Zazà

Zazà Italian pronunciation: [dzadˈdza] is an opera by Ruggero Leoncavallo, with a libretto by the composer. The story concerns the French music hall singer, Zazà, and her affair and subsequent decision to leave her lover, Milio, when she discovers that he is married. The music is influenced by the French music halls where Leoncavallo had spent his early years as a composer.

Cover of vocal score, 1919

Its premiere was at the Teatro Lirico di Milan on 10 November 1900, starring Rosina Storchio as Zazà, Edoardo Garbin as Milio, Mario Sammarco as Cascart and Clorinda Pini-Corsi as Anaide, and conducted by Arturo Toscanini. It was later seen in opera houses around the world. Over the following twenty years it received over fifty new productions from Palermo to Paris, Buenos Aires to Moscow, Cairo to San Francisco, arriving at the Metropolitan Opera on 16 January 1920 in a production directed by David Belasco and conducted by Roberto Moranzoni, starring Geraldine Farrar, Giulio Crimi and Pasquale Amato, and later, Giovanni Martinelli and Giuseppe De Luca.

La bohème and Zazà are the operas of Leoncavallo's which most nearly matched the success of Pagliacci, although Zazà enjoys few contemporary productions, and is relatively little-known beyond circles of Opera enthusiasts.

Roles
Role Voice type Premiere cast, 10 November 1900
(Conductor: Arturo Toscanini )
Zazà, a concert hall singer soprano Rosina Storchio
Milio Dufresne, a wealthy Parisian tenor Edoardo Garbin
Cascart, a concert hall singer baritone Mario Sammarco
Anaide, Zazà's mother mezzo-soprano Clorinda Pini-Corsi
Bussy, a journalist baritone Lucio Aristi
Natalia, Zazà's maid mezzo-soprano Adalgisa Fabbrini
Signora Dufresne, Milo's wife contralto Ines Rosalba
Chorus of actors, singers, dancers, stage crew, firemen, etc.

References

    Sources

    • Casaglia, Gherardo (2005)."Zazà". L'Almanacco di Gherardo Casaglia (in Italian).
    • Gelli, Piero (ed.), "Zazà", Dizionario dell'Opera, Baldini Castoldi Dalai, 2007, ISBN 88-6073-184-4. Accessed online 8 July 2009.
    • Zazà archive at the Teatro Grattacielo. Retrieved, April, 2010.
    • Gallery of photographic postcards from Alterocca-Terni of the first production of Zazà in 1900.
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