About the work
Opera in three acts by Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari to a libretto by Carlo Zangarini and Enrico Golisciani, based on an actual newspaper account of Neapolitan street life. It premiered on 23 December 1911 at Berlin’s Kurfürstenoper in German, as "Der Schmuck der Madonna"; today it is usually performed in Italian.
Plot
In Naples around 1900, the blacksmith Gennaro desires his adoptive sister Maliella, who is drawn instead to Rafaele, the leader of a Camorra gang. To outdo Rafaele’s proof of love, Gennaro steals the jewels from a processional statue of the Madonna and gives them to Maliella. The sacrilege horrifies even the hardened Camorristi; overwhelmed by guilt and despair, Gennaro ultimately takes his own life.
Cultural significance
With its Neapolitan setting and its breach of religious taboo, the opera departs sharply from Wolf-Ferrari’s light Goldoni comedies; it proved more successful in Germany than in Italy at its premiere and is considered a musical synthesis of verismo and late-Romantic influences.