La scuola de' gelosi
La scuola de' gelosi is a dramma giocoso in two acts by Antonio Salieri, set to a libretto by Caterino Mazzolà.
Performance history
It was first performed at the Teatro San Moisè in Venice on 27 December 1778. In 1783 it was given at the Burgtheater in Vienna to inaugurate the reestablishment of the Italian opera troupe. Salieri revised the score for the 1783 performances, creating new arias and expanding the role of woodwinds and brass in the scoring of the work. The cast included Francesco Benucci as Blasio and Nancy Storace as the countess, the original Figaro and Susanna in Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro. It reached London in 1786, where, as in many other European cities, it enjoyed great success. Joseph Haydn composed two insertion arias for the work, one lost, the surviving aria, "Dice benissimo", for the bass role Lumaca and orchestra, H. 24b/5.Among the many admirers of the opera was Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, who wrote to Charlotte von Stein in a letter dated 28 August 1784:
On 28 August 1784, Goethe was in Brunswick. A production of the opera there in 1782 has been recorded.
A production opened in Legnano, Italy late in 2016 and subsequently toured to Jesi and Florence. A further new production created by the Theater an der Wien opened at the Kammeropera, Vienna in May 2017 and transferred to Cologne in 2019. Bampton Classical Opera presented the UK modern times première in 2017.
The North and South American première was given in 2017 in Montevideo by Ópera Joven of Uruguay, in a co-production with Sodre, the public broadcasting organisation of Uruguay. A video of the production is available on youtube.
Roles
| Cast | Voice type | Premiere, 27 December 1778 |
| Count Bandiera | tenor | |
| Countess Bandiera | soprano | |
| Blasio, a grain dealer | bass | |
| Ernestina, his wife | soprano | |
| Lumaca, Blasio's servant | bass | |
| Carlotta, a chambermaid | soprano | |
| The Lieutenant, Blasio's cousin and a friend of the count | tenor |