Luciano Berio
La vera storia
Short instrumentation: 4 3 4 3 - 3 3 3 1 - percl(3), hp, tastiera, pno (2), a-sax, t-sax, str; stage music: acc, bells, vl, pianola, e-guit, b-guit; synth
Duration: 120'
Übersetzer: Helmut Wagner, Karl Heinz Füssl, David Osmond-Smith
Libretto von: Italo Calvino, Luciano Berio
Choir: SATB (at least 60 singers)
Roles:
Leonora
soprano
Luca
tenor
Ada
mezzo-soprano
Ivo
baritone
Comandante
baritone
Il Condannato
bass
Ugo
tenor
Prete
tenor
storyteller (at least 2)
3 actors as passers-by
passer-by
soprano
vocal ensemble (2 2 2 2)
3 voices in the street
mimes
dancers
acrobats
Instrumentation details:
1st flute
2nd flute
3rd flute
4th flute
1st oboe
2nd oboe
cor anglais
clarinet in Eb
1st clarinet in Bb
2nd clarinet in Bb
bass clarinet in Bb
alto saxophone in Eb
tenor saxophone in Bb
1st bassoon
2nd bassoon
contrabassoon
1st horn in F
2nd horn in F
3rd horn in F
1st trumpet in C
2nd trumpet in C
3rd trumpet in C
1st trombone
2nd trombone
3rd trombone
bass tuba
1st, 2nd,3rd percussion
harp
tastiera
1st piano
2nd piano (+cel)
violin I(18)
violin II(16)
viola(14)
violoncello(12)
contrabass(10)
MUSIC ON STAGE: accordion
bells
violin solo
Pianola
guitar
bass guitar
syntheziser
band: piccolo
1st flute
2nd flute
1st clarinet in Bb
2nd clarinet in Bb
3rd clarinet in Bb
alto saxophone in Eb
tenor saxophone in Bb
1st horn in F
2nd horn in F
3rd horn in F
1st trumpet in C
2nd trumpet in C
3rd trumpet in C
1st trombone
2nd trombone
tenor horn in Bb
baritone in C
bass tuba
percussion
altosRNATIvE PARTS: tuba tenors/tuba bassa
Berio - La vera storia
Printed/Digital
Translation, reprints and more
Luciano Berio
Berio: La vera storia (ital.)
Available digitally
Type: Studienpartitur
Language: Italienisch
Print-On-Demand
Sample pages
Audio preview
Work introduction
As in many
of Luciano Berio’s musical dramas,
there is no real plot to La vera storia, but rather a series
of events. Wolfgang Schreiber said of the première at the Milan Scala in 1982:
“Berio’s theme is tension, and the violent conflict between individual and
state or society, of people and power, of freedom and authority.” In order to
convey this, Berio and Italo Calvino created a storyline which draws elements
of its plot from Verdi’s Il Trovatore. More
important than these elements of the plot, however, is the manner in which they
are presented, which also draws on existing operatic models, including solo
arias, duets, trios, chorales – archetypal operatic forms. Berio extends this
musical vocabulary with the two “cantastorie”, who describe and comment on the
events of the opera in six folk-like ballads (unforgettable Milva as ballad
singer). As with many of his other music theatre works, in La vera storia Berio also attempts “to enhance our consciousness of
the fact that we ourselves are the only ones who are able to fit a story as it
is told into our own experience of the world.”