PAOLO V. MONTANARI, DIRECTOR: Pergolesi - San Guglielmo

Li prodigi della divina grazia nella conversione e morte di San Guglielmo, Duca d'Aquitania is the earliest opera by Pergolesi. He was just twenty-one when he composed it in 1731 and, in my opinion, it is his masterpiece. The music is beautiful (three pieces were later recycled in L'olimpiade) and combines opera seria and opera buffa, in order to match the extraordinary libretto by Ignazio Maria Mancini—a unique blend of subtle Catholic theology and popular entertainment—with violence and tenderness, comedy and tragedy mixed in a truly Neapolitan way. The heretic Guglielmo and his comic counterpart Capitan Cuòsemo progress from hubris into the abyss of repentance, while the Angel and the Devil disguise themselves in every possible way and fight "like cat and dog" (as Cuòsemo says) for their souls.
When we decided to stage it, we were not surprised to discover that there is no modern edition of this score. Such is the dedication of Italians to preserving their cultural heritage!
In order to recreate in some way the conditions of the first performance in the Chiostro di Sant'Agnello in Naples, we chose to perform the opera in the courtyard of the San Rocco Monastery in Carpi.
The wonderful modern-baroque costumes were designed and made by Evelyna Schubert and Heike Neubauer-Antoci of Metta-Nest (Dresden).

Giovanni Battista Pergolesi - Li prodigi della divina grazia nella conversione e morte di San Guglielmo, Duca d'Aquitania
(Carpi, Cortile di San Rocco, 14 July 2011)

Brigitte Canins (San Guglielmo), Anna Rita Pili (San Bernardo), Vittoria Giacobazzi (Angelo), Lorenzo Malagola (Demonio), Erica Rompianesi (Arsenio), Paolo V. Montanari (Capitan Cuòsemo), Anne Juds, Alessia Franchini (dancers), Accademia degli Impossibili, Mario Sollazzo (harpsichord & conductor), Anne Juds (choreographer), Metta-Nest (costumes), Fabio Antoci (light designer).

Full photo album
https://picasaweb.google.com/116903528740685877505/PergolesiSanGuglielmoCarpi14Luglio2011