To my amazing colleagues from Opera Roanoke's recent production, this is for you.
Riffing off Puccini’s Gianni Schicchi, a one-act opera springing from merely a few lines in Dante’s Inferno, here are a few songs connecting to the Commedia.
Just as a saying or aphorism can be a wellspring for discourse, Puccini’s Gianni Schicchi spawned fresh streams of invention from a few lines in Canto XXX of Dante’s Inferno.
Puccini’s only comedy, Schicchi has been compared to Verdi’s final opera, Falstaff.
Puccini ends his opera with the ensemble spitting “Ladro, ladro” (=thief) in his direction. Falstaff’s opening aria, L’onore! Ladri! is one inspiration for Puccini's finale.
Readers, you know how the Florentine’s fame sprung from the beekeeper’s Roman epic, and you have heard tales of Virgil’s flattering imitation of Homer. Ulysses, Virgil, and Dante mark a continuum of the soul’s mythic voyage. Cream’s Eric Clapton croons Tales of Brave Ulysses; Led Zeppelin counterpoints the epic journey through the lens of Nordic mythology, with Immigrant Song.
Puccini’s varied ensemble cast carries the show, punctuated by virtuosic solos, not unlike the diverse collective, Snarky Puppy. Schicchi’s wit is snarky indeed. As a jazz band improvises around a sequence, so does the cast enact the opera's ever-evolving plot scheme.
Puccini’s score encapsulates his style, at once unified and diverse. The sensuous harmonies of Wagner, Mahler, and Strauss meet Debussy’s impressionism. Stravinsky’s biting rhythms and clashing chords punctuate Schicchi’s machinations, and his infernal cunning.
Wagner's prelude to Tristan and Isolde is famous for its unpredictably turning harmonies. Stravinksy's commedia dell'arte ballet, Petroushka mashes folk music, Mozartean rhythms and clashing harmonies.
Composer and pianist Uri Caine take on Gustav Mahler’s musical language and mixes it with jazz and klezmer. Donati family’s chaotic discord at the thought of losing their inheritance to wine chugging friars also includes some unlikely concoctions.
“Great composers, don’t borrow, they steal.” Puccini’s soaring melodies are like beams of light slowly appearing as clouds make way. His "Spaghetti Western" [sic] opera, La Fanciulla del West, precedes Schicchi and continues a still unspooling thread. Lloyd Webber’s Music of the Night would have made for a shadowy phantom without Puccini’s inspiration.
A fixture of musical comedy is “patter,” the rapid tongue-twisting delivery of verbal virtuosity. Under the influence of Mozart, Rossini flips the script on his on critics who disapproved of his complex “Germanic harmonies.” Puccini followed in their rapid-fire footsteps (and like Rossini, he was criticized for being "cosmopolitan" by his Italian contemporaries).
Gilbert and Sullivan exemplified the patter technique in their comic operettas. The Modern Major General is the most popular example. I'm partial to this one from Iolanthe.
The Donati family in Gianni Schicchi acts like their world is coming to an end when they are hoodwinked by the title character, the ladro who makes off with their inheritance. A pop version of the opera could include a cover of R.E.M.'s 80's hit, It's the end of the world as we know it.
And that's the end of this mixtape. I'm happy to take requests for next week's.
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