| Benvenuto Cellini | |
|---|---|
| Opera semiseria byHector Berlioz | |
_of_Benvenuto_Cellini_by_Berlioz_-_Holoman_p191.jpg) Poster for the premiere | |
| Librettist | |
| Language | French |
| Based on | Benvenuto Cellini |
| Premiere | |
Benvenuto Cellini is anopera semiseria in fourtableaux (spread across two or three acts[1]) byHector Berlioz, his first full-length work for the stage. Premiered at theAcadémie Royale de Musique (Salle Le Peletier) on 10 September 1838, it is a setting of alibretto byLéon de Wailly andHenri Auguste Barbier, who invented most of the plot inspired by the memoirs of the Florentine sculptorBenvenuto Cellini. The opera is technically challenging[2] and was until the 21st century rarely performed.[3][4][5] However, theoverture occasionally features in orchestral concerts, as does the concert overtureLe carnaval romain which Berlioz composed from material in the opera.
Berlioz wrote this in hisMémoires about the background to the opera:
I had been greatly struck by certain episodes in the life ofBenvenuto Cellini. I had the misfortune to believe they would make an interesting and dramatic subject for an opera, and I asked Léon de Wailly and Auguste Barbier … to write a libretto around them.[6]
The only plot element drawn directly from Cellini's memoirs concerns the casting of his famous statue ofPerseus with the Head of Medusa forDuke Cosimo I de' Medici, although this was done in Florence, where it still stands in theLoggia dei Lanzi, not in Rome, as the opera has it. All the opera's characters besides Cellini andPope Clement VII, who is made commissioner of the statue in place of Cosimo, and all other episodes, are invented.[7]
The original libretto, which is lost, seems to have been in the format of anopéra comique; it was rejected by the ParisOpéra-Comique company. The story was then reworked as anopéra semiseria, without spoken dialogue, and offered to theParis Opéra where it was accepted in 1835 by that company's new director,Henri Duponchel.[8] Actual composition started in 1836. Its completion date is unknown. Several Berlioz scholars say it was completed that same year before the composer turned his attention to his massiveGrande messe des morts in 1837. In any event, its premiere was scheduled for June 1838, postponed, and finally given at the Opéra on 10 September 1838, conducted byFrançois Habeneck and withGilbert Duprez in the title role. It is likely the composer continued work on the score, or at least made revisions to it, during 1838 after theGrande messe was completed.
At the premiere, with costumes by Paul Lormier and sets by René-Humanité Philastre andCharles-Antoine Cambon, the audience hissed most of the music after the first few numbers.[9] In 1851,Franz Liszt offered to revive the opera in a new production inWeimar, suggesting changes to the score to Berlioz. A new version was in fact prepared and performed inWeimar the next year, its title role being sung byKarl Beck, the same tenor who had originatedWagner'sLohengrin in 1850, also under Liszt, and whose vocal powers were continuing to exhibit the same decline as was apparent two years earlier.Benvenuto Cellini was performed in London in 1853 as well, but was again poorly received. Its last performances in Berlioz's lifetime were in Weimar in 1856, this time without Beck, who had retired.
In 1856 the vocal score of the Weimar version was published in Germany; Choudens in 1863 issued a French edition of the same. Thomasin La May has examined the Weimar version of the opera.[10] In 1996 a critical edition of the opera byHugh Macdonald was published byBärenreiter Verlag as part of theNew Berlioz Edition,[11] taking into account all three versions because the composer himself was involved in all three:
After Berlioz's death occasional performances took place — in Hanover in 1879, Vienna in 1911, and as part of the inaugural season at theThéâtre des Champs-Élysées, for six performances from 31 March 1913 conducted byFelix Weingartner.[12] FollowingLes Troyens in 1935, theGlasgow Grand Opera Society mountedBenvenuto Cellini the next year alongside a production ofBéatrice et Bénédict;Erik Chisholm conducted.[13] The opera was revived in Vienna in 1952, where it was recorded. Four years later theCarl Rosa Opera Company, a British touring entity, brought it into its repertoire, giving two performances to packed houses at London'sSadler's Wells Theatre in 1957; the title role was sung byCharles Craig, then at the start of his career.[14] ConductorAntal Doráti led the work in London in 1963 with Richard Lewis and Joan Carlyle, and again a recording was made. TheRoyal Opera House did not stageBenvenuto Cellini until December 15, 1966, when Gedda sang the lead. The opera had its Swiss premiere in Geneva in 1964, and its first Italian performances in 1967, in Naples.
After the first studio recording was made in July 1972, byPhilips inBrent Town Hall, London, using an early two-act edition, interest in the opera grew. The first American production came in 1975 from theOpera Company of Boston under the musical direction ofSarah Caldwell, withJon Vickers in the title role andJohn Reardon as Fieramosca.[15] Stagings were mounted in Rome (1973 and 1995), Lyon (1982) and Florence (1987), among others.
The opera's appearance in theNew Berlioz Edition in the late 1990s added to its acceptance. Indeed in the 21st century it has become a repertory work, with new productions and recordings in London and Amsterdam (1999), Berlin, Paris and New York (2003), and London, Stockholm and Salzburg (2007). It was performed in 2002 by University College Opera, an amateur student orchestra and chorus specialising in UK premieres and rarely heard operas.[16] Those New York performances, eight of them, were the first at theMetropolitan Opera, with James Levine conducting anAndrei Șerban staging andMarcello Giordani as Cellini.[17][18] The Salzburg production was conducted byValery Gergiev and filmed.[19] A production directed byTerry Gilliam, with the libretto in an English translation byCharles Hart, was premiered byEnglish National Opera on 5 June 2014 withMichael Spyres in the title role andEdward Gardner conducting.[20]Mark Elder led a staging in Amsterdam the next year, which was also filmed;John Osborn sang Cellini. Osborn again sang the role in Rome in 2016. Most recently a 2019 production in theChâteau de Versailles conducted byJohn Eliot Gardiner has been released on DVD, with Spyres as the sculptor.
| Role | Voice type | Premiere cast,10 September 1838 Conductor:François Habeneck[21] |
|---|---|---|
| Teresa,daughter of Balducci | soprano | Julie Dorus-Gras |
| Ascanio,Cellini’s apprentice and possibly son | mezzo-soprano | Rosine Stoltz |
| Benvenuto Cellini,artist, sculptor, goldsmith | tenor | Gilbert Duprez |
| Balducci,the Pope's treasurer and Teresa's father | baritone | Prosper Dérivis |
| Fieramosca,the Pope's sculptor | baritone | Jean-Étienne-Auguste Massol |
| Pope Clement VII[22] | bass | Jacques-Émile Serda |
| Francesco,artisan | tenor | François Wartel |
| Bernardino,artisan | bass | Ferdinand Prévôt |
| tavern-keeper | tenor | H.-M. Trévaux |
| Pompeo,friend of Fieramosca | baritone | Molinier |
| Columbine | spoken | |
| Chorus:maskers, neighbours, metal-workers, friends and apprentices of Cellini, troupers, dancers, people, guards, white friars, the Pope's retinue, foundrymen, workmen, spectators | ||
The costumes for the original production in 1838 were designed by Paul Lormier (1813–1895).[23]
_-_No._10_-_Benvenuto_Cellini.jpg)
_-_No._23._Th%25C3%25A9resa.jpg)
_-_No.9_-_Balducci.jpg)
_-_No._5._Le_pape_-_Restoration.jpg)
_-_No._11_-_Ascanio%2c_M._Stoltz.jpg)
_-_No._12_-_Fieramosca%2c_M._Massol.jpg)
_-_No._6_-_Ciseleur._M._Wartel%2c_(Francesco)_-_Restoration.jpg)
Balducci has been summoned to a meeting with Pope Clement VII concerning the commission of a bronze statue of Perseus from the sculptor Benvenuto Cellini. Balducci would have preferred Fieramosca as the chosen sculptor; he also hopes to marry his daughter Teresa to Fieramosca. But Teresa is smitten with Cellini. Before Balducci goes to his meeting with the Pope, Cellini and other Carnival celebrators come on the scene, and pelt Balducci withfausses dragées (flour pellets) that make him look "like a leopard". He can't clean himself off, however, so he continues to his meeting.
A bouquet of flowers comes through the window and lands at Teresa's feet. Attached is a note from Cellini saying that he is coming up. He does so, and explains his plan to take her away from her father so that they can live together. He and his assistant Ascanio will be disguised as monks, and will take her from her father during the Mardi Gras celebrations, when theCastel Sant'Angelo cannon is sounded to mark the end of Carnival. Unbeknownst to them both, Fieramosca has also entered the room, and overhears the plan.
Upon hearing Balducci approach, Fieramosca hides in Teresa's bedroom, and Cellini hides behind the main room door. To distract her father, Teresa invents a story about a noise in her bedroom. Balducci goes to investigate, and Cellini escapes. To Teresa's surprise, Balducci produces Fieramosca from the bedroom. He and Teresa call on the servants and neighbors to take Fieramosca and dump him outside in the fountain, but Fieramosca breaks free of the crowd.
Cellini, his apprentices and friends sing the praises of being goldsmiths. Bernardino asks for more wine, but the innkeeper demands settlement of their tab. Ascanio then appears with the Pope's advance payment for the Perseus statue, but also with a warning that the casting of the statue must occur the next day. The amount of money in the advance is less than expected, which gives new impetus to the plan to mock Balducci at Cassandro's booth that night.
Fieramosca has also overheard this plan, and confides to his friend Pompeo. Pompeo suggests that they too disguise themselves as monks and abduct Teresa themselves.
People gather in the piazza. A crowd assembles at Cassandro's booth, where "the pantomime-opera of King Midas orThe Ass's Ears" is unfurled. Balducci and Teresa enter, soon after Cellini and Ascanio dressed as monks, and then Fieramosca and Pompeo similarly disguised. In thepantomime,Harlequin andPierrot compete for the attention of King Midas, who is attired to look like Balducci. At this, the real Balducci approaches the stage, leaving Teresa alone. Both sets of "friars" then approach Teresa, to her confusion. The four friars begin to battle by sword, and in the struggle, Cellini fatally stabs Pompeo. The crowd becomes silent, and Cellini is arrested for murder. As he is about to be taken away, the three cannon shots from Castel Sant'Angelo are heard, indicating the end of Carnival and the start ofLent. All of the lights in the piazza are extinguished. During the darkness and resulting confusion, Cellini escapes his captors and Ascanio and Teresa go off. Fieramosca is then mistakenly arrested in Cellini's place.
Ascanio and Teresa wait for Cellini in his studio. When a procession of friars passes by, they join in the prayer. Cellini then enters, still in monk's disguise, and recounts his escape. Because he is now wanted for murder, he plans to escape Rome with Teresa, but Ascanio reminds him of his obligation to cast the statue. Ascanio goes off to find a horse. Balducci and Fieramosca then appear. Balducci denounces Cellini as a murderer and then promises Teresa to Fieramosca in marriage.
The Pope then appears to check on the progress of the statue. Cellini makes excuses, but the Pope dismisses them and decides that he will give the commission to another sculptor. Cellini then threatens to destroy the mould, and when the Pope's guards approach him, he raises his hammer. The Pope then makes Cellini an offer: if Cellini can cast the statue that evening, he will forgive Cellini's crimes and let him marry Teresa. But if Cellini fails, he will be hanged.
After an aria from Ascanio, Cellini comes on stage and muses, in a 6/8 air, on the quiet life of a shepherd. The foundry's smithies (fondeurs) sing a sea-shanty, which Cellini sees as a bad omen. Ascanio and Cellini encourage them to continue their work. Fieramosca arrives with henchmen and challenges Cellini to a duel, which Cellini accepts asking to settle it on the spot. But Fieramosca wants it settled elsewhere. Cellini agrees. Fieramosca and his men leave.
Teresa arrives to see Ascanio handing Cellini his rapier. Cellini assures her he will be safe, and leaves. Alone, she hears the smithies start to lay down their tools, as they have not been paid and lack direction from Cellini. She tries to assure them they will be paid eventually, but to no avail. Fieramosca enters. Teresa faints, thinking Cellini dead. This is not so, as Fieramosca is about to offer a bribe to the smithies to cease work completely. But this turns the smithies against him, and they reassert their loyalty to Cellini, who reappears and, together with the smithies, recruits Fieramosca to help in the work.
In the evening the Pope and Balducci enter to learn whether the statue has been completed. Fieramosca announces that they are out of metal, which Francesco and Bernardino confirm. Cellini then prays. In a sudden act he orders all works from his studio, of whatever metal, to be smelted and reused for the Perseus, much to the consternation of Francesco and Bernardino. Moments later an explosion bursts the casting and the splendid new Perseus is revealed. All acknowledge Cellini's success, and the Pope pardons him as promised. Cellini and Teresa are united. The opera closes with a chorus of praise for the smithies.
Altogether there are at least 23 complete recordings in commercial release as of 2022, six of them videos, including the following:
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