La Wally is an opera in four acts by composer Alfredo Catalani, to a libretto by Luigi Illica, first performed at La Scala, Milan, on 20 January 1892. It was Catalani's last opera.
The libretto is based on a hugely successful ' by Wilhelmine von Hillern (1836–1916), The Vulture Maiden (Die Geier-Wally). Wally, short for Walburga, is a girl with some heroic attributes. The story is based on an episode in the life of Tyrolean painter Anna Stainer-Knittel, whom von Hillern met. She got her epithet "Geier" (vulture) from having gutted a bearded vulture's nest going down a rope; this dangerous task, aimed at protecting the sheep in the Alpine village, was typically performed by a man.
Hillern's piece was originally serialized in Deutsche Rundschau and was reproduced in English as "A German Peasant Romance" in the Cornhill Magazine in 1875.
The opera is best known for its aria "" ("Well, then? I'll go far away," act 1, sung when Wally decides to leave her home forever). American soprano Wilhelmenia Fernandez sang this aria in Jean-Jacques Beineix's 1981 movie Diva – a performance at the heart of the thriller. Catalani had composed this aria independently as "" in 1878 and later incorporated it into his opera.
The opera features a memorable operatic death in which the heroine throws herself into an avalanche. It is seldom performed, partly because of the difficulty of staging this scene, but Wally's principal aria is still sung frequently.
Roles
thumb|Hariclea Darclée, who created the role of Wally
{| class="wikitable"
|+
!Role
!Voice type
!Premiere cast, 20 January 1892<br />Conductor: Edoardo Mascheroni
|-
|Wally
|soprano
|Hariclea Darclée
|-
|Stromminger, Wally's father
|bass
| Ettore Brancoleoni
|-
|Afra, innkeeper
|mezzo-soprano
|Virginia Guerrini
|-
|Walter
|soprano
|Adelina Stehle
|-
|Giuseppe Hagenbach, a hunter
|tenor
| Manuel Suanges
|-
|Vincenzo Gellner, Stromminger's estate manager
|baritone
|Arturo Pessina
|-
|colspan="3"|Chorus: Tyroleans, shepherds, peasants, hunters, old women, village children.
|-
|}
Synopsis
The story is set in the Austrian Tyrol, where the free-spirited but vulnerable Wally is in love with the handsome Giuseppe Hagenbach. However, her father, Stromminger, wants her to marry Vincenzo Gellner. The opera concludes with Hagenbach and Wally pledging their love for each other but being killed by an avalanche.