Ginastera, Alberto

Bomarzo (1966-67)

Duration: 140 minutes
Opera in two acts and fifteen scenes

Libretto by Manuel Mujica Lainez (S,E,G)

Scoring
S,M,A,AorT,T,Bar,B,child speakers,mime,dancer; chorus 2(II=picc).2(II=corA).2(II=Ebcl,bcl).2(II=dbn)-3.3.3.0-timp.perc(3): xyl/bells/3crot/3susp.cym/bongos/laiiro/5cowbells/tamb/ 2thin metal sheets/small wood windchimes; glsp/3tgl/3tam-t/5tom-t/5tpl.bl/tamb/jingles/whip/medium wood wind chimes; bells/8small susp.cym/3low Chinese gongs/2SD(one without snare)/TD/BD/5wdbl/tamb/large wood wind chimes/ratchet/hyoshigi- hpd-pft(=cel)-mand-harp-strings(principal viola=viola d'amore, principal cello=viola da gamba).
Abbreviations (PDF).

Territory
This work is available from Boosey & Hawkes for the world.

World Premiere
5/19/1967
Lisner Auditorium, Washington, DC
Tito Capobianco, director
Conductor: Julius Rudel
Company: Opera Society of Washington

Roles

PIER FRANCESCO ORSINI, Duke of Bomarzo	Tenor
SILVIO DE NARNI, Astrologer	Baritone
GIAN CORRADO ORSINI, Father of Pier Francesco	Bass
GIROLAMO, Brother of Pier Francesco	Baritone
MAERBALE, Brother of Pier Francesco	Baritone
NICOLAS ORSINI, Nephew of Pier Francesco	Contralto or Tenor
JULIA FARNESE, Wife of Pier Francesco	Soprano
PANTASILEA, Courtesan	Mezzo-Soprano
DIANA ORSINI, Grandmother of Pier Francesco	Contralto
Messenger	Baritone
Pier Francesco, Girolamo, and Maerbale as children	Voices of reciting children
Abul, Slave of Pier Francesco	Mime
Skeleton	Dancer
Prelates, Courtiers, Pages, Servants, and Astrologers	Chorus

Time and Place
16th Century, Bomarzo, Italy

Synopsis
The Duke of Bomarzo drinks a magic potion that his astrologer Silvio de Narni claims will make him immortal.  Instead, it is a fatal poison.  As he dies, the stunted hunchback Bomarzo relives his tortured existence through a series of flashbacks. His father drags him into a haunted room where a large skeleton dances and menaces him.  Later, his father is mortally wounded in battle.  The young man, still a virgin, is sent to the courtesan Pantasilea in Florence, but the reflection of his horrid image in her room of mirrors disturbs him.  His brother Girolamo falls from a cliff and dies.  The new Duke meets Julia Farnese, but is angered when she prefers his brother Maerbale.  In a macabre dance festival, erotic and terrifying dreams pass before the Duke. Still courting Julia, he spills a glass of red wine on her dress and interprets it as a premonition of death. After their marriage, Bomarzo finds himself impotent. As years go by, he becomes convinced that Julia is unfaithful with Maerbale.  He orders his slave Abul to kill his brother. Silvio mixes the magic potion while Bomarzo’s nephew Nicolas watches.  The boy poisons the drink.  Bomarzo drinks it and dies.

Moods
Dramatic, Tragic

Subjects
Magic/Mystery, Relationships, Society

Items on Sale

Bomarzo	Libretto	> Details
Bomarzo Op34	Libretto (German)	> Details