Performance History
Mese Mariano premiered at the Teatro Massimo in Palermo on 17 March 1910 conducted by Leopoldo Mugnone with Livia Berlendi in the leading role of Carmela. It was warmly received both in Palermo and in Rome where it was performed a month later at the Teatro Costanzi. On that occasion it was conducted by Pietro Mascagni and presented as a double bill with his Cavalleria rusticana. Emma Carelli sang the role of Carmela.
However, when the opera was first performed in Naples (10 April 1911 at the Teatro San Carlo), it was not a critical success, and Giordano and Di Giacomo further revised the work in 1913. Although Mascagni considered it one of Giordano's best operas, Mese Mariano never achieved the same success as Di Giacomo's play or as Giordano's other (longer) operas, Andrea Chénier and Fedora.
Even in Italy, performances following its initial runs in 1910 and 1911 have been sporadic. Mese Mariano received its first performance in Turin in 1937 at the Teatro Carignano (in a double bill with Hänsel und Gretel), and in Venice in 1949 at La Fenice (in a double bill with Le jongleur de Notre-Dame). Its US premiere did not come until 1955, when it was presented at Carnegie Hall in New York. There have been a few late 20th century revivals including those in 1992 at the Teatro del Giglio in Lucca and the Teatro Pergolesi in Jesi and the 1998 performance at the Festival della Valle d'Itria where it was paired with another now-forgotten opera by Giordano, Il re. In addition to Livia Berlendi and Emma Carelli, notable sopranos who have sung the role of Carmela include Clara Petrella, Magda Olivero and Patrizia Ciofi.
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