Opera Paper

Megan George

2/8/19

Opera Paper

            I Capuleti & Montecchi is an opera about the tragedy of Romeo and Juliet- sort of. Written in Italy in 1830 by Vincenzo Bellini, it tells the same general story as the legendary Shakespeare play. It is not the same, though; rather, the particular form of the story the opera tells is a very significant choice. It gives insight into the state of Italy when the show premiered and shows off its impact.

Throughout my research, I discovered the origins of this play are a bit complex; it was made with a script written for another opera called Guilietta e Romeo, which was based on a play of the same name made in 1818, which drew from Renaissance works translated into French, then back into Italian. Which means it is hardly connected at all to the Shakespeare play. The basic story seems to come from the same source, but Shakespeare lived in England. Therefore, Italy didn’t see his play for centuries, and so the opera became the more known adaptation. And it was definitely different enough; Bellini trimmed the story and characters a lot. For example, the opera starts with the two already in love, dropping the audience right into the drama. He also only used five major characters from the story to make sure the message is the focus point. In addition, Bellini was rushed to release the opera, so he took music from his older unpopular operas and used them. He reworked several songs from an earlier show called Zaira and released I Capuleti & Montecchi on March 11, 1830.

Italian audiences reacted to this opera very well, with the premiere being described as “an unclouded and immediate success”. It launched Bellini into worldwide success, and spread this version of the play far and wide. It had several re-releases over Bellini’s lifetime, and was put on long after his death.

This opera’s importance is in its origins; it is the most accessible view we have of this alternate telling of a classic story. Many have read Romeo and Juliet, but few know this version or its events. Bellini’s opera shows the many ways a single story can be interpreted. Overall though, I wouldn’t say it added any new or amazing technology to evolve operas. Its significance is only in its cultural standing.

The mise-en-scene of I Capuleti is fairly simple, but well thought out. It uses color to represent the two factions; the settings were red colored to imply the castle was Montecchi, and they wore red while the Capuleti wore blue. Giulietta (Juliet) wore white unlike everyone else who was either red or blue, implying she can’t decide which color she stands for: family or love. The costumes were simpler then I thought they would be for being an opera, however they did portray the period well and got the message across. The sets were also simple, but it made me focus on the performers more, which I find more important. Overall, the set design was executed very well, with a light touch leaving things very simple and elegant.

There wasn’t a lot of tech used throughout the opera; the most complex feature is that the walls would open to look like a window to climb in and out of. They would light up the sides of the stage to make them look like hallways and make the space bigger. The stage spun during a fight scene to imply more chaos, with the rotation starting slow and as the leads sang the speed picked up until the fighting and spinning were rapid. This added excitement and tension to the drama and elevated the experience of the scene.

If I were to turn this opera into a video game, I would make the game a choose your own path platformer. You would be able to choose which faction you were going to be in, then make the decisions that led the story. Do you run away and elope, or keep your family honor? You could choose to drink poison or stab yourself. The platformer part would be you trying to sneak around the castle, avoiding sight of disapproving members of the opposing faction and battle the boss which would be key characters from the opposite faction. I think it could be interesting to make the player experience the same decisions that Romeo and Guilietta had to.

It’s not often you see two famous interpretations of one story. Comparing this opera to Shakespeare’s play feels like the 1800s version of debating which Batman was better, Micheal Keaton or Christian Bale. While audiences will always make comparisons, the two pieces are not in direct contrast to one another. Both were just trying to tell good stories and happened to come from the same source. One doesn’t have to better than the other when they’re both classics. Two legendary shows, both alike in dignity.