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''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 William Shakespeare. Behind the libretto stand many Italian, ultimately Renaissance sources created by Matteo Bandello, and probably through their French translations by François de Belleforest and Pierre Boaistuau, rather than Shakespeare’s ''Romeo and Juliet''. The theme was very popular in Italy: there were earlier libretti by Luzzi for Marescalchi (1785, Venice), Foppa for Zingarelli (1796, Milan), and Buonaiuti for Pietro Carlo Guglielmi (1810, London). The first Italian libretto explicitly based on Shakespeare’s play did not appear until 1865; it was by M. M. Marcello, for Filippo Marchetti’s ''Romeo e Giulietta'' given in Trieste. 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 Operatoday )〕〔(Synopsis 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, another Catanese composer, 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. Belini 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 1971, p. 83: 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. Composition In Venice to prepare the local première of ''Il pirata'' with Giuditta Grisi as Imogene, Bellini wrote ''I Capuleti'' in a month and a half (starting about 20 January), writing the part of Romeo for Grisi. Her presence, together with a relatively weak male singers in the company, may have conditioned the choice of subject. Giulietta was sung by Maria Caterina Rosalbina Caradori-Allan, Tebaldo by Lorenzo Bonfigli and Lorenzo by Ranieri Pocchini Cavalieri. Bellini had intended the part of Lorenzo for a bass, but in act 1 of the autograph score he transposed it for tenor, and in act 2 the part is written in the tenor clef throughout. Although these changes were possibly for Senigallia who sang the role in the summer of 1830. Cavalieri, the singer at the première, appears to have been a tenor. However, published scores and most performances assign the role to a bass. Bellini thoroughly reworked nine melodies from his unsuccessful ''Zaira''〔Smart (Spring 2000), pp. 30—31〕 into ''I Capuleti e i Montecchi'': he explained that "''Zaira'', hissed at Parma, was avenged by ''I Capuleti''".〔Letter to Filippo Santocanale, Venice, 25 March 1833 (quoted by Giovanni Pasqualino, ''Beatrice di Tenda chiude la Stagione 2010 al Teatro massimo Bellini di Catania'', "(BelliniNews Website ), 5 December 2010).〕 In addition, Giulietta’s "''Oh quante volte''" in act 1 uses Nelly’s ''romanza'', "''Dopo l’oscuro nembo''" from ''Adelson e Salvini'', written for Naples in 1825. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「I Capuleti e i Montecchi」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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