Arlecchino (opera)

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Arlecchino oder Die Fenster (Harlequin, or The Windows) is an opera by Ferruccio Busoni, with the libretto in German written by the composer. Busoni composed the opera whilst living in Zurich. Its first performance was by the Zürich Opera on 11 May 1918. The first UK performance was in 1954 at Glyndebourne.[1]

The opera is unusual in that the title role of Arlecchino is a speaking role, with no singing. Arlecchino and the other roles in the opera are derived from the Italian commedia dell'arte. Guido M. Gatti has commented that the opera itself illustrates Busoni's own particular ideas about opera as not depicting "realistic events", and also making use of music not continuously, but instead when it is needed and words are insufficient alone to convey the ideas of the text. The opera can be seen as falling into four movements, where Gatti has titled the movements, with a corresponding representation of Arlecchino in each of them:[2]

  • "Allegro" - "rogue"
  • "Heroic March" - "warrior"
  • "Scherzoso" - "husband"
  • "The Final Triumph" - "conqueror"

Because Arlecchino was too short in duration for a full evening's entertainment, Busoni allowed his composition Turandot to act as an accompanying work. The composer himself once characterized Arlecchino as follows:

[Arlecchino] "has a tendency to ambiguity and hyperbole in order to place the listener momentarily in a position of slight doubt".[3]

Ronald Stevenson has described Arlecchino as a "theatre caprice", an "anti-opera", and an "anti-war satire".[4] Henry Cowell characterised this composition as "the only opera to betray knowledge of Schoenberg's early style before Wozzeck".[5]

[edit] Recording

  • Virgin Classics: Philippe Huttenlocher, Michael Kraus, Ernst Theo Richter; Opera de Lyon; Kent Nagano, conductor (VCD7 59313-2)[6]

[edit] References

  1. ^ Stevenson, Ronald, "Busoni's Arlecchino" (1954). Musical Times, 95 (13): 307-308.
  2. ^ Gatti, Guido M. (translated A. Arbib-Costa) (July 1934). "The Stage-Works of Ferruccio Busoni". The Musical Quarterly 20 (3): 267–277. doi:10.1093/mq/XX.3.267. 
  3. ^ Puffitt, Derrick, "Busoni Elucidated" (review of Antony Beaumont's Busoni the Composer (January 1986). Musical Times, 127 (1715): 29.
  4. ^ Stevenson, Ronald, Review of Ferruccio Busoni: Selected Letters (edited by Antony Beaumont) (December 1987). Tempo (New Ser.), 163: pp. 27-29.
  5. ^ Cowell, Henry (1952). "Current Chronicle: New York". The Musical Quarterly XXXVIII (1): 123–136. 
  6. ^ William Lloyd, "Busoni: Arlecchino & Turandot". Musical Times, 112 (1994).
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