From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
"O mio babbino caro" ("Oh My Dear Papa") is a soprano aria from the opera Gianni Schicchi (1918), by Giacomo Puccini, to a libretto by Giovacchino Forzano. It is sung by Lauretta after tensions between her father Schicchi and the family of Rinuccio, the boy she loves, have reached a breaking point that threatens to separate her from Rinuccio. It provides a contrasting interlude expressing lyrical simplicity and single-hearted love in the atmosphere of hypocrisy, jealousy, double-dealing and feuding in medieval Florence of Puccini's only comedy, and it provides the only set-piece in the through-composed opera.
The aria was first performed at the premiere of Gianni Schicci on 14 December 1918 at the Metropolitan Opera in New York by the popular Victorian English soprano Florence Easton. It has been sung subsequently by many sopranos. Dame Joan Hammond won a Gold Record in 1969 for 1 million sold copies of this aria.[1]
The aria is frequently performed in concerts and as an encore in recitals by many popular and crossover singers; it is used in films and several bands cover the aria in their own style.
Leaf Nov 2011 in U.S.
