Verdi's Operas in 2021: Un giorno di regno

As I wrote in my November 26, 2020 post, I like to use this blog as a record of year-long “projects,” often beginning on the first Sunday of Advent. A composer about whom I’ve always felt curious is Verdi. When I began in parish ministry in the early 1980s, in a very rural area of southeastern Illinois, I liked to listen to classical music and opera at my lonesome little parsonage. Anytime I listen to an opera, something in me connects back to that time when I was starting out in ministry. 

So I decided to purchase the 2013 75-CD set of Verdi’s operas (and additional music), which I’ll listen to during the upcoming year. For reference I’ll study Charles Osborne, The Complete Operas of Verdi (New York: Knopf, 1979). 

I listened to Verdi’s second opera as I was taking down Christmas decorations. His first opera, Oberto, was well enough received that the impresario of La Scala placed Verdi under contract for three additional operas.                                                         

The first of those operas was Un giorno di regno, ossia Il finto Stanislao (A One-Day Reign, or The Pretend Stanislaus). Sometimes the title is translated King for a Day. The Polish monarch King Stanislaus had been in exile in France and regained his throne in 1733. He appointed a French officer, Belfiore, to impersonate him in France as he returned to Poland. The story concerns the difficulties of Belfiore maintaining the ruse, and two couples who don’t want to be married to each other. One of the women is in love with Belfiore who, of course, cannot reciprocate while in disguise. It all ends happily when Stanislaus returns and the lovers can be married to their respective true loves.  

The opera premiered in 1840. Tragically, Verdi’s wife (Margherita Barezzi, pictured) died during this time, at the age of only 26. Their two children also died, in 1838 and 1839. Having to compose during these devastating circumstances, Verdi nevertheless write a lively if uneven work, reminiscent (as critics point out) of Donizetti but not nearly at the level of that composer's famous operas. Un giorno di regno was a failure at La Scala and was quickly canceled. Although it was performed elsewhere during his lifetime, Verdi decided he didn’t want to write any more operas. Fortunately, he changed his mind—but he didn’t write another comedy until the end of his career.