Boccaccio (operetta)

"Boccaccio, or the Prince of Palmero" is an operetta in three acts by Franz von Suppé to a German libretto by Camillo Walzel and Richard Genée, based on the play by Jean-François-Antoine Bayard, Adolphe de Leuven, Léon Lévy Brunswick and Arthur de Beauplan.

The opera was first performed at the Carltheater, Vienna, February 1 1879.

Characters

*Principal singing roles
**Fiametta, Lambertuccio's foster-daughter - soprano
**Giovanni Boccaccio, novelist and poet - written for tenor, premiered by a soprano, recorded by a baritone, and sometimes taken by a mezzo-soprano

*Ensemble roles
**Beatrice, Scalza's wife - soprano
**Isabella, Lotteringhi's wife - mezzo-soprano
**Peronella, Lambertuccio's wife - contralto
**Pietro, Prince of Palermo - tenor
**Lambertuccio, the grocer - tenor
**Lotteringhi, the cooper - tenor
**Scalza, the barber - baritone
**Leonetto, Boccaccio's student friend - baritone

*Minor roles
**Checco, a beggar - bass
**Fratelli, the bookseller - baritone
**Majordomo - baritone
**Beggars, students, servants, Donna Pulci's daughters - chorus

Arias, Duets, and Ensembles

*"Ich sehe einen jungen Mann dort stehn" (Boccaccio)
*"Hab’ ich nur deine Liebe" (Fiametta, later with Boccaccio)
*Act 1 Finale (book-burning)
*Serenade (Boccaccio, Pietro, Leonetto)
*Cooper's Song (Lotteringhi)
*Waltz Trio "Wie pocht mein Herz so ungestüm" (Fiametta, Isabella, Peronella)
*Lovers' Sextet
*Duet "Florenz hat schöne Frauen (Mia bella florentina)" (Fiametta, Boccaccio)
*Act 3 Finale (Boccaccio's counsel)

ynopsis

:Time: 1331.:Place: Florence.In early-Renaissance Florence, the erotic novellas of the poet Boccaccio cause a stir and the locals are divided into the female fans of his scandalous tales and their jealous husbands. A plot is hatched by the husbands to chase Boccaccio from the city and have him locked up. But Boccaccio has other plans, including one to win the hand of the Duke's daughter Fiametta, which he finally succeeds in doing after finding favour with the Duke. Suppé's finest operetta.

References

* [http://www.oldandsold.com/opera/opera-50.shtml Profile of "Boccaccio"]