Stiffelio: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 18:12, 21 January 2012

Date: 1850

Region: Europe

Subject: Religious, Political, Economic and Social

Medium: Theatre and Music

Artist: Giuseppe Verdi (1813 - 1901)

Confronting Bodies:

Italian Church
Italian government

Dates of Action: 1850

Location: Italy

Description of Artwork: Stiffelio is an opera about "a contemporary Protestant minister in Salzburg whose non-violent beliefs are shaken by his wife's infidelity." Within the course of the narrative "the preacher, searching for a sermon subject, hits on Christ's defense of the woman about to be stoned for adultery." ('Let he among you who is without sin cast the first stone.')

The Incident: Due to the staunch Catholic population of 1850's Italy, portraying a Protestant minister in a positive light (who is married as opposed to Catholic Priests who are not) and the historical policy which prohibited a church service on stage, Stiffelio was considered completely inappropriate and was banned after the first performance. In 1857 Verdi transformed the opera into Aroldo, "with the hero a returning English crusader, not a man of peace, but of war, the blood of countless infidels staining his sword."

Results of Incident: Stiffelio (its original score) was successfully buried during Verdi's lifetime and its existence remained unknown until 1968 when two copyists manuscripts were discovered in the Naples library, Biblioteca Di San Pietro a Majella. Since that time several Verdi scholars lead the search to recover the entire original version of Stiffelio, with the Verdi family's consent to access Verdi's Sant' Agata estate, where they found a near complete conductor's score. Speculative productions in the 1970s preceded a definitive score produced by Kathleen Kuzmick Hansell of the University of Chicago. The first complete performance of the new score was given on 21 October 1993 at the Metropolitan Opera house in New York.

Source: Village Voice; Wikipedia

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-====Date: [[:Category:1850s|1850s]]====
+====Date: [[:Category:1850|1850]]====
 ====Region: [[:Category:Europe|Europe]]====
@@ Line 7: / Line 7: @@
 ====Medium: [[:Category:Theatre|Theatre]] and [[:Category:Music|Music]]====
 ----
-'''Artist:''' Giuseppe Verdi
+'''Artist:''' Giuseppe Verdi (1813 - 1901)
 '''Confronting Bodies:'''
@@ Line 13: / Line 13: @@
 *Italian government
-'''Dates of Action:''' 1850s
+'''Dates of Action:''' 1850
 '''Location:''' Italy
+[[File:Verdi.jpg|left]]
+'''Description of Artwork:''' ''Stiffelio'' is an opera about "a contemporary Protestant minister in Salzburg whose non-violent beliefs are shaken by his wife's infidelity." Within the course of the narrative "the preacher, searching for a sermon subject, hits on Christ's defense of the woman about to be stoned for adultery." ('Let he among you who is without sin cast the first stone.')
-'''Description of Artwork:''' An opera about "a contemporary Protestant minister in Salzburg whose non-violent beliefs are shaken by his wife's infidelity." Within the course of the narrative "the preacher, searching for a sermon subject, hits on Christ's defense of the woman about to be stoned for adultery."
+'''The Incident:''' Due to the staunch Catholic population of 1850's Italy, portraying a Protestant minister in a positive light (who is married as opposed to Catholic Priests who are not) and the historical policy which prohibited a church service on stage, ''Stiffelio'' was considered completely inappropriate and was banned after the first performance.  In 1857 Verdi transformed the opera into ''Aroldo'', "with the hero a returning English crusader, not a man of peace, but of war, the blood of countless infidels staining his sword."
-'''The Incident:''' Due to the staunch Catholic population of 1850's Italy, and the historical policy which prohibited in a church service on stage, Stiffelio was considered completely inappropriate and was thus transformed into Aroldo, "with the hero a returning English crusader, not a man of peace, but of war, the blood of countless infidels staining his sword."
+'''Results of Incident:''' ''Stiffelio'' (its original score) was successfully buried during Verdi's lifetime and its existence remained unknown until 1968 when two copyists manuscripts were discovered in the Naples library, Biblioteca Di San Pietro a Majella. Since that time several Verdi scholars lead the search to recover the entire original version of ''Stiffelio'', with the Verdi family's consent to access Verdi's Sant' Agata estate, where they found a near complete conductor's score. Speculative productions in the 1970s preceded a definitive score produced by Kathleen Kuzmick Hansell of the University of Chicago. The first complete performance of the new score was given on 21 October 1993 at the Metropolitan Opera house in New York.
-'''Results of Incident:''' Stiffelio (its original score) was successfully buried during Verdi's lifetime and its existence remained unknown until 1968 when two copyists manuscripts were discovered in the Naples library, Biblioteca Di San Pietro a Majella. Since that time several Verdi scholars have lead the search to recover the entire original version of Stiffelio, with the Verdi family's consent to access Verdi's Sant' Agata estate. Speculative productions in Italy as well as its 1976 U.S. premiere at Vincent La Selva's New York Grand Opera at the Brooklyn Academy of Music have preceded the expected publication of the 'critical score' by Ricordi of Milan (Verdi's original publisher) and the University of Chicago Press, pending the discovery of "Verdi's autograph for the short but most censored final scene."
+'''Source:''' Village Voice; Wikipedia <P>
-'''Source:''' Village Voice <P>
 [[Category:1850]]
 [[Category:1850s]]
+[[Category:19th century]]
 [[Category:Europe]]
 [[Category:Italy]]