Verdi's A KING FOR A DAY: An Insiders Look




Dr. Francesco Izzo

 On March 2nd, Sarasota Opera will present Verdi's second opera and first comedy, Un giorno di regno (A King for a Day),  which will mark the 29th installment of Sarasota Opera's internationally acclaimed Verdi Cycle.  March 2nd will also be the world premiere of the new critical edition of this opera prepared by Dr. Francesco Izzo, Co-Director of the American Institute for Verdi Studies.  


We asked Dr. Izzo to prepare a brief write up on Verdi's A King for a Day in which he points out that just because a piece is not seen with the frequency of say a Madama Butterfly, does not mean it should be discounted as something not worth paying attention to.



Corey Crider as Belfiore, Jennifer Feinstein
as the Marchesa, and Stefano de Peppo
as the Baron



At Sarasota Opera, rehearsals are underway for a new exciting premiere of a lesser-known opera by Giuseppe Verdi.  This time, the spotlight is on King for a Day, or Un giorno di regno (1840), Verdi’s second opera and his only comic work before his final masterpiece, Falstaff.  The world premiere of Un giorno di regno at Milan’s Teatro alla Scala was, quite famously, a fiasco.  A great deal has been written about the sad circumstances under which Verdi had to compose this opera: his first wife, Margherita Barezzi, died suddenly less than three months before the premiere, and the young couple had lost both of their children during the previous two years. Many commentators—ostensibly by way of apology—have remarked that such a tragic scenario was hardly conducive to the creation of an opera buffa, and that one should not be surprised that the opera failed. 





Baritone Corey Crider as Belfiore, the
fake King of Poland

Case closed, then?  Should we regard Un giorno di regno as an unfortunate parenthesis in Verdi’s otherwise stellar career?  Not so fast, ladies and gentlemen.  Verdi himself never referred to Un giorno di regno as a failure.  And he never suggested that he was not inclined to write a comic work at that time.  Although he was certainly mourning and under significant time pressure, he invested tremendous energy into the creation of this opera, working tirelessly on the score to the last minute.  Years ago, when I had the good fortune to examine for the first time Verdi’s autograph manuscript in Milan, Italy, I realized that almost every page showed the composer thinking carefully through his music, entering significant revisions in the vocal lines, polishing the orchestration, and concentrating on a variety of details.  At a very late stage, he even managed to compose a new closing section for the Act 1 trio and a new cabaletta for Edoardo’s aria at the beginning of Act 2. The original versions of these pieces, fully orchestrated, are still found in the autograph, and the audience of Sarasota Opera will be able to hear these pieces as they are performed for the first time at a concert on March 24. 


It is, indeed, Verdi’s autograph manuscript that has served as the basis for my critical edition, which receives its world premiere here at Sarasota on March 2nd.  This edition corrects a number of inaccuracies and arbitrary alterations present in other scores of the opera, which has often circulated under the title Il finto Stanislao.  I have done my very best to provide an edition that faithfully reflects Verdi’s intentions throughout.  And I know that the score is in excellent hands with Maestro DeRenzi and a wonderful lineup of singers.  Having lived with this opera for years I have grown to love its exhilarating comic duets, the deeply sentimental arias for the two prima donnas and for the tenor, and a few ensembles that, comic context notwithstanding, seem to foreshadow the rousing choruses of Verdi’s most successful works of the 1840s. 



Finally united in the end, the Cavaliere of Belfiore
and the Marchesa of Poggio



I am sure that the audience at Sarasota, too, will find that little-known Verdi opera can be the source of unexpected delight; it certainly offers new insights into the extraordinary composer who created it, as well as a glimpse into the fascinating world of mid-nineteenth-century opera buffa, where it can take pride of place next to Donizetti’s comic masterpieces, L’elisir d’amore and Don Pasquale.

Francesco Izzo



Stefano de Peppo as the Baron of Kelbar





Do not miss what promises to be a light hearted and fun evening at the opera!  Get your tickets today for Verdi's Un giorno di regno today by going online at www.sarasotaopera.org or by calling (941) 328-1300.