Le donne curiose

Le donne curiose (English: The Inquisitive Women) is an opera in three acts by Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari to a text by Luigi Sugana [it] after Carlo Goldoni's play of the same name [it].

Le donne curiose
Opera by Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari
The composer in 1906
Translation	The Inquisitive Women
Librettist	Luigi Sugana [it]
Language	Italian
Based on	Le donne curiose [it] by Carlo Goldoni
Premiere	27 November 1903 (1903-11-27) (in German) Hoftheater, Munich

Performance history

The first dramatic work by Wolf-Ferrari to achieve more than local notice, it was first performed in Munich on 27 November 1903 in a German translation as Die neugierigen Frauen. The first performance in Italian was at the old Metropolitan Opera House in New York on 3 January 1912 with a cast led by Arturo Toscanini, including Geraldine Farrar and Hermann Jadlowker. Tullio Serafin conducted the first performance in Milan on 16 January 1913.

Roles

 

Geraldine Farrar and Hermann Jadlowker as Rosaura and Florindo

 

Scene from act 3

 

The men at their club, act 1

Roles, voice types, premiere casts

Role	Voice type	Premiere cast, 27 November 1903^[1] Conductor: Hugo Reichenberger	First performance in Italian, 3 January 1912^[2] Conductor: Arturo Toscanini
Arlecchino	bass	Georg Sieglitz	Antonio Scotti
Beatrice	mezzo-soprano	Charlotte Huhn	Rita Fornia
Colombina	soprano	Hermine Bosetti	Geraldine Farrar
Florindo	tenor	Hans Koppe	Hermann Jadlowker
Leandro	tenor	Hans Breuer	Jeanne Maubourg
Lelio	baritone		Andres de Segurola
Ottavio	bass	Paul Bender	Adam Didur
Pantalone	baritone	Friedrich Brodersen	Antonio Pini-Corsi
Rosaura	soprano	Ella Tordek	Bella Alten
Lunardo	bass
Mènego	bass
Mómolo	bass
Eleonora	soprano
Asdrubale	tenor
Almorò	tenor
Alvise	tenor
First gondolier	tenor
Second gondolier	bass

Synopsis

The story is a comedy set in 18th-century Venice about two wives checking up on the goings-on at their husband's club.

Notes

1. Casaglia, Gherardo (2005). "Le donne curiose, 27 November 1903". L'Almanacco di Gherardo Casaglia (in Italian). (gives Hugo Josef Rheinberger as conductor)
2. Casaglia, Gherardo (2005). "Le donne curiose, 3 January 1912". L'Almanacco di Gherardo Casaglia (in Italian).

References

• Warrack, John and West, Ewan (1992), The Oxford Dictionary of Opera, 782 pages, ISBN 0-19-869164-5
• Lewis M. Isaacs (1920). "Inquisitive Women" . In Rines, George Edwin (ed.). Encyclopedia Americana.

External links

•   Media related to Le donne curiose at Wikimedia Commons
• Le donne curiose (Wolf-Ferrari): Scores at the International Music Score Library Project
• Work details, opera-guide.ch