intermezzo is rare in the composer's outlook as an orchestral work able to stand alone.

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Giacomo Puccini
(1858-1924)