In a message dated 12/5/2010 5:52:29 P.M. Eastern Standard Time, lawrencehelm@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx writes: I love the opera and enjoyed this description of yours, JL, but isn't it "De Camp Town Races"? At least that's the way I learned it as a kid. Was that a corruption of "De Compton Races"? I can understand races near a camp, but who would Compton be? Lawrence ----- Sorry about that! Indeed "Camp Town"! ------ I guess I am more familiar with the chorus! This lovely book, available online, by one Krehbiel, "(More) Chapters of Opera" (written in 1919) identified the chorus: "Dooda dooda da" Krehbiel writes on how to identify the reference to the Song by Foster in Puccini's libreto: "Why give us Stephen C. Foster's "Dooda, dooda da," upside down?" ----- Tomorrow is opening night at the Met (and should be broadcast on Sirius Radio, if you get that). The actual 'centennial' is on Friday -- Dec. 10 --. I found the libretto online, etc., and it would be good to further discuss it. Belasco is said to have found inspiration in the more genuine 'western' stories by Bret Harte. For one, Belasco's "Minnie" seems to have been based on "Miggles", "who operated the Polka Saloon in Marysville, California". Belasco, while familiar with California, seems to have introduced elements from Nevada, which he also visited. ----- The whole thing is indeed set in the Forest ("Selva", in the Italian) of California, by the "Cloudy Mountains". I am fascinated as to how the 'gold rush' incident lasted so little. By the 1850s, it seems to have been over. Puccini made a couple of mistakes in the libretto but they were soon corrected. For one, he dressed his miners was 'cowboys', and had them wear the gun on the wrong side of the trousers. There are elements in connection with "native American" elements which were also modified. For example, the original libretto has a 'native American' lynching someone, which apparently was not deemed appropriate then. Etc. ---- Puccini wrote 12 operas in total, and this is a late one, rather. He had seen the play (by Belasco) for his first visit to New York in 1907. The play (by Belasco) had opened in 1905. Etc. Geary may be able to expand more on 'spaghetti westerns' and why they are amusing (to him). A few things in the libretto don't stick with me. "Dick Johnson" is said to be, really, one "Ramerrez", but it's not clear if there were elements in his dialect that would make a difference. We are not told where Ramerrez came from. I assume his mother was an anglophone. He bought his clothes in Sacramento, and he is described as a "californio". In the third act, before the lynching, it is not clear what Ramerrez (alias Johnson) was doing back in the streets. It may be that he went back to a 'life of crime', but it's not clear. I prefer to think and say he was caught by the miners on having gone out to get some groceries for his beloved "Minnie" or something. Why "Minnie" betrays a "Southern" onomastics betrays me. Her surname was "Falconer", too. Etc. Apparently, "Camptown Races" was an "African-American" song (minstrel song?). The use of 'de' ("de Camp town Races" seems to indicate that). In the opera, J. Wallace is the 'minstrel' who is familiar with those songs, and in general Puccin's librettists play with at least THREE songs by Foster -- the lyrics rather than the melodies, as we see above --: "Dooda dooda da" -- in this play Puccini DOES use the melody but 'upside down'. "Old folks at home" -- the miners are always reminiscing about their mammas. -- One reminisces about his native "Cornwall". "Old Dog Tray" -- but Puccini plays on a parody of this, as used by Belasco himself. "Would Old Dog Tray remember me?". Foster is very clear that "Old Dog Tray" is a _faithful_ dog, and for sure he'll remember. It is the parodysts who change the line slightly. ----- Oddly, Puccini used a 'native American' tune to go with that line, "Il mio cane mi ravvisera". Which has Krehbiel complain: "What strange conception filled the minds of the librettists [the mother of one one them was from Colorado -- Signora Zingarini] when they wrote the bewildering reference to [Foster's] "Old Dog Tray" which the miners sang while pounding rhythmically on the tables with their fists? "Il mio cane mi raviersa?" ["Would my dog remember me?"] -- that is what Jake Wallace sang when he made Jim Larkins homesick. This tune was the bit of [native American] melody which we were told Signor Puccini had incorporated in its score. If so, the [native American' who contributed it was familiar with Denza's "Funiculi, funicula"" (op. cit., p. 211 -- available online). Cheers, Speranza Bordighera ------------------------------------------------------------------ To change your Lit-Ideas settings (subscribe/unsub, vacation on/off, digest on/off), visit www.andreas.com/faq-lit-ideas.html