An Italian in Algiers - Educator Guide

A Educator’s Guide to

L’Italiana in Algeria

A companion to the Student Guide

HOW TO USE THIS GUIDE

Opera offers a unique teaching opportunity to explore the arts through many different disciplines including literature, art, history, and music. This guide has been designed to provide educators with suggestions on how to integrate the music and historical background of Rossini’s L’italiana in Algeri into the existing curriculum. For applicable National Standards, please contact Washington National Opera’s Education and Community Programs Department at 202.448.3465 or at education@dc-opera.org.

WHAT TO DO WHEN YOU GET THERE

The dress rehearsal of L’italiana in Algeri will begin promptly at 7:00 p.m. The Kennedy Center Opera House doors open 30 minutes prior to the beginning of the performance. Please plan to arrive early, as latecomers will be seated only at suitable breaks in the music, often not until intermission. Seating at Washington National Opera’s dress rehearsals is open. When you arrive, please have your passes ready to present to the ushers who will direct you to the area of the Opera House where you will be seated. The running time for this rehearsal of L’italiana in Algeri is approximately two hours and 40 minutes, including one intermission.

YOUR ROLE IN OPERA

Opera is a collaborative art. It requires the work of many people including the director, designer, singers, the orchestra, crew, and the audience. The audience is an important part of every performance. As an audience member, your role is to suspend disbelief and imagine that the story enacted before you is really happening, to let the action and music surround you, and to become part of the show. To help your students feel comfortable with their role as opera-goers, Washington National Opera has prepared some tips for performance etiquette. Please review What you will see and other stuff… (in the Student Guide) with your students. Following these guidelines will help everyone have a great experience!

THE SETTING

History/Social Studies: Modern Italy and Algeria are very different from the time period in which Rossini was composing. Research the period in which Rossini lived, and describe what it would have been like to live in Italy during the early 1800s and what the Italians’ perceptions of the Algerians were at the time.

Music History: Have students find other examples of composers and librettists who wrote operas in their native language, but set the story in a country and culture foreign to their own. The examples in the Student Guide include Giacomo Puccini’s Turandot and Madama Butterfly, and Georges Bizet’s Carmen. Compare these operas with L’italiana in Algeri and discuss how the composer’s own culture colored his portrayal of the country he was writing about. Discuss if these are accurate portrayals of the foreign country presented.

Visual/Performing Arts: Watch a video of L’italiana in Algeri either before or after you attend the dress rehearsal. Compare and contrast the two productions. How are they similar? How are they different? Are they set in the same time period or is one updated? Be sure to discuss visual elements such as set design, lighting, and costumes as well as the musical and performance aspects.

Language Arts: The following vocabulary words are bolded the first time they appear in the Student Guide. Review them with your students. Brief definitions are provided in the Vocabulary section, but they can be expanded upon in discussion.

Basso buffo

Bey Buccaneer

Commedia dell’arte

Opera buffa

Opera seria

Privateer

THE STORY

Concertmaster

Corsair Harem Mark Recitative Stock characters

Sultan

Theater/Dance: The storyline and characters in this opera can be difficult to follow. Review the synopsis and characters in the Student Guide with your students and have them physically depict the storyline and characters through movement in order to better understand the sequence of events.

History/Social Studies: Discuss the problems with writing about another culture one is unfamiliar with, especially from that culture’s point of view. What are the social implications?

History/Social Studies: Discuss the role of the women in L’italiana in Algeri. The male characters do not trust the women and do not treat them with respect. Notice how Mustafà trusts Lindoro and Taddeo because they are men, and therefore must be

Fun Fact: Pappataci is a made-up word, the etymology of which, breaks the word down into pappa, referring to baby food and taci, meaning “quiet” in Italian. This refers directly to what a Pappataci must do in the opera: eat, drink, and be silent.

on his side, even though they are Italian slaves. Isabella is portrayed as independent, clever and manipulative, while Elvira is portrayed as submissive and childlike. Is this an accurate portrayal of the way women are regarded in Islamic nations today?

Language Arts: Compare and contrast similar storylines and character relationships in other works such as Mozart’s Abduction from the Seraglio and the musical The King and I by Oscar Hammerstein II.

PIRATES!

History/Social Studies: Today the term “piracy” is most often associated with the internet. Discuss with your students what piracy means today and in what different ways people commit acts of piracy.

History/Social Studies: Many novels and Hollywood films depict pirates by combining traits of corsairs and buccaneers. Review the differences between these two types of pirates, have students research them further, and discuss how fact becomes woven with fiction to create colorful characters and legendary stories. Disney’s Pirates of the Caribbean is a great example.

OPERA BUFFA

Music History: Compare and contrast opera seria and opera buffa. Find recorded examples of both and have students listen to them to pick out the differences in the music.

Music: If your class were writing a modern-day opera buffa, what would the music and the recitative sound like? How is recitative similar to hip-hop and rap? Would your class use this musical form of rap or hip-hop as a modern-day recitative? What would the subject matter be and how would the language (dialogue) be constructed? Keep in mind that opera buffa was created to appeal to the average person in the time in which it was written.

Theater: Have students research commedia dell’arte and discuss its influences on L’italiana in Algeri

Tip

How to help your students engage in active listening.

• Keep listening sections brief at first.

Musical Highlights: Washington National Opera Commentary on CDSM provides a comprehensive introduction to this opera, but if your schedule is limited, be sure to play the following tracks for your students to highlight some important moments in L’italiana in Algeri

Track 2: About Rossini—Narration about Rossini and opera buffa

• Repeat listening selections at least three times. First for introduction and enjoyment, second for starting, stopping, and asking questions, and third to allow students to recognize the concepts you have discussed.

• Allow your students time to respond to the music.

Track 5: Lindoro, the Sorrowing Lover—Lindoro’s aria, Languir per una bella

Track 8: …the Italian Girl—Isabella singing Cruda sorte!

Tracks 12,13, &14: Act One Finale—The ingenious quintet where everyone is confused!

Track 19: The “Pappataci” Trio—Mustafà, Lindoro, and Taddeo

Track 20: Isabella, the Heroic—One of Isabella’s biggest arias, Pensa alla Patria

Visual Art: Play the music of Rossini’s L’italiana in Algeri and have students sketch or paint representations of the emotions they feel while listening to the music. Discuss how artists are often influenced to draw, paint, or sculpt works of art based on a piece of music.

THE MUSIC OPERA PRODUCTION

Language Arts/Marketing: Find examples of program notes from operas or other performances. Research the differences between marketing material and program notes. Outline program notes for L’italiana in Algeri including information on the composer, librettist, social and historical context of the piece, and the music. Continue your outline with interpretive information including sets, costumes, setting, etc. Remember, program notes are not long. From your outline, write a short article (800 words) that will prepare the audience for the performance you have chosen.

Language Arts/Journalism: Have your students write

a review of the performance of L’italiana in Algeri. After the production opens, check local papers for reviews of and have students compare these reviews to their own. While writing the review, make sure students keep in mind these points:

• A review should tell a story.

• It should be written in simple, uncomplicated language.

• The purpose of the review is not to say whether the music is good or bad; it is to articulate what the music was like both subjectively and objectively.

• Be constructive, not destructive, in your review.

• Avoid writing in the first person and passive tense.

• Follow through on your thoughts to help defend your opinion.

RESOURSES

Online:

Rossini

http://w3.rz-berlin.mpg.de/cmp/rossini.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gioacchino_Rossini

http://www.nndb.com/people/194/000025119/

Historic Italy

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Italy

Historic Algeria

http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/ag.html

Pirates

www.piratesinfo.com

http://www.cindyvallar.com/barbarycorsairs.html

Opera Buffa

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opera_buffa

http://www.answers.com/topic/opera-buffa

Recordings:

Gioachino Rossini: L’italiana in Algeri (CD)

I Solisti Veneti, Prague Philharmonic Choir

Conducted by Claudio Scimone with Nicola Zasccaria, Samuel Ramey, Ernesto Palacio, Domenico Trimarchi, Marilyn Horne, and Kathleen Battle. 1991.

Gioachino Rossini: L’italiana in Algeri (CD)

Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra

Conducted by Claudio Abbado with Frank Lopardo, Agnes Baltsa, Patrizia Pace, Anna Gonda, Ruggero Raimondi, Ronald Schneider, Enzo Dara, and Alessandro Corbelli. 1989.

Gioachino Rossini: L’italiana in Algeri (DVD/VHS)

Radio Symphony Orchestra Stuttgart

Conducted by Ralf Weikert with Gunther von Kannen, Nuccia Focile, Susan McLean, Rudolf A. Hartmann, Robert Gambill, Doris Soffel, and Enric Serra. 1987.

Books:

Cordingly, David. Under the Black Flag: The Romance and the Reality of Life Among the Pirates. Harvest Books. 1997.

Gallo, Denise. Gioachino Rossini: A Guide to Research. Routledge. 2002.

Hunter, Mary and James Weber ed. Opera Buffa in Mozart’s Vienna. Cambridge University Press. 1997.

Konstam, Angus and David Cordingly. The History of Pirates. The Lyons Press. 2002

Rudlin, John. Commedia dell’Arte; An Actor’s Handbook. Routledge. 1994.

Sadie, Stanley. The New Grove Book of Operas. Macmillan Press. 1996.

Washington National Opera

Founded in 1956, Washington National Opera is recognized today as one of the leading opera companies in the United States. Under the leadership of General Director Plácido Domingo, Washington National Opera continues to build on its rich history by offering productions of consistently high artistic standards and balancing popular grand opera with new or less frequently performed works.

As part of the Center for Education and Training at Washington National Opera, Education and Community Programs provides a wide array of programs to serve a diverse local and national audience of all ages.

Our school-based programs offer students the opportunity to experience opera first hand -through in-depth yearlong school partnerships, the acclaimed Opera Look-In, the District of Columbia Public Schools Partnership, and the Kids Create Opera Partners (for elementary schools), and the Student Dress Rehearsal (for high schools) programs. Opera novices and aficionados alike have the opportunity to learn about WNO’s 50th anniversary season through the Opera Insights series, presented throughout the season on the Kennedy Center Millennium Stage. All Insights are free, open to the public, and archived on the WNO website. Outreach to the greater Washington, D.C. community is achieved through our numerous public Library Programs, as well as through the Family Look-In.

For more information on the programs offered by Washington National Opera, please visit our website at www.dc-opera.org.

CREDITS

Writer:

Rebecca Kirk

Education and Community Programs Associate

Editors:

Michelle Krisel

Director, Center for Education and Training

Caryn Fraim

Associate Director, Education and Community Programs

Stephanie Wright

Education and Community Programs Manager

Graphic Design: LB Design