Program notes
Ghismunda & Guiscardo was composed as part of a project created by International Opera Theater and premiered in 2010 in Philadelphia, with subsequent performances in Città della Pieve, Italy, in the summer of 2011. Seven composers were commissioned to write music for a seven-scene, multi-story opera drawing on different tales from Boccaccio’s Decameron. The libretto was written by Karen Saillant, Artistic Director and Stage Director of IOT, with Italian translation by Tommaso Sabbatini.
The two-act opera that resulted, titled Decameron, features eight singers and a small chamber ensemble. The story I was asked to set is the tragic love tale of Ghismunda and Guiscardo. Boccaccio summarizes it starkly at the beginning of Day IV, Novel I: “Tancredi, Prince of Salerno, slays his daughter's lover, and sends her his heart in a golden cup: she pours upon it a poisonous distillation, which she drinks and dies.”
In this scene, Tancredi’s daughter, Ghismunda, has secretly fallen in love with Guiscardo, her father’s page. The action unfolds in Ghismunda’s room: Tancredi comes looking for her and, not finding her, hides and falls asleep. When he awakes, he discovers his daughter in an intimate encounter with Guiscardo. Enraged that she has given her heart to a servant, he sets in motion the tragedy that follows.
The emotional core of the scene is Ghismunda’s aria, which I composed first. A leitmotif built on a minor third from the aria is used throughout the scene as the generating element that shapes the dramatic structure. The aria itself is in four sections, A–B–A′–B′: the A sections are more dramatic, expressing anger and pain, while the B sections are more introspective, longing for a peaceful resolution in death.
— Efraín Amaya
Watch the orchestral premiere
This performance features the full orchestral version of Ghismunda & Guiscardo, recorded at the premiere.
Characters, instrumentation & duration
Duration: ca. 14:00.
Characters
- Ghismunda — soprano. Daughter of Tancredi, Prince of Salerno; secretly in love with Guiscardo, her father’s page.
- Guiscardo — tenor. Servant and page to Prince Tancredi.
- Tancredi — baritone. Prince of Salerno.
Instrumentation
Original chamber version: Soprano, tenor, baritone,
flute, clarinet in B♭, percussion, piano, violin, cello.
Orchestral version: Soprano, tenor, baritone;
2/2*/2/3* – 4/3/3/1 – timpani + 2 percussion, harp, strings.
Purchase options
Parts for both the chamber and orchestral versions are available on a rental basis through the Rental & Licensing page. Scores may be purchased directly via PayPal below.
To order this piece without using PayPal, please email LaFi Publishers.