I/19

Otello, ossia il moro di Venezia

[Othello, or the Moor of Venice]

Dramma per musica in three acts by
FRANCESCO BERIO DI SALSA

First performance:
Naples – Teatro del Fondo
4 December 1816

Critical Edition by
MICHAEL COLLINS

FONDAZIONE ROSSINI PESARO 1994

CHARACTERS:
OTELLO, an African in the service of Venice, tenor
DESDEMONA, secretly married to Otello, soprano
ELMIRO, father of Desdemona, bass
RODRIGO, spurned lover of Desdemona, son of the Doge, tenor
JAGO, secret enemy of Otello, a friend of Rodrigo for expedience, tenor
EMILIA, confidante of Desdemona, mezzo-soprano
LUCIO, confidante of Otello, tenor
DOGE, tenor
A gondolier], tenor
Mixed chorus of senators, followers of Otello, ladies-in-waiting to Desdemona, people

The action takes place in Venice

Instrumentation: 2 Flutes/2 Piccolos, 2 Oboes, 2 Clarinets, 2 Bassoons, 4 Horns, 2 Trumpets, 3 Trombones, Timpani, Rain–lightning–thunder, Harp, Strings
Performance time: 2h 15m

In this first opera seria written entirely anew for Naples, Rossini came of age as a dramatist. Berio di Salsa's libretto derives principally from French and Italian interpretations of the Shakespearean original. Only in the third act, conceived of by Rossini as a single unit, is the English literary source apparent. Here a richly-scored prelude leads to Desdemona's exquisite "Willow Song" and to the tragic and powerful ending.

The autograph score of Otello reveals that both during its composition and in the course of production Rossini made several modifications of the original draft. In the critical edition such interventions (for instance, the exclusion of the horn solo in the Duettino of Act I) are carefully assessed in order to establish which ones are due to circumstances related to the production and which on the other hand are clearly second thoughts of a compositional nature. Included in the appendix, furthermore, are several cadenzas and autograph variations of the celebrated "Willow Song", dedicated to Giulia Grisi.

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