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Opera Music Plot Synopsis
Cilea: Arlesiana
Opera in three acts by Francesco Cilea
libretto by Leopoldo Marenco
based on a story by Alphonse Daudet
Premiere 27 November 1897, Teatro Lirico di Milano
L'Arlesiana had its origins in a short story from Alphonse
Daudet's collection
of Lettres de mon moulin. The author himself later transformed
it into a play,
L'Arlesienne, for which Bizet wrote the well-known incidental
music. From the
play Leopoldo Marenco derived the libretto for Cilea's opera.
I
The opera opens with the old shepherd Baldassarre in the Castelletto
farmyard
telling a story to l'Innocente, younger son of the widow Rosa
Mamai, owner of
the farm. The aria ``Come due tizzi accesi'' describes how
a poor little goat
faces the attack of a hungry wolf and puts up a courageous
but hopeless fight
lasting all night long. With the break of dawn the goat collapses
to the ground,
as the sun kisses her and closes her eyes in death. This is
the story referred
to later in the famous Lamento di Federico (``E' la solita
storia del
pastore''), and it too was drawn from another short story
in Daudet's same
collection, La chevre de M. Seguin.
L'Innocente is called so because he is slightly retarded.
Local superstition has
it that an idiot child brings good luck to the household.
Nevertheless,
l'Innocente is neglected by everyone except Baldassarre.
Rosa Mamai is worried rather about her older son Federico,
who has fallen madly
in love with a woman from Arles, ``l'Arlesiana'' who never
appears in the opera
and who is never referred to by any other name. Rosa's brother
Marco has been
alerted to gather information about this unknown woman whom
Federico wants to
marry.
Rosa's goddaughter Vivetta arrives at the farm. She has always
loved Federico
and is disillusioned to learn of his obsession for l'Arlesiana.
During the
conversation between the two women, all of a sudden Rosa gives
a start to see
l'Innocente up on the edge of the window of the hayloft. Baldassarre
reassures
her from above as he pulls the child back, and Rosa shudders,
``Se mai cadesse
alcun da quell'altezza!'' -- ``If anyone should ever fall
from that height!''
Federico enters exultant, followed shortly afterwards by his
uncle bringing
positive, though not very reliable, news about the woman from
Arles. On the
basis of Marco's favourable opinion, Rosa has no choice but
to consent to the
marriage plans. While everyone else is inside drinking a toast,
Baldassarre out
in the farmyard is approached by Metifio, a stable hand, who
asks to speak to
Rosa. She is called out and Metifio reveals to her that he
has been the lover of
l'Arlesiana: the girl's parents were aware of the liaison,
but they abruptly
kicked him out when the prospect of a more advantageous marriage
with Federico
arose. To prove his statements, he shows Rosa and Baldassarre
two letters, which
he agrees to leave with them until the next day. As soon as
he has left,
Federico comes out and his mother has him read the letters.
The first act ends
with Federico in despair over the treachery of the woman he
loves.
II
The second act, set on the banks of the Vacares pond in the
Camargue region,
begins with Rosa and Vivetta searching the countryside for
Federico, who has
disappeared from home since the previous day. Rosa tries to
convince the demure
Vivetta to behave more seductively with Federico, in the hope
of distracting him
from thoughts of l'Arlesiana; but the girl is shocked at the
idea and runs off.
Baldassarre and l'Innocente appear on the scene, and l'Innocente
discovers
Federico who has been hiding in the sheepfold to escape the
attentions of the
two women. In the pastoral aria ``Vieni con me sui monti'',
Baldassarre urges
Federico to seek forgetfulness by going to work with him in
the pastures on the
hills. After Baldassarre has gone off to tend the flock, Federico
pulls out the
letters of l'Arlesiana left by Metifio and contemplates them
bitterly.
L'Innocente, dozing off to sleep, repeats a line from the
old shepherd's story
about the goat, and that leads into Federico's lament.
Vivetta comes on the scene and awkwardly attempts to carry
out Rosa's advice,
candidly admitting that she loves Federico, but Federico rejects
her. The girl's
sobs draw Rosa to the site. Rather than go on watching her
son eat his heart
out, Rosa offers her consent to his marriage with l'Arlesiana.
Federico is moved
by his mother's sacrifice and refuses, swearing that he will
only give his name
to a woman worthy of it. With that, he calls back Vivetta
and asks her to help
him recover from his morbid passion.
III
Act III opens with the festive preparations for Federico and
Vivetta's wedding.
There follows a moonlight love duet between the two, in which
Federico affirms
that he now thinks only of Vivetta. Meanwhile, Metifio enters
and runs into
Baldassarre. He demands the return of his letters, and Baldassarre
replies that
he himself had delivered them to Metifio's father that very
morning. Metifio
hadn't received them yet because he had spent two nights at
Arles. Metifio
reveals that he plans to abduct l'Arlesiana: that night the
furious gallop of a
horse will be heard on the plain and l'Arlesiana will be clasped
tight to
Metifio in the saddle, her cries carried away by the wind.
Federico, wandering
nearby with Vivetta, hears these last words and is overcome
with the old
jealousy. Vivetta pleads with him to come away with her. Baldassarre
advises
Metifio not to ruin his life for an unworthy woman. All of
this is combined in a
stirring quartet which is one of the most thrilling moments
in the opera.
Federico attempts to assault Metifio with a sledgehammer,
but the two are
separated by Baldassarre and Rosa, who rushes in at the commotion.
With things quieted down again, Rosa remains alone and sings
her aria ``Esser
madre è un inferno'', a prayer in which she laments
the trials of motherhood.
L'Innocente awakes and enters to reassure his mother that
she can go along to
bed and he will keep watch over his brother. He announces
that ``scemi in casa
non ce n'è più'' -- there are no more idiots
in the house. In fact, all of a
sudden the child seems to have woken up mentally. Rosa kisses
him and caresses
him as she never did before, but as she sends him back to
bed she is filled with
apprehension that this prodigious change might bring misfortune.
There follows
an orchestral lullaby as Rosa herself finally retires with
the approach of dawn.
Federico stumbles in, half-delirious, repeating the last
lines of the shepherd's
story about the goat fighting with the wolf all night and
falling dead with the
first light of dawn. He is obsessed with visions of l'Arlesiana
being carried
off on Metifio's horse. Rosa comes running out, as Federico
heads for the
hayloft. He believes he hears the galloping and the cries
of l'Arlesiana. As his
mother tries desperately to stop him, he climbs up to the
hayloft and, without
further hesitation, hurls himself from the window.
synopsis © Bonnie Bonis, 1998
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