Libretto
Giuseppe Adami, after the play La houppelande di Didier Gold.
First performance
New York, Metropolitan Opera House, December 14, 1918.
Synopsis
On a barge moored in the Seine in Paris, Giorgetta suggests that Michele should offer the stevedores a drink, as they finish their work. In her husband’s absence she dances with the men, most closely with Luigi, but dancing stops as Michele returns. They all have their dreams and Michele approaches Giorgetta with the plea that they renew their love for each other. She, however, has planned to meet Luigi. Michele sees her still dressed and is suspicious. He lights his pipe, unwittingly giving the signal agreed between Giorgetta and Luigi, who now steals aboard, to be strangled by the wronged husband. Michele hides the body under his cloak, and when his wife comes to him, asking him to warm her under his cloak, he opens it, to reveal the body of her lover.
The Cloak is the first panel of the Triptych, featuring Gianni Schicchi and Suor Angelica. The three operas form an interesting contrast between comedy and tragedy. Puccini composed it in two distinct moments: in the autumn of 1913 and then, after working on La Rondine, between October 1915 and November 1916. For the libretto, Puccini initially sought the collaboration of Giovacchino Forzano, then Ferdinando Martini, and finally Giuseppe Adami. Only after meeting the librettist Giovacchino Forzano, Puccini decide to make it the first panel of a triptych of one-act operas to be performed in a single evening.