Organization

Singer

Bass

Riccardo Zanellato

Count Walter

Tenor

Giuseppe Sabbatini

Rodolfo

Vittorio Grigolo

Contralto

Ursula Ferri

Federica

Soprano

June Anderson

Luisa

Baritone

Damiano Salerno

Miller

Tunkay Kurtoglu

Wurm

Conductor

Maurizio Benini

Stage director

Arnaud Bernard

Costume designer

Carla Ricotti

Set designer

Alessandro Camera

Darina Takova

Alexander Vinogradov

Arutjun Kotchinian

Mezzo-soprano

Elisabetta Martorana

Laura

Luca Favaron

A farmer

Chorus master

Emanuela Di Pietro

Teatro La Fenice

Others

Coro del Teatro La Fenice

Orchestra

Orchestra Del Teatro La Fenice

Italian

Luisa Miller

Venice

Italy

Luisa Miller by G. Verdi, from Venezia Teatro La Fenice, performed at La Fenice, 2006. Directed by Arnaud Bernard, conductor Maurizio Benini, starring Alexander Vinogradov, Darina Takova, Giuseppe Sabbatini, Damiano Salerno, Arutjun Kotchinian, Elisabetta Martorana, Luca Favaron.

Based on Schiller's Kabale und Liebe (Intrigue and Love) , Verdi's tragic melodrama Luisa Miller revolves around the love affairs of the title heroine and Rudolf, Count Walter's son, and the machinations of the Count's butler, Wurm, who wants Luisa for himself, resulting in the deaths of all three. Directed by Arnaud Bernard, who was inspired by the 1900 filmBernardo Bertolucci's 1976 production, this La Fenice production stars the extraordinary Bulgarian soprano Darina Takova, whose intense portrayal of Luisa highlights the heroine's inner torture, and Giuseppe Sabbatini, who brings a thrilling theatricality to the role of Rodolfo , especially in the opera's most famous aria, "Quando le sere al placido."

 

With the collaboration of Naxos.

Giuseppe Verdi (1813 - 1901) called his three-act opera Luisa Miller a “tragic melodrama” and based it on the bourgeois tragedy Kabale und Liebe by Friedrich Schiller (1759 - 1805).  The libretto was provided by Salvadore Cammarano (1801 - 1852), librettist of the Teatro San Carlo in Naples.  The premiere of this Verdi opera also took place there on December 8, 1849.

 In accordance with the specifications made at the time by the San Carlo Opera House, all politically explosive passages of Schiller's original had to be deleted, so Verdi's Luisa Miller became a pure love drama.  Rodolfo, Count Walter's son, loves the bourgeois girl Luisa and the love is mutual.  But Wurm, Walter's steward, also loves the girl.  He incites Count Walter to take Luisa's father prisoner and blackmails Luisa into writing a letter with which she can supposedly save her father: She must confess to being Wurm's mistress and to having ensnared Rodolfo only for the sake of his title and wealth.  Luisa's letter drives Rodolfo to despair.  He poisons his mistress and himself, but the truth comes to light at the hour of death.  Wurm the schemer must also pay for what he did with his life di lui.

Photos