Belfagor ottorino respighi biography

opera by Ottorino Respighi

For the similarly named demon, see Belphegor.

Belfagor (premiere 26 April ) is an Italian-language opera by the composer Ottorino Respighi to a libretto by Claudio Guastalla (–) based on the comedy Belfagor of Ercole Luigi Morselli (–), itself loosely based on the novella Belfagor arcidiavolo by Niccolò Machiavelli.

It was premiered in at La Scala in Milan, under the baton of Antonio Guarnieri, since Toscanini was unavailable. The cast featured Irish soprano Margaret Burke Sheridan as Candida, baritone Mariano Stabile as her lover Baldo, and tenor Francesco Merli as the titular Belfagor, an arcidiavolo (Archdemon) who tries to marry a human maiden while in disguise as a nobleman, using gifts of money to her father.^[1]

The première obtained a "full and warm" approval, with several curtain calls for the composer,^[2] but the opinion of the critics was divided, ranging from the enthusiasm of Marinetti, enchanted by