Le donne vendicate

Le donne vendicate (also titled The Revenge of the Women, Il vago disprezzato and Le fat méprisé) is a musical farce that consists of two intermezzi by composer Niccolò Piccinni with an Italian libretto by Carlo Goldoni. Goldoni's text had already been used twice previously, in operas by Gioacchino Cocchi (1751) and Giuseppe Scolari (1757). Piccinni's version was first performed at the Teatro alla Valle in Rome in 1763.[1]

Niccolò Piccinni
Operas
See also: List of operas by Niccolò Piccinni

Historical background

Le donne vendicate was commissioned by Cecilia Mahony Giustiniani, Princess of Bassano Romano, to be performed for Carnival in 1763. The publisher of the original score, Agostino Palombini, dedicated the printed libretto to her. The production was a critical success at its premiere with particular praise for the beautiful scenery painted by Sig. Giacomo Castellari, the elaborate costumes prepared by Giuseppe Griselli, the moving performances by the singers, and the beauty of the music. The opera ranks as one of the composer's more successful ventures, as witnessed by the large number of scores that survived in Austria, Germany, France, Poland, Italy and elsewhere. The exact date of the first performance is now unknown but it was sometime during Carnival in 1763. The two intermezzi tell one complete story and are meant to be performed together, in between acts of an opera seria.[1]

Roles
Role Voice type Premiere cast, 1763
(Conductor: — )
Count Bellezza, an eccentric Knight tenor Giovanni Loattini da Cesena
Lindora, a simpering girl and niece of Ferramonte soprano (castrato travesti) Gaetano Farnassi da Montorio
Ferramonte, the ladies’ champion baritone Francesco Battisti Romano
Aurelia, novel-reading friend of Lindora's soprano (castrato travesti) Giuseppe Marrocchini d’Arpino

Recordings
  • Le donne vendicate with conductor Diego Fasolis and I Barocchisti. Cast includes: Vincenzo Di Donato as Count Bellezza, Giuliana Castellani as Lindora, Mauro Buda as Ferramonte, and Sylva Pozzer as Aurelia. Released on the Chandos label in 2004.[2]

References
Notes
  1. Chandos recording liner notes; 51 pages, 698 KB
  2. ASIN B0001CCXKM, Piccinni: Le Donne Vendicate
Sources
  • Holden, Amanda (Ed.), The New Penguin Opera Guide, New York: Penguin Putnam, 2001. ISBN 0-14-029312-4
  • Warrack, John and West, Ewan, The Oxford Dictionary of Opera New York: OUP: 1992 ISBN 0-19-869164-5
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