![]() ![]() ![]() We know she was an orphan though left well off, that she has siblings, and most importantly, we know she had a son who was ripped away from her at birth (though we know nothing of the circumstances), and this is the reason she was forced into the convent life. In our story, curiously, Sister Angelica still feels and acts somewhat like an outsider, even after seven years behind the veil.įorzano doesn’t give us much to go on in terms of Sister Angelica’s back story. For many young women, the convent offered shelter from all manner of ills. In earlier centuries, sisters might find women who were living and working on the street and recruit them into the convent as a way to live a healthier, more protected life. ![]() They were an option for a better life to the women who sought refuge there. Puccini and Forzano give us a wonderful, gentle view of the personalities and daily life of the sisterhood in the opening of the opera that make sense in any number of centuries.įor many years, convents were a place of religious thought and prayer, but they were also protective, which was definitely true during war time. Despite the period, the life of the nun is enduring and never-changing which is a fact that has continually piqued my interest. This gives us a reason for the seven year absence of word from Angelica’s family as well as a period that feels modern enough for us to see ourselves in the characters. It’s only the arrival of the Princess that allows us any hint at period, which for our production is post World War II. The interesting thing about a piece like Suor Angelica, which takes place in an Italian convent, is that you can set it in almost any time period and it would look exactly the same. ![]()
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