Located in the UK
Located in the USA
Located in Europe
- Robert Xavier Rodríguez
Suor Isabella (1982)
- G Schirmer Inc (World)
Opera in one act.
- fl(pic).cl(bcl)/tpt.btbn/perc/hp.pf/vn.vc
- women's SSA chorus or 3 soloists
- 2 Sopranos, 2 Mezzo Sopranos
- 1 hr 10 min
- Libretto by Daniel Dibbern based on a story from “The Decameron” by Giovanni Boccaccio.
- English
Programme Note
The opera can be used as a companion to Puccini's Suor Angelica, with complementary cast, orchestra, and duration.
A group of nuns in a medieval Italian convent. The postulant, Isabella, has a hard time reconciling the earthy needs of her nature with the vows of her calling. This evokes a hilarious scene of reportage — an accounting of her bedroom activities as seen by the sisters through a keyhole, until it is revealed that the Abbess has similar problems.
- Sister Isabella (a young and beautiful nun) -- soprano
- Abbess Usimbalda (Mother Superior) -- mezzo-soprano
- Sister Ficcanaso (a prying and meddlesome nun) -- soprano
- Sister Sgridaretta (an old and punctilious nun) -- mezzo-soprano
- Three nuns (chorus with solos) -- SSA
- Isabella's lover (disguised) -- mute
A group of nuns in a medieval Italian convent. The postulant, Isabella, has a hard time reconciling the earthy needs of her nature with the vows of her calling. This evokes a hilarious scene of reportage — an accounting of her bedroom activities as seen by the sisters through a keyhole, until it is revealed that the Abbess has similar problems.