File:1934 Rocca (opera).jpg

{it} Lodovico Rocca - Renato Simoni. Il dibuk: leggenda drammatica in un prologo e tre atti. Milano: Ricordi, 1934.

{pl} Lodovico Rocca - Renato Simoni. Dybuk: opera w 3-ch aktach. Warszawa: [s.n.], 1935.

{en} Lodovico Rocca - Renato Simoni. The dibbuk (Il dibuk): Opera in prologue and three acts, tr. Archie Coates. New York: Ricordi, 1936.

Abstract

Il Dibuk è un'opera di Lodovico Rocca su libretto di Renato Simoni. Fu rappresentata per la prima volta al Teatro alla Scala di Milano il 23 dicembre 1934 diretta da Franco Ghione con Bruna Castagna, Giuseppe Nessi, Salvatore Baccaloni e Vincenzo Bettoni.

"Il Dibuk was first performed in La Scala Milan in March, 1934. The opera was originally performed in Italian, but then translated into English by Archie Coates when it premiered in the United States.6 Prior to 1936, the opera was performed throughout Europe, and then made its debut in the United States. The premiere of the opera was on May 6, 1936 in Detroit. The orchestra and cast then travelled to Chicago for two nights and came to New York immediately following those performances, to then continue onward throughout the Northeast performing Rocca’s Il Dibuk ... Il Dibuk is a three-act opera. There was the Prologue, which took place in Spain, Act I which took place in an old synagogue in Brinitza, Act II in a Public Square in Brinitza at sunset and Act III in the house of Rabbi Ezriel of Miropol.8 The opera was performed at Carnegie Hall, and conducted by Franco Ghione. The premiere at Carnegie Hall was sponsored in part by the Detroit Civic Opera Company, and Ghione came to America specifically in order to conduct the opera. He was the same conductor for the opera when it opened at La Scala in Milan, which was highly regarded. His coming to the United States in order to conduct the opera was funded by the Detroit Civic Opera Company ... On April 12, 1936, the New York Times ran an article about the upcoming opera, referring to Lodovico Rocca’s opera as “one of the most successful of new operas.”11 The article noted the success of the play in Europe, and excitement for it to come to New York. It is interesting to note that The Dybbuk story must have been popularized enough that there is minimal explanation of the play converted into an opera which is coming to New York. Instead, the article headlines the opera, and comments on the upcoming event as if to claim that most readers already knew about the play and would be intrigued to see the opera performance."--Frances Bernstein, "Il Dibuk Performance at Carnegie Hall"

Italian Cast

Reb Sender di Brinizza (Baritono); Leah, sua figlia (Soprano); Frade, vecchia nutrice di Leah (Mezzosoprano); Hanan, discepolo della scuola talmudista (Tenore); Reb Ezriel di Miropol, rabbino miracoloso (Basso); Michael (Baritono); il messaggero (Tenore); Maier, custode della sinagoga di Brinizza (Baritono); Gitel (Soprano) e Basia (Mezzosoprano), amiche di Leah; Menascè, lo sposo; Nachmann, padre di Menascè (Baritono); primo e secondo Batlon (T, B); due donne (S, A); Ascher (Tenore); la cieca (Contralto); la voce di Nissen, padre di Hanan (Basso); talmudisti, compagni di Sender, mendicanti, parenti di Menascè, ospiti nuziali, gente di Brinizza e di Miropol, ebrei della comunità

American Cast

Joseph Royer, Baritone (Reb Sender) Rosa Raisa, Soprano (Leah) Pauline Pierce, Mezzo-Soprano (Frade) Frederick Jagel, Tenor (Hanan) Nino Ruisi, Bass (Reb Ezriel) Paul Oncley, Baritone (Michael; Nachman) Ivan Ivantzoff, Tenor (The Messenger) Gean Greenwell, Bass (Maier; The Voice of Nissen) George Gordon, Tenor (Menashe) Josef Kallini, Tenor (First Batlon) John Bacon, Unspecified Voice (Second Batlon) Marguerite Hawkins, Soprano (A Woman; Gitel) Joy Sweet, Unspecified Voice (Another Woman) Helen Schwedova, Unspecified Voice (Basia) Gretchen Haller, Contralto (The Blind Woman (death)) Myron Taylor, Unspecified Voice (The Cantor) George Chaffee, Dancer Anne Wolfson, Dancer Vladimir Valentinoff, Dancer Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Orchestra

See also

{en} Michal Grover-Friedlander, "III. Dybbuk: Between Voice and Song -- Lodovico Rocca, II dibuk (1934) -- Soul Has a Voice -- Divine's Voice -- Dybbuk, or Between Two Worlds -- Duet within Oneself with the Dead about the Unborn -- I am Song -- Interlude Voice Replacement -- Puccini, Gianni Schicchi, Rocca, II dibuk," in Operatic afterlives. Brooklyn : Zone Books ; Cambridge, Mass. : Distributed by MIT Press, 2011.

{it} Aloma Bardi, Esotismi musicali del Dibbuk: ispirazioni da un soggetto del folclore ebraico. Napoli: Università degli studi "L'Orientale," 2014.