La nave

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La nave is an opera by Italian composer Italo Montemezzi. Its libretto was adapted by Tito Ricordi from a play with the same title by noted Italian author Gabriele d'Annunzio. The opera premiered at La Scala in Milan on November 3, 1918 under the baton of Tullio Serafin. La nave is a work which contains strongly patriotic and imperialistic themes, and fortune seemed to smile on its first performance when, after the conclusion of one of its acts, the performance was interrupted by an announcement that Italian troops had entered Trieste bringing an end to World War I. It received almost universally favorable reviews.

Productions followed in Chicago in 1919 and Verona in 1923. It was also revived in Rome in 1938. But many factors mittigated against the opera's long term success. It was extremely expensive to stage, due to its large choruses, extravagant scenery, and, especially, the requirement of having a full sized ship heading out to sea, on stage, in the final act. The lead roles are also very difficult. In addition, La nave's extremely violent and aggressively imperialistic rhetoric seemed out of place after the fall of Mussolini at the end of the Second World War. It remains one of the most important 20th century operas never to have been recorded.