La Fanciulla del West
| La fanciulla del West | |
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| Opera by Giacomo Puccini | |
"Una partita a poker" – a crucial scene with Emmy Destinn in the title role in the premiere
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| Translation | The Girl of the West |
| Librettist |
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| Language | Italian |
| Based on | David Belasco's play The Girl of the Golden West |
| Premiere | 10 December 1910 Metropolitan Opera |
La fanciulla del West (The Girl of the West) is an opera in three acts by Giacomo Puccini to an Italian libretto by Guelfo Civinini and Carlo Zangarini, based on the play The Girl of the Golden West by the American author David Belasco. Fanciulla followed Madama Butterfly, which was also based on a Belasco play. The opera has fewer of the show-stopping highlights that are characteristic of other Puccini works, but is admired for its impressive orchestration and for a score that is more melodically integrated than is typical of his previous work. Fanciulla displays influences from composers Claude Debussy and Richard Strauss, without being in any way imitative. Similarities between the libretto and the work of Richard Wagner have also been found, though some attribute this more to the original plot of the play, and have asserted that the opera remains quintessentially Italian.
The opera had a successful and highly publicised premiere at the Metropolitan Opera, New York City, in 1910. Nevertheless, while Puccini deemed it one of his greatest works, La fanciulla del West has become a less popular opera within the composer's repertoire, drawing a mixed public reception overall. Despite the plot being a source of significant criticism, the majority of academics and musicians agree in calling it a magnum opus, particularly lauding its craftmanship. Conductor Arturo Toscanini called the opera a "great symphonic poem".
La fanciulla del West was commissioned by, and first performed at, the Metropolitan Opera in New York on 10 December 1910 with Met stars Enrico Caruso and Emmy Destinn for whom Puccini created the leading roles of Dick Johnson and Minnie. However, after Puccini saw Gilda dalla Rizza as Minnie at the Opéra de Monte-Carlo in 1921, he remarked, "At last I have seen my true Fanciulla." Also in the cast was Pasquale Amato as Jack Rance. The Met's music director Arturo Toscanini conducted. This was the first world premiere of an opera at the Met, and it was initially well received in the United States. However, it was never quite as popular in Europe, except perhaps in Germany. There it enjoyed a triumphant premiere at the Deutsche Opernhaus in Berlin (now known as the Deutsche Oper) in March 1913, under the musical direction of Ignatz Waghalter.
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