THE PICCOLO THEATRE
Domenico Cimarosa
Il matrimonio segreto
opera buffa in two acts
Performed in Italian
(with Kazakh and Russian subtitles)
Running time: 1 hour 45 minutes (with one interval)
Please note that the age limit is 10+
Management reserves the right to substitute artists
Libretto by Giovanni Bertati,
based on the eponymous English comedy by George Colman the Elder and David Garrick
Premiere: 7 February 1792 at the Vienna Court Theatre
Premiere at the Astana Opera House: 30 September, 1, 3, 4, 7 October 2021
Il matrimonio segreto was a success from the very beginning and remains the only one of 65 operas by Domenico Cimarosa, which is listened to in our century.
The well- travelled Italian composer had just returned from Russia, where he was the court composer of Catherine the Great, to take up a similar post in Vienna – a post that Mozart so longed for. He wrote Il matrimonio segreto for the court of Emperor Leopold II. The monarch liked the opera so much that he (this is how the story tells) invited the actors to dinner, after which he demanded an encore. The world history of opera knows no other such long-lasting encore.
The plot of the opera is replete with complex love twists and turns. The action takes place in the household of old Geronimo, a wealthy merchant; he has two daughters, Elisetta and Carolina, and a sister Fidalma, a wealthy young widow. He also has an intelligent young secretary, Paolino. Geronimo dreams of aristocratic suitors for his daughters, unaware that the younger Carolina has secretly married Paolino.
Paolino, to please his father-in-law, finds the impoverished Count Robinson, ready to intermarry with the Geronimo family for a rich dowry. But contrary to the calculations of Paolino, the count wants to marry not the older Elisetta, but Carolina. Fidalma also decides to arrange a personal life and chooses Paolino...
This is followed by a series of misunderstandings, comic situations and scenes of jealousy with an awaited happy ending.
The work of Cimarosa, like that of many of his contemporaries, was strongly influenced by Mozart's genius. The composer inherited the classical structure of the operatic form, focusing on the traditions of European literary satire.
Il matrimonio segreto contains many ensemble scenes, which make its musical palette and dramatic structure diversified.
This work is an excellent example of the development and deepening of the dramma giocoso style, which took root during the period of romanticism.
Cimarosa's masterpiece “has that genuine light, golden colour which is the only fitting one for a musical comedy… Everything in this music springs and shimmers with pearls so easily and joyfully that the listener can only enjoy” (E. Hanslick).
Domenico Cimarosa made his original contribution to the development of comic opera, in many respects summing up more than 60 years of the development of this genre, paving the way for the achievements of his great compatriot Gioacchino Rossini.
GERONIMO – Altynbek ABILDA, laureate of the State Youth Prize “Daryn” /
Talgat GALEYEV
COUNT ROBINSON – Yerzhan SAIPOV
CAROLINA – Libuse SANTORISOVA (Czech Republic) / Yelena GANZHA
ELISETTA – Guldana ALDADOSSOVA
PAOLINO – Arthur GABDIYEV / Narul TOIKENOV
FIDALMA – Saltanat MURATBEKOVA / Tatyana VITSINSKAYA
CHAMBER ORCHESTRA, OPERA SOLOISTS AND EXTRAS OF THE ASTANA OPERA HOUSE
ARTISTIC AND PRODUCTION TEAM:
Music Director and Conductor: Abzal Mukhitdin, Honoured Worker of Kazakhstan
Conductor: Ruslan Baimurzin
Artistic and Stage Director of the Production: Ala Simonishvili
Set and Costume Designer: Manana Gunia
Choreographer: Galiya Buribayeva, Honoured Worker of Kazakhstan
Opera Company Director: Meir Bainesh, Honoured Worker of Kazakhstan
Project Technical Director: Viсtor Carare
Lighting Designer: Sergey Kulak
Assistant Directors: Altynganym Akhmetova, Ainur Khalelova, Mansiya Yestekova
Accompanists: Yelena Sakhno, Irina Kurguzkina, Zhanyl Rakhimbekova, Aishabibi Askarova, Zaru Zhazykbayeva
Project Coordinator: Marzhan Zhakenova
