Вердидің «Бір күндік патшалығы» операсы

Opera by Giuseppe Verdi

Un giorno di regno, ossia Il finto Stanislao (A One Day Reign, or The Pretend Stanislaus, but often translated into English as King for a Day) is an operatic melodramma giocoso in two acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto written in 1818 by Felice Romani. Originally written for the Bohemian composer Adalbert Gyrowetz the libretto was based on the play Le faux Stanislas written by the Frenchman Alexandre Vincent Pineux Duval in 1808.

The first performance at La Scala on 5 September 1840 was a failure, and La Scala cancelled the remaining scheduled performances. They did not revive the work until 2001. Verdi would not attempt another operatic comedy until the end of his career with Falstaff. At the premiere Verdi was seated in the orchestra pit, and thus heard the audience reaction directly. Along with the critics, Verdi acknowledged that the failure was partly due to his own personal circumstances, since his two children (the first in 1838, the second in 1839) and then, in June 1840, his wife Margherita Barezzi had died, all during the period leading up to and during its composition. A contributing factor was that the only singers La Scala's impresario had available were those assembled for an opera seria, Otto Nicolai's Il templario, and they had no experience with comedy: "The cast had been assembled chiefly for the performance of the season's most successful novelty, Il templario, Nicolai's version of Ivanhoe". In fact, in summary, Budden notes that "by the side of Donizetti's L'elisir d'amore or Don Pasquale, it cuts a clumsy figure". Other productions in Italy during Verdi's lifetime seemed to fare better; it was given in Venice in 1845 (as Il finto Stanislao, where it did well), in Rome in 1846, and Naples (also as Il finto Stanislao) in 1859.

In the U. S., the opera received its premiere on 18 June 1960, while in the UK, the premiere took place on 21 March 1961. It was part of the San Diego Opera's June 1981 "Verdi Festival". With the temporary shutdown of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden in 1999, the Royal Opera gave a concert performance at the Royal Festival Hall. Russian baritone Vladimir Chernov sang the "King" with John Del Carlo as Baron Kelbar; Susanne Mentzer sang Giuletta. This presentation was followed in 2001 with a staged production at the Buxton Festival in England. In October 2012, the Bilbao based ABAO society, one which plans to present all of Verdi's works, presented the opera under conductor Alberto Zedda. Sarasota Opera presented the new critical edition of the opera in March 2013, the 29th work of the complete Verdi canon (in all its versions) to be presented by the company. Dr. Francesco Izzo, Co Director of the American Institute for Verdi Studies and the critical edition's editor, notes that:
This edition corrects a number of inaccuracies and arbitrary alterations present in other scores of the opera, which has often circulated under the title Il finto Stanislao. I have done my very best to provide an edition that faithfully reflects Verdi's intentions throughout. The Glimmerglass Festival presented the opera in a new English adaptation during the 2013 Festival.