Il bravo, ossia La Veneziana ("The Assassin, or The Venetian Woman") is an opera in three acts by Saverio Mercadante to an Italian-language libretto by Gaetano Rossi and Marco Marcello. Their libretto was based on the play La Vénétienne by Auguste Anicet-Bourgeois, which was in turn based on James Fenimore Cooper's novel The Bravo. The opera premiered on 9 March 1839 at La Scala, Milan and subsequently played throughout Italy and abroad.Mesa, Franklin (2007). Opera: An Encyclopedia of World Premieres and Significant Performances, p. 39. . McFarland. The opera was still being occasionally performed and recorded in the 20th century.William Shaman, Smith, Edward Joseph; Collins, William J.; and Goodwin, Calvin M. (1999) More EJS: Discography of the Edward J. Smith Recordings, p. 231. Greenwood Publishing Group. Comitato Nazionale Italiano Musica (2009). Opera 2009. Annuario dell'opera lirica in Italia, p. 376. EDT srl. and was hailed as an "exciting rediscovery" when it was staged by the Wexford Festival in 2018.
Roles +RoleVoice typePremiere cast, 9 March 1839(Conductor: Eugenio Cavallini)Carlo ("Il bravo"), a hired assassintenorDomenico DonzelliVioletta, an orphan from GenoasopranoEugenia TadoliniTeodora, a mysterious Venetian womansopranoPisani, an exiled Venetian patriciantenorAndrea CastellanFoscari, a Venetian patricianbaritonePietro BalzarCappello, a Venetian patriciantenorAntonio BencioliniMichelina, Teodora's maidsopranoAngela "Angiolina" VillaMarco, Teodora's gondolierbassEutimio PoloniniLuigi, Foscari's servantbassLuigi Quattrini MessengertenorNapoleone MarconiThe Doge of Venice, Venetian senators, knights, counsellors, citizens, artisans, gondoliers, commedia dell'arte players, soldiers, guards, servants, pages, and squires
Summary In order to save his father's life, Carlo has accepted to become a henchman and to serve the government of Venice. When ordered to murder Teodora, he finds that the latter is his former wife : he tried to kill her because he thought (mistakenly) she had betrayed him. Foscari, a patrician, was in love with Teodora, and now loves her daughter, Violetta, but the latter is in love with Pisani, an exiled patrician. The lovers manage to escape, while Teodora kills herself in the hope of saving Carlo's father's life. Carlo, however, discovers that his father is already dead.
Recordings 1976: Orchestra and Chorus of the Teatro dell'Opera di Roma, (conductor); William Johns (Il bravo), Miwako Matsumoto (Violetta), Maria Parazzini (Teodora), Paolo Washington (Foscari), Antonio Savastano (Pisani), Gino Sinimberghi (Cappello), Loris Gambelli (Marco), Mario Macchi (Luigi), Giovanna di Rocco (Michelina). Recorded live. Label: Warner Fonit 1990: Orchestra Internazionale d'Italia, Slovak Philharmonic Chorus, (conductor); Dino Di Domenico (Il bravo), Janet Perry (Violetta), Adelisa Tabiadon (Teodora), Stefano Antonucci (Foscari), Sergio Bertocchi (Pisani), Leonardo De Lisi (Cappello), Ambrogio Riva (Marco), Giuseppe De Matteis (Luigi), Maria Cristina Zanni (Michelina). Recorded live. Label: Nuova Era
References
External links
Rossi, Gaetano (1865). Il bravo: melodramma in tre atti. Ricordi