La bella dormente nel bosco


La bella dormente nel bosco is an opera in three acts by Ottorino Respighi to a libretto by Gian Bistolfi based on Charles Perrault's fairy tale Sleeping Beauty.
The first version of this opera, with the title La bella addormentata nel bosco, premiered in the Teatro Odescalchi in Rome on 13 April 1922. It was a version written for the Italian marionettist Vittorio Podrecca, who was director of a marionette company called Teatro dei Piccoli. The play was interpreted by marionettes, but it was accompanied by orchestra and singers. The cast of the première included the soprano Cisse Vaugham and the mezzo-soprano Evelina Levi. The performance obtained a complete success, with «many curtain calls for the composer», and was judged as an «art jewel».
A revised version was performed at the Teatro di Torino, Turin, on 9 April 1934, as La bella dormente nel bosco. The cast included Graziella Gazzera Valle, Magda Piccarolo, Angelina Rossetti, Maria Benedetti, Vincenzo Capponi and Egisto Busacchi.
A further posthumous version, revised by Gian Luca Tocchi and by the widow of the composer, Elsa Respighi, was performed in the Teatro Rossini in Turin on 13 June 1967.

Roles

Instrumentation

La bella addormentata nel bosco is scored for the following instruments:
flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, horn, trumpet, trombone, triangle, drum, cymbals, bell, handbells, celesta, harpsichord, strings.
La bella dormente nel bosco is instead scored for the following instruments:
flute, oboe, English horn, clarinet, bassoon, horn, trumpet, trombone, piano, drum kit, strings.

Recordings