| Guido, Duke of Urbino...................................................................... Delacqua, Senator............................................................................. Barbaruccio, Senator......................................................................... Testaccio, Senator............................................................................. Barbara, Delacqua's wife................................................................... Agricola, Barbaruccio's wife.............................................................. Constantia, Testaccio's wife............................................................... Annina, fisherman's daughter, Barbara's foster-sister.......................... Caramello, barber to the duke............................................................ Pappacoda, maccaroni cook.............................................................. Ciboletta, chambermaid to the Delacquas........................................... Enrico Piselli, naval officer, Delacqua's nephew.................................. Centurio, page to the duke................................................................. Fishwife............................................................................................. Curd dealer....................................................................................... Flower girl......................................................................................... Oyster dealer..................................................................................... Bean dealer....................................................................................... Seller of grapes.................................................................................. Water carrier..................................................................................... Seller of melons................................................................................. |
tenor baritone bass bass mezzo-soprano mezzo-soprano speaking role soprano tenor tenor mezzo-soprano speaking role mezzo-soprano soprano soprano soprano soprano tenor tenor bass bass |
Chorus (SSTB): cavaliers, gondoliers, senators' wives, visitors, musicians, servants Orchestra: 2 (picc), 2, 2, 2 - 4, 2, 3, 0 - timp, perc - harp, 2 guit, 2 zithers - str Incidental music: 2 trumpets (F) obligato: all woodwind and brass ad libitum |
| After the successful première of the operetta The Merry War at the Theater an der Wien on November 25th, 1881, Johann Strauss entered into negotiations with the authors of the work's libretto, F. Zell (recte Camillo Walzel) and Richard Genée, who had not only stood at Strauss's side during his "first halting steps" in operetta but had also created the libretto for Die Fledermaus. Now the librettists proposed two subjects: Der Bettelstudent ("The Beggar Student") and Venetian Nights. Always uncertain in such matters, Strauss ultimately decided in favor of the weaker book - for reasons that must forever remain obscure.
A première in Vienna had become problematical in the wake of his divorce from Angelika ("Lilli") Dittrich, which Strauss had petitioned in Coburg and obtained on December 9th, 1882. As a result, A Night in Venice is the only one of his operettas to receive its première in Berlin, where it was given at the Neuen Friedrich Wilhelmstädtischen Theater on October 3th, 1883. Its reception with critics and audiences alike was uniformly poor. Strauss promptly set about making extensive revisions for the Vienna première, due to take place at the Theater an der Wien on October 9th, 1883. Genée hastily concocted new words for the "duke's lagoon yodeler" (Berliner Tageblatt), whose part was shortened and entrusted to the box-office star Girardi (Caramello); and the "Ladle Duet" was replaced with Pappacoda's scene (originally in Act 3). Unfortunately, in the aftermath of the Berlin fiasco, such delightful numbers as the duet between Annina and Agricola (with women's chorus) were also sacrificed, the duet being replaced by a satirical song in no way its equal in quality. In his haste Strauss introduced a number of revisions that can hardly be said to improve upon the felicities of the Berlin original. Even after the Vienna première, despite its success, Strauss again took up his pen and turned what one critic referred to as "an exhilarating march" at the end of the Act 2 into a wonderful but, in context, entirely inappropriate waltz finale. Shortly after the Vienna performance the publishing house of Cranz/Spina issued an autotype full score containing precisely this "Vienna version", and the original Berlin version fell into oblivion. The weaknesses of the libretto led to countless reworkings that only further distorted the hapless operetta. Even so, the piece has held its place in the repertoires of most operetta theaters, and it figures today among Johann Strauss's most frequently played works. In sum, what was urgently needed was a new edition containing the in many respects superior Berlin version, thereby making it possible to undo many of Strauss's rash decisions. The Strauss Edition Wien has now produced just such a score, along with the accompanying orchestral material. The complete versions of the Berlin and Vienna premières now appear in print for the first time. Both in the full score and the set of parts, the two versions are combined in such a way that at any given moment the desired version can be performed without loss of rehearsal time. This is accomplished by means of "cut marks" similar to the standard vi= =de, with Ber= =lin and Wi= =en standing respectively for the Berlin and Vienna versions, followed by the page number on which the music continues. Furthermore, a letter "B" or "W" is prefixed to each number to designate its respective source, while the two-column table of contents presents a chronology of both versions with page references. The basis of our new edition is Johann Strauss's autograph full score. Apart from the Act 3 Finale (with processional march) this manuscript contains the entire Berlin version and the revisions to Act 1. All sections not found in this manuscript (several bars of the Act 1 Finale, the satirical song from Act 3, the processional march and Act 3 Finale and the Vienna version of Acts 2 and 3) were based on the autotype full score published by Cranz/Spina. This score arose as early as November 1883 in close cooperation with the composer. Apart from a brief passage in the Act 2 Finale, it consists exclusively of the Vienna version. Like the already finished Fledermaus-volume, the Complete Edition volume of A Night in Venice will appear in 1999. Several of its most important critical remarks can be found in the present edition in the form of footnotes. Michael Rot Venice, c. 1750. Act 1. The Duke of Urbino has arrived for Carnival. This time he plans to conquer Barbara Delacqua, the wife of the Venetian senator. Her husband seeks to prevent this from happening, but without scaring away the duke, who has an administrative post to fill on his estates. Delacqua has an idea: Barbara shall be spirited away to the island of Murano, and he will present her chambermaid Ciboletta as his wife in order to coax the sinecure from the duke. But his plan misfires: Caramello, the duke's barber, learns of the scheme through Pappacoda, who has his eyes set on Ciboletta. Disguised as a gondolier, Caramello fetches Barbara in her incognito and takes her, not to Murano, but to the duke's palace. Act 2. Palazzo Urbino, that same evening. Caramello courts his own fiancée Annina, but in the mistaken belief that she is the wife of the senator. Annina, for her part, has come to the aid of her foster-sister Barbara and assumed her identity while the latter is clandestinely meeting her nephew-in-law Enrico. Now Caramello's mortification is greater than Delacqua's; gnashing his teeth, he is forced to watch his master getting closer and closer to the feigned Barbara. All he can do is generate a disturbance. All join forces to obstruct the lecherous duke: the wives of the senators, Pappacoda with his friends, and finally Delacqua himself with yet another feigned wife - the unmistakably cumbersome Ciboletta. She promptly cajoles from the condescending duke, not an administrative post, but the office of personal cook for her beloved Pappacoda. But before the lord of the palace can withdraw completely with "Barbara" (alias Annina) the rules of Carnival intervene: the clock strikes midnight, and all are summoned to join the masked throng on the Piazza San Marco. Act 3. Piazza San Marco, shortly after midnight. General confusion, at the end of which the duke decides to make the best of a bad lot. Caramello is granted the administrative post, but only on condition that he marries Annina. Delacqua, the bewildered cuckold, is at least given back his lost Barbara. Surrounded by the all-knowing populace, he tearfully embraces his nephew Enrico, who has kept his wife safe and sound from the clutches of the duke. |