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Edgar

Edgar is an operatic dramma lirico in three acts (originally four acts) by Giacomo Puccini to an Italian libretto by Ferdinando Fontana, freely based on the play in verse La Coupe et les lèvres (The Cup and the Lips) by Alfred de Musset. The first performance was given at the Teatro alla Scala in Milan on 21 April 1889.

Edgar, Puccini's second opera, was composed on a commission from the publisher Ricordi after the successful reception of his first stage work, Le Villi. The original version had four acts and was tepidly received. In January 1890, Ricordi published a revised version, including a different ending for act 2. In the autumn of 1891, Puccini revised the work again, cutting the last act and producing a three-act version which would again be revised in 1905.

In this final form the opera had even less success than in its original four-act structure. Some of the music that was cut in 1891 was reused in Tosca and became the beautiful act 3 duet, "Amaro sol per te m'era il morire!". The funeral march from act 3 was played at Puccini's funeral, conducted by Arturo Toscanini and the aria "Addio, mio dolce amor" (Farewell, my sweet love) from act 4 was sung.

Puccini finally gave up on Edgar and in later years, bitterly repudiated the work. On a copy of the score that he sent to a friend, the English woman Sybil Seligman, he wrote scathing remarks against parts of the score and amended the title to read:

E Dio ti GuARdi da quest'opera! (And may God protect you from this opera!)

The autograph of the acts 1 and 3 of the original version is preserved in the Archivio Ricordi in Milan. The autograph of the acts 2 and 4, which was believed lost till 2008, is owned by Simonetta Puccini, the composer's granddaughter.

Parallels to Bizet's Carmen are numerous. Both operas feature a confused young man (tenor: Edgar, Don José) who is struggling to choose between the pure chaste love of his home town girl (soprano: Fidelia, Micaëla) and the consuming passion of an exotic gypsy (mezzo-soprano: Tigrana, Carmen).

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  • Industry/Domain: Drama
  • Category: Opera
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