Beschrijving
Bomarzo is an opera in two acts by Alberto Ginastera whose 100th
birthday was celebrated by the musical world in 2016. The Spanish
libretto was written by Mujica Laínez, based on his novella from
1962 about Pier Francesco Orsini, the Duke of Bomarzo and an
eccentric in 16th-century Italy. In his music, Ginastera makes use
of twelve-tone technique and quarter tones, the latter primarily in
the harp parts. The two acts of the opera encompass a prelude and
15 scenes. The first performance scheduled for 4 August 1967 in the
composer's native country of Argentina caused a scandal.
Argentina's then president Juan Caro Onganía banned the
performance without further ado because he objected to the sexual
content of the story. As a consequence, the Argentine premiere of
this opera did not take place until 1972, with the composer in
attendance.
Synopsis:
The Duke of Bomarzo drinks a magic
potion that his astrologer Silvio de Narni claims will make him
immortal. Instead, it is a fatal poison. As he dies, the stunted
hunchback Bomarzo relives his tortured existence through a series
of flashbacks. His father drags him into a haunted room where a
large skeleton dances and menaces him. Later, his father is
mortally wounded in battle. The young man, still a virgin, is sent
to the courtesan Pantasilea in Florence, but the reflection of his
horrid image in her room of mirrors disturbs him. His brother
Girolamo falls from a cliff and dies. The new Duke meets Julia
Farnese, but is angered when she prefers his brother Maerbale. In a
macabre dance festival, erotic and terrifying dreams pass before
the Duke. Still courting Julia, he spills a glass of red wine on
her dress and interprets it as a premonition of death. After their
marriage, Bomarzo finds himself impotent. As years go by, he
becomes convinced that Julia is unfaithful with Maerbale. He orders
his slave Abul to kill his brother. Silvio mixes the magic potion
while Bomarzo's nephew Nicolas watches. The boy poisons the drink.
Bomarzo drinks it and dies.
