La fanciulla del West

Mariinsky Theatre, Concert Hall, Saint Petersburg, Russia

Scene 6 from the opera "La fanciulla del West", photo 2

Scene 1 from the opera "La fanciulla del West", photo 4

Scene 2 from the opera "La fanciulla del West", photo 5

Scene 3 from the opera "La fanciulla del West", photo 6

Scene 4 from the opera "La fanciulla del West", photo 7

Scene 5 from the opera "La fanciulla del West", photo 8

Scene 7 from the opera "La fanciulla del West", photo 9

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Tuesday 8 July 2025

7 PM

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Important Info

Festival: Stars of the White Nights Festival

Type: Opera

City: Saint Petersburg, Russia

Starts at: 19:00

Acts: 3

Intervals: 2

Duration: 3h 10min

Sung in: Italian

Titles in: English,Russian

Ticket delivery: E-Tickets

E-tickets: Print at home or at the box office of the event if so specified. You will find more information in your booking confirmation email.

Can I choose my seats?

You can only select the category, and not the exact seats.
If you order 2 or 3 tickets: your seats will be next to each other.
If you order 4 or more tickets: your seats will be next to each other, or, if this is not possible, we will provide a combination of groups of seats (at least in pairs, for example 2+2 or 2+3).

Cast

Performers

Orchestra: Mariinsky Orchestra

Ensemble: of Young Opera Singers Ensemble of soloists of the Mariinsky Academy

Creators

Composer: Giacomo Puccini

Music Director: Valery Gergiev

Stage Director: Arnaud Bernard

Lighting Designer: Arnaud Bernard

Costume designer: Arnaud Bernard

Set Designer: Arnaud Bernard

Librettist: Carlo Zangarini

Lighting Designer: Francois Thoron

Librettist: Guelfo Civinini

Musical Preparation: Ilona Yansons

Costume designer: Marianna Stranska

Chorus Master: Pavel Teplov

Festival

Stars of the White Nights Festival

On 22 May, the Mariinsky Theatre opened the XXXIII Music Festival Stars of the White Nights with a grand celebration. Year after year the festival draws the attention of audiences from around the world who cherish musical and theatrical art. Stars of the White Nights remains one of the most prominent and anticipated cultural events of the Mariinsky Theatre – the culmination of its entire season. This year’s festival runs from 22 May to 3 August, with events scheduled across all of the theatre’s St Petersburg stages.

Overview

When completing work on the score of La fanciulla del West in the summer of 1910, Giacomo Puccini, who had by then already composed La Bohème, Tosca and Madama Butterfly, had no doubt that of all of his operas this was the very best.

"Believe me, this has everything: it's an epic piece, touching, it's a true spectacle and ends beautifully," he wrote to his publisher Giulio Ricordi. As the basis of the plot, he had taken David Belasco's popular Broadway play The Girl of the Golden West, which he had seen during his visit to the American continent. The most popular Italian composer was to write an opera based on an ultra-American subject. The Metropolitan Opera in New York, which purchased the western, prepared for the premiere with all due pomp. Success was guaranteed: Toscanini was conducting, the lead tenor role was sung by Caruso, Belasco was in charge of the production and the composer himself led the rehearsals. At the premiere he received countless curtain calls.

La fanciulla del West is a typical melodrama for soprano, tenor and baritone. The soprano is the owner of a saloon in the Wild West and the baritone is a fearless sheriff. The price on the head of the tenor, who appears in the somewhat faded romantic image of a noble brigand, even before the plot starts to unfold is set at five thousand dollars, an incredible sum for 1850. Like the mermaids in Das Rheingold, the saloon-owner keeps a stash of gold, only in Wagner's opera the gold is stolen while here its keeper is abducted. In La fanciulla Puccini turned for the first time to a fourth group of wind instruments – just as in Der Ring des Nibelungen. The roles, with the exception of two female heroines, are all male, and the orchestra makes use of markedly brutal sounds and energetic rhythms. There are also many dreamy and nostalgic moments in La fanciulla del West.
In opera houses today, Puccini's La fanciulla del West is not seen as often as his Tosca or La Bohème. In Russia the opera has been staged on just a handful of occasions, and it has never been performed at the Mariinsky Theatre at all. The title was suggested to Valery Gergiev by French stage director Arnaud Bernard, who at the Mariinsky has already staged Verdi's opera I vespri siciliani and shown himself to be a specialist in operatic "Hollywood". Several opera casts with guest stars are rehearsing the premiere of this highly-populated opera.

History

Premiere of this production: 10 December 1910, Metropolitan Opera

La fanciulla del West (The Girl of the West) is an opera in three acts by Giacomo Puccini to an Italian libretto by Guelfo Civinini and Carlo Zangarini, based on the play The Girl of the Golden West by the American author David Belasco. Fanciulla followed Madama Butterfly, which was also based on a Belasco play.

Synopsis

A gold prospectors' camp at the foothills in California during the Gold Rush.

Act I
Dusk. In the Polka saloon, things are getting lively: the miners are assembling after their day's work. They are playing cards, exchanging news and ordering drinks and cigars. The bartender Nick is busy with his customers. The game stops when the local bard Jake Wallace sings a melancholy song and plunges everyone into nostalgia. Jim Larkens cannot stop crying; he is sick to the back teeth of this life and wants to go home. The lads all chip in to pay for his journey. Those playing cards discover a cheat and are ready to attack him. Sheriff Rance attaches a marked card to Sid's chest as a mark of shame and steers him out of the saloon. The Wells Fargo agent Ashby drops into the Polka and relates how his hunt for a band of Mexican bandits headed by Ramerrez is progressing. Meanwhile, a quarrel flares up between the sheriff and the prospector Sonora: both are claiming the favour of Minnie, the saloon's owner. A fight ensues. At the very height of the struggle, a revolver goes off – it is Minnie. The prospectors greet the beauty in delight. In order to atone for their guilt in what has happened, they bring her presents. The men gather around the girl for a lesson – to hear the Bible read.
The pony express arrives with letters. Ashby is delighted with a message he has received: Ramerrez' lover tells him where the bandit will be that night. The prospectors all read their letters from family, while Nick tells of a peculiar stranger outside who is asking for whiskey and soda. Left alone with Minnie, the sheriff hastens to pour out his feelings. He admits that he has never loved anyone, but that now he would surrender all his treasure for just one kiss from her. Minnie dreams of another life, and she remembers her parents. The appearance of the stranger who calls himself Dick Johnson (it is actually Ramerrez) interrupts their conversation. The stranger recognises in Minnie the girl he once met on the road to Monterey. Neither has she forgotten him. Rance is filled with suspicion, and he jealously watches Minnie dancing with the stranger.
A noise is heard outside. Ramerrez' accomplice José Castro has been caught. He promises to take the sheriff to the bandit's lair, and secretly tells Johnson that the band is prepared, they just have to wait until there is no-one left in the saloon. A storm begins, but the sheriff and the gold prospectors nevertheless intend to catch the bandit. Minnie is happy that this new friend will stay with her in the empty saloon. She admits to him that the prospectors store the gold they have found there. "I'm just a poor girl," Minnie laments about her lack of education, and says that she dreams of being as erudite as her interlocutor. She tells of the hard labour of the gold prospectors, of their woes and of the families they have left behind. Johnson abandons his criminal plans: he cannot rob a girl he has loved. He must leave, and Dick asks permission to accompany her home.

Act II
In Minnie's hut her helper, Wowkle the Red Indian, is discussing the forthcoming wedding with her friend Billy Jackrabbit, which will take place at the insistence of her mistress.
Minnie orders Wowkle to set the table for two, herself hurrying to doll herself up: today there will be a guest in the house. A snowstorm can be seen outside the window. Johnson arrives. There is the joy of their meeting and Minnie's first kiss. Dick cannot reveal the truth about himself and wants to go, but the girl makes him stay. He must stay the night, and wait for the bad weather to pass. Suddenly voices can be heard outside. It is Rance, Nick, Sonora and Ashby; they have followed Ramerrez' trail here. Dick listens from his place of concealment and hears them telling Minnie that Johnson and Ramerrez are the same man and that he was revealed to them by his lover Nina Micheltorena. The girl is stunned by this news. Nick notes the presence of a guest in the house, but does not voice his suspicions. The men leave with nothing.
Minnie is insulted and hurt: she has chosen a bandit for a lover and has been deceived. Johnson begs her to hear his story. After his father's death he truly had to become a bandit to feed his family. Meeting Minnie has let him dream of peaceful happiness, but now all is finished. The girl is ready to forgive the bandit, but not to forgive a man who stole her first kiss through deception. She shows him the door. A shot is heard.
Minnie hurries to help her beloved, and before the sheriff arrives she manages to conceal Dick in the attic. To Rance, who has come for his prey, the girl declares resolutely that she is alone. Rance prepares to leave when suddenly a spot of blood drips down from the attic. Seized with fury, the sheriff forces the wounded man downstairs. Johnson loses consciousness. Minnie resorts to a trick in despair: she asks Rance, a confirmed gambler, a game of poker. If he wins, he will get her and Johnson, and if she wins Dick will remain with her. At the decisive moment, the girl cheats at cards. Rance leaves, concealing his thirst for revenge. Minnie rushes to Dick.

Act III
Rance and Nick are sad, awaiting news of Ramerrez' capture. Nick consoles the sheriff, telling him of his noble act concerning Minnie. She tended to Ramerrez, and he is again on the run. Shouts of the pursuers can be heard. Ashby rubs his hands: this time the criminal will not get away. The sheriff looks forward to his revenge. Ultimately, it is Sonora who succeeds in capturing the fugitive. The men dance joyfully: now they will have justice. Nick secretly warns Billy Jackrabbit who is preparing a noose not to hurry in hanging Ramerrez. The criminal listens to the accusation before the crowd. His is given a chance to speak, and Dick asks for Minnie not to be told of his involvement: let the girl believe that he has chosen the path of correction and has gone far away. The girl tenderly turns to the prospectors, convincing them that the bandit Ramerrez was is dead, that there is not a sinner in the world to whom the path to redemption would not be open. She reminds her customers how she has cared for them. Speaking for all, Sonora grants the criminal his life and freedom. Minnie and Johnson bid farewell to the brothers and California.

Time:1849 to 1850.
Place: A mining camp at the foot of the Cloudy Mountains, California.
Act 1
Inside the Polka Saloon

A group of Gold Rush miners enter the "Polka" saloon after a day working at the mine ("Hello! Hello! Alla 'Polka'"). After a song by traveling minstrel Jake Wallace ("Che faranno i vecchi miei"), one of the miners, Jim Larkens, is homesick and the miners collect enough money for his fare home ("Jim, perchè piangi?").

A group of miners playing cards discover that Sid is cheating and want to attack him. Sheriff Jack Rance quiets the fight and pins two cards to Sid's jacket, as a sign of a cheat.

A Wells Fargo agent, Ashby, enters and announces that he is chasing the bandit Ramerrez and his gang of Mexicans. Rance toasts Minnie, the woman who owns the saloon, as his future wife, which makes Sonora jealous. The two men begin to fight. Rance draws his revolver but at that moment, a shot rings out and Minnie stands next to the bar with a rifle in her hands ("Hello, Minnie!"). She gives the miners a reading lesson from the Bible ("Dove eravamo?").

The Pony Express rider arrives ("La posta!") and delivers a telegram from Nina Micheltorena, offering to reveal Ramerrez's hideout. The sheriff tells Minnie that he loves her, but Minnie puts him off as she is waiting for the right man ("Ti voglio bene, Minnie").

A stranger enters the saloon and asks for a whisky and water. He introduces himself as Dick Johnson from Sacramento, whom Minnie had met earlier. Johnson invites Minnie to dance with him and she accepts. Angrily, Rance watches them.

Ashby returns with the captured Ramerrez gang member, Castro. Upon seeing his leader, Johnson, in the saloon, Castro agrees to lead Rance, Ashby and the miners in a search for Ramerrez, and the group then follows him on a false trail and in what turns out to be a wild goose chase. But before Castro leaves, he whispers to Johnson that somebody will whistle and Johnson must reply to confirm that the place is clear. A whistle is heard, but Johnson fails to reply.

Minnie shows Johnson the keg of gold that she and the miners take turns to guard at night and Johnson reassures her that the gold will be safe there. Before he leaves the saloon, he promises to visit her at her cabin. They confess their love for each other. Minnie begins to cry, and Johnson comforts her before he leaves.

Act 2
Minnie's dwelling, later that evening

Wowkle, a Native American woman who is Minnie's servant, her lover Billy Jackrabbit and their baby are present as Minnie enters, wanting to get ready for Johnson's visit. Johnson enters Minnie's cabin and she tells him all about her life. It begins to snow. They kiss and Minnie asks him to stay till morning. He denies knowing Nina Micheltorena. As Johnson hides, a posse enters looking for Ramerrez and reveal to Minnie that Johnson is the bandit Ramerrez himself. Angry, she orders Johnson to leave. After he leaves, Minnie hears a gunshot and she knows Johnson has been shot. Johnson staggers in and collapses, Minnie helps him by hiding him up in the loft. Rance enters Minnie's cabin looking for the bandit and is about to give up searching for Johnson when drops of blood fall on his hand. Rance forces Johnson to climb down. Minnie desperately makes Rance an offer: if she beats him at poker, he must let Johnson go free; if Rance wins, she will marry him. Hiding some cards in her stockings, Minnie cheats and wins. Rance honors the deal and Minnie throws herself on the unconscious Johnson on the floor.

Act 3
In the Great Californian Forest at dawn, sometime later

Johnson is again on the run from Ashby and the miners. Nick and Rance are discussing Johnson and wonder what Minnie sees in him when Ashby arrives in triumph: Johnson has been captured. Rance and the miners all want Johnson to be hanged. Johnson accepts the sentence and only asks the miners not to tell Minnie about his capture and his fate ("Ch'ella mi creda"). Minnie arrives, armed with a pistol, just before the execution and throws herself in front of Johnson to protect him. While Rance tries to proceed, she convinces the miners that they owe her too much to kill the man she loves, and asks them to forgive him ("Ah! Ah! E Minnie!"). One by one, the miners yield to her plea ("E anche tu lo vorrai, Joe"). Rance is not happy but finally he too gives in. Sonora unties Johnson and sets him free. The miners bid Minnie farewell ("Le tue parole sono di Dio"). Minnie and Johnson leave California to start a new life together.

Venue Info

Mariinsky Theatre - Saint Petersburg
1 Theatre Square

The Mariinsky Theatre is a historic theatre of opera and ballet in Saint Petersburg, Russia. Opened in 1860, it became the preeminent music theatre of late 19th-century Russia, where many of the stage masterpieces of Tchaikovsky, Mussorgsky, and Rimsky-Korsakov received their premieres. Through most of the Soviet era, it was known as the Kirov Theatre. Today, the Mariinsky Theatre is home to the Mariinsky Ballet, Mariinsky Opera and Mariinsky Orchestra. Since Yuri Temirkanov's retirement in 1988, the conductor Valery Gergiev has served as the theatre's general director.

The theatre is named after Empress Maria Alexandrovna, wife of Tsar Alexander II. There is a bust of the Empress in the main entrance foyer. The theatre's name has changed throughout its history, reflecting the political climate of the time.

The theatre building is commonly called the Mariinsky Theatre. The companies that operate within it have for brand recognition purposes retained the Kirov name, acquired during the Soviet era to commemorate the assassinated Leningrad Communist Party leader Sergey Kirov (1886–1934).

The Imperial drama, opera and ballet troupe in Saint Petersburg was established in 1783, at the behest of Catherine the Great, although an Italian ballet troupe had performed at the Russian court since the early 18th century. Originally, the ballet and opera performances were given in the wooden Karl Knipper Theatre on Tsaritsa Meadow, near the present-day Tripartite Bridge (also known as the Little Theatre or the Maly Theatre). The Hermitage Theatre, next door to the Winter Palace, was used to host performances for an elite audience of aristocratic guests invited by the Empress.

A permanent theatre building for the new company of opera and ballet artists was designed by Antonio Rinaldi and opened in 1783. Known as the Imperial Bolshoi Kamenny Theatre the structure was situated on Carousel Square, which was renamed Theatre Square in honour of the building. Both names – "Kamenny" (Russian word for "stone") and "Bolshoi" (Russian word for "big") – were coined to distinguish it from the wooden Little Theatre. In 1836, the Bolshoi Kamenny Theatre was renovated to a design by Albert Cavos (son of Catterino Cavos, an opera composer), and served as the principal theatre of the Imperial Ballet and opera.

On 29 January 1849, the Equestrian circus (Конный цирк) opened on Theatre Square. This was also the work of the architect Cavos. The building was designed to double as a theatre. It was a wooden structure in the then-fashionable neo-Byzantine style. Ten years later, when this circus burnt down, Albert Cavos rebuilt it as an opera and ballet house with the largest stage in the world. With a seating capacity of 1,625 and a U-shaped Italian-style auditorium, the theatre opened on 2 October 1860, with a performance of A Life for the Tsar. The new theatre was named Mariinsky after its imperial patroness, Empress Maria Alexandrovna.

Under Yuri Temirkanov, Principal Conductor from 1976 to 1988, the Opera Company continued to stage innovative productions of both modern and classic Russian operas. Although functioning separately from the Theatre’s Ballet Company, since 1988 both companies have been under the artistic leadership of Valery Gergiev as Artistic Director of the entire Theatre.

The Opera Company has entered a new era of artistic excellence and creativity. Since 1993, Gergiev’s impact on opera there has been enormous. Firstly, he reorganized the company’s operations and established links with many of the world's great opera houses, including the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, the Metropolitan Opera, the Opéra Bastille, La Scala, La Fenice, the Israeli Opera, the Washington National Opera and the San Francisco Opera. Today, the Opera Company regularly tours to most of these cities.

Gergiev has also been innovative as far as Russian opera is concerned: in 1989, there was an all-Mussorgsky festival featuring the composer’s entire operatic output. Similarly, many of Prokofiev’s operas were presented from the late 1990s. Operas by non-Russian composers began to be performed in their original languages, which helped the Opera Company to incorporate world trends. The annual international "Stars of the White Nights Festival" in Saint Petersburg, started by Gergiev in 1993, has also put the Mariinsky on the world’s cultural map. That year, as a salute to the imperial origins of the Mariinsky, Verdi's La forza del destino, which received its premiere in Saint Petersburg in 1862, was produced with its original sets, costumes and scenery. Since then, it has become a characteristic of the "White Nights Festival" to present the premieres from the company’s upcoming season during this magical period, when the hours of darkness practically disappear as the summer solstice approaches.

Presently, the Company lists on its roster 22 sopranos (of whom Anna Netrebko may be the best known); 13 mezzo-sopranos (with Olga Borodina familiar to US and European audiences); 23 tenors; eight baritones; and 14 basses. With Gergiev in charge overall, there is a Head of Stage Administration, a Stage Director, Stage Managers and Assistants, along with 14 accompanists.