La Wally

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La Wally is an opera in four acts by composer Alfredo Catalani, to a libretto by Luigi Illica, first performed at La Scala, Milan, on 20 January 1892. It was Catalani's last opera. The libretto is based on a hugely successful Heimatroman by Wilhelmine von Hillern (1836–1916), The Vulture Maiden (Die Geier-Wally). Wally, short for Walburga, is a girl with some heroic attributes. The story is based on an episode in the life of Tyrolean painter Anna Stainer-Knittel, whom von Hillern met. She got her epithet "Geier" (vulture) from having gutted a bearded vulture's nest going down a rope; this dangerous task, aimed at protecting the sheep in the Alpine village, was typically performed by a man. Hillern's piece was originally serialized in Deutsche Rundschau and was reproduced in English as "A German Peasant Romance" in the Cornhill Magazine in 1875. The opera is best known for its aria "Ebben? Ne andrò lontana" ("Well, then? I'll go far away," act 1, sung when Wally decides to leave her home...

Read on Wikipedia · Image Hohenstein, Adolfo (1854-1928). Illustrateur, Public domain