Il Tabarro

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Il tabarro (The Cloak) is an opera in one act by Giacomo Puccini to an Italian libretto by Giuseppe Adami, based on Didier Gold's La Houppelande. It is the first act of Il trittico. First performance: Metropolitan Opera, New York City, 1918.

Roles

Premiere, December 14, 1918
(Roberto Moranzoni)
Michele, a barge-owner (aged 50) baritone Luigi Montesanto
Giorgetta, Michele's wife (aged 25) soprano Claudia Muzio
Luigi, a stevedore (aged 20) tenor Giulio Crimi
'Tinca' ('tench'), a stevedore (aged 35) tenor Angelo Bada
'Talpa' ('mole'), a stevedore (aged 50 bass Adam Didur
La Frugola ('the rummager'), Talpa's wife (aged 50) mezzo-soprano Alice Gentle
Stevedores, a ballad-seller, midinettes, an organ-grinder, two lovers

		Premiere, December 14, 1918 (Roberto Moranzoni)
Michele, a barge-owner (aged 50)	baritone	Luigi Montesanto
Giorgetta, Michele's wife (aged 25)	soprano	Claudia Muzio
Luigi, a stevedore (aged 20)	tenor	Giulio Crimi
'Tinca' ('tench'), a stevedore (aged 35)	tenor	Angelo Bada
'Talpa' ('mole'), a stevedore (aged 50	bass	Adam Didur
La Frugola ('the rummager'), Talpa's wife (aged 50)	mezzo-soprano	Alice Gentle
Stevedores, a ballad-seller, midinettes, an organ-grinder, two lovers

Noted arias

"Hai ben ragione" (Luigi)
"Nulla, silenzio" (Michele)

Plot

Place: A barge on the Seine.

Time: 1910.

While the stevedores work unloading the barge, Michele wonders if his wife Giorgetta is still faithful. She serves wine to the workers, and they dance to the music of an organ grinder. Frugola enters, looking for her husband. She shows everyone the fruits of her shopping in Paris and scolds the men for their drinking. Luigi laments his lot in life. He remembers with Giorgetta their old neighborhood. Michele refuses to take Luigi to Rouen. Luigi arranges a secret rendez-vous with his lover Giorgetta before leaving. Michele reminisces with Giorgetta of the days before their child died, how all three would fit under his cloak. He knows she is straying, but wants to win her back. Luigi, thinking that Michele's lit pipe is Giorgetta's signal, returns to the barge and is confronted by Michele. Michele forces Luigi to confess his affair, then kills him, hiding the body under his cloak. When Giorgetta returns, she opens wide the cloak, revealing her dead lover.

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