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THE STORY

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ACT I. Among the heaviest drinkers in a rowdy crowd at the Falcon tavern are the actor John Plake and his friends ("Nel regno della sete"). When they try to drink the best wine in the house without paying for it, the Hostess attempts in vain to have them thrown out. Dolly, mistress of the Count of Westmoreland, arrives for some entertainment away from the oppressive court. Everyone is impressed with her beauty and dignity. Westmoreland himself arrives to take her back to his palace, but at Dolly's urging, he agrees to spend some time in the tavern.

The poet Christopher Sly arrives -- narrowly evading capture by Snare, the sheriff's officer, who has come to arrest him for his debts. Sly, a favorite among the tavern's clientele, entertains the crowd with a song about a performing bear pining away for his mate ("Un orso in musoliera"). During the course of the evening he becomes increasingly drunk and eventually passes out. Westmoreland decides to play a trick on the poet, ordering his friends to take Sly to his palace and dress him in finery. When Sly awakens, they will all try to convince him that the palace is his. John Plake expresses reservations about carrying out the joke.

 

ACT II. In the palace, Westmoreland and his servants wait for Sly to awaken. When the poet opens his eyes, he sees the luxurious surroundings and discovers that he is dressed in expensive clothing -- and is convinced that he must still be dreaming ("No, no ... č proprio il mio solito sogno"). Westmoreland, pretending to be Sly's faithful servant, tells the poet that he had fallen into an unexplained sleep that lasted for ten years. During this time, Westmoreland continues, Sly's wife has prayed continually for the restoration of his health. Dolly, posing as Sly's long-suffering wife, can now be heard praying in another room. Intrigued, Sly asks to see her.

When Dolly is presented to the poet, he asks to be left alone with her. Sly suddenly finds himself face to face with the woman of his dreams, and Dolly is greatly moved by his gentle talk ("Quale pietosa pena"). As they begin to exchange words of love, Westmoreland halts the charade by imitating Snare's voice. Westmoreland and the courtiers laugh raucously, and Sly is abruptly brought back to reality.

 

ACT III. Sly has been thrown into the cellar of the palace, where the servants mock him. Despite his humiliation, Sly is convinced that Dolly's words of love were genuine ("Eppure ... era commossa"). As he imagines her in the arms of another man, Sly slashes his wrist with a broken bottle. Dolly arrives to beg his forgiveness ("Sly, sono venuta") and admits that her emotions were real. Sly, who is dying, begs her for a kiss. Dolly curses the reckless courtiers who drove her beloved to his death. -- Mark Lyons/Courtesy Washington Opera

 

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THE BACKGROUND

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Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari, born to an Italian mother and a German father, resided alternately in his native Venice and Munich. When World War I pitted his two fatherlands against each other, Wolf-Ferrari suffered a depression so severe that he was unable to compose for some ten years. Essentially a conservative, Wolf-Ferrari inveighed against modernism, which subverted his sense of aesthetic order. Nevertheless, his later works are marked by adventurous harmony.

Wolf-Ferrari's reputation rests largely on five commedia dell'arte-flavored works composed on plays by Carlo Goldoni, among them Le Donne Curiose and Il Segreto di Susanna. Sly, one of his few serious operas, is a riff on the rarely-staged "induction" to Shakespeare's Taming of the Shrew, based on an eponymous drama by Giovacchino Forzano. The story of the duped drunkard has antecedents in Boccaccio and the Thousand and One Nights. Wolf-Ferrari's treatment reflects his intimate knowledge of Verdi's comic masterpiece Falstaff, but here the cruel joke culminates not in reconciliation but in tragedy.

The world premiere of Sly, at La Scala on December 29, 1927, had been delayed by three days because of the illness of Irish soprano Margaret Sheridan, who was to have sung the role of Dolly. Sheridan was replaced by Mercedes Llopart, Luigi Rossi-Morelli was the first Earl of Westmoreland and Aureliano Pertile, one of La Scala's greatest stars, created the title role. The successful premiere of Sly led to performances in other major Italian cities: the opera bowed in Turin in early 1928, with productions in Trieste, Venice and Naples following before the close of 1929. The German premiere, at Dresden under Fritz Busch's baton, was on October 13, 1928. The work faded from view during the mid-twentieth century, but in 1999 the present production served for its U.S. premiere, at Washington Opera.

 

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photo credit: © Carol Pratt 2002, courtesy Washington Opera (both)

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OPERA NEWS, April 2002 Copyright © 2002 The Metropolitan Opera Guild, Inc.

METROPOLITAN OPERA

Sly

Libretto by Giovacchino Forzano,
after the induction to Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew

Scenes from Marta Domingo's at the Washington Opera, with José Carreras in the title role, and sets and costumes by Michael Scott