I RANTZAU

CD n. 1

Act I

1. Preludio
2. È tornato allegro il sole (Coro)
3. Oh, maestro! (Coro, Fiorenzo)
4. Hai ragione, Luisa (Giulia, Luisa)
5. O che lite, che grida (Fiorenzo, Giacomo, Coro)
6. Non un ricordo, ahimè! (Luisa)

Act II

7. Preludio
8. C'era una volta un re (Luisa)
9. Luisa! a che pensavi? (Gianni, Luisa)
10. Kyrie Eleison (Coro)
11. Hanno cessato! (Lebel, Gianni)
12. Luisa ora verrà (Fiorenzo)
13. Mi volete maestro? (Luisa, Fiorenzo)
14. Mamma adorata (Luisa, Fiorenzo, Gianni)
15. Ed è la figlia mia (Gianni)
16. O babbo ascoltami (Luisa, Gianni)

CD n. 2

Act III

1. Acqua limpida che brilli (Coro)
2. O maestro, sentite... (Coro, Fiorenzo, Giulia)
3. Per farle allontanar quanto penai! (Fiorenzo, Giacomo)
4. Non chiesi questo a voi. Amo Luisa (Giorgio, Giacomo)
5. Lo vedete, Fiorenzo? (Giacomo, Fiorenzo)
6. Quando volevano ci dividessero (Giorgio)
7. E Luisa ti vuol bene? (Fiorenzo, Giorgio, Lebel)
8. Udite, udite (Coro)
9. Avete inteso? (Fiorenzo, Coro)
10. Ed essa vuol morir (Gianni, Giacomo)

Act IV

11. Intermezzo
12. Vegliai la notte intera (Fiorenzo)
13. Non gridate... son guarita (Luisa, Fiorenzo)
14. O babbo, babbo! (Giulia, Luisa)
15. Vieni qui, stringiti qui sul mio petto (Giorgio, Luisa)
16. Parlami. La tua voce mi fa bene... (Luisa, Giorgio)
17. I giorni miei posso finir contento (Fiorenzo)
18. A me quel foglio (Giorgio)
19. Troppo a lungo ho taciuto (Giorgio)

INTRODUCTION TO I RANTZAU

After the performances of Cavalleria rusticana and L’Amico Fritz, staged by the C.E.L. Theatre of Livorno in the opera seasons of 1990 and 1991, in honour of their centenary, in 1992 it falls the hundredth anniversary of I Rantzau (The Rantzau Family), chronologically the third opera by the Livornese composer Pietro Mascagni. The idea of staging this opera once again after its first performance in Florence in November of 1892, and in doing so raising it again from almost complete oblivion (its last performance goes back to the end of last century), responds to a precise cultural intention, without bowing down to the current fashion of a performance as purely a means of celebration. Its fact we maintain that the theatre of Mascagni has been categorised under one single cultural period in the various artistic fields (in painting, music and literature), in which Livorno played an important role, within the European scene. From themiddleofthe800’s to the beginning of the twentieth century we can observe a complex cultural ambience which was fully expressed in the periods of macchiaiolo, liberty style, Realism and Decadence. I Rantzau therefore were born in a particularly prolific period for the operatic theatre. In fact, between 1892 and 1893, within a few months of one another, we have the first works of Leoncavallo (I Pagliacci), Catalani (La Wally), Giordano (Mala Vita), Cilea (Tilda), Franchetti (Cristoforo Colombo), Puccini (Manon Lescaut), and Verdi (Falstaff). Compared with these operas I Rantzau were not so successful, they never entered into the repertoire, even if they present pages full of glamour, with involving melodies. That is the reason why we invite to listen to the opera carefully, an opera scarcely known, staged for the first time in our century in its complete version.

Marco Bertini Presidente del C.EL. Teatro di Livorno