Operas by Ottorino Respighi

opera by Ottorino Respighi

opera by Ottorino Respighi

opera by Ottorino Respighi

Belfagor (premiere 26 April 1923) is an Italian-language opera by the composer Ottorino Respighi to a libretto by Claudio Guastalla (1880–1948) based on the comedy Belfagor of Ercole Luigi Morselli (1882–1921), itself loosely based on the novella Belfagor arcidiavolo by Niccolò Machiavelli. It was premiered in 1923 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, tenor Francesco Merli as her lover Baldo, and baritone Mariano Stabile as the titular Belfagor, an (Archdemon) who tries t