GIANNI SCHICCHI & THE BATTLE OF THE WILL

It seems to me that rarely is a will mentioned in conversation without some familial dysfunction involved. Only recently a friend of mine's mother died and within 24 hours, the grieving process appeared to have been replaced by squabbles over who would get what over the sale of the deceased's house.

Which brings me onto the subject of one of my all time favourite works of art, Puccini's Gianni Schicchi. Aside from having the prettiest aria in all of Italian opera : 'O Mio Babbino Caro (O My Beloved Father)', it also has one of the most brilliantly conceived plots in comedy, one that acts as both a cautionary tale for greedy beggars but also as a love letter to the beloved Italian City of Florence.

It has been rumoured that the recently deceased Buoso Donati has left all his money to monks. His remaining relatives frantically scour his apartment for the will to find out if their horrible suspicion is true. Young Rinuccio finds the will but refuses to hand it over till his Aunt Zita promises to let him marry Lauretta, daughter of the mercurial Gianni Schicchi. As Rinuccio sends for Schicchi, he then proceeds to read the will for his surrounding nervous family members, where their worst fears are confirmed. Rinuccio tells them that only Schicchi has the ingenuity to save them. Although they are suspicious of Schicchi and his modern ways, when he finally arrives with his daughter Lauretta they beg him to help them. Resenting their attitude, he only agrees to assist them when Lauretta makes a plea to her father, since her ultimate happiness depends on it.

Schicchi agrees to help and comes up with an ingenious plan. Since no one outside of the family knows that Buoso is dead, Schicchi disguises himself as the dead man, then summons a lawyer and dictates a brand new will from scratch. The covetous relatives all have particular assets in mind and he leaves each one as they've requested, but makes sure he's left the biggest prize of the house, a mule and the mill at Signa. The powerless relatives are incensed, but Schicchi warns them that the penalty for falsifying a will is having your hands chopped off and permanent exile from Florence.  

He eventually chases them all away, except for his soon to be son-in-law Rinuccio and Lauretta whose happy future is now assured. Schicchi addresses the audience directly, begging forgiveness for his sins since it has produced such a happy ending.

Why does this one act opera make me so happy? Quite simply because it rewards the young lovers and the ingenious mind of the wily Schicchi who outwits the materialistic 'normies' who are clearly bereft of the true joys of life. It is also one of the rare occasions in Puccini when there is a happy ending where all's well that ends well. Typically, someone has to die to pay for all the beauty of his music. Cio Cio San, Mimi and poor Tosca all had to pay the toll on their way to the underworld, but not so here, where we luxuriate in the blissful equilibrium restored by Gianni, that romantic con man with some of Puccini's most ecstatic music.

The joyful resolution of Rinuccio and Lauretta's love secured by Schicchi will always be one of the most affecting endings in all opera and having been lucky enough to see a truly glorious production of it staged by the English Touring Opera, recalling the films of that old communist Luchino Visconti, I am reconciled that I may never see such perfection again.

But I can always dream.

Finally, I should confess that the only reason I wrote this small but indulgent piece about this opera is because today is my birthday, and for some reason I have always played Gianni Schicchi every 14th of March as I find its score's invigorating energy resembles a spring clean after the slings and arrows of outrageous winter weather and ill fortune have befallen me.

Along with Mozart's Cosi Fan Tutte, Donizetti's Don Pasquale and Wagner's Die Meistersinger, I can think of few happier things in life than opening the windows to spring and enjoying this masterpiece of love and Italy.

Ciao!