Salvadore Cammarano

Salvadore Cammarano ( born March 19, 1801 in Naples, † July 17, 1852 ) was an Italian writer, librettist and director at the Teatro San Carlo in Naples.

Life

Salvadore Cammarano, scion of an old theatrical family, was initially a theater painter. As luck turned out to be way for him and Gaetano Donizetti that he could in this May 1835 very quickly provide a libretto for a new opera in Naples, the samples should begin in August: Lucia di Lammermoor. After the overwhelming success premiere (September 26 ) Cammarano wrote him six more libretti, all opere serie, and five for Saverio Mercadante and four for Giuseppe Verdi (see work selection). Cammarano died suddenly after a short illness on July 17, 1852 shortly before completion of the libretto of Il Trovatore.

Cammarano libretti fluctuate between two poles, without seeking a synthesis between these: on the one hand, he made libretti for classical materials that are based on familiar templates of the 18th century as Belisario and Poliuto for Donizetti, La vestale and Orazi e Curiazi for Mercadante, Alzira for Verdi. On the other hand - and for that he is much better known - he developed the material world of horror romantic for the Italian opera that time. He tried to increase by abrupt plot turns their dramatic effect, the outbursts of extreme expressivity should evoke. This enabled him the stereotypical change from lyrical Cantabile and eruptive Cabaletta (or scenic Tableau and shock) to make in Italian opera this time, without having to actually motivate him. But he very intentionally avoided logical stringency in the characterization and in the action guide. He loved it outright, to let the action begin shortly before her climax and reveal a long and mysterious history only gradually, for example in Lucia di Lammermoor, very extreme Maria de Rudenz and Il Trovatore. For Luisa Miller ( after Friedrich Schiller's Kabale und Liebe ) he even invented a history that does not exist in the template. Even when the characters he takes breaks in purchasing. This creates a new type of villain: this appears less and less as a person who invites due to his bad character and moral deficits blame, but much more than an unfortunate driven by his passions (such as Count di Luna in Il Trovatore ).

Instead Cammarano to condemn because of its seemingly illogical librettos, it is much more rewarding to analyze, from which dramaturgical objectives he went out and how they meet the needs of composers ( and those of the Neapolitan audience ) were fair. Not for nothing he met Verdi almost blind always with the utmost respect and trust the judgment of the experienced man of the theater. It is therefore no coincidence that Verdi for the realization of his heart desire, an opera Re Lear, first thought (after William Shakespeare's King Lear ) to Cammarano.

Works (selection)

Listed are the librettos for Gaetano Donizetti, Saverio Mercadante, and Giuseppe Verdi, a complete list is available in the Italian version of this article.

  • Lucia di Lammermoor Donizetti for after the story by Sir Walter Scott (Naples 1835)
  • Belisario for Donizetti after Bélisaire by Jean -François Marmontel (Venice 1836)
  • L' assedio di Calais for Donizetti Dormant after you Bellois. (Naples 1836)
  • Roberto Devereux by Donizetti for Jacques -François Ancelot Elisabeth d' Angleterre (Naples 1837)
  • Maria de Rudenz for Donizetti by Jacques -François Ancelot La nun sanglante (Naples 1837)
  • Poliuto for Donizetti after Pierre Corneille's Polyeucte (Naples 1838 premiere until 1848)
  • Elena da Feltre for Mercadante (Naples 1839)
  • La vestale for Mercadante according to various older librettos eg for Gaspare Spontini (Naples 1840)
  • Il Reggente for Mercadante after Gustave ou Le Bal masqué by Eugène Scribe for Daniel François Esprit Auber (Turin in 1843, the same substance as Un ballo in maschera by Verdi )
  • Maria di Rohan for Donizetti for an older libretto for Federico Ricci (Paris 1843)
  • Alzira for Verdi to Voltaire Alzire ou les Américaines (Naples 1845)
  • Orazi e Curiazi for Mercadante after Pierre Corneille's Horace (Naples 1846)
  • La Battaglia di Legnano for Verdi to Joseph Méry (Rome 1849)
  • Luisa Miller for Verdi to Friedrich Schiller's Kabale und Liebe (Naples, 1849)
  • Il trovatore for Antonio García Gutiérrez by Verdi (supplemented by Leone Emanuele Bardare, Naples 1853)
  • Virginia for Mercadante by Vittorio Alfieri (forbidden Naples in 1851, by the Censorship, premiere until 1866, based on the same episode in Livy as Emilia Galotti by Lessing )
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