Highlights from "Boccaccio"

New Zealand Listener, Volume 35, Issue 895, 28 September 1956, Page 17

Highlights from "Boccaccio"

MELODIOUS operetta whose music is gay and merry, and whose plot is roguish and cemplicated, will be heard on Saturday night in Theatre of Music from all YAs, It is Franz von Suppé’s Boccaccio, performed by soloists and orchestra of the Vienna State Opera, with the chorus of the Vienna "Volksoper" conducted by Anton Paulik. .Boccaccio was first performed at the Carl Theatre in Vienna on February 1, 1879. In it, von Suppé, who was born in Dalmatia in 1820, collaborated with Richard Genee, who worked with Johann Strauss on Fledermaus. In the collection of highlights from the operetta heard in this recording, the artists put aside more serious pursuits, and caper prankishly in the great. light opera tradition. The part of Boccaccio is taken by Waldemar Kmentt, and that of his lover, Fiametta, by Elisabeth ;

Noon, The scéne is Florence, the year 1331. In the square before the Church of Santa Maria Novella students and townsfolk gather, happy to be living in Florence on such a lovely day. However, a bookseller brings along his wares, including the scandalous tales of Giovanni Boccaccio, and the crowd becomes incensed at hig daring. Two citizens decide to take action against the irrepressible Boccaccio and the pretence of a fight ensues. But in the end everyone breaks into laughter, a discussion upon love and fidelity ensues, and Boccaccio tells one of his famed tales.

It is at this stage that Fiametta appears, and as she and Peronella talk, Boccaccio hides behind a fountain to observe them, Later he accosts Fia-

metta, and a charming flirtation in the form of a duet follows. The men of Florence swarm in, looking for Boccac-

clo, and set fire to his books in the middle of the square. But the students and Boccaccio step forward, pledging war on stupidity. "Truth and Humour," they cry, "shall continue te live and

flourish; all that is cast into flames shall, like the Phoenix, rise from the ashes!" In the third act, Boccaccio overcomes Fiametta’s reproaches when she discovers that he is not a student, but a naughty writer, by promising to write only romances in the future. As the lovers are united, Boccaccio declares "Wit, humour and truth are keen edged weapons, He who makes use of them is certain of victory!"