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Il matrimonio segreto (1799) - Domenico Cimarosa
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Background
Domenico Cimarosa’s Il matrimonio segreto premiered at the Burgtheater in Vienna on 7 February 1792, just two months after Mozart’s death. It received immediate accolades, particularly from Emperor Leopold II, and the opera was performed a second time that day for a private audience that included the Holy Roman ruler. Il matrimonio segreto enjoyed a successful run that lasted almost a hundred years, with revised versions appearing in the second half of the nineteenth century; in 1933, the work was performed at the Library of Congress.
Although the harmonic language is largely diatonic, Cimarosa’s beautiful melodies and exciting rhythms complement Bertati’s direct text. The opera presents the predicament of the secretly married couple without resorting to stock plot conventions such as characters in disguise, conveying the dramatic naturalness and simplicity promoted by Rousseau. The inventive orchestration, which includes clarinets, was another aspect of the opera that was praised by some (while Schumann appreciated the orchestration, Berlioz was unimpressed).
Il matrimonio segreto is classified as a dramma giocoso, a subgenre of opera buffa. The term refers to the libretto more so than to the music itself. The dramma giocoso as genre often includes noble characters (called partie serie in opera seria) in opposition to low comic (buffe) characters, as well as those that fall into a middle station (the mezzo caraterre). Carolina’s marriage to Paulino, a clerk in her father's service, represents the interaction of different classes in a comic scenario; the disparity of their social classes is underscored by the chagrin of her father, who would prefer that she marry a count or someone of noble birth rather than one of his employees.
Plot
In the first act, the audience learns that Paolino and Carolina have secretly married and must determine a way to inform Carolina’s father, Geronimo, who would like to become a nobleman. In an effort to ease the announcement, Paolino has arranged for Geronimo’s older daughter Elisetta to marry Count Robinson. Geronimo is indeed overjoyed that his daughter will become a countess. However, complications ensue because of the secret marriage. When the Count meets Elisetta, he finds her unattractive and prefers Carolina. Furthermore, Geronimo’s sister Fidalma has set her sights on Paolino.
The Count declares he will not marry Elisetta at the beginning of Act Two. Geronimo stands his ground and insists that the wedding will happen. After the Count offers to marry Carolina for half the dowry, and Fidalma pronounces her feelings for Paolino, the clandestine couple realizes that they must run away. They plan to stow away in the night, but they are caught in the midst of their attempted escape. At this point, Paolino and Carolina finally confess that they are married. The Count then announces that he plans to marry Elisetta, and Geronimo forgives his younger daughter for the secret elopement.
Bibliography
Title from title page: Il Matrimonio
Segreto, / Dramma Giocoso in due Atti / ou / Le Mariage Secret / Opera
Comique en deux Actes
Genre: Melodramma giocoso
Composer: Domenico Cimarosa, 1749-1801
Librettist: Giovanni Bertati, 1735-1815
Libretto
based on: George Colman the elder and David Garrick’s play The
Clandestine Marriage, based on William Hogarth’s series of etchings
entitled Marriage à la mode
Setting: Geronimo’s house in 18th-century Bologna
Premiere: Vienna, Burgtheater, 7 February 1792.
First published: Paris: Imbault, n.d.
Volume in the UNT Collection: Paris: Imbault, n.d.
For further reading on Il matrimonio segreto, see:
Cimarosa, Domenico. "Le mariage secret." Avant-scene opera 175 (1997).
Heartz, Daniel. “Goldoni, Don Giovanni and the Dramma Giocoso.” Musical Times 120 (1979): 993–8. Reprinted in Mozart’s Operas, ed. Thomas Bauman, pp. 195-205. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1990.
Johnson, Jennifer Elizabeth. Domenico Cimarosa (1749–1801). Ph.D. diss, University of Wales, 1976.
Lazarevich, Gordana. “Il matrimonio segreto.” Grove Music Online, ed. Laura Macy. [Accessed 17 December 2003]. <http://www.grovemusic.com>
Mondolfi-Bossarelli, Anna. “Due varianti dovute a Mozart nel testo del Matrimonio Segreto.”Analecta Musicologica 4 (1967): 124–30.
Rossi, Nick. Domenico Cimarosa: His Life and His Operas. Westport, CT: Greenwood, 1999.
Physical
Dimensions: 32.5 x 23.8 cm.
Collation: [unable to determine formula] 250 leaves, pp. [4] 1-259 [2] 260-492 [493-494].
Conservation: Light foxing.
Binding: Three-fourths binding with patterned paper-covered board and brown buckram spine; gold-stamped salmon leather label on spine reads “IL / MATRIMONIO / SECRETO / CIMAROSA / FULL SCORE”; rebound in modern library style.
Comments: Copper-plate engraving (plates measure 26.4 x 19.9 cm); dealer plate reads “KENNETH MUMMERY / Books and Music / Bournemouth, England”.