| Belfagor | |
|---|---|
| Opera by Ottorino Respighi | |
_-_Archivio_Storico_Ricordi_ICON009515.jpg) Set design by Cesare Fratino for the Prologue in the first | |
| Librettist | Claudio Guastalla |
| Language | Italian |
| Based on | Belfagor by Ercole Luigi Morselli |
| Premiere | 26 April 1923 La Scala, Milan |
Belfagor (premiere 26 April 1923) is an Italian-language opera by the composer Ottorino Respighi to a libretto by Claudio Guastalla (1880–1948) based on the comedy Belfagor of Ercole Luigi Morselli (1882–1921), itself loosely based on the novella Belfagor arcidiavolo by Niccolò Machiavelli. It was premiered in 1923 at La Scala in Milan, under the baton of Antonio Guarnieri, since Toscanini was unavailable. The cast featured Irish soprano Margaret Burke Sheridan as Candida, baritone Mariano Stabile as her lover Baldo, and tenor Francesco Merli as the titular Belfagor, an arcidiavolo (Archdemon) who tries to marry a human maiden while in disguise as a nobleman, using gifts of money to her father.[1]
The première obtained a "full and warm" approval, with several curtain calls for the composer,[2] but the opinion of the critics was divided, ranging from the enthusiasm of Marinetti, enchanted by the futuristic aspects of the opera, and of the music critic S. A. Lucani, to those who judged the opera and libretto absolutely not enjoyable.[3] Gaetano Cesari wrote that this work looked like an attempt, not fully accomplished, to merge in a comic opera "the fabolous and the clownish, the miraculous and the sentimental" and that the comic expressivity was damaged by the absence of "assertiveness of the melodic plan and its capacity to develop rapidly".[4]
- ^ Hungarian Book Review, vol. 32; Magyar Könyvkiadók és Könyvterjesztők Egyesülése [Association of Hungarian Publishers and Distributors] 1990 "Belfagor was Respighi's second opera; it tied him to the operatic stage for good. It was premiered in 1923 at La Scala in Milan, conducted by Antonio Guarneri, with an illustrious cast: the leading parts were sung by Mariano Stabile, Margaret Sheridan and Francesco Merli. The premiere was fairly successful,"
- ^ "Belfagor di Respighi. La prima rappresentazione alla Scala". La Stampa (in Italian). Turin. 27 April 1923. p. 3. Retrieved 6 January 2015.
- ^ Zidarich, Walter. "Belfagor di Claudio Guastalla e Ottorino Respighi: le vane comica e nazionalistica nel melodramma italiano del primo '900" (PDF) (in Italian). Université Paris 3 – Département d'études italiennes et roumaines. Retrieved 6 January 2015.
- ^ Cesari, Gaetano (27 April 1923). "(review)". Corriere della Sera (in Italian). Milan.[full citation needed]