Gasparone

"Gasparone" is an operetta in three acts by Karl Millöcker to a German libretto by Friedrich Zell and Richard Genée. The libretto was later revised by Ernst Steffan and Paul Knepler. An amusing feature of the work is that the title character never appears and acts as a scapegoat upon which all the misdeeds in Syracuse, Sicily can be blamed. [ [http://books.google.com/books?id=wYfyNV5FUQEC&pg=PA56&lpg=PA56&dq=Gasparone+Mill%C3%B6cker+Erminio+Carlotta&source=web&ots=90-iEEoz35&sig=JX5jlsgcrTjjS2DYkO4KzuCIFxQ&hl=en Lamb, Andrew. "150 Years of Popular Musical Theatre", p. 56 (2000) Yale University Press] ISBN 0300075383]

Performance history

The opera had its premiere on January 26, 1884 at Theater an der Wien, Vienna. It was subsequently given in Berlin at Friedrich-Wilhelmstädtisches Theater on September 26, 1884, and in New York City in German at Thalia Theater in 1885 and in English at the Standard Theatre in 1885 and again in 1887 with Lillian Russell as Carlotta, Eugene Oudin as Count Erminio and J. H. Ryley. [ [http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?_r=1&res=9804E3DD1730E633A25754C1A9639C94669FD7CF&oref=slogin "New York Times" review of 1887 New York production] ]

After its debut, Millöcker revised the piece, creating eight versions. [ [http://www.sibmas.org/congresses/sibmas85/london85_04.html Discussion of eight versions of the operetta "Gasparone" made by Millöcker] ] However, the most commonly used performing edition is that prepared in 1932 by the composer Ernst Steffan. [ [http://books.google.com/books?id=cyC-YCK7FigC&pg=PA140&lpg=PA140&dq=Gasparone+Mill%C3%B6cker&source=web&ots=MRFXixh8Bp&sig=38_MGEYjbYvnyA10BSosisFLMEc&hl=en Traubner, Richard. "Operetta: A Theatrical History", pp. 138–140 (2003) Routledge ISBN 0415966418] ] Nevertheless, as Andrew Lamb has pointed out, this revision introduced new material and " "reduced the effectiveness of Millöcker's comic-opera structures" " in order to suit the taste of the 1930s. [Lamb, Andrew (1992), 'Millöcker, Carl' in "The New Grove Dictionary of Opera", ed. Stanley Sadie (London) ISBN 0-333-73432-7]

Roles

ynopsis

:Place: Mediterranean coast near the town of Syracuse, Sicily:Time: 1820

Film version

A film version was made in Germany in 1937. It was produced by Max Pfeiffer and directed by Georg Jacoby, with Marika Rökk (Ita), Johannes Heesters (Erminio), Heinz Schorlemmer (Sindulfo), Edith Schollwer (Carlotta), Oskar Sima (Massaccio), Leo Slezak (Nasoni), Rudolf Platte (Benozzo), Elsa Wagner (Zenobia), and Ursula Herking (Sora). [ [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0028920/fullcredits#writers 1937 Film adaptation at the IMDB database] ]

It was remade for German television in 1962.

References

External links

* [http://musicaltheatreguide.com/composers/millocker/gasparone.htm Gasparone synopsis]
* [http://www.felix-bloch-erben.de/index.php5/pid/896/Action/showPlay/fbe/7da3e1ecb73915aa37c94ddb081d8100/ Information about "Gasparone" in German]
* [http://homepage.usask.ca/~jgz816/article41.pdf Analysis of the film version in the context of the rise of Nazi culture]