La bella dormente nel bosco

La bella dormente nel bosco is an opera in three acts by Ottorino Respighi to a libretto by Gian Bistolfi based on Charles Perrault's fairy tale Sleeping Beauty.

The first version of this opera, with the title La bella addormentata nel bosco, premiered in the Teatro Odescalchi in Rome on 13 April 1922. It was a version written for the Italian marionettist Vittorio Podrecca, who was director of a marionette company called Teatro dei Piccoli (Theater for Children). The play was interpreted by marionettes, but it was accompanied by orchestra and singers. The cast of the première included the soprano Cisse Vaugham and the mezzo-soprano Evelina Levi. The performance obtained a complete success, with «many curtain calls for the composer», and was judged as an «art jewel».

A revised version was performed at the Teatro di Torino, Turin, on 9 April 1934, as La bella dormente nel bosco. The cast included Graziella Gazzera Valle (Princess), Magda Piccarolo (Blue Fairy, Nightingale), Angelina Rossetti (Spindle, Duchess, Cat), Maria Benedetti (Queen, Cuckoo, Old lady), Vincenzo Capponi (Prince, Jester) and Egisto Busacchi (King, Woodcutter, Ambassador).

A further posthumous version, revised by Gian Luca Tocchi and by the widow of the composer, Elsa Respighi, was performed in the Teatro Rossini in Turin on 13 June 1967.

La bella addormentata nel bosco (version 1922) is scored for the following instruments:

flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, horn, trumpet, trombone, triangle, drum, cymbals, bell, handbells, celesta, harpsichord, strings.

...
Wikipedia