0:00:02 > 0:00:05MUSIC: "O Mio Babbino Caro" by Giacomo Puccini
0:00:18 > 0:00:19Good evening and welcome.
0:00:19 > 0:00:23Tonight, we'll be performing Puccini's comic masterpiece,
0:00:23 > 0:00:24Gianni Schicchi.
0:00:25 > 0:00:29It is the final opera in his triple bill called Il trittico,
0:00:29 > 0:00:31written almost a century ago.
0:00:31 > 0:00:34Gianni Schicchi is the opera to laugh out loud at,
0:00:34 > 0:00:36to release the tension built up
0:00:36 > 0:00:40after the two emotional tragedies that preceded it.
0:00:41 > 0:00:44However, it's quite challenging to perform.
0:00:44 > 0:00:46It has an hysterical libretto
0:00:46 > 0:00:49and is full of sharply defined characters
0:00:49 > 0:00:52and great vocal characterisation.
0:00:52 > 0:00:55But, like any comedy, it's all about the timing.
0:00:57 > 0:01:01'We have an incredible ensemble cast playing our noisy, squabbling,
0:01:01 > 0:01:03'typically extended Italian family.
0:01:05 > 0:01:09'Buoso Donati, a wealthy Florentine, is head of the family,
0:01:09 > 0:01:13'but he's just about to take his dying breath.
0:01:13 > 0:01:15'What follows is a panic to find the will
0:01:15 > 0:01:19'so the family members can get their greedy hands on his inheritance.'
0:01:19 > 0:01:23ALL: Bad luck for the monks, hope for us!
0:01:23 > 0:01:28Lauretta, let's pin our hopes on my uncle's will!
0:01:30 > 0:01:32Oh! No, that's not it.
0:01:32 > 0:01:35'However, they soon discover they need to rely on the help
0:01:35 > 0:01:38'of local trickster Gianni Schicchi,
0:01:38 > 0:01:42'to mimic Buoso Donati's voice and deceive the lawyers.'
0:01:42 > 0:01:46For Schicchi, I had to practise by myself to try
0:01:46 > 0:01:52and discover a kind of voice that can be a voice of an old man.
0:01:52 > 0:01:56Buoso Donati...
0:01:56 > 0:02:00Because I put something to make a joke.
0:02:00 > 0:02:03For example, the S, I make...
0:02:03 > 0:02:06HISSING LISP ..something like that.
0:02:06 > 0:02:09And the voice comes from...
0:02:09 > 0:02:12DEEPENS VOICE ..this baritone voice until...
0:02:12 > 0:02:15SINGS IN NASAL VOICE ..Buoso Donati!
0:02:15 > 0:02:17Put it in the nose.
0:02:17 > 0:02:20Master Buoso, good morning.
0:02:20 > 0:02:23Oh! LAUGHTER
0:02:23 > 0:02:25Is it you?
0:02:25 > 0:02:27And in the midst of this comic mayhem,
0:02:27 > 0:02:29there suddenly comes a jewel of an aria,
0:02:29 > 0:02:32where time stops still for the perfect song,
0:02:32 > 0:02:36one of Puccini's most famous, O Mio Babbino Caro,
0:02:36 > 0:02:38Oh, My Dear Papa.
0:02:39 > 0:02:47# Have pity, Daddy... #
0:02:48 > 0:02:52For me, Puccini is a genius for everything he has done,
0:02:52 > 0:02:57and you can feel that all over the world that Puccini is played.
0:02:57 > 0:03:01It's so nice to enjoy the audience through comic things
0:03:01 > 0:03:06and Schicchi is the kind of opera that everybody,
0:03:06 > 0:03:09not only the role of Schicchi,
0:03:09 > 0:03:12all roles of this work, of this job,
0:03:12 > 0:03:16are so well delineated from Puccini.
0:03:16 > 0:03:20'And in this production the music is matched by the intensity
0:03:20 > 0:03:25'of both the garish 1960s bedroom set
0:03:25 > 0:03:28'and the colourful Donati family,
0:03:28 > 0:03:31'as they wait for the old man to breathe his last.
0:03:31 > 0:03:34'It's like watching a great theatrical farce,
0:03:34 > 0:03:35'or even a classic TV sitcom.'
0:03:43 > 0:03:45CHATTER AND COMMOTION
0:04:37 > 0:04:39WHIMPERING
0:05:46 > 0:05:50Weeping.
0:05:50 > 0:05:52Weeping.
0:05:52 > 0:05:54Buoso, Buoso!
0:05:54 > 0:05:58For the rest of our lives.
0:06:27 > 0:06:28Already?!
0:06:28 > 0:06:31That's what they're saying in Signa.
0:06:31 > 0:06:34- What are they saying in Signa? - They're saying that...
0:06:38 > 0:06:40No!
0:06:45 > 0:06:46They're saying that...
0:06:48 > 0:06:49Eh-h-h?
0:06:59 > 0:07:01That's what they're saying in Signa.
0:07:45 > 0:07:48It's what they're saying in Signa?
0:07:48 > 0:07:51ALL: It's what they're saying in Signa!
0:08:15 > 0:08:16What do you think?
0:08:45 > 0:08:50ALL: Bad luck for the monks, hope for us!
0:09:38 > 0:09:41HAMMERING AND BANGING
0:11:41 > 0:11:43AUDIENCE LAUGHS
0:12:36 > 0:12:39SWELLING STRINGS PLAY
0:13:02 > 0:13:05SHE MOUTHS
0:13:22 > 0:13:24ALL: No!
0:13:29 > 0:13:30ALL: No!
0:13:36 > 0:13:38SHE MOUTHS
0:13:41 > 0:13:44THEY MOUTH
0:13:49 > 0:13:51THEY GROAN
0:14:05 > 0:14:08AUDIENCE LAUGHS
0:16:05 > 0:16:08THEY LAUGH
0:16:22 > 0:16:24AUDIENCE LAUGHS
0:16:31 > 0:16:33SHE GROANS
0:16:46 > 0:16:49AUDIENCE LAUGHS
0:21:31 > 0:21:34KNOCK ON DOOR
0:21:36 > 0:21:38FAMILY: No! No!
0:21:39 > 0:21:41FAMILY: No! No!
0:21:41 > 0:21:42FAMILY: Oh!
0:21:46 > 0:21:48AUDIENCE LAUGHS
0:22:15 > 0:22:16Oh!
0:24:08 > 0:24:11ARIA CONTINUES
0:24:22 > 0:24:24TOY GUN FIRES
0:24:27 > 0:24:29TOY GUN FIRES
0:27:28 > 0:27:32APPLAUSE
0:30:10 > 0:30:12KNOCK AT DOOR Huh!
0:30:31 > 0:30:33ALL: Ssshh!
0:30:41 > 0:30:43AUDIENCE LAUGHS GENTLY
0:30:49 > 0:30:51LAUGHTER
0:30:58 > 0:31:01LAUGHTER
0:31:10 > 0:31:12IMPERSONATING MASTER BUOSO:
0:34:10 > 0:34:12SHE WHOOPS EXCITEDLY
0:36:23 > 0:36:25THEY ALL LAUGH
0:37:14 > 0:37:17THEY ALL SING OVER ONE ANOTHER
0:37:17 > 0:37:19BELLS TOLL
0:37:19 > 0:37:20ALL SUDDENLY QUIETLY:
0:37:34 > 0:37:36BELLS CONTINUE TO TOLL
0:39:14 > 0:39:16HE GROWLS
0:39:16 > 0:39:18LAUGHTER
0:43:56 > 0:43:57LOUD KNOCKING AT DOOR
0:44:28 > 0:44:29IMPERSONATING MASTER BUOSO: Oh!
0:44:29 > 0:44:31LAUGHTER
0:48:09 > 0:48:12LAUGHTER
0:49:58 > 0:50:00LAUGHTER
0:50:42 > 0:50:44ALL CRY OUT
0:51:09 > 0:51:11LAUGHTER
0:57:51 > 0:57:52LIGHT LAUGHTER
0:58:18 > 0:58:23APPLAUSE AND CHEERING
0:58:28 > 0:58:33So, Gianni Schicchi outwits everybody and has the last laugh.
0:58:33 > 0:58:36The climax of the final opera in Puccini's Il trittico -
0:58:36 > 0:58:38his series of one-act operas.
0:58:40 > 0:58:41I hope you've enjoyed yourselves.
0:58:41 > 0:58:43From me, Antonio Pappano,
0:58:43 > 0:58:46and everyone here at the Royal Opera House, goodnight.
0:58:53 > 0:58:57APPLAUSE AND CHEERING
0:59:18 > 0:59:21CHEERING
0:59:37 > 0:59:40Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd