Piccinni: La serva onorata, Part 1
Series: Classical Era Publisher: A-R Editions
This volume is part of the set Piccinni: La serva onorata
La serva onorata, Part 1
Introductory Materials and Act 1
Edited by Lawrence Mays
C121 Piccinni: La serva onorata, Part 1
978-1-9872-0907-5
Full Score (2025)
9x12, lxxxiii + 337 pp.
$400.00
In stock
SKU
C121
In September 1792 the Neapolitan Teatro dei Fiorentini hosted the performance of a new dramma giocoso by Niccolò Piccinni, titled La serva onorata, which has never been revived in modern times. The libretto was a reelaboration by Giambattista Lorenzi of Lorenzo Da Ponte’s Le nozze di Figaro, set to music by Mozart six years before. The work and the Viennese masterpiece show many concurrences, but Lorenzi’s text is marked by a different tone and a radical restructuring—a reduction from four to two acts and from eleven to six characters, as well as the elimination of the chorus. In it a mature Piccinni, just returned to Italy after the long stay in Paris, proves capable of writing a refined score and of showcasing the skills of his singers, among them the famous buffo Antonio Casaccia in the role of Nardillo Barracca, corresponding to that of Figaro.
Sinfonia
Atto primo
Scenes 1–9 (A room in the Count’s palace)
No. 1. Quartetto (Livietta, Conte, Barracca, Don Fazio): “Vedi un poco, mio sposino”No. 2. Aria (Don Fazio): “Che dite? Che vi pare?”No. 3. Duetto (Livietta, Barracca): “Si a caso maddamma”No. 4. Cavatina (Contessa): “Porgi, Amor, qualche ristoro”No. 5. Aria (Michelino): “Se un vago visetto”No. 6. Aria (Contessa): “Passami, ingrato, il core”No. 7. Quartetto (Livietta, Conte, Barracca, Don Fazio): “(Ah che veggio!) (Crude stelle!)”
Scenes 10–15 (A gallery with a balcony in the Count’s palace)
No. 8. Aria (Conte): “Quei mesti suoi sospiri”No. 9. Recitativo accompagnato—Aria (Barracca): “Ombre onorate—Ecco, crudel lotamma”No. 10. Aria (Livietta): “Narcisetto mio carino”No. 11. Finale (Livietta, Contessa, Michelino, Conte, Barracca, Don Fazio): “Aprite presto, aprite”
Lawrence Mays (Ph.D. Australian National University, 2018) is currently an independent scholar in Canberra, Australia. Prior to his Ph.D. study, Dr. Mays was awarded a Bachelor of Music in voice performance (Australian National University, 2009) and a Master of Philosophy in Music (Australian National University, 2013). His research interests center on eighteenth-century Italian comic opera, in particular the works of Niccolò Piccinni. He has recently published a critical edition of Piccinni’s Il regno della Luna (RRMCE vols. 112–13) and a book chapter on the historiographic aspects of this opera. A student of baroque mandolin, Dr. Mays enjoys repertoire by Domenico Scarlatti, Emmanuele Barbella, Carlo Cecere, and Giovanni Battista Gervasio. He is a chorus member of the National Opera Company based in Canberra. Prior to studying music, he practiced medicine for many years in various capacities, and he has published in the field of health services research.