Sly (opera)

Many musicologists regard Wolf-Ferrari as having written only one verismo opera (I gioielli della Madonna, Berlin, 1911). There are reasons to disagree, and to consider Sly (La Scala, 1927) not only as being, in many ways, a verismo opera, but also as being nearly the last of its kind. And, as such, the virtual end of the noble line of Italian opera, starting, perhaps, with Cimarosa, perhaps with Paisiello, perhaps even much earlier, passing through bel canto, continuing with Verdi and his contemporaries, and eventually ending with verismo. In all these operas the singer was pre-eminent, while in German opera it was the composer and the orchestra.

This is not to say that Sly was pure verismo (for that matter, neither are many other Italian operas of the period)—far from it, it is much more than that, and has many light-hearted elements of musical comedy in it. But that is only what can be expected from Wolf-Ferrari. His early successes had (with the exception of I gioielli della Madonna) all been comedies. Not, of course, in the style of Rossini and Donizetti, but comedies nevertheless. And the influence of these earlier operas was to come shining through in Sly. In fact, the story of Sly can almost be regarded as what started out as an elaborate practical joke (a rather mean joke, true—but still a joke) going sour. Thus, the first act is rather light hearted, and the real verismo elements do not come into play until the tragedy begins to unfold in the later acts.

A few introductory comments about Italian operatic practices might be of interest at this point. During the nineteenth century, the opera houses in Northern Italy tended to have separate winter, spring, summer and autumn seasons. But this slowly changed after the turn of the century. As early as 1913–14, the autumn, winter and spring seasons were frequently combined into one, at least at La Scala. Thus, the 1927–28 season opened on 16 November and lasted well into May, but the "Sera di San Stefano" (26 December) which opened the Carnival portion was still considered to be of the greatest importance. The management wanted a major world premiere for the occasion, and selected Wolf-Ferrari's Sly with a stellar cast, including the Irish prima donna Margaret Sheridan and one of Italy's greatest tenors, Aureliano Pertile. But it was not to be. Sheridan had been ill much of the year, seemed to have recovered sufficiently to sign a contract with La Scala, but became ill again just days before the performance. A replacement (in the person of Mercedes Llopart) had to be found, and it was necessary to postpone the opening until 29 December 1927. The work was successful, being given six times by 15 January and twice more in April (with Lina Bruna Rasa replacing Llopart, and Victor Damiani replacing Luigi Rossi Morelli as the earl). It had four more performances in autumn 1928, with essentially the same cast.

Musically, Sly is generally considered as being fairly eclectic, especially in the first act, where the tragedy has not yet begun to unfold. The act is essentially quite gay, many people revelling and arguing in a London tavern. Its highlight is actually a "set number": Sly's song of the dancing bear, a theme that recurs throughout the opera. There are reminiscences of Kurt Weill, Wolf-Ferrari's earlier comedies and many other composers, including Leoncavallo. But, as the second act unfolds, some of the verismo aspects begin to become paramount, especially in the musical writing of the first duet between Sly and Dolly. Beginning at the point at the end of Act II where Sly realizes that it has been a game, the opera is pure verismo, especially in Sly's highly dramatic "No, io non sono un buffone", to the end where Sly, having just slashed his wrists, finds out that he had killed himself too soon (shades of Roméo et Juliette), and that Dolly truly loves him. While this is not made clear in the libretto, it is safe to assume that the joke ends up badly for all concerned: Sly dies, Dolly loses her beloved, and the Earl will undoubtedly lose his mistress, although there can be little doubt that he will find another one.

Sly was first performed at La Scala in Milan on 29 December 1927 with Aureliano Pertile and Mercedes Llopart. The latter was a last minute replacement for Margaret Sheridan who became ill days before the performance. Turin heard Sly in February 1928, before the run at La Scala was finished, with Nino Piccaluga in the title role and Valeria Manna as Dolly. Dresden and Hannover were the first German cities to hear it, during the autumn, while Nino Piccaluga and Gina Cigna sang it in Trieste.

During 1929 the work spread to Venice and Naples, with Carmelo Alabiso and Giuseppe Taccani respectively in the title role. The work started to disappear from Italian stages, but was widely performed in Germany and neighboring countries. Its German version remained in the repertory until the start of the second world war, being heard somewhere or other practically every year until then. Outside Germany and Italy it was also given in Antwerp, the Hague, Budapest and Riga.

It more or less disappeared for some years, but had a spate of revivals in Germany in the 1950s culminating with a performance in Hanover in 1982, which was repeated next year. Its first modern performance in Italian took place in Zürich. That cast was headed by tenor José Carreras. Sly's United States premiere took place at the Washington National Opera in spring 1999, again with José Carreras. Also, there were productions at the Metropolitan Opera, New York City, in April 2002 and at the Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona. The last premiere of the opera was co-produced by the Hungarian State Opera and the National Theatre of Szeged in May 2016 in Budapest.

The creators of the main roles, including Aureliano Pertile, never recorded anything from the opera, although Ernesto Badini (the first John Plake) and Palmiro Domenichetti recorded the "duetto dei beoni". The "Canzone dell'orso" was done by Nino Piccaluga, who sang the work in Turin and Trieste, while both that and "No, non sono un buffone" was recorded by several other singers including Francesco Merli and Alessandro Valente.

The premiere recording of the complete opera on Legato Classics was conducted on May 17, 1998 by Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos, with José Carreras (Sly), Juan Pons (The Count of Westmoreland), Daniela Dessi (Dolly), Carlos Chausson (John Plake), Piotr Beczala (A French Nobleman), Martin Zysset (A Negro), Volker Vogel (An Indian), Peter Keller (An Old Servant), Rudolf Hartmann (A Chinese), Jee-Hyun Kim (A Doctor), Stefania Kaluza (The Innkeeper), Capucine Chiaudani (Rosalina), Rory Bain (Snare), Gabriela Palikkruscheva (A Page), Miroslav Christoff (A Waiter), Anderson Marks (A Judge), Juuso Hemminski (A Soldier), and Heikki Yrttiaho (A Cook).

In 2000, it was recorded with José Carreras and chorus and orchestra of the Liceu, Barcelona, published by Koch-Schwann.

• Warrack, John and West, Ewan (1992), The Oxford Dictionary of Opera, 782 pages, ISBN 0-19-869164-5