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Antonio Ghislanzoni

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Antonio Ghislanzoni

Antonio Ghislanzoni (Italian pronunciation: [anˈtɔːnjo ɡizlanˈtsoːni]; 25 November 1824 – 16 July 1893) was an Italian journalist, poet, and novelist who wrote librettos for Verdi, among other composers, of which the best known are Aida and the revised version of La forza del destino.

Life and career

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Ghislanzoni was born in Lecco, Lombardy, and studied briefly in a seminary, but was expelled for bad conduct in 1841. He then decided to study medicine in Pavia, but abandoned this after a short time to pursue a singing career as a baritone and to cultivate his literary interests.

In 1848, stimulated by the nationalist ideas of Mazzini, Ghislanzoni founded several republican newspapers in Milan but eventually had to take refuge in Switzerland. While travelling to Rome, where he wanted to help defend the nascent republic, Ghislanzoni was arrested by the French and briefly detained in Corsica.

In the mid-1850s, having forsaken the stage, Ghislanzoni became active in journalism in the bohemian circles of Milan, serving as director of Italia musicale and editor of the Gazzetta musicale di Milano. He also founded L'uomo di pietra the magazine Rivista minima, collaborating with, among others, Arrigo Boito.

In 1869, Ghislanzoni retired from journalism and returned to his native Lombardy, where he dedicated himself to literature and writing libretti for operas. He wrote many short stories in verse and diverse novels including Un suicidio a fior d'acqua (1864), Angioli nelle tenebre (1865), La contessa di Karolystria (1883), Abracadabra: Storia dell'avvenire (1884). His novel of theatrical life Gli artisti da teatro, (1865), was republished into the 20th century. He also published musical essays, the most important being Reminiscenze artistiche.

Ghislanzoni wrote some eighty-five libretti, including Edmea for Catalani (1866), Aida (1870), Fosca (1873) and Salvator Rosa (1874) for Gomes, I Lituani for Ponchielli (1874) and the second version of La forza del destino (1869). He also contributed a few verses to the revised translation into Italian of Verdi's Don Carlos.

Ghislanzoni ran a hotel for artists called Il Barco in Caprino Bergamasco, Bergamo,[1] where he died in 1893, at age 68. He was an atheist.[2]

Librettos by Antonio Ghislanzoni

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The following table contains a list of opera librettos written by Antonio Ghislanzoni .[3][4][5] Ghislanzoni has been attributed with 85 librettos, but the exact number is probably around 40.[5]

Title Genre Subdivisions Music Première Place, theatre
Le due fidanzate Melodramma serio 3 (prologue, 2 acts) Antonio Baur 25 February 1857 Milan, Teatro Carcano
Il conte di Leicester Melodramma 4 acts Antonio Baur 18 February 1858 Parma, Teatro Regio
Maria Tudor Opera 4 acts Vladimir Nikitich Kashperov 7 December 1859 Milan, Teatro Carcano
Marion Delorme Opera seria 3 acts Giovanni Bottesini 10 January 1862 Palermo, Real Teatro "Vincenzo Bellini"
Cola di Rienzi Melodramma 4 acts Vladimir Nikitich Kashperov March 1863 Florence, Teatro della Pergola
La stella di Toledo Melodramma 3 acts Tomaso Benvenuti 23 April 1864 Milan, Teatro della Canobbiana
L'isola degli orsi Opera buffa 3 acts Costantino Dall'Argine 14 February 1867 Milan, Teatro di Santa Radegonda
Gli avventurieri Melodramma 3 (prologue, 2 acts) Gaetano Braga 30 October 1867 Milan, Teatro di Santa Radegonda
Gli artisti alla fiera Melodramma buffo 3 acts Lauro Rossi 7 November 1868 Turin, Teatro Carignano
Giovanna di Napoli (Giovanna II di Napoli) Dramma lirico 4 (prologue, 3 acts) Errico Petrella 27 February 1869 Naples, Teatro San Carlo
Valeria Tragedia lirica 4 acts Edoardo Vera 16 March 1869 Bologna, Teatro Comunale
I promessi sposi Melodramma 4 acts Errico Petrella 1 October 1869 Lecco, Teatro Sociale
Un capriccio di donna Melodramma serio 4 (prologue, 3 acts) Antonio Cagnoni 10 March 1870 Genoa, Teatro Carlo Felice
Papà Martin (La gerla di papà Martin) Opera semiseria 3 acts Antonio Cagnoni 4 March 1871 Genoa, Teatro Politeama Tivoli
Reginella Melodramma 4 (prologue, 3 acts) Gaetano Braga 16 September 1871 Lecco, Teatro Sociale
Aida Opera 4 acts Giuseppe Verdi 24 December 1871 Cairo, Khedivial Opera House
Adelinda Dramma lirico 3 acts Agostino Mercuri 18 Agust 1872 San Marino, Teatro Concordia
Caligola Opera 4 (prologue, 3 acts) Gaetano Braga 22 January 1873 Lisbon, Teatro Nacional de São Carlos
Fosca Melodramma 4 acts Antônio Carlos Gomes 16 February 1873 Milan, Teatro alla Scala
Il parlatore eterno Scherzo comico 1 act Amilcare Ponchielli 18 October 1873 Lecco, Teatro Sociale
I Lituani Dramma lirico 4 (prologue, 3 acts) Amilcare Ponchielli 7 March 1874 Milano, Teatro alla Scala
Salvator Rosa Dramma lirico 4 acts Antônio Carlos Gomes 21 March 1874 Genoa, Teatro Carlo Felice
Il duca di Tapigliano Opera comica 3 (prologue, 2 acts) Antonio Cagnoni 10 October 1874 Lecco, Teatro Sociale
Sara Melodramma 4 (prologue, 3 acts) Luigi Gibelli 27 May 1876 Milan, Teatro Castelli
Gli schiavi di Enna Melodramma Nicolò Teresio Ravera January 1877 London, Queen's Theatre
Atahualpa Dramma lirico 4 acts Carlo Enrico Pasta 11 January 1877 Lima, Teatro Principal
Francesca da Rimini Tragedia lirica 4 acts Antonio Cagnoni 19 February 1878 Turin, Teatro Regio
Adelina Melodramma serio 3 acts Luigi Sozzi 30 September 1879 Lecco, Teatro Sociale
Don Riego Dramma lirico 4 acts Cesare Dall'Olio 29 November 1879 Rome, Teatro Argentina
Mora Opera seria Luigi Vicini 13 October 1880 Lecco, Teatro Sociale
Giovanna la pazza Melodramma Elidoro Ortiz de Zarate 1886 Milan, Conservatorio di Musica
Edmea Dramma lirico 3 acts Alfredo Catalani 27 February 1886 Milan, Teatro alla Scala
I Doria Dramma lirico 4 acts Augusto Machado 15 January 1887 Lisbon, Teatro de São Carlos
Edoardo Stuart Melodramma 4 acts Cipriano Pontoglio 21 May 1887 Milan, Teatro Manzoni
Carmosina Dramma lirico 3 acts Julio Gomes de Araújo 1 May 1888 Milan, Teatro Dal Verme
Fiamma Opera ballo 4 acts Nicolò Teresio Ravera 26 October 1890 Alessandria, Teatro Civico
Andrea del Sarto Dramma lirico 3 acts Vittorio Baravalle 20 November 1890 Turin, Teatro Carignano
Spartaco Tragedia lirica 4 acts Pietro Platania 29 March 1891 Naples, Teatro San Carlo
Cleopatra Dramma lirico 4 acts Melesio Morales 14 November 1891 Mexico City, Gran Teatro Nacional (Mexico)
Celeste Idillio musicale 3 acts Francesco Spetrino 3 December 1891 Bucharest, Teatrul National
Gualtiero Swarten Opera 3 (prologue, 2 acts) Andrea Gnaga 15 November 1892 Rome, Teatro Costanzi
Frine od Amore e capriccio Opera seria 2 acts Giovanni Carpaneto 7 February 1893 Genoa, Teatro Carlo Felice
Maestro Smania Operetta 1 act Cesare Clandestini 12 March 1894 Bergamo, Teatro Riccardi
Alda Dramma lirico 4 acts Luigi Romaniello 30 January 1896 Piacenza, Teatro Municipale
I Mori di Valenza (Les maures de Valence)
(revised by Annibale Ponchielli and completed by Arturo Cadore)		 Dramma lirico 4 acts Amilcare Ponchielli 17 March 1914 Monte Carlo, Opéra de Monte-Carlo

Filmography

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See also

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References

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  1. ^ Wilson, Conrad (2008). Giacomo Puccini. London, U.K.: Phaidon Press. p. 75. ISBN 9780714847757. Edgar had been completed at Caprino Bergamasco, in the hills between Lecco and Bergamo, because that was where Fontana spent much of his time and Ghislanzoni ran his artists' hotel, Il Barco. Today the tiny village is dominated by a restaurant and stables called La Staffa ('The Stirrup') and nobody seems to remember Il Barco.
  2. ^ Rossana Bossaglia, Arte e società in Italia: dal realismo al simbolismo, Assessorato agli Enti Locali e alla Cultura della Regione Lombardia, 1979, p. 451.
  3. ^ Zaccaria, Giuseppe. "GHISLANZONI, Antonio - Enciclopedia - Treccani". Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani - Volume 54 (2000). Treccani - Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana. Retrieved 19 April 2026.
  4. ^ "Libretti by Antonio Ghislanzoni". Corago. Università di Bologna. Retrieved 19 April 2026.
  5. ^ a b Black, John (1992). The New Grove Dictionary of Opera, Volume Two. Ghislanzoni, Antonio: Oxford University Press. p. 402. ISBN 978-0-19-976476-1.
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