SANQUIRICO Alessandro Scene eseguite pel melodramma serio L’ultimo giorno di Pompei.

Bobins V, 1513; Nagler XIV, p.267; Ricci, La scenografia italiana II, 23.

Magnificent suite of plates illustrating the set design and costumes for the 1827 La Scala production of Giovanni Pacini’s opera L’ultimo giorno di Pompei, including a dramatic plate depicting the eruption of Vesuvius. 

L’ultimo giorno di Pompei is a drama per musica first performed at the Teatro di San Carlo in Naples, on 19 November 1825. The libretto was written by Andrea Leone Tottola, the music was composed by Giovanni Pacini, and the stage sets were painted by three artists directed by the “architect of the Royal Theaters”, Antonio Niccolini. The reception was moderately good but in fall 1827, when the opera was presented in the Teatro alla Scala in Milan, with a new scenic realization by Alessandro Sanquirico, its success was extraordinary and nearly fanatic. From 1817-1832, Sanquirico was the chief scenic artist at La Scala, and his work became notable for his use of exotic locations and neo-classical architecture in his set designs. From 1817 to 1832 he was the sole set designer there, designing sets for the productions of operas by Donizetti, Rossini, Bellini, Mozart, Meyerbeer and, as shown here, Pacini. The audience was impressed by the final scene reviving the eruption of Mount Vesuvius that destroyed Pompeii in ad 79: a technical achievement based on the phenomenon of the persistence of vision in the eye. As a consequence of this striking and almost magic apparition, very little notice was given to what happened before it and was possibly even more daring. In order to destroy it, Sanquirico had to rebuild Pompeii and to depict houses, temples, gardens, theaters, streets and forum as he imagined they were during a busy day in the Roman Empire.

“Giovanni Pacini’s operatic extravaganza L’ultimo giorno di Pompei (The Last Day of Pompeii), premiered in Naples in 1825. While its title resembles that of Edward Bulwer-Lytton’s epic novel The Last Days of Pompeii (1834), the plot was entirely different, though it naturally climaxed with the eruption of Vesuvius. No expense was spared in simulating the volcanic event and the destruction of Pompeii in the final scene of the opera. Accounts of the original production, in Teatro San Carlo on November 19, 1825, describe how, as the music thundered, parts of the scenery shook violently; massive columns collapsed and broke apart, causing huge pieces of the vaulting to crash down. For the effects of fire, lava, and ash, a complex lighting system was developed, and large quantities of highly flammable powder were ignited at every performance. The opera became exceptionally popular and traveled to Milan (as seen here), Rome, Vienna, Paris, Venice, and London” (Le mie memorie artistiche. Giovanni Pacini. English translation: Adriaan van der Tang, October 2011, p. 28).

A magnificent copy of this beautiful work.