La fiamma is an opera in three acts by Ottorino Respighi

Ottorino Respighi

Ottorino Respighi was an Italian composer, musicologist and conductor. He is best known for his orchestral "Roman trilogy": Fountains of Rome ; Pines of Rome ; and Roman Festivals...

 to a libretto

Libretto

A libretto is the text used in an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, oratorio, cantata, or musical. The term "libretto" is also sometimes used to refer to the text of major liturgical works, such as mass, requiem, and sacred cantata, or even the story line of a...

 by Claudio Guastalla based on Hans Wiers-Jenssen

Hans Wiers-Jenssen

Hans Wiers-Jenssen was a Norwegian novelist, playwright, stage producer and theatre historian. Wiers-Jenssen was employed at the theatres Christiania Theatre, Nationaltheatret and Den Nationale Scene.-Personal life:...

's 1908 play Anne Pedersdotter, The Witch. The plot is loosely based on the story of Anne Pedersdotter

Anne Pedersdotter

Anne Pedersdotter was an alleged Norwegian witch. Her case was one of the most documented of the many witch trials in Norway in the 16th and 17th centuries...

, a Norwegian woman who was accused of witchcraft and burnt at the stake in 1590. However, Respighi and Guastalla changed the setting of the opera to 7th century Ravenna

Ravenna

Ravenna is the capital city of the Province of Ravenna in the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy and the second largest comune in Italy by land area, although, at , it is little more than half the size of the largest comune, Rome...

. Its melodramatic tale involves the illicit love of Silvana, the daughter of a witch, for her stepson Donello. When her husband Basilio dies of a heart attack, Silvana is accused of causing his death by witchcraft and is condemned to death. La fiamma premiered to considerable success on 23 January 1934 at the Teatro Reale dell'Opera

Teatro dell'Opera di Roma

The Teatro dell'Opera di Roma is an opera house in Rome, Italy. Originally opened in November 1880 as the 2,212 seat Costanzi Theatre, it has undergone several changes of name as well modifications and improvements...

 in Rome

Rome

Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...

 in a performance conducted by Respighi himself. The production was directed by Alessandro Sanine with sets designed by Nicola Benois.

Roles

Role	Voice type	Premiere Cast, January 23, 1934 (Conductor: Ottorino Respighi)
Silvana	soprano Soprano A soprano is a voice type with a vocal range from approximately middle C to "high A" in choral music, or to "soprano C" or higher in operatic music. In four-part chorale style harmony, the soprano takes the highest part, which usually encompasses the melody...	Giuseppina Cobelli
Donello	tenor Tenor The tenor is a type of male singing voice and is the highest male voice within the modal register. The typical tenor voice lies between C3, the C one octave below middle C, to the A above middle C in choral music, and up to high C in solo work. The low extreme for tenors is roughly B2...	Angelo Minghetti
Basilio	baritone Baritone Baritone is a type of male singing voice that lies between the bass and tenor voices. It is the most common male voice. Originally from the Greek , meaning deep sounding, music for this voice is typically written in the range from the second F below middle C to the F above middle C Baritone (or...	Carlo Tagliabue Carlo Tagliabue Carlo Tagliabue was an Italian baritone.After studies with Leopoldo Gennai and Annibale Guidotti he made his debut in Lodi, Lombardy, in Loreley and Aida. His debuts in Genoa , Torino, La Scala , Rome , and Naples were all in Tristan und Isolde...
Eudossia	mezzo-soprano Mezzo-soprano A mezzo-soprano is a type of classical female singing voice whose range lies between the soprano and the contralto singing voices, usually extending from the A below middle C to the A two octaves above...	Eudora Buades d'Alessio
Monica	soprano	Laura Pasini
Agata	soprano	Matilde Arbuffo
Lucilla	mezzo-soprano	Giuseppina Sani
Sabina	mezzo-soprano	Giorgina Tremari
Zoe	mezzo-soprano	Anna Maria Mariani
Agnese di Cervia	mezzo-soprano	Angelica Cravcenco
Exorcist	bass Bass (voice type) A bass is a type of male singing voice and possesses the lowest vocal range of all voice types. According to The New Grove Dictionary of Opera, a bass is typically classified as having a range extending from around the second E below middle C to the E above middle C...	Augusto Romani
A bishop	bass	Pierantonio Prodi
A mother	soprano	Anna Maria Martucci
A cleric	tenor	Adelio Zagonara
A workman	tenor	Augusto Prot
Chorus (s,a,t,b)

Sources

• Casaglia, Gherardo, "23 Gennaio 1934", Almanacco Amadeus, 2005. Accessed 2 March 2010 (in Italian).
• Crutchfield, Will
  Will Crutchfield
  Will Crutchfield is a noted American conductor, musicologist, and vocal coach. He is currently the Director of Opera at the Caramoor International Music Festival and a frequent guest conductor at the Polish National Opera...
  
  , "Rare Respighi Opera at Carnegie", New York Times, 4 December 1987. Accessed 2 March 2010.
• Gelli, Piero (ed.), "Fiamma, La", Dizionario dell'Opera, Baldini Castoldi Dalai, 2007, ISBN 88-6073-184-4. Accessed online 2 March 2010.
• Lace, Ian "La Fiamma - Love and Witchcraft", MusicWeb International. Accessed 2 March 2010.