Le villi. Medan Puccini alltjämt studerade år 1883 läste han om förlaget Sonzognos tävlan om enaktsoperor, och hans lärare Ponchielli uppmanade honom att delta och ordnade så att Fontana skrev librettot. Handlingen hämtades ur en legend som Heine hade återberättat och som låg till grund för Adolphe Adams balett Giselle.
Le villi 1884 synopsis
Puccini vann inget pris men fick möjlighet att spela delar av sin opera för musikförläggaren Giulio Ricordi, som såg möjligheterna hos den unge tonsättaren och ordnade så att Le villi uruppfördes på Teatro Dal Verme i Milano den 31 maj 1884. Ricordi rådde Puccini att bygga ut operan till två akter och denna version hade premiär i Turin den 26 december 1884.
Akt I
Roberto har just firat sin förlovning med Anna när han måste resa till Mainz och hämta ett arv. Anna är otröstlig därför att hon tror att Roberto kommer att svika henne, och när han dröjer i flera månader på grund av ett kärleksäventyr dör hon av sorg.
Akt II
Hon tas upp i kretsen av vilier, unga flickor som har dött av mäns otrohet. Då Roberto återvänder till byn visar sig Anna i en vilis gestalt. Han kysser henne men hon drar in honom i viliernas dans tills han segnar ned död.
IN ENGLISH
- Place: The Black Forest
- Time: Indeterminate
Act 1
Spring
Family and guests dance at a celebration of the engagement in marriage of Roberto and Anna. Roberto must leave before the ceremony to collect an inheritance, and Anna worries that she will never see him again (Aria: Se come voi piccina). Roberto comforts Anna telling her that it will be fine and they will marry when he returns from Mainz.
Anna tells Roberto of her dreams of him dying but Roberto tells Anna that she should not worry about his love failing and that she may doubt her God but not his love for her. The crowd returns and Anna is still worried about Roberto leaving. Roberto then asks Guglielmo, Anna’s father, to bless them before his journey and Roberto sets off for Mainz.
Intermezzo
Roberto is enchanted by a siren, and forgets Anna. Anna waits through the summer and the autumn and in the winter dies in his absence. The legend of the fairies (Le Villi) is then explained. When a woman dies of a broken heart, the fairies force the heart breaker to dance until death.
Act 2
Winter
Water-colour sketch by Adolf Hohenstein for the setting of Act 2 of Le Villi
Anna’s father, Guglielmo, holds Roberto responsible for Anna’s death and calls upon the Villi to take vengeance on Roberto (Aria: Anima santa della figlia mia). The Villi call upon the ghost of Anna and lure Roberto into the forest. Roberto, now penniless and abandoned by the seductress, returns when news of Anna’s death reaches him. Hoping that he will be forgiven the Villi stalk Roberto as he mourns the loss of the days of his youth (Aria: Torna ai felici dì).
Roberto then finds the one last flower left alive in the winter and tries to find hope that Anna lives but is repelled by the Villi when he tries to knock on the door of Guglielmo’s house. Roberto then tries to pray for forgiveness but finds he cannot because of the curse put upon him by the Villi. As Roberto curses his fate Anna appears to him and tells him of the suffering that she had to endure.
Roberto begs for forgiveness and he too feels the pain of Anna burning in his heart. But Roberto is not forgiven and Anna calls upon the Villi, who curse Roberto with cries of “traitor.” There, the Villi and Anna dance with Roberto until he dies of exhaustion at Anna’s feet.
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