Staging Scenes from the Operas of Donizetti and Verdi by Ferrara William;

Author:Ferrara, William; [Ferrara, William]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Unlimited Model
Published: 2016-08-15T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 12

Aria, So anch’io la virtu magica (Norina) Duet, Pronta io son (Norina and Malatesta)

The Story of the Scene

Norina begins the aria reading a medieval romance but quickly discards it as ridiculous. She proceeds to demonstrate more modern skills in the art of seduction. Let’s review three possible settings for this scene:

Traditional

The original setting is a room in Norina’s house. A more interesting location is a theater dressing room, with a table, mirror, and costume rack. There is a powder puff, cold cream, perfume, and so forth, on the dressing table. Here we find the actress in an elaborate stage costume, perhaps in the eighteenth-century style, with a powdered wig. She is studying the script for an old-fashioned romance. After the cavatina, she steps behind a shoulder-high dressing screen to whisk off her costume and wig. Later, a stagehand gives her the message from Ernesto, and she wraps herself in a dressing gown when Malatesta knocks on the door.

Hollywood

We find our 1950s starlet at home by the pool, studying the saccharine script of her latest movie. The pool setting would include a table with umbrella and lounge chairs. In her straw beach tote is a spritzer of suntan oil. There is a pitcher of tropical cocktails on the table and two glasses with ice cubes and little paper umbrellas. Lucky Norina has a pool boy—he brings her fresh cocktails and the message from Ernesto.

Contemporary

Adding extras to this scene can add lots of fun and activity. Create a beach party, with blankets, ice chest, volleyball net, and bikini-clad girlfriends or male admirers. All the boys stop their game and watch Norina as she enters. Of course, her bathing suit is skimpier, her high heels higher, and her jewelry flashier than the other girls, and her hair is piled high with studied abandon. Norina’s friends gather around her to hear her read the story, and the boys volunteer to help her apply her suntan lotion. In her Gucci bag there is a smart phone, which buzzes to tell her she has a text from Ernesto.

For this scene, let’s choose the second option: the pool at Norina’s house in the hills overlooking Hollywood, in the 1950s.

Text, Translation, and Notes

Cavatina

Introduction: Enter Norina in a bathing suit and sun hat. She carries a script, beach bag, and cocktail. She looks over the top of her designer sunglasses to find the best angle of the sun and reclines in a beach chair to study her script. She places her bag by her chair and takes a sip of her cocktail.

Norina

“Quel guardo il cavaliere in mezzo al cor trafisse piegò il ginocchio e disse: son vostro cavalier!”

(“Her glance pierced the knight like an arrow through the heart. He knelt before her and said: I am your champion!”)

There is a giggle in the orchestra as Norina tries to suppress her laughter at this corny romance.

“E tanto era in quel guardo sapor di paradiso, che il cavalier Riccardo, tutto d’amor conquiso, giurò che ad altra mai non volgeria il pensier.

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