''Bianca e Falliero, ossia Il consiglio dei tre'' ( English: ''Bianca and Falliero, or The Counsel of Three'') is a two-act

opera Opera is a form of History of theatre#European theatre, Western theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by Singing, singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically ...

tic '' melodramma'' by

Gioachino Rossini Gioachino Antonio Rossini (29 February 1792 – 13 November 1868) was an Italian composer of the late Classical period (music), Classical and early Romantic music, Romantic eras. He gained fame for his 39 operas, although he also wrote man ...

to an

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance languag ...

libretto A libretto (From the Italian word , ) is the text used in, or intended for, an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, oratorio, cantata or Musical theatre, musical. The term ''libretto'' is also sometimes used to refer to th ...

Felice Romani Giuseppe Felice Romani (31 January 178828 January 1865) was an Italian poet and scholar of literature and mythology who wrote many librettos for the opera composers Donizetti and Bellini. Romani was considered the finest Italian librettist betw ...

. The libretto was based on

Antoine-Vincent Arnault Antoine-Vincent, chevalier Arnault (1 January 176616 September 1834) was a French playwright. Life Arnault was born in Paris. His first play, ''Marius à Minturne'' (1791), immediately established his reputation. A year later he followed wit ...

's 1798 play ''Les Vénitiens, ou Blanche et Montcassin''.

Performance history

The opera premiered on 26 December 1819 at

La Scala La Scala (, , ; officially , ) is a historic opera house in Milan, Milan, Italy. The theatre was inaugurated on 3 August 1778 and was originally known as (, which previously was Santa Maria della Scala, Milan, a church). The premiere performa ...

. Giuseppe Fioravanti, a popular

basso buffo A bass is a type of classical male singing voice and has the lowest vocal range of all voice types. According to ''The New Grove Dictionary of Opera'', a bass is typically classified as having a vocal range extending from around the second E b ...

of the day and the son of composer

Valentino Fioravanti Valentino Fioravanti (11 September 1764 – 16 June 1837) was a celebrated Italian composer of ''opera buffas''. Fioravanti was born in Rome. One of the best ''opera buffa'' composers between Domenico Cimarosa and Gioacchino Rossini, he w ...

, sang in the premiere.Warrack & West 1992, pp. ?

Carolina Bassi Carolina Bassi (10 January 1781 – 12 December 1862) was an Italian contralto who knew Rossini, Meyerbeer, Donizetti and Bellini. Life Bassi was born in Naples to a musician family. Her brother Nicola, was a famous buffo bass; and anoth ...

, Italian

contralto A contralto () is a classical music, classical female singing human voice, voice whose vocal range is the lowest of their voice type, voice types. The contralto's vocal range is fairly rare, similar to the mezzo-soprano, and almost identical to ...

considered one of the best in her day, also created a role in this opera. The work was performed thirty times during the initial season in

Milan Milan ( , , ; ) is a city in northern Italy, regional capital of Lombardy, the largest city in Italy by urban area and the List of cities in Italy, second-most-populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of nea ...

and was performed throughout

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

and elsewhere to some extent before largely disappearing into obscurity after 1846. It was revived at the

Rossini Opera Festival The Rossini Opera Festival (ROF) is an international music festival held in August of each year in Pesaro, Italy, the birthplace of the opera composer Gioachino Rossini. Its aim, in addition to studying the musical heritage of the composer, is to re ...

Pesaro Pesaro (; ) is a (municipality) in the Italy, Italian region of Marche, capital of the province of Pesaro and Urbino, on the Adriatic Sea. According to the 2011 census, its population was 95,011, making it the second most populous city in the ...

in 1986 with

Katia Ricciarelli Katiuscia Maria Stella "Katia" Ricciarelli (; born 16 January 1946) is an Italian soprano and actress. Early life and career Born in Rovigo, Veneto, to a very poor family, Ricciarelli struggled during her younger years. She studied at the Be ...

Marilyn Horne Marilyn Berneice Horne (born January 16, 1934) is an American mezzo-soprano opera singer. She specialized in roles requiring beauty of tone, excellent breath support, and the ability to execute difficult coloratura passages. She is a recipient ...

, and Chris Merritt. The opera is considered very difficult to sing due to the intensity of its

coloratura Coloratura ( , , ; , from ''colorata'', the past participle of the verb ''colorare'', 'to color') is a passage of music holding elaboration to a melody. The elaboration usually takes the form of runs, trills, wide leaps or other virtuoso ma ...

writing.

Roles

Synopsis

''Bianca e Falliero'' is a tale of emotional excess and bitter strife within war-threatened Venice. Falliero, the hero, comes home after defeating the enemies of Venice only to find his beloved Bianca promised to a rival and soon to be married. :Place: Venice :Time: 17th Century

Act 1

Contareno offers his daughter Bianca in marriage to Capellio, a member of a rival clan, in an act of conciliation meant to end a long-standing family feud. Bianca, however, loves Falliero, rumoured to have recently died defending Venice from a military threat. She sings of her love for the young general in the

cavatina (Italian for "little song") is a musical term, originally meaning a short song of simple character, without a second strain or any repetition of the air. It is now frequently applied to any simple, melodious air, as distinguished from brilliant ...

''Della rosa il bel vermiglio''. When Falliero returns from the war and Bianca rebels against her father's plan for her, Contareno threatens to ruin Falliero. The wedding ceremony begins, but Bianca refuses to marry Capellio by not signing the marriage certificate. Falliero bursts onto the scene.

Act 2

Falliero is forced to run from the scene of the wedding to escape the wrath of Bianca's father. Bianca again refuses to continue the ceremony. News arrives that Falliero has been captured and must stand trial for treason, allegedly for his contacts with a foreign power because he was found hiding in the Spanish Embassy. Unfortunately for him, his judges are to be the Council of Three: Contareno, Capellio and Loredano. Although Falliero does not defend his actions, Bianca passionately argues on his behalf. Eventually, Bianca's impassioned pleas convince Capellio that the two lovers belong together. All ends happily.

Recycled and reused music

The

quartet In music, a quartet (, , , , ) is an ensemble of four singers or instrumental performers. Classical String quartet In classical music, one of the most common combinations of four instruments in chamber music is the string quartet. String quar ...

during the trial scene, ''Cielo, il mio labbro ispira'', was reworked several times by Rossini over the years, and its popularity eventually outlasted that of the opera itself.Osborne, Richard: "Bianca e Falliero", ''

Grove Music Online ''The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians'' is an encyclopedic dictionary of music and musicians. Along with the German-language '' Die Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart'', it is one of the largest reference works on the history and t ...

'' ed. L. Macy (Retrieved on 27 March 2008) The critic

Stendhal Marie-Henri Beyle (; 23 January 1783 – 23 March 1842), better known by his pen name Stendhal (, , ), was a French writer. Best known for the novels ''Le Rouge et le Noir'' ('' The Red and the Black'', 1830) and ''La Chartreuse de Parme'' ('' T ...

considered this quartet to be one of Rossini's finest creations. In the sixteenth chapter of his essay '' On Love'', he wrote that : "A sad and tender tune, provided that it is not too much dramatic, that imagination is not forced to consider action, as it entice oneself only to the daydreaming of love, is a delightful thing for miserable and tender souls; for instance the clarinet's prolonged part, at the beginning of the ''Bianca e Faliero'' icquartetto, and the Camporesi's story around the middle of the quartetto." Crutchfield, Will
"Opera: Rossini's ''Bianca''"
''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'', 9 December 1987. Retrieved 31 May 2011 The composer reused music from the

rondo The rondo or rondeau is a musical form that contains a principal theme (music), theme (sometimes called the "refrain") which alternates with one or more contrasting themes (generally called "episodes", but also referred to as "digressions" or "c ...

finale of his recent, well-received opera, ''

La donna del lago ''La donna del lago'' (English language, English: ''The Lady of the Lake'') is an opera composed by Gioachino Rossini with a libretto by Andrea Leone Tottola (whose verses are described as "limpid" by one critic) based on the French translationO ...

'' in this work as well.

Recordings

References

Notes

Sources

* Gossett, Philip; Brauner, Patricia (2001), "''Bianca e Falliero''" in Holden, Amanda (ed.), ''The New Penguin Opera Guide'', New York: Penguin Putnam. * Osborne, Charles (1994), ''The Bel Canto Operas of Rossini, Donizetti, and Bellini'', London: Methuen; Portland, Oregon: Amadeus Press. *Osborne, Richard (1990), ''Rossini'', Ithaca, New York: Northeastern University Press. *Osborne, Richard (1998), "''Bianca e Falliero''", in

Stanley Sadie Stanley John Sadie (; 30 October 1930 – 21 March 2005) was a British musicologist, music critic, and editor. He was editor of the sixth edition of the '' Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians'' (1980), which was published as the first edition ...

, (Ed.), ''

The New Grove Dictionary of Opera ''The New Grove Dictionary of Opera'' is an encyclopedia of opera. It is the largest work on opera in English, and in its printed form, amounts to 5,448 pages in four volumes. The dictionary was first published in 1992 by Macmillan Reference, L ...

'', Vol. One, pp. 464–465. London: Macmillan Publishers, Inc. *

Warrack, John John Hamilton Warrack (born 9 February 1928) is an English music critic, writer on music, and oboist. Career Born in London, Warrack is the son of Scottish conductor and composer Guy Warrack and Jacynth Mary Ellerton. He was educated at Winchest ...

and West, Ewan (1992), ''The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Opera'' New York: OUP. {{DEFAULTSORT:Bianca E Falliero Operas Operas set in Venice 1819 operas Operas by Gioachino Rossini Italian-language operas Opera world premieres at La Scala Libretti by Felice Romani