Eine Nacht in Venedig

" Eine Nacht in Venedig " ("A Night in Venice") is an operetta in three acts by Johann Strauss II and was premiered in Berlin on 3 October 1883 in the Neues Friedrich Wilhelmstadisches Theater, and is the only one of the operettas of Johann Strauss II ever to be premiered outside Vienna. Its libretto was by F.Zell (Camillo Walzel) and Richard Genée based on "Le Château Trompette" by Jules Cormon.

Its initial performance is not the version that we are familiar with today, having undergone much revision on the libretto. Early reviews of the premiere in Berlin were unfavorable. Although the press at that time praised Strauss's music, the words that accompanied it were banal and silly, for instance, references were made to roast beef made from the sole of a boot and, where the waltz scene was played, the character of Duke Urbino was singing to passages of "meows" in tune with the waltz song which was met with much embarrassment from the Berlin audience.

Unperturbed, Strauss made several alterations to the work with his librettists and scored a triumph in his native Vienna at the famed Theater an der Wien on 9 October 1883. It ran for forty four consecutive performances and was firmly established as one of three Strauss's most recognisable stage works alongside Die Fledermaus and Die Zigeunerbaron. Strauss also drew themes from the stage work and set them to individual pieces of which Lagunen Walzer "Lagoon Waltz" op.411 and Die Tauben von San Marco Polka "The Pigeons of San Marco" op.414 enjoyed enduring popularity.

Roles

* Guido, "Duke of Urbino" tenor Sigmund Steiner
* Caramello, "the Duke's personal barber" tenor Jani Szika
* Centurio, "the Duke's page"
* Bartolomeo Delacqua, "senator of Venice" baritone
* Barbara Delacqua, "his wife" mezzo-soprano
* Annina, "a fisher-girl, Barbara's foster sister" soprano Ottile Collin
* Ciboletta, "a cook in Delacqua's service" soprano
* Enrico Piselli, "a naval officer, Delacqua's nephew"
* Stefano Barbaruccio, "senator of Venice"
* Agricola Barbaruccio, "his wife" mezzo-soprano
* Giorgio Testaccio, "senator of Venice"
* Constantina Testaccio, "his wife"
* Pappacoda, "a macaroni cook" baritone

ynopsis

Act 1

It is an evening in eighteenth-century Venice. In a square on the Grand Canal, with a view across to the Ducal Palace and the Isle of San Giorgio, the people are strolling around as the sun goes down while the tradeswomen call out their wares. The young Neapolitan macaroni cook Pappacoda pipes up with the observation that, for all the splendours of Venice, they do not have everything without their macaroni cook. "Macaroni as long as the Grand Canal, with as much cheese as there is sand in the Lido" — that is what Pappacoda offers. The young man is approached by Enrico, a naval officer, enquiring whether the Senator Delacqua is at home. When he is told that he is at a sitting of the Senate, Enrico sees it as an opportunity for a few private minutes with the Senator's young wife Barbara. However, she too is out, so Enrico slips Pappacoda a coin to give Barbara a letter with the message that Enrico will be ready for her at nine o'clock that evening.

As the people watch, a boat arrives carrying Annina, a fisher-girl, calling her wares. Pappacoda greets her, hinting that what has really brought her hither is the imminent arrival of the Duke of Urbino, and more particularly his barber Caramello, Annina's sweetheart. 'Caramello is a monster, a ne'er-do-well, and a conceited blockhead into the bargain,' she pouts. 'Stupidity is no hindrance to love,' Pappacoda retorts, sampling an oyster. "After all, I'm passionately in love with Ciboletta, Signora Delacqua's pretty cook — a girl as stupid as this oyster, and yet just as appetising, just as worthy of catching!'

When Barbara Delacqua returns home, Pappacoda gives her the message from Enrico and receives another tip for his troubles. Annina departs with Barbara, leaving Pappacoda to greet his own girlfriend, Ciboletta. She is wondering when they are going to get married, and he promises that they will do so just as soon as he gets a position in service.

The senators return from a stormy session, discussing the banquet that the Duke of Urbino is to give today when he arrives for his annual Carnival-time visit to Venice. The Duke is a notorious womaniser and has already cast his roving eye on Barbara, so Delacqua has taken the precaution of arranging for his wife to be taken by gondola to Murano to stay with an old abbess aunt in the convent there.

The Duke's arrival is signalled by the appearance of a gondola carrying his personal barber, Caramello, who is warmly greeted by the crowd. He proceeds to show off his close acquaintance with the Duke and rounds things off with an agile tarantella for good measure. He quickly spots Annina, but she is not too pleased that he has practically ignored her for the past year. She becomes interested enough when the subject of their talk turns to marriage, but Caramello explains that he is anxious to obtain the position as the Duke's steward before committing himself to matrimony.

In pursuit of amorous adventures on his master's behalf Caramello has learned with interest from Pappacoda that a gondolier is due to take Barbara Delacqua to Murano at 9 p.m. What he does not know is that his own girlfriend, Annina, has been persuaded by Barbara to take her place in the gondola, so that Barbara may spend her time with Enrico Piselli. Annina is determined to be back within the hour so that she may join in the Carnival dancing with Caramello, Pappacoda and Ciboletta in masks borrowed from their masters.

The Duke arrives and greets Venice and its people. He loves them all, he tells them, though it is noticed that he seems to love the pretty girls rather more than the rest. To the Duke's great delight, Caramello reveals to him his plan to take the place of the gondolier in the gondola calling for Barbara. Instead of taking her to Murano, he will then deliver her to the Duke's palace. Pulling on a gondolier's cloak and hood, he sets off on his adventure.The scene is set and the evening still, as the Duke looks up to Delacqua's balcony and sings a serenade. Inside the Delacqua house Barbara and Annina are making their final preparations, putting on the dominoes that will disguise them, as they await the sound of the gondolier's song that is to be the agreed signal. Down below Ciboletta brings Pappacoda a carnival costume.

Finally the voice of Caramello is heard from the gondola singing the gondolier's song. Delacqua helps into the gondola the masked figure he believes to be his wife and he bids her farewell as the Duke looks on with keen anticipation. A group of sailors appear and, with Enrico at their head, they sing a serenade to Delacqua for his birthday the following day. While Delacqua is on the balcony thanking the singers, Barbara slips out below to join Enrico. The birthday serenade merges with the sound of Caramello's gondola song as night falls on Venice and the disguised Caramello glides away with his masked sweetheart Annina, neither knowing the true identity of the other.

Act 2

Watching from a room in his palace, the Duke is eagerly awaiting the arrival of the gondola in which Caramello is due to bring Barbara, as Agricola, Constantia and the other senators' wives arrive in their carnival costumes, ignoring their husbands' fears for their moral safety. Finally the gondola in seen approaching, and the Duke ushers his guests into the ballroom while he prepares to greet his special lady guest. When Caramello and Annina arrive and masks are removed, Caramello is dismayed to discover who it is he has brought for the Duke's pleasure, but Annina fancies making the most of the opportunity with the Duke that fate has given her.

Caramello does his best to warn the Duke off Annina. 'Don't trust her. She scratches and bites!' he warns. Finally Annina and the Duke are left alone and the disguised Annina is shocked and thrown on the defensive when the Duke rhapsodises over the receptive response that his advances to Barbara had previously aroused. As the orchestra in the ballroom strikes up a waltz, the Duke takes the reluctant Annina into his arms.

Caramello finds an excuse to interrupt the amorous scene and Annina persuades the Duke to take her into the ballroom. While they are away, Caramello opens the doors to the Duke's apartments and a crowd enters, including Pappacoda, prominent in a faded, shabby senator's costume with false, misshapen nose and spectacles and with his pockets stuffed with sausages, meat and pastries. Pappacoda has brought with him all his tradesmen friends, to whom he has distributed invitations given to him by Caramello. They are wide-eyed at the scale of the Duke's hospitality and, having introduced his friends to Caramello, Pappacoda invites them to help themselves.

As the Duke seeks somewhere to be alone with Annina, a group of senators and their wives detain him. Among them are Senator Delacqua and his supposed wife, and the Duke is taken aback at being introduced to a second Barbara. However, Annina identifies this 'wife' for the Duke as the masked Ciboletta. The Duke goes along with Ciboletta's pretence, as he recalls the serenade he had sung to Barbara at previous carnival times. Delacqua pushes the supposed Barbara forward to put his own case for the position of the Duke's steward, but Ciboletta instead asks for a place for Pappacoda as the Duke's personal cook and the Duke is only too ready to oblige her. Delacqua departs to join Barbara in Murano, leaving the Duke to take supper with Annina and Ciboletta. Caramello has sent away the servants, and he and Pappacoda wait on the trio personally in order to keep their eyes open for any unwelcome developments.

As the Duke courts the two ladies, Caramello and Pappacoda repeatedly interrupt. The cook gives a timely discourse on his culinary arts before the senators' wives arrive seeking the Duke's attention. By now midnight is approaching-the time when the Duke must go to lead the revels in Saint Mark's Square. When the bells of Saint Mark's sound out, Annina joins in the revelry and all go off in masks to enjoy themselves.

Act 3

In Saint Mark's Square, before the moonlit cathedral, the revellers are celebrating but Caramello stands alone, reflecting upon Annina's flirtation with the Duke and lamenting the fickleness of women. Ciboletta, meanwhile, is looking for Pappacoda to tell him of his appointment as the Duke's personal cook, a piece of news that dispels Pappacoda's wrath at Ciboletta's adventures with the Duke. Now they can marry. When Pappacoda goes to pay his respects to the Duke, Ciboletta reveals to the Duke that the young lady on whom he had been lavishing his attention was not Barbara but Caramello's sweetheart Annina. When the Duke finally catches up with Annina, he finds her telling the senators' wives all about her escapade with him. Fanfares announce the start of the grand Carnival procession, in which all sections of Venetian life are represented and, when it is over, the pigeons of Saint Mark's flutter down into the square.

Delacqua has returned, distressed by the discovery that Barbara is not in Murano and, when she appears with Enrico, the young man reassures Delacqua with a story of how he has rescued his aunt Barbara from an impostor gondolier. The Duke is decidedly less interested in Barbara when he discovers that she has a nephew as big as Enrico, and he rewards Caramello for delivering him from a potentially awkward situation by making him his steward. Caramello and Annina can therefore join Pappacoda and Ciboletta in marrying, and the revelries are set fair to go on long into the night.

References

*Lamb, Andrewk (1992), 'Nacht in Venedig, Ein' in "The New Grove Dictionary of Opera", ed. Stanley Sadie (London) ISBN 0-333-73432-7