Umberto Giordano, Born Aug. 28, 1867, Composed Madame Sans-Gêne

Summary: Italian composer Umberto Giordano, born Aug. 28, 1867, composed Madame Sans-Gêne, which had its world premiere Jan. 25, 1915, at Met Opera.

Enrico Caruso and Umberto Giordano, with line from aria “Amor ti victa” in Giordano's Fedora; caricatures drawn May 5, 1905, by Enrico Caruso on stationery of Le Grand Hotel, 12 Boulevard des Capucines, Paris, France; P.V.R. Key and B. Zirato, Enrico Caruso (1922), opposite page 194: Not in copyright, via Internet Archive

Italian composer Umberto Giordano, born Aug. 28, 1867, composed Madame Sans-Gêne, which was the only one of Giordano’s 14 operas to have its world premiere at the Metropolitan Opera.

The world premiere of Madame Sans-Gêne took place Jan. 25, 1915, at the Metropolitan Opera. American soprano Geraldine Farrar (Feb. 28, 1882-March 11, 1967) sang the title role of Caterina, a laundress who becomes a duchess. Italian operatic tenor Giovanni Martinelli (Oct. 22, 1885-Feb. 2, 1969) performed as François-Joseph Lefebvre, a sergeant who marries Caterina and becomes a duke.

Madame Sans-Gêne received nine performances during the 1914-1915 Met Opera season. Italian maestro Arturo Toscanini (March 25, 1867-Jan. 16, 1957) conducted the first eight performances. Italian operatic conductor Gennaro Papi (Jan. 21, 1885-Nov. 29, 1941) conducted closing night, May 1, 1915.

The Napoleonic-themed opera was directed by Jules Speck, the Metropolitan Opera’s stage manager for French and Italian operas from 1908 to 1917. Italian painter and scenic designer Odoardo Antònio Rovescalli (Dec. 21, 1864-Dec. 21, 1936) designed the opera’s sets. Costumes were designed by Italian painter and theatre costume designer Luigi Sapelli (Feb. 25, 1865-Oct. 11, 1936), known as Caramba.

The Metropolitan Opera revived Madame Sans-Gêne for the next season, 1915-1916. Geraldine Farrar and Giovanni Martinelli reprised the principal roles. The orchestra was conducted by Giorgio Polacco (April 12, 1875-April 30, 1960), who was the Met Opera’s conductor from 1915 to 1917. The opera received four performances during this season.

The second revival of Madame Sans-Gêne succeeded the opera’s first revival. Geraldine Farrar and Giovanni Martinelli reprised their roles. Giorgio Polacco reprised the conductorship. The opera received three performances in the 1916-1917 Met Opera season.

The Metropolitan Opera’s third and last revival of Madame Sans-Gêne immediately followed the second revival. Geraldine Farrar and Giovanni Martinelli reprised their roles.

In the 1917-1918 Met Opera season, Madame Sans-Gêne received three performances. Gennaro Papi, who had conducted the world premiere season’s closing night, May 1, 1915, returned as conductor for the season’s three performances of Madame Sans-Gêne. Polish film and theatre director Richard Ordynski (Oct. 5, 1878-Aug. 13, 1953) directed the revival.

The 1917-1918 Met Opera season’s third and last performance of Madame Sans-Gêne took place April 8, 1918. The season’s closing night numbered as the opera’s 19th performance at the Metropolitan Opera and also marked the opera house’s last staging of Madame Sans-Gêne.

Umberto Giordano’s historical opera concerns four historical personnages. French military leader and statesman Napoléon Bonaparte (Aug. 15, 1769-May 5, 1821) was promoted to captain July 13, 1792. By September 1811, he had been Emperor for seven years. He proclaimed himself emperor May 18, 1804, and his coronation ceremony took place Dec. 2, 1804. Caterina Hubscher (Catherine Hubscher, Feb. 2, 1753-Dec. 29, 1935), a laundress, married François Joseph Lefebvre (Oct. 25, 1755-Sept. 14, 1820), then a sergeant, in 1783. Lefebvre’s many titles included Duke of Danzig, gained in 1807 for his successful Siege of Danzig (March 19-May 24, 1807) during the Napoleonic Wars (May 18, 1803-Nov. 20, 1815). Adam Albert, Count von Neipperg (April 8, 1775-Feb. 22, 1829), cleared of a suspected affair with Napoleon’s second wife, Marie Louise of Austria (Dec. 12, 1791-Dec. 17, 1847), in Giordano’s opera, married her, in real life, as his second wife in 1821, four month’s after Napoleon’s death.

BBC classical music journalist Michael Oliver poses the question of the English translation of Madame Sans-Gêne. "'Madame Carefree' says Grove Opera, 'Madame Indiscreet' says my nearest French dictionary," he explains. Caterina Hubscher's actions and words are unaffected by the elevation of her status from laundress to duchess.

Madame Sans-Gêne takes place between Aug. 10, 1792, and September 1811. The opening date marks the capture of the Tuileries Palace in Paris during the French Revolution (May 5, 1789-Nov. 9, 1799). Act I takes place in the laundry of Caterina Hubscher (Catherine Hubscher, Feb. 2, 1753-Dec. 29, 1935). Acts II and III take place 19 years later at Château de Compiègne, one of Napoleon’s imperial residences, located in northern France’s Oise department.

Umberto Giordano set his score for Madame Sans-Gêne to an Italian libretto by Italian librettist and theatre critic Renato Simoni (Sept. 5, 1875-July 5, 1952). Simoni’s libretto adapted the same-named French comedy by French playwrights Victorien Sardou (Sept. 5, 1831-Nov. 8, 1908) and Émile Moreau. Sardou and Moreau’s historical comedy-drama had premiered Oct. 27, 1893, at the Théâtre du Vaudeville. The theatre was located at 2, Boulevard des Capucines, in Paris’ ninth arrondissement (le 9e arrondissement de Paris), on the Seine’s right bank (la rive droite de la Seine).

Umberto Giordano was born Wednesday, Aug. 28, 1867, in Foggia, capital of the same-named province in Southern Italy’s Apulia region. He passed away Friday, Nov. 12, 1948, two and one-half months after his 81st birthday, in Milan, capital of north central Italy’s Lombardy region.

The takeaway for Umberto Giordano, born Aug. 28, 1867, is that Madame Sans-Gêne is the only one of the Italian composers to have its world premiere hosted by the Metropolitan Opera.

Geraldine Farrar in title role of Caterina Hubscher in world premiere of Umberto Giordano’s Madame Sans-Gêne, staged Jan. 25, 1915, by the Metropolitan Opera; photograph of cartoon drawn by Enrico Caruso, New York City, January 1915; George Grantham Bain Collection, Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division, Washington DC: No known restrictions on publication, via Library of Congress Photo, Print, Drawing

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

Enrico Caruso and Umberto Giordano, with line from aria “Amor ti victa” in Giordano's Fedora; caricatures drawn May 5, 1905, by Enrico Caruso on stationery of Le Grand Hotel, 12 Boulevard des Capucines, Paris, France; P.V.R. Key and B. Zirato, Enrico Caruso (1922), opposite page 194: Not in copyright, via Internet Archive @ https://archive.org/details/enricocarusobiog00keypuoft/page/n238

Geraldine Farrar in title role of Caterina Hubscher in world premiere of Umberto Giordano’s Madame Sans-Gêne, staged Jan. 25, 1915, by the Metropolitan Opera; photograph of cartoon drawn by Enrico Caruso, New York City, January 1915; George Grantham Bain Collection, Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division, Washington DC: No known restrictions on publication, via Library of Congress Photo, Print, Drawing @ https://www.loc.gov/item/2014698185/

For further information:

Edwards, Bobb. “Umberto Giordano.” Find A Grave. Oct. 24, 2007.
Available @ https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/22434222/umberto-giordano

Funkhouser, Neil. "Gennaro Papi." Find A Grave > Find a Grave Memorial 214014284. Added Aug. 2, 2020.
Available @ https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/214014284/gennaro-papi

Key, Pierre V.R. (Van Rensselaer); and Bruno Zirato. Enrico Caruso: A Biography. Boston MA: Little, Brown, and Company, 1922.
Available via Internet Archive @ https://archive.org/details/enricocarusobiog00keypuoft/

Kobbé, Gustav. The Complete Opera Book: The Stories of the Operas, Together With 400 of the Leading Airs and Motives of Musical Notation. New York NY: The Knickerbocker Press, 1919.
Available via Project Gutenberg @ http://www.gutenberg.org/files/40540/40540-h/40540-h.htm

Maria Pinheiro. “Jose Carreras -- 25 Years as Loris Ipanov! . . . .” Facebook. Nov. 9, 2017.
Available @ https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10210542345420873

Maria Pinheiro @mariapinheiro1. “Jose Carreras -- 25 Years as Loris Ipanov. . . .” Twitter. Nov. 9, 2017.
Available @ https://twitter.com/mariapinheiro1/status/928603938953269249

Marriner, Derdriu. "Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum Art Theft: Napoleonic Flag Topper." Earth and Space News. Friday, Feb. 17, 2017.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2017/02/isabella-stewart-gardner-museum-art_17.html

Morbio, Vittoria Crespi. Caramba: Costume Magician. Italian-English edition. Collection December Seventh. Milan, Italy: Amici della Scala, 2008.

Oliver, Michael. "Giordano Madame Sans Gene." Gramophone > Reviews.
Available @ https://www.gramophone.co.uk/review/giordano-madame-sans-gene

Sardou, Victorien; et Émile Moreau. Madame Sans-Gêne: Comédie en 3 Actes et 1 Prologue. Paris, France: Albin Michel, 1893.

Sardou, Victorien; et Émile Moreau. Madame Sans-Gêne: Comédie en Trois Actes Précédée d’un Prologue. Paris, France: L’Illustration Théâtrale, 1907.
Available via HathiTrust @ https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/100686549

Teatro Grattacielo ‏ @tgratta. "Did you know #Giordano wrote 14 operas? Only #AndreaChenier & #Fedora made it (barely) into the repertoire. See 'Il Re' http://bit.ly/93OGON.” Twitter. Jan. 28, 2011.
Available @ https://twitter.com/tgratta/status/31028450047303680

“World Premiere: Madame Sans-Gêne.” MetOpera Database > [Met Performance] CID: 58840 World Premiere Madame Sans-Gêne {1} Metropolitan Opera House: 01/25/1915.
Available @ http://archives.metoperafamily.org/archives/scripts/cgiip.exe/WService=BibSpeed/fullcit.w?xCID=58840

Woolfe, Zachary. “Review: ‘Siberia,’ Umberto Giordano’s Opera, Unfolds at a Russian Prison Camp.” The New York Times > Arts > Music. Oct. 26, 2015.
Available @ https://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/27/arts/music/review-siberia-umberto-giordanos-opera-unfolds-at-a-russian-prison-camp.html