I Capuleti e i Montecchi (The Capulets and the Montagues) is an Italian opera (tragedia lirica) in two acts by Vincenzo Bellini. The libretto by Felice Romani was a reworking of the story of Romeo and Juliet for an opera by Nicola Vaccai called Giulietta e Romeo and based on the play of the same name by Luigi Scevola written in 1818, thus an Italian source rather than taken directly from Shakespeare's play.
Bellini was persuaded to write the opera for the 1830 Carnival season at the Teatro La Fenice in Venice, with only a month and a half available for composition. He succeeded by appropriating a large amount of music previously written for his unsuccessful opera Zaira.
The first performance of I Capuleti e i Montecchi took place on 11 March 1830.Performance history from OperatodaySynopsis from operajaponica
Composition history
After Zaira
Following the poor reception which Zaira received in Parma, Bellini returned to Milan by the end of June 1829 with no contract for another opera in sight. Giovanni Pacini, a Catanian composer like Bellini, was still in Milan after the well-received premiere of his Il Talismano, and he received offers to compose an opera for both Turin and Venice for the following Carnival season. He accepted both offers, but the La Fenice impresario, Alessandro Lanari, included a proviso that if he were to be unable to fulfill the Venice contract, then it would be transferred to Bellini.
A firm offer of a contract for a new opera for Venice appeared in the autumn, a contract which also included a provision that Il pirata would also be given during the 1830 Carnival season. By mid-December Bellini was in Venice where he heard the same singers who were to perform in Pirata: they were Giuditta Grisi, the tenor Lorenzo Bonfigli, and Giulio Pellegrini.
Bellini in Venice
With rehearsals for Pirata underway in late December, Bellini was given notice by Lanari that it was doubtful whether Pacini would be present in time to stage an opera and that a contract was to be prepared for Bellini to provide a new opera but with the proviso that it would only become effective on 14 January. Accepting the offer on 5 January, Bellini stated that he would set Romani's libretto for Giulietta Capellio, that he required 45 days between receipt of the libretto and the first performance, and that he would accept 325 napoleoni d'oro (about 8,000 lire).Bellini to Lanari, 5 January 1830, in : Weinstock notes that Romani had used "Capellio" as Juliet's last name in the libretto.
The tentative contract deadline was extended until 20 January, but by that date Romani was in Venice, having already re-worked much of his earlier libretto which he had written for Nicola Vaccai's 1825 opera, Giulietta e Romeo, the source for which was the play of the same name by Luigi Scevola in 1818. The two men set to work, but with the winter weather in Venice becoming increasingly bad, Bellini fell ill; however, he had to continue to work under great pressure within a now-limited timetable. Eventually, revisions to Romani's libretto were agreed to, a new title was given to the work, and Bellini reviewed his score of Zaira to see how some of the music could be set to the new text, but composing the part of Romeo for Grisi. He also took Giulietta's "Oh quante volte" and Nelly's romanza from Adelson e Salvini. The Giulietta was to be sung by Rosalbina Caradori-Allan.
Performance history
19th century At the premiere of I Capuleti e i Montecchi on 11 March 1830 success for Bellini returned. Weinstock describes the premiere as "an unclouded and immediate success" but it was only able to be performed eight times before the La Fenice season closed on 21 March. A local newspaper, I Teatri, reported that "all things considered, this opera by Bellini has aroused as much enthusiasm in Venice as La straniera aroused in Milan from the first evening on".Cambi (ed.), in
By this time, Bellini knew that he had achieved fame: writing on 28 March, he stated that: "My style is now heard in the most important theatres in the world...and with the greatest enthusiasm."Bellini, quoted by Lippmann and McGuire 1998, in Sadie, p. 390 Before leaving Venice, Bellini was offered a contract to produce another new opera for La Fenice for the 1830–31 Carnival season, and—upon his return to Milan—he also found an offer from Genoa for a new opera but proposed for the same time period, an offer he was forced to reject.
Later that year, Bellini prepared a version of Capuleti for La Scala which was given on 26 December, lowering Giulietta's part for the mezzo-soprano Amalia Schütz Oldosi.
Very quickly after the premiere, performances began to be given all over Italy in about thirty different productions up to 1835. It continued to be seen fairly regularly until the end of the 1860s.Performances listed on librettodopera.it Details of European productions, which were numerous and which began in Dresden on 1 October 1831, continued into the 1840s. The opera was first staged in the UK on 20 July 1833 and in the US on 4 April 1837 at the St Charles Theatre in New Orleans; later, first US performances were given in Boston on 13 May 1847 and in New York on 28 January 1848."Performance data" in
In 1859 a French version, translated by Charles Nuitter, premiered in Paris Opera. It was prepared specially for the singer Felicita von Vestvali, who sang Romeo. The audience celebrated her performances enthusiastically and the critics compared Vestvali to Maria Malibran, Wilhelmine Schröder-Devrient and Rachel Félix. Napoleon III was so captivated with her that he presented her with a solid silver suit of armor for her performance.
20th century The opera was unheard in the 20th century until a concert performance was recorded for an RAI radio broadcast in 1957 with Antonietta Pastori as Giulietta, Fiorenza Cossotto as Romeo, and Lorin Maazel leading the music forces. The first United States performance during the 20th century was presented by the American Opera Society (AOS) in a concert version at Carnegie Hall in 1958 with Giulietta Simionato as Romeo, Laurel Hurley as Giulietta, Richard Cassilly as Tebaldo, Ezio Flagello as Cappellio, and conductor Arnold Gamson. It was the first time the opera had been performed in New York City in one hundred years, and was recorded on disc. The AOS presented the opera in concert again at Carnegie Hall in 1964 with Mary Costa as Giulietta and Simionato reprising the role of Romeo; a performance which was also recorded.
La Scala staged the opera in 1967 using new designs by Emanuele Luzzati and musical forces led by Claudio Abbado. This staging reworked the part of Romeo for the tenor voice, with Giacomo Aragall taking on the role. Aragall had sung this reworked version earlier under Abbado's baton at the Teatro Comunale di Bologna and the Holland Festival in 1966 with Margherita Rinaldi as Giulietta. The La Scala production toured to Expo 67 in Montreal, and its cast included Renata Scotto as Giulietta, Luciano Pavarotti as Tybalt, Agostino Ferrin as Capulet, and Alfredo Giacomotti as Lawrence. Aragall and Scotto reprised their roles in this version of the opera with the Philadelphia Lyric Opera Company at the Academy of Music in 1968. Tenor Renzo Casellato portrayed Romeo at the Teatro Colón in 1971, and tenor Veriano Luchetti sang Romeo in La Fenice's 1973 staging.
In 1975 conductor Sarah Caldwell and the Opera Company of Boston mounted the opera with Tatiana Troyanos as Romeo and Beverly Sills as Giulietta. Sills also performed that role the same year in a London concert with the Philharmonia Orchestra with Janet Baker as Romeo. Troyanos reprised the part of Romeo in 1985 for the Lyric Opera of Chicago's first staging of the opera with Cecilia Gasdia as Giulietta.
In 1977 the Dallas Opera staged the work with Marilyn Horne as Romeo and Linda Zoghby as Giulietta. That same year the Vienna State Opera presented the work for the first time with Sona Ghazarian as Giulietta and Agnes Baltsa as Romeo. Baltsa portrayed Romeo again in multiple productions; including the opera's first staging at The Royal Opera of London (1984, with Edita Gruberová as Giulietta) and the Liceu (1985, with Alida Ferrarini as Giulietta), and in the 1987 La Scala production with June Anderson as Giulietta.
The opera had stagings at several opera houses in the 1990s, including La Fenice (1991), Teatro di San Carlo (1995), the Semperoper (1998), and the Scottish Opera (1998). In 1999 conductor Eve Queler and the Opera Orchestra of New York presented the opera in concert at Avery Fisher Hall with Vesselina Kasarova as Romeo and Annick Massis as Giulietta.
21st century Modern day productions have been mounted fairly frequently, with 102 performances of 27 productions given in 24 cities since 1 January 2011 and forward into 2015.Performances since 1 January 2011 listed on operabase.com Retrieved 10 August 2013 A San Francisco Opera production opened on 29 September 2012 featuring Nicole Cabell and Joyce DiDonato as the lovers, and both singers were part of a Lyric Opera of Kansas City production in September 2013.Paul Horsley, "Family Ties: Eternal ‘clash of clans’ shines in Lyric’s polished, beautifully sung production", The Independent (Kansas City), 23 September 2013 on www.kcindependent.com
On 28 September 2014, Washington Concert Opera presented a concert performance of the work with Kate Lindsey as Romeo, Nicole Cabell as Giulietta, and David Portillo as Tebaldo. The opera was also staged at the Teatro Massimo Bellini in Catania in October 2014. In 2019, I Capuleti e i Montecchi was performed at the Grimeborn Festival, Arcola Theatre, London.
Roles +RoleVoice typePremiere cast, 11 March 1830Romeo, leader of the Montecchimezzo-soprano (en travesti) Giuditta GrisiGiulietta, in love with Romeosoprano Maria Caradori-AllanTebaldo, betrothed to Giuliettatenor Lorenzo BonfigliLorenzo, doctor and retainer of the Capuletibass Ranieri PocchiniCapellio, leader of the Capuleti, father of Giuliettabass Gaetano Antoldi
Synopsis In this version of the story the Capuleti and Montecchi are rival political factions (Guelph and Ghibelline respectively) rather than Shakespeare's "two households, both alike in dignity". Capellio is the father of Giulietta (Juliet) and the leader of the Capuleti. Giulietta is betrothed to Tebaldo (Tybalt), however she has already met and fallen in love with Romeo, leader of the Montecchi (Montagues). This is a secret to all but Lorenzo (Lawrence), her doctor and confidant. Complicating matters, Romeo has inadvertently killed the son of Capellio (Giulietta's brother) in battle.The synopsis by Simon Holledge was first published on Opera japonica and appears here by permission.
Place: around the palace of Capellio (Capulet) in Verona Time: 13th century
Sinfonia
Act 1 Scene 1: The Palace
Capellio and Tebaldo address their followers advising rejection of an offer of peace to be brought by an envoy from Romeo, the man who had killed Capellio's son. Tebaldo states that he will avenge the killing to celebrate his marriage to Giulietta: (Cavatina: È serbata a questo acciaro / "And reserved for this sword / is the vengeance of your blood") and he urges Capellio to hasten the moment when he may marry Giulietta and then avenge Capellio. The doctor, Lorenzo, objects that Giulietta is ill with a fever, but Capellio brushes his warning aside and declares the wedding will take place immediately. Tebaldo proclaims his love for Giulietta: Sì: M'Abbraccia / "I love her so much / She is so dear to me". Capellio's men urge him on and arrangements are made to have the wedding take place that day.