Il ritorno di Don Calandrino

Il ritorno di Don Calandrino
Intermezzo by Domenico Cimarosa
Composer Domenico Cimarosa
Translation	The Return of Don Calandrino
Other title	Armidoro e Laurina
Librettist	Giuseppe Petrosellini (?)
Language	Italian
Premiere	1778 Teatro Valle, Rome

Il ritorno di Don Calandrino (The Return of Don Calandrino), also known as Armidoro e Laurina,[1] is an intermezzo in two acts by Domenico Cimarosa to an Italian libretto presumably written by Giuseppe Petrosellini.[2]

Performance history

The premiere took place in 1778 at Teatro Valle in Rome. Performances in Livorno (1783), Prague (1785), Vienna (1787), Barcelona (1788), Florence (1788 and 1793) and Padua (1801) followed.[3] After a long break, the opera was revived in 2007 under the musical direction of Riccardo Muti in a series of performances at the Salzburg Whitsun Festival,[4][5][6][7][8][9] Teatro Pérez Galdós [es] in Las Palmas,[10][11] Teatro Municipale in Piacenza,[12] Teatro Verdi [it] in Pisa,[13] and the Ravenna Festival.[14]

Roles

Role	Voice type
Livietta	soprano castrato travesti
Don Calandrino	soprano castrato[15]
Monsieur Le Blonde	bass
Irene	soprano castrato travesti
Valerio	tenor

Synopsis

The libretto gives a humorous account of characters and actions of Don Calandrino, the son of the podestà of Monte Secco (Abruzzo, Italy),[16] who pretends he knows everything, but in fact is incapable of even thinking logically; Livietta, a haughty and rich peasant girl, who tries to act as a lady, but invariably fails both in her language and manners; Monsieur Le Blonde, a French traveler eager to talk about places he has supposedly visited, but of which he knows nothing; Irene, a simple and humble girl; and Valerio, the Mayor of Monte Secco and Irene’s brother. After several turns, the story resolves in pairing Don Calandrino with Livietta, and Le Blonde with Irene.[17]

Recordings

Year	Cast (Livietta, Don Calandrino, Monsieur Le Blonde, Irene, Valerio)	Conductor, Orchestra	Label
2009	Laura Giordano, Juan Francisco Gatell, Marco Vinco, Monica Tarone, Francesco Marsiglia	Riccardo Muti Orchestra Giovanile Luigi Cherubini	CD: Gruppo Editoriale L'Espresso

References

Notes

1. Rossi & Fauntleroy 1999, p. 193
2. Rossi & Fauntleroy 1999, p. 193
3. Rossi & Fauntleroy 1999, p. 68 and 193
4. Corriere della Sera (2007-05-27), Il Cimarosa di Muti, una scoperta
5. La Stampa (2007-05-27), Muti a Salisburgo porta la Napoli di Calandrino
6. La Repubblica (2007-05-26), Muti porta Napoli a Salisburgo e Calandrino conquista tutti
7. Die Welt (2007-05-30), Musikfrühling an der Salzach
8. Die Presse (2007-05-28), Was Bach, Mozart von Neapel lernten
9. Deutschlandradio Kultur (2007-05-29), Inspiriert durch Neapel
10. El País (2007-11-11), Hipnotizados por Cimarosa y Muti
11. La Vanguardia (2007-11-11), Muti recupera el genio operístico de Cimarosa
12. Il Giornale della Musica, Un "ritorno" vivace e surreale
13. Teatro.it, Il ritorno di Don Calandrino^[permanent dead link‍]
14. OperaClick, Ravenna - Teatro Dante Alighieri: Il ritorno di Don Calandrino
15. The role was sung by tenors in the performances of the opera in 2007 referred to above.
16. Giustiniani 1803, p. 141
17. Rossi & Fauntleroy 1999, p. 193

Cited sources

• Giustiniani, Lorenzo (1803), Dizionario geografico-ragionato del Regno di Napoli, Tomo VI
• Rossi, Nick, and Fauntleroy, Talmage (1999), Domenico Cimarosa: His Life and His Operas, Greenwood Press. ISBN 0-313-30112-3

External links

• Libretto in Italian at the Google Books
• Libretto in Italian and German at the Saxon State and University Library Dresden
• Manuscript score at the International Music Score Library Project
• Manuscript score at the Bibliothèque nationale de France
• Score of Monsieur Le Blonde's aria at the Biblioteca Digital Hispánica [es]