# The sensitivities of Felice Romani, the librettist



## BBSVK (10 mo ago)

Felice Romani was a very popular librettist, whom I know mostly because he worked with Bellini.

The way he addapted the original material for Bellini's operas it seems to me that

he didn't like children to be killed. The child in Il Pirata survives (unlike in Maturin) and so do Norma's children (unlike in Soumet).
he didn't like women to commit suicides, at least not physically. Queen Agnes doesn't poison herself in La Straniera (unlike the play) and Giulietta doesn't stab herself in I Capuletti e i Montecchi, just dies of broken heart (although it may be played differently).

But is this a real pattern, or just a coincidence ? I don't know his other libretti. Was there any general avoidance of these situations in the opera at the time ?


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## ewilkros (8 mo ago)

BBSVK said:


> Felice Romani was a very popular librettist, whom I know mostly because he worked with Bellini.
> 
> The way he addapted the original material for Bellini's operas it seems to me that
> 
> ...


Secondary question: did the Catholic Church have anything to do with this, as with banning any Sacraments (but especially wedding services, hence all those marriages-by-notary) from stage representation?


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## The Conte (May 31, 2015)

I love Romani and he was possibly the greatest librettist of his time.

I read the OP and immediately thought about Medea as she famously kills her children. Romani didn't write the libretto for the famous Cherubini opera, but he did write the one for Mayr's Medea in Corinto (first performed in 1813) and Medea kills her children in that version, so it wasn't a hard and fast rule for him at that point.

When it comes to suicide, I believe that there was a rule by the Catholic church that you couldn't depict suicide on stage and so that may have influenced Romani.

N.


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## BBSVK (10 mo ago)

The Conte said:


> I love Romani and he was possibly the greatest librettist of his time.
> 
> I read the OP and immediately thought about Medea as she famously kills her children. Romani didn't write the libretto for the famous Cherubini opera, but he did write the one for Mayr's Medea in Corinto (first performed in 1813) and Medea kills her children in that version, so it wasn't a hard and fast rule for him at that point.
> 
> ...


Medea without killing her kids would not be Medea, so Romani couldn't do that. Or could he ?
There is a version of Dido in operatic history, who doesn't die after Aeneas leaves, and marries somebody else, so sometimes the librettists got creative. Would such creativity be accepted for Medea ? I don't know.

In La Straniera, there is a suicide on stage, but it is the man, Arturo, who stabs himself. In the preceding play, it was the woman, La Straniera/Alaide/Queen Agnes, who poisoned herself.


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## hammeredklavier (Feb 18, 2018)

"Romani was considered the finest Italian librettist between Metastasio and Boito."




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en.wikipedia.org




I wish the good old DavidA was here to argue against this.


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## BBSVK (10 mo ago)

hammeredklavier said:


> "Romani was considered the finest Italian librettist between Metastasio and Boito."
> 
> 
> 
> ...


I don't know the stance of DavidA, but I like Romani. The characters sometimes resolve their problems idiotically, but I feel their dilemmas and sometimes relate to several characters at once.
I do not argue, that other librettists were probably good as well.


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## schigolch (Jun 26, 2011)

Romani was a wonderful librettist, able to write great Italian verses. Bellini used to say "give me good verses, and I will give you good music". 

But apart from Bellini he also wrote libretti for many more composers, like Rossini himself, Donizetti, Mercadante, Coccia, Mayr, Pacini... He was a superstar.


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