Compositional Premises in Approaching Suor Angelica Role in the Homonymous Work of Puccini

Abstract

This article proposes to summarise some of the defining compositional and interpretive elements on which approaching Suor Angelica role from the lyrical artist perspective is based. Suor Angelica role is a vocal challenge of a complex type, with an extreme difficulty that is often underestimated, requiring a diversity of interpretive resources at the same time. Through this article, we aim to discover the elements on which the interpretation via compositional conception is based, on the level of the musical – vocal and orchestral – discourse of the text and the libretto. The building of the main features of Suor Angelica character is pursued via a dual approach. The article correlates the assessment of the solo parts – like ‘Senza mamma, o bimbo, tu sei morto’ – by following the music and scenic interaction of the main character with the other characters in the homonymous opera.