I listened to this without knowning anything about the story or anything. While listening, I kept feeling somehow the dramatic musical style and musical language... all sounded familiar... and then, of course, it's "Pagliacci". I like "Pagliacci" and was moved by its performances. I also like "ZAZA" and was moved by the drama in the music without even knowing the story. This is certainly a good performance. I'll read the Synopsis afterwards.
So glad you liked it and found another Leoncavallo opera to enjoy! We've also recorded his opera Zingari, which at one time was performed almost as frequently as Pagliacci. You should check it out: ruclips.net/video/vW6Mp4hwvNs/видео.htmlsi=X6Amxp7JmoicYMIV
SYNOPSIS
ACT 1
The Alcazar in Saint-Étienne, the 1890s.
The curtain rises on the backstage area of a music hall, the Alcazar. A stage band is intermittently heard accompanying various acts in the Alcazar’s main auditorium, almost all of which remain out of sight. Zazà is the star of the establishment while Floriana is her rival. The act as a whole is punctuated by the entrance and exit of characters who converse with Zazà. These include: Duclou, the stage manager; Cascart, a fellow singer who launched Zazà’s modest career and used to be her lover; Natalia, her maid; Anaide, her alcoholic mother; Bussy, a journalist with whom Zazà wagers she will be able to seduce a man named Milio Dufresne; and Milio himself, an international businessman on whom Zazà has set her sights. Milio is at first reluctant to make advances towards Zazà because he believes people of his social status should avoid wild, mad passion, but as the act progresses he loses his will to resist her blatant advances and when she least expects it, embraces her with tender kisses. Zazà is ecstatic, so much so that she fails to enter on cue for a duet with Cascart. The audience at the Alcazar must wait until she has regained her composure.
ACT 2
Zazà’s apartment in Saint-Étienne, some time later.
Zazà has fallen completely in love with Milio. He is about to depart for America but Zazà protests so much that he promises to postpone the trip. Milio instead leaves for Paris; he tells Zazà he will return shortly. Anaide and Cascart both call on Zazà. Anaide has a hunch her daughter’s new romance is a bad idea; Cascart, meanwhile, has seen Milio with another woman at a theatre in Paris. When he discloses this to Zazà she resolves to track him down and rushes out the door with her maid Natalia in tow.
Act 3
The drawing room in Milio’s home in Paris, a short time later.
At his desk, Milio contemplates his imminent return to Saint-Étienne, where he wants to see Zazà one last time before he departs for America with his family. He leaves the house with his wife, who tells the butler, Marco, that a Madame Dunoyer will call shortly. Zazà arrives at the house in search of evidence that Milio has a lover. The butler asks if she is Madame Dunoyer. Zazà pretends that she is, and is therefore allowed to enter with Natalia. While waiting in the drawing room for Milio to return, Zazà sees a letter addressed to a Madame Dufresne and thus learns that Milio has not a mere sweetheart, but a wife. Milio’s daughter, Totò, enters the drawing room moments later. Zazà is moved to tears by the beautiful child, who converses with her and performs a Cherubini Ave Maria at the piano. Madame Dufresne returns, embarrassed to find the strangers in her home; Zazà claims that she came to the house by accident, says a tender goodbye to Totò, and leaves without breathing a word about her romance with Milio.
Act 4
Zazà’s apartment in Saint-Étienne, a short time later.
Zazà has been absent from the Alcazar and the impresario Courtois is concerned about declining box-office receipts. He asks Anaide about Zazà’s whereabouts. Zazà, however, soon enters in a daze; her maid Natalia and Cascart follow. The latter tries to comfort Zazà but also reminds her she must release Milio because his sole duty is to his family. Unaware that Zazà visited his home in Paris, Milio returns to Saint-Étienne. Zazà embraces him and they lunch together, but an incensed Zazà quickly reveals that she knows he has a family. Milio asks her not to reproach him for loving her so madly that he risked an affair. Zazà, however, tells him she went to his home and met his family; what is more, she falsely claims she told his wife about their romance. In anger, Milio reveals his true colours: he calls Zazà a slut and not until he learns the truth about her interaction with his wife does he feel remorse. Mindful that Totò needs her father, Zazà dismisses him from her life.
© Laura Protano-Biggs, 2016
I listened to this without knowning anything about the story or anything. While listening, I kept feeling somehow the dramatic musical style and musical language... all sounded familiar... and then, of course, it's "Pagliacci". I like "Pagliacci" and was moved by its performances. I also like "ZAZA" and was moved by the drama in the music without even knowing the story. This is certainly a good performance. I'll read the Synopsis afterwards.
So glad you liked it and found another Leoncavallo opera to enjoy! We've also recorded his opera Zingari, which at one time was performed almost as frequently as Pagliacci. You should check it out: ruclips.net/video/vW6Mp4hwvNs/видео.htmlsi=X6Amxp7JmoicYMIV