"The Thieving Magpie" redirects here. For the Marillion

Marillion

Marillion are a British rock band, formed in Aylesbury, England in 1979. Their recorded studio output comprises sixteen albums generally regarded in two distinct eras, delineated by the departure of original vocalist & frontman Fish in late 1988, and the subsequent arrival of replacement Steve...

 album of the same name see The Thieving Magpie (album)

The Thieving Magpie (Album)

The Thieving Magpie is a double live album by Marillion, named after the introductory piece of classical music the band used before coming on stage during the Clutching at Straws tour 1987-1988, the overture to Rossini's opera La gazza ladra, which translates as "The Thieving Magpie".The album was...

La gazza ladra (The Thieving Magpie

Magpie

Magpies are passerine birds of the crow family, Corvidae.In Europe, "magpie" is often used by English speakers as a synonym for the European Magpie, as there are no other magpies in Europe outside Iberia...

) is a melodramma or opera semiseria

Opera semiseria

Opera semiseria is an Italian genre of opera, popular in the early and middle 19th century.Related to the opera buffa, opera semiseria contains elements of comedy but also of pathos, sometimes with a pastoral setting. It can usually be distinguished from tragic operas or melodramas by the presence...

 in two acts by Gioachino Rossini. The libretto was by Giovanni Gherardini after La pie voleuse by JMT Badouin d'Aubigny and Louis-Charles Caigniez.

The opera is best known for its overture

Overture

Overture in music is the term originally applied to the instrumental introduction to an opera...

, which is notable for its use of snare drums.

Rossini was famous for his writing speed, and La gazza ladra was no exception. It was reported that the producer had to lock Rossini in a room the day before the first performance in order to write the overture. Rossini then threw each sheet out of the window to his copyist

Copyist

A copyist is a person who makes written copies. In ancient times, a scrivener was also called a calligraphus . The term's modern use is almost entirely confined to music copyists, who are employed by the music industry to produce neat copies from a composer or arranger's manuscript.-Music...

s, who wrote out the full orchestral parts.

Performance history

It was first performed on 31 May 1817 at La Scala

La Scala

La Scala , is a world renowned opera house in Milan, Italy. The theatre was inaugurated on 3 August 1778 and was originally known as the New Royal-Ducal Theatre at La Scala...

, Milan

Milan

Milan is the second-largest city in Italy and the capital city of the region of Lombardy and of the province of Milan. The city proper has a population of about 1.3 million, while its urban area, roughly coinciding with its administrative province and the bordering Province of Monza and Brianza ,...

. The opera was revised by Rossini for subsequent productions in Pesaro

Pesaro

Pesaro is a town and comune in the Italian region of the Marche, capital of the Pesaro e Urbino province, on the Adriatic. According to the 2007 census, its population was 92,206....

 in 1818, and for the Teatro del Fondo

Teatro del Fondo

The Teatro del Fondo is a theatre in Naples, now known as the Teatro Mercadante. Together with the Teatro San Carlo, it was originally one of the two royal opera houses of the 18th and 19th-century city....

 (Naples

Naples

Naples is a city in Southern Italy, situated on the country's west coast by the Gulf of Naples. Lying between two notable volcanic regions, Mount Vesuvius and the Phlegraean Fields, it is the capital of the region of Campania and of the province of Naples...

) in 1819 and the Teatro di San Carlo

Teatro di San Carlo

The Real Teatro di San Carlo is an opera house in Naples, Italy. It is the oldest continuously active such venue in Europe.Founded by the Bourbon Charles VII of Naples of the Spanish branch of the dynasty, the theatre was inaugurated on 4 November 1737 — the king's name day — with a performance...

 (Naples

Naples

Naples is a city in Southern Italy, situated on the country's west coast by the Gulf of Naples. Lying between two notable volcanic regions, Mount Vesuvius and the Phlegraean Fields, it is the capital of the region of Campania and of the province of Naples...

) in 1820. He again worked on the music in Paris

Paris

Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...

 in 1866.

Riccardo Zandonai

Riccardo Zandonai

Riccardo Zandonai was an Italian composer.-Biography:Zandonai was born in Borgo Sacco, Rovereto, then part of Austria–Hungary....

 made his own version of the opera for a revival in Pesaro in 1941. Alberto Zedda edited Rossini's original work for publication by the Fondazione Rossini in 1979.

Roles

Role	Voice type	Premiere Cast, May 31, 1817 (Conductor: Alessandro Rolla)
Ninetta, Fabrizio’s servant	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...	Teresa Belloc-Giorgi
Fabrizio Vingradito, a rich farmer	bass	Vincenzo Botticelli
Lucia, his wife	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...	Marietta Castiglioni
Giannetto, his son, a soldier	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...	Savino Monelli
Fernando Villabella, Ninetta’s father, a soldier	bass-baritone Bass-baritone A bass-baritone is a high-lying bass or low-lying "classical" baritone voice type which shares certain qualities with the true baritone voice. The term arose in the late 19th century to describe the particular type of voice required to sing three Wagnerian roles: the Dutchman in Der fliegende...	Filippo Galli Filippo Galli (bass) Filippo Galli was an Italian opera singer who began his career as a tenor in 1801 but went on to become one of the most acclaimed basses of the Bel Canto era, with a voice known for its wide range, extreme agility, and expressivity, and a remarkable gift for acting-Early life:Born in Rome, Galli...
Gottardo, village mayor	bass	Antonio Ambrosi
Pippo, a young peasant, employed by Fabrizio	contralto Contralto Contralto is the deepest female classical singing voice, with the lowest tessitura, falling between tenor and mezzo-soprano. It typically ranges between the F below middle C to the second G above middle C , although at the extremes some voices can reach the E below middle C or the second B above...	Teresa Gallianis
Giorgio, servant to the mayor	bass	Paolo Rosignoli
Isacco, a pedlar	tenor	Francesco Biscottini
Antonio, the gaoler	tenor	Francesco Biscottini
Ernesto, a soldier, friend of Fernando	bass	Alessandro De Angeli

Act 1

At the house of Fabrizio Vingradito and his wife Lucia there is joy for the imminent return of their son Giannetto from the war. One of the servants, Ninetta, is in love with Giannetto and all want the two to marry except Lucia, who blames Ninetta over the recent loss of a silver fork. Isacco, a local pedlar, enters and asks about Ninetta, but Pippo sends him away.
Giannetto arrives and goes inside with Lucia while Ninetta prepares for the party. Once they have gone, Ninetta’s father, Fernando Villabella arrives, also from the war. However he has been sentenced after fighting with his captain, and, condemned to death, is now a deserter. He asks his daughter to sell two pieces of family silver to go towards his expenses while he is on the run.
The Mayor enters, intent on seducing Ninetta. She claims that her father is just some vagrant. The Mayor’s assistant delivers the arrest warrant for a deserter (Fernando), but as the Mayor has forgotten his reading glasses, Ninetta is asked to read the warrant, and makes up a description of someone totally unlike her father. The Mayor continues to force his attentions on Ninetta, at which Fernando, in anger, almost reveals himself. The three leave, and a magpie flies down and steals one of Lucia’s silver spoons.

Isacco passes by again, and Ninetta sells him the silver her father had entrusted to her. Giannetto and others return, and Lucia notices that a spoon is missing. The Mayor starts an immediate investigation, stating the draconian penalty for domestic theft: death. Lucia and the Mayor accuse Ninetta, who in her distress drops the money she had exchanged from Isacco. The pedlar is brought back and reports that he has already sold on the spoon, but he recalls an inscription F.V. (Fernando’s initials) on them. The stunned Ninetta, desperate to protect her father, is unable to refute the accusations, and the Mayor orders her to be arrested.

Act 2

Antonio, the prison warder takes pity on Ninetta and says that he will get a message to Pippo, and let Giannetto visit her. Ninetta convinces Giannetto that she is innocent. The Mayor now arrives and tells Ninetta that if she accepts his advances he will get her freed – she replies that she would rather die. The Mayor is called away but Antonio has heard all and offers to help Ninetta any way he can. Ninetta asks Pippo to sell a gold cross and put some money for her father in an agreed hiding place - a chestnut tree. Ninetta is brought to trial, found guilty, and condemned to death. Fernando rushes to the court to save his daughter’s life, but is too late; he too is sent to prison, while she is condemned to death.

Ernesto, a military friend of Fernando bursts in looking for the Mayor, and holding a royal pardon for Ninetta’s father. Pippo shows him the way and is given a silver coin for helping, but the magpie snatches it and flies up to the tower. Pippo and Antonio pursue the thief.

Ninetta is taken to the scaffold, and makes her final speech to the crowd. From the tower, Pippo and Antonio cry out that they’ve found Lucia’s silver in the magpie’s nest and they ring the bells. The crowd hear their words and hope to save Ninetta, but shots ring out and they conclude they are too late. However, Ninetta appears walking down the hill – the shots were mere rejoicing. Ninetta celebrates with her companions but is worried about her father. He then appears with Ernesto and all – except the Mayor – enjoy a happy ending.

Arias

The most famous aria in the opera is probably Ninetta's prayer "Deh, tu reggi in tal momento". The soprano cavatina "Di piacer mi balza cor" and the tenor cavatina "Vieni fra queste braccia" (the cabaletta for the duet between Arturo and Elvira from Bellini's I Puritani

I puritani

I puritani is an opera in three acts by Vincenzo Bellini. It was his last opera. Its libretto is by Count Carlo Pepoli, based on Têtes rondes et Cavaliers by Jacques-François Ancelot and Joseph Xavier Saintine, which is in turn based on Walter Scott's novel Old Mortality. It was first produced at...

 starts with exactly the same words) are two examples of Rossini's brilliant vocal writing.

Recordings

Year	Cast: Ninetta, Fabrizio, Lucia, Giannetto, Fernando	Conductor, Opera House and Orchestra	Label
1987	Ileana Cotrubas Ileana Cotrubas Ileana Cotrubaş is a Romanian opera soprano whose career spanned from the 1960s to the 1980s. She was much admired for her acting skills and facility for singing opera in many different languages.-Biography:... , Carlos Feller, Nucci Condò, David Kuebler, Brent Ellis	Bruno Bartoletti Bruno Bartoletti Bruno Bartoletti is an Italian operatic conductor, particularly associated with the Italian repertory and contemporary works.... , Gürzenich Orchester Köln and the Kölner Oper Chorus	DVD: ArtHaus Musik Cat: 102 203
1998	Cinzia Forte, Franco Vassallo, Linda Tirendi, Simon Edwards, Natale de Carolis	Giancarlo Andretta, Teatro la Fenice di Venezia Orchestra and Chorus Recording of a performance in Venice, 31 January)	Audio CD: Mondo Musica Cat: MFOH 20111
2007	Mariola Cantarero, Paolo Bordogna, Kleopatra Papatheologou, Dmitry Korchak, Alex Esposito	Lü Jia, Orchestra Haydn di Bolzano e Trento (Video recording made at performances of the Rossini Opera Festival Rossini Opera Festival The Rossini Opera Festival is an opera festival held in August of each year in Pesaro, Italy, the birthplace of the opera composer Gioachino Rossini.... , Pesaro, August)	DVD: Dynamic Dynamic (record label) Dynamic is an Italian independent record label located in Genoa. Founded in 1978, it specialises in classical music and opera, especially rarely performed works and has produced several world premiere recordings... , Cat: 33567

External links

• La pie voleuse opera en trois actes, by Gioacchino Rossini, Castil-Blaze, Giovanni Gherardini (published by E.J. Coale, 1831)
• La gazza ladra by Gioacchino Rossini, Giovanni Gherardini, Aubigny, Caigniez (Louis-Charles) (published by Elliott, 1833)
• La Fenice libretto and programme (PDF)