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König Nicolo
(King Nicolo) (1962)Libretto by the composer after the play by Frank Wedekind (G)
2S,M or A,7T,4Bar,2B,2 silent roles; chorus; ballet;
3(III=picc).2.corA.2.bcl.2.dbn-4.3.3.1-timp.perc-harp-strings;
On-stage:picc.cl.bn-3tpt-perc-vla.db
Abbreviations (PDF)
B&B
Aachen
Company: Unknown
| NICOLO, king of Umbria | Baritone |
| ALMA, princess of Umbria, his daughter | Soprano |
| Revolutionaries: | |
| - PIETRO FOLCHI, master butcher | Baritone |
| - FILIPO FOLCHI, his son | Tenor |
| - ANDREA VALORI | Tenor |
| - RUCCELLAI | Silent role |
| - GIULIO NARDI | Silent role |
| - BENEDETTO NARDI | Bass |
| PANDOLFO, master tailor | Tenor |
| NOE, journeyman tailor | Tenor |
| MICHELE, journeyman tailor | Baritone |
| BATTISTA, journeyman tailor | Bass |
| A JAILER | Baritone |
| FIRST THEATRE OWNER | Bass |
| SECOND THEATRE OWNER | Tenor |
| AN ACTOR | Tenor |
| AN EQUESTRIAN | Tenor |
| A FEMALE MATCHMAKER | Alto or Mezzo Soprano |
| A TRAMP | Tenor |
| TWO WOMEN FROM PERUGIA (one of them a matchmaker) | Soprano, Alto or Mezzo Soprano |
| FIRST SERVANT | Baritone |
| SECOND SERVANT | Tenor |
| A GUARD | Baritone |
| AN ONLOOKER | Silent role |
| A MERCENARY | Tenor |
| A group of female dancers, Monks, Citizens of Perugia, Vagrants, Craftsmen, Mercenaries and Halberdiers | |
| Mixed choir | |
| Ballet |
Perugia and Umbria around 1490
Nicolo, king of Umbria, is overthrown by a tribune chosen by the people, the master butcher Pietro Folchi. Folchi expels Nicolo from the country, but wants his son Filipo to marry Nicolo’s daughter Alma. Things do not go that far, however. Nicolo feigns a suicide and, officially declared dead, roams the country unrecognized with Alma. Eventually he joins a group of wandering performers as a satirist and comedian. Soon he plays his own destiny as a ‘king’s farce’in the palace where he had formerly resided and is made a court jester. Filipo falls in love with Alma – against the will of his father, who, for reasons of state, wants him to marry a Medicean. Nicolo refuses to influence Alma as Pietro wishes and tries to convince Folchi that his former wish that Filipo marry the daughter of the overthrown king could now be fulfilled, the king being no other than himself. But nobody believes the ‘jester’. Thus he dies in his daughter’s arms – not as a king, but ‘only as a human being’.
Comic, Dramatic, Tragic