Pizzetti Il calzare d'argento

Ildebrando Pizzetti's Il calzare d'argento is a musical comedy in two acts based on a libretto by Riccardo Bacchelli. The Italian composer's late stage work was premiered at La Scala in Milan in 1961 and takes us back to medieval Lucca around the year 1100. At its heart is the legend of a silver shoe that is destined for a holy image of the cross and miraculously ends up in the hands of the traveling singer Giuliano Della Viola. The supposed sacred theft develops into a story of guilt, miracles, love and redemption.

Ildebrando Pizzetti (1880-1968) is one of the most important Italian composers of the 20th century. In addition to operas, orchestral works and choral pieces, his love of literature, theater and older Italian music shaped his style. Il calzare d'argento shows Pizzetti from a rarely lighter, stage-effective side: with lyrical vocal lines, carefully crafted atmosphere and a subject that combines religious legend and human drama.

This Ricordi vocal score is aimed at singers, répétiteurs, opera houses, universities and anyone who would like to explore Pizzetti's little-known but charming operatic oeuvre.