Assassinio nella cattedrale (Murder in the Cathedral) is an opera in two acts and an intermezzo by the Italian composer Ildebrando Pizzetti. The libretto is an adaptation by the composer of an Italian translation of T. S. Eliot's 1935 play Murder in the Cathedral. The opera was first performed at La Scala, Milan, on 1 March 1958. The opera was performed for the first time in Canada the following year at the Montreal Festivals.[1]
| Assassinio nella cattedrale | |
|---|---|
| Opera by Ildebrando Pizzetti | |
 The assassination of Thomas Becket in Canterbury Cathedral, the opera's central theme, in a 15th-century depiction by Francke | |
| Librettist | Ildebrando Pizzetti |
| Language | Italian |
| Based on | Murder in the Cathedral by T. S. Eliot |
| Premiere | 1 March 1958 La Scala, Milan |
Roles
edit| Role | Voice type | Premiere cast, 1 March 1958[2] Conductor: Gianandrea Gavazzeni |
|---|---|---|
| Thomas Becket | bass | Nicola Rossi-Lemeni |
| Herald | tenor | Aldo Bertocci |
| First tempter | tenor | Rinaldo Pelizzoni |
| Second tempter | bass | Antonio Cassinelli |
| Third tempter | bass | Nicola Zaccaria |
| Fourth tempter | bass | Lino Puglisi |
| First priest | tenor | Mario Ortica |
| Second priest | baritone | Dino Dondi |
| Third priest | bass | Adolfo Cormanni |
| First knight | tenor | Rinaldo Pelizzoni |
| Second knight | bass | Enrico Campi |
| Third knight | bass | Silvio Maionica |
| Fourth knight | bass | Marco Stefanoni |
| First coryphée | soprano | Leyla Gencer |
| Second coryphée | mezzo-soprano | Gabriella Carturan |
Recordings
edit- Assassinio nella cattedrale – La Scala Orchestra and Chorus conducted by Gianandrea Gavazzeni with Nicola Rossi-Lemeni as Thomas Becket. Recorded live at the La Scala premiere, 1 March 1958. Label: Opera d'Oro[3]
- Assassinio nella cattedrale – Orchestra Sinfonica Nazionale della RAI di Torino conducted by Ildebrando Pizzetti with Nicola Rossi-Lemeni as Thomas Becket. Radio broadcast recorded live in Turin, 5 December 1958. Label: Stradivarius
- Assassinio nella cattedrale — Vienna State Opera Orchestra and Chorus conducted by Herbert von Karajan with Hans Hotter as Thomas Becket. Recorded live at the Vienna State Opera, 9 March 1960. Sung in German. Label: Deutsche Grammophon
- Assassinio nella cattedrale – Orchestra Sinfonica della Provincia di Bari conducted by Piergiorgio Morandi with Ruggero Raimondi as Thomas Becket. Recorded live at the Basilica di San Nicola, Bari on 22 December 2006. Label: Decca
References
edit- ^ Sandor, Marjorie (March 2013). "Once More to the Cathedral". Opera News, Vol. 77, No. 9. Retrieved 17 February 2016.
- ^ Casaglia, Gherardo (2005). "Assassinio nella cattedrale, 1 March 1958". L'Almanacco di Gherardo Casaglia (in Italian).
- ^ All recordings in this section are sourced from OCLC 41543017
Further reading
edit- Gelli, Piero (ed.) (2005). Assassinio nella cattedrale. Dizionario dell'opera, p. 102. Baldini Castoldi Dalai (republished on operamanager.it). Retrieved 17 February 2016 (in Italian)
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