Napoli (ballet)
Encyclopedia
Ballet
Ballet is a type of performance dance, that originated in the Italian Renaissance courts of the 15th century, and which was further developed in France and Russia as a concert dance form. The early portions preceded the invention of the proscenium stage and were presented in large chambers with...
created in 1842 for Denmark
Denmark
Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...
's Royal Ballet
Royal Danish Ballet
The Royal Danish Ballet is one of the oldest ballet companies in the world. Based in Copenhagen, Denmark, it originates from 1748, when the Royal Danish Theatre was founded, and was finally organized in 1771 in response to the great popularity of French and Italian styles of dance...
by Danish choreographer and ballet master
Ballet Master
Ballet Master is the term used for an employee of a ballet company who is responsible for the level of competence of the dancers in their company...
August Bournonville
August Bournonville
August Bournonville was a Danish ballet master and choreographer. August was the son of Antoine Bournonville, a dancer and choreographer trained under the French choreographer, Jean Georges Noverre, and the nephew of Julie Alix de la Fay, née Bournonville, of the Royal Swedish Ballet.August was...
. The ballet tells the story of Teresina, a young Italian girl who falls in love with Gennaro, a fisherman
Fisherman
A fisherman or fisher is someone who captures fish and other animals from a body of water, or gathers shellfish. Worldwide, there are about 38 million commercial and subsistence fishermen and fish farmers. The term can also be applied to recreational fishermen and may be used to describe both men...
. The tale culminates in the marriage of the lovers.
Summary
Act I (The Market). Teresina's mother Veronica, who does not want her to marry poor Gennaro, introduces her to two other suiters. These are two older, but, rich men named Peppo and Giacamo. Teresina, much to her mother's distress, refuses them both and instead goes off to wait for Gennaro. When Gennaro arrives back at port, he and Teresina go to find Veronica and try to convince her that they should wed. Luckily for them, this task proves relatively easy once she sees how true the young couple's love is. Full of happiness Teresina and Gennaro sail off together.Meanwhile a group of entertainers come and put on a show for the townsfolk. However, a violent storm begins and the festivities come to an abrupt end. When the storm ends, Gennaro is found, but Teresina is not. Thinking she has drowned, Veronica openly mourns for her daughter and blames Gennaro for her death. So stricken by this turn of events Gennaro becomes so agitated that he almost commits suicide
Suicide
Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Suicide is often committed out of despair or attributed to some underlying mental disorder, such as depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, alcoholism, or drug abuse...
, but stops when he sees a statue of the Madonna. Soon Fra Ambrosio, the local monk
Monk
A monk is a person who practices religious asceticism, living either alone or with any number of monks, while always maintaining some degree of physical separation from those not sharing the same purpose...
, appears and gives him a picture of the Madonna telling him to go and find Teresina.
Act II (The Blue Grotto). Gennaro looks everywhere for Teresina and eventually finding her in The Blue Grotto
Grotto
A grotto is any type of natural or artificial cave that is associated with modern, historic or prehistoric use by humans. When it is not an artificial garden feature, a grotto is often a small cave near water and often flooded or liable to flood at high tide...
, a magical place ruled by Golfo who has turned Teresina into a Naiad
Naiad
In Greek mythology, the Naiads or Naiades were a type of nymph who presided over fountains, wells, springs, streams, and brooks....
(Fairy of the Sea). Because of the Transformation, Teresina no longer remembers
Amnesia
Amnesia is a condition in which one's memory is lost. The causes of amnesia have traditionally been divided into categories. Memory appears to be stored in several parts of the limbic system of the brain, and any condition that interferes with the function of this system can cause amnesia...
Gennaro. However, through faith
Faith
Faith is confidence or trust in a person or thing, or a belief that is not based on proof. In religion, faith is a belief in a transcendent reality, a religious teacher, a set of teachings or a Supreme Being. Generally speaking, it is offered as a means by which the truth of the proposition,...
, Teresina is changed back into a human and has her memory restored. Quickly, Gennaro and Teresina leave the Grotto to return to Naples.
Act III (The Wedding). When Teresina and Gennaro return the townsfolk are suspicious because they had thought Teresina was dead. Peppo and Giacamo even try to convince everyone that Gennaro is in league with the devil
Devil
The Devil is believed in many religions and cultures to be a powerful, supernatural entity that is the personification of evil and the enemy of God and humankind. The nature of the role varies greatly...
. This rumor is soon disproved and the wedding celebration
Party
A party is a gathering of people who have been invited by a host for the purposes of socializing, conversation, or recreation. A party will typically feature food and beverages, and often music and dancing as well....
begins.
Characters
- Teresina, a young Italian girl in love with Gennaro
- Gennaro, a young Italian fisherman in love with Teresina
- Veronica, Teresina's mother
- Peppo, a wealthy, old, lemonadeLemonadeLemonade is a lemon-flavored drink, typically made from lemons, water and sugar.The term can refer to three different types of beverage:...
seller who loves Teresina. - Giacomo, an older, but rich, macaroni seller who loves Teresina.
- Fra' Ambrosio, a monk
- Golfo, the sea demon ruling the blue grotto.
Music
Several composers contributed to the score: repetiteurRépétiteur
Répétiteur , repetitore , or Korrepetitor / Repetitor , originally from the French verb répéter meaning "to repeat, to go over, to learn, to rehearse"....
s Edvard Helsted and Holger Simon Paulli
Holger Simon Paulli
Holger Simon Paulli was a Danish conductor and composer.Paulli was a violin student of Claus Schall. He joined the Royal Danish Orchestra, and became its conductor in 1864. At the same time, he also conducted the Orchestra of the Cecilia Foreningen, and assumed the directorship of the Copenhagen...
composed Acts I and III; Niels W. Gade created the blue grotto atmosphere for Act II - including a popular melody of the time, "La Melancholie", composed by the violin virtuoso François Henri Prume. Bournonville asked H.C. Lumbye, later to become the famous Tivoli
Tivoli, Italy
Tivoli , the classical Tibur, is an ancient Italian town in Lazio, about 30 km east-north-east of Rome, at the falls of the Aniene river where it issues from the Sabine hills...
composer, to provide the music for the concluding galop
Galop
In dance, the galop, named after the fastest running gait of a horse , a shortened version of the original term galoppade, is a lively country dance, introduced in the late 1820s to Parisian society by the Duchesse de Berry and popular in Vienna, Berlin and London...
that follows Paulli's tarantella
Tarantella
The term tarantella groups a number of different southern Italian couple folk dances characterized by a fast upbeat tempo, usually in 6/8 time , accompanied by tambourines. It is among the most recognized of traditional Italian music. The specific dance name varies with every region, for instance...
.
Bournonville recounts in his memoirs how, during a monotonous carriage journey, he spent hours humming what became the first three sections of the tarantella in Act III. The tarantella became the inspiration for the creation of the ballet.
In Act I, Rossini's slander aria from The Barber of Seville
The Barber of Seville
The Barber of Seville, or The Futile Precaution is an opera buffa in two acts by Gioachino Rossini with a libretto by Cesare Sterbini. The libretto was based on Pierre Beaumarchais's comedy Le Barbier de Séville , which was originally an opéra comique, or a mixture of spoken play with music...
is used as the basis for Peppo's slander scene; the folk tune, "Te voglio ben assai" is used in Act I to highlight the young lovers' feelings; the Latin
Latin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
hymn
Hymn
A hymn is a type of song, usually religious, specifically written for the purpose of praise, adoration or prayer, and typically addressed to a deity or deities, or to a prominent figure or personification...
"O Santissima" is used in Act II to underscore the power of Christianity
Christianity
Christianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus as presented in canonical gospels and other New Testament writings...
over Golfo's demonry.
Genesis and criticism
The ballet was choreographed after Bouronville had visited NaplesNaples
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...
(it: Napoli), where he had been impressed by the local colour and the vibrancy of a city in constant movement. He strove to include the "brightness and dynamism" of the city in the work, ending the final act with a lively tarantella.
The ballet has been criticised for its lengthy pantomime
Pantomime
Pantomime — not to be confused with a mime artist, a theatrical performer of mime—is a musical-comedy theatrical production traditionally found in the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Jamaica, South Africa, India, Ireland, Gibraltar and Malta, and is mostly performed during the...
in the first and second acts. The dancing really comes to forefront only in the third act. As the music is not the caliber of a Tchaikovsky or Glazunov
Alexander Glazunov
Alexander Konstantinovich Glazunov was a Russian composer of the late Russian Romantic period, music teacher and conductor...
, this can be a challenge. (The music is credited to Edvard Helsted
Edvard Helsted
Edvard Mads Ebbe Helsted was a Danish composer. He was born in Copenhagen and died in Frederiksborg.-References:*This article was initially translated from Danish Wikipedia...
, Gioachino Rossini, Niels W. Gade, Holger Simon Paulli
Holger Simon Paulli
Holger Simon Paulli was a Danish conductor and composer.Paulli was a violin student of Claus Schall. He joined the Royal Danish Orchestra, and became its conductor in 1864. At the same time, he also conducted the Orchestra of the Cecilia Foreningen, and assumed the directorship of the Copenhagen...
, and H.C. Lumbye. However, the piece has also been praised for its "local colour", the exceptional male solos, and is sometimes referred to as Bouronville's "signature work".)