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Luisa Miller

Melodramma tragico in three acts by
SALVADORE COMMARANO

First performance:
Naples, Teatro San Carlo, 8 December 1849

Critical Edition by
JEFFREY KALLBERG

The University of Chicago Press 1991

CHARACTERS:
COUNT WALTER, bass
RODOLFO, his son, tenor
FEDERICA, Duchess of Ostheim, niece of Walter, contralto
WURM, chamberlain to Walter, bass
MILLER, an old, retired soldier, baritone
LUISA, his daughter, soprano
LAURA, a peasant girl, mezzo-soprano
A Peasant, tenor
Mixed chorus of maids-in-waiting to Federica, pages, members of the household, bowmen (bodyguards), villagers.

The scene is the Tyrol, in the first half of the 17th century.

Instrumentation: Piccolo, 2 Flutes, 2 Oboes, 2 Clarinets, 2 Bassoons, 4 Horns, 2 Trumpets, 3 Trombones, Cimbasso, Timpani, Bell, Clock (of the castle), Bass Drum, Cymbals, Harp, Organ, Strings.
Performance time: 2h 15m

Luisa Miller was composed for Naples, a city whose rather old-fashioned operatic tastes may have constrained Verdi to return to a more mainstream style of composition. The libretto, too, draws away from the social and political critique of its source (Schiller's tragedy Kabale und Liebe) to accommodate the strict Neapolitan censors, turning it instead into a moving family tragedy. But Verdi brought to Luisa Miller a maturity and sophistication derived from his experiments earlier in the decade and his first extended stay in Paris. Particularly telling are the new refinement in his orchestration and the larger role assigned to the orchestra, the greater flexibility in the musical forms, and the important use of choruses. Introduced by a full-length overture, the opera expressively matches musical form to dramatic situation.

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