Libretto
Ferdinando Fontana, based on Alphonse Karr’s Le Willis, 1852
First performance
Milan, Teatro del Verme, 1884
Synopses
Roberto is engaged to Anna, but he leaves for the city, where he forgets her. Anna dies of grief, joining the Willis, the spirits of girls who have been abandoned by their lovers. Roberto returns, penitent and impoverished, and meets the Willis, who dance around him until he dies.
In 1883, just after completing his studies, Puccini entered the Sonzogno Competition for young Italian composers, on the advice of his teacher Amilcare Ponchielli, president of the jury. Puccini chose a libretto by the poet Ferdinando Fontana, inspired by the Willis, a Nordic legend: young girls who, abandoned by their loved ones, died of grief and turned into evil, dancing, vengeful ghosts.
Puccini did not win the Competition. Actually, he did not even receive a mention. A few months later, in 1884, the young composer from Lucca was signed by Ricordi, which raised doubts over his failure, maybe the result of a deal between Giulio Ricordi and Ponchielli to prevent Puccini from joining Sonzogno.
The first performance of Le Willis took place at the Teatro Dal Verme on 31 May 1884 and the opera was very positively received by critics and the public. Ricordi asked Puccini and Fontana to transform the composition from «Leggenda in un atto» to «Opera ballo in due atti», a version which would take the title of Le Villi.