The secret marriage

The Secret Marriage (original Italian title, Il matrimonio segreto) is an opera buffa in two acts with music by Domenico Cimarosa and Italian libretto by Giovanni Bertati, based on the piece The Clandestine Marriage by George Colman, the elder and David Garrick. It was premiered on February 7, 1792 in Vienna, at the Imperial Hofburg Theater, with the presence of Emperor Leopold II.

History of performances

A very popular example of comic opera in its day, certainly one of the best of the 18th century, apart from those of Mozart. The script is based on the standard format of impossible situations, costumes and a happy ending. Although it has melodious and enjoyable passages, the work is often compared to other comic operas, particularly those by Rossini and Mozart. The opera comprises a series of arias, duets, and trios interspersed and connected by the recitative. Mozart's influence is evident in the finales of each act with a series of vibrant ensembles involving all the singers.

The Secret Marriage although, on the one hand, it was influenced by Mozart's opera, in that climate, with that orchestra and that audience that had acclaimed Mozart, it obtained confirmation of its value, even more significant if one takes into account the integral encore required by the emperor. For Italian opera of the 18th century, The Secret Marriage represents the conclusion of an era and not few signs of openness to the future of melodrama, apart from what had already been done by Mozart, an opera artist little or nothing known to the Italian public, but who Cimarosa had listened carefully in Vienna. In the symphony (overture), it is worth comparing the opening chords The Secret Marriage with the opening chords of The Magic Flute.

Its premiere was the occasion of the biggest encore in the history of opera; Leopold II liked it so much that he ordered the company to be served dinner and the entire opera to be repeated immediately afterward. The work was widely performed throughout Europe during the composer's lifetime and also afterwards. Later it would be one of Verdi's favourites. In Italy it premiered at La Scala in Milan on February 17, 1793 with Maria Gazzotti as Carolina and Vincenzo Del Moro as Paolino. In Spain it premiered on May 22, 1793 at the Teatro de la Santa Cruz in Barcelona. England saw the play for the first time on January 11, 1794 at The King's Theater in London and the following August 6 it was performed for the first time in Portugal at the Teatro Nacional de São Carlos in Lisbon with Domenico Caporalini as Carolina and Luigi Bruschi as Paolino. The French premiere took place at the Théâtre-Italien in Paris on May 10, 1801 with Teresa Strinasacchi Avogadro as Carolina and Gustavo Lazzarini as Paolino.

It was first performed in the United States at the Italian Opera House in New York City on January 8, 1834. The Metropolitan Opera first presented the work on February 25, 1937 with Muriel Dickson as Carolina, George Rasely as Paolino, Natalie Bodanya as Elisetta, Julius Huehn as Robinson and Ettore Panizza directing.

Cimarosa wrote two more operas for Vienna, but the scores have been lost. It is known that they were not as applauded as The Secret Marriage , a fact that influenced his decision to return to Naples. The first of these operas was called La calamita dei Cuori, with a libretto by Carlo Goldoni that Baldassare Galuppi had set to music for the Teatro San Samuele in Venice in 1753 and that De Gamerra had reworked for Salieri in 1744. The Cimarosian version premiered at the Hofoper in 1792. The second opera, Amor rende sagace, with a libretto by Bertati, was also premiered at the Hofoper on April 4, 1793 and was revived a day later at the Theater of the Carinthian Gate.

Back in Naples in 1793, Cimarosa witnessed the resounding success of The Secret Marriage, to which he had added new parts. The opera was performed one hundred and ten times in five months.

Although it is the only work by Cimarosa that is still performed regularly, the truth is that it rarely appears in opera houses. In the Operabase statistics it appears the 230th of the operas performed in 2005-2010, being the 69th in Italy, with 11 performances in the period.

Characters

Plot

The action takes place in Bologna in the 18th century.

Paolino has secretly married Carolina, daughter of Geronimo, deaf, miserly and rich merchant, Paolino's boss. Paolino would like to convince his secret wife to elope, but she hesitates. Her situation is complicated by Carolina's aunt, named Fidalma, who loves Paolino, and by the arrival of the English Count Robinson who, although he is promised to Geronimo's other daughter, named Elisetta, falls in love with Carolina. Elisetta is ambitious, rough and evil. Count Robinson proposes to Geronimo that he give up half of her dowry if he gives him Carolina's hand instead of Elisetta's. Elisetta's rage and Fidalma's declarations of love to Paolino further complicate the matter, so the two decide to elope. But the escape does not take place, since everything is discovered, but the opera ends happily.

Recordings