LA FANCIULLA DEL WEST

“In those strange days, people coming from God knows where, joined forces in that far Western land”. With the adventures of Minnie, who falls in love with a warm-hearted bandit, Puccini gave opera its first Western, a drama of souls stranded on the edge of the world.

Nina Stemme Minnie
Claudio Sgura Jack Rance
Marco Berti Dick Johnson
Roman Sadnik Nick
Andrea Mastroni Ashby
André Heyboer Sonora
Emanuele Giannino Trin
Roberto Accurso Sid
Igor Gnidii Bello
Eric Huchet Harry
Rodolphe Briand Joe
Enrico Marabelli Happy
Wenwei Zhang Larkens
Ugo Rabec Billy Jackrabbit
Anna Pennisi Wowkle
Alexandre Duhamel Jake Wallace
Matteo Peirone José Castro

Paris Opera Orchestra and Chorus 

PRODUCTION BY NEDERLANDSE OPERA, AMSTERDAM

“In those strange days, people coming from God knows where, joined forces in that far Western land, and, according to the rude custom of the camp, their very names were soon lost and unrecorded, and here they struggled, laughed, gambled, cursed, killed, loved and worked out their strange destinies in a manner incredible to us of to-day. Of one thing only are we sure – they lived!” Puccini prefaced his score with this quotation and, indeed, it is life itself that he aimed to capture, in a trail that would lead him to Paris in La Bohème, to Japan in Madama Butterfly and then as far as the Far West in a tale of passion, certainly, but also of humanity, brotherhood and compassion. In a saloon bar known as The Polka, gold diggers brood over mothers left behind in Italy whilst Minnie, behind the bar, reads to them from the Bible. Love will come to Minnie in the guise of a criminal but, seeing beyond mere appearances, she will recognise the true heart beneath the rough exterior and realise the possibility of happiness. In the wake of the first literary westerns and as cinema began to exploit the genre, Puccini gave opera its first ever western: a tale of souls stranded at the edge of the world, a tale of laughter and of tears, both exotic and overwhelming. First performed at the Metropolitan Opera of New York in 1910, this genuine masterpiece finally enters the repertoire of the Paris Opera.

Performance dates:

 
Mécène des retransmissions audiovisuelles de l’Opéra national de Paris

   Distributeur TV international d’Opéra de Paris Production  

 
EN DIRECT AU CINÉMA LE LUNDI 10 FÉVRIER 2014

Diffusion en différé sur France télévisions

  en direct sur France Musique et en UER le 22/02