Puccini‘s Il Tabarro
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In cooperation with the Jerusalem Opera
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Omer Arieli, conductor
Daniel Luis de Vicente, baritone
Yasmine Levi-Ellentuck, soprano
Zi-Zhao Guo, tenor
Noa Hope, mezzo soprano
Lev Algardt, bass
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Danielle Lasry, director
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Giacomo Puccini’s Il Tabarro
Libretto: Giuseppe Adami
Based on Didier Gold’s La Houppelande
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Il Tabarro is a short opera with somber colors, yet powerful and impressive – the first of the trio of operas known as Il Trittico which Puccini finalized in 1916. The first performance was given in 1918 at the Metropolitan Opera in New York, as a result of WWI.
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Following the premiere Puccini made further adjustments to the opera, and it was staged in its final version in 1922. Since then, Il Tabarro is staged independently in major opera houses around the world, performed by renowned soloists under the baton of some of the world’s best conductors.
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Paris, 1910. To the backdrop of an anchorage on the Seine with its sweaty workers and the flowing river, the opera focuses on a single image, a miniature.
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A barge anchors by the dock. Michele, the owner of the barge, his young wife Giorgetta and several stevedores are the main characters in a condensed plot, taking place during only a few hours – from sunrise to sunset, and ends in a gruesome drama.
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This performance of Il Tabarro marks 100 years since its first performance in its final version.
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Synopsis
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Paris, September 1910.
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A barge is lowering its anchor at the bank of the Seine.
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The sun sets. The stevedores who had just finished offloading the barge finish their day of work. They lead a hard, somber, hopeless life, and long for the days when they were living on the outskirts of glamorous Paris, dreaming of a quiet life in a small village house. But now the day is dark since sunrise, and even the comfort of love is brief, its pleasures obtained only by theft. They drown their sorrows, preferring not to think too much.
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Giorgetta, Michele’s young wife, who is also the old owner of the barge, has an affair with Luigi, the young stevedore. Michele senses his wife’s behavior is not as usual: she distances herself, not showing any affection. He begins to suspect she is unfaithful. Hurt, he approaches her and asks her painfully for the reason she does love him as before, in a desperate attempt he tries to rekindle her love by bringing up pleasant memories for the hear before, when their baby was still with them, and they were all happy under his cloak. But the memory is too painful for Giorgetta. She rejects his affection and enters their cabin.
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Night falls but Giorgetta is awake, waiting for Luigi, who will arrive when she will give him the signal – a match lit in the dark. Angry and hurt, Michele stays outside, lighting his pipe. He wonders who might be the man who had seduced her, and plans his revenge,
Luigi sees the flame in the distance, mistakenly thinking this is the signal he has been waiting for. He hurries to the barrage but is caught by Michele. Michele forces him to admit his love to Giorgetta, strangles him to death and hides his body under his cloak.
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Giorgetta then leaves the cabin and asks Michele for forgiveness, only to find Luigi’s body under his cloak. The body falls to the ground and Michele smothers her to death on Luigi’s body.
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Artists
Omer Arieli, conductor
Daniel Luis de Vicente, baritone
Yasmine Levi-Ellentuck, soprano
Zi-Zhao Guo, tenor
Noa Hope, mezzo soprano
Lev Algardt, bass