Luisa Miller

opera · melodramma tragico in tre atti

Synopsis

Luisa, daughter of the old soldier Miller, loves a young stranger in her village who calls himself Carlo. The courtier Wurm, who wants Luisa for himself, tells her father that Carlo is really Rodolfo, son of Count Walter, who means his son to marry the Duchess Federica.

Key facts

Premiere: 8 December 1849, Teatro di San Carlo, Naples
Acts: 3
Language: Italian (it)
Setting: A village in the Tyrol, in the first half of the seventeenth century.

Dramatis personae

Role	Voice	Created by
Luisa Miller Miller's daughter.	soprano	Marietta Gazzaniga
Miller Luisa's father, a retired soldier.	baritone	Achille De Bassini
Il Conte di Walter Rodolfo's father.	bass	Antonio Selva
Rodolfo The Count's son.	tenor	Settimio Malvezzi
Federica Duchess of Ostheim, the Count's niece.	contralto	Teresa Salandri
Wurm The Count's steward.	bass	Marco Arati
Laura A village girl.	mezzo-soprano	Maria Salvetti
Un contadino A peasant.	tenor	Teofilo Rossi

Source

Kabale und Liebe by Friedrich Schiller (1784)

Written from

Budden, J. (1978) The operas of Verdi. Volume 1: From Oberto to Rigoletto. New York: Oxford University Press, pp. 417-446.
Wikipedia (2026) Luisa Miller. (Accessed: 28 September 2026). The English article.
Libretti d'opera (n.d.) Luisa Miller. (Accessed: 28 September 2026).
Cammarano, S. (1849) Luisa Miller: melodramma tragico in tre atti. Naples. (Accessed: 16 October 2026).
Il Pirata (1848) 'Napoli. Teatro S. Carlo', p. 55. (Accessed: 16 October 2026). Names Teofilo Rossi among the San Carlo's second parts for 1848–49, as does the list for 1850–51. The premiere libretto prints only "Signor Rossi"; Francesco Rossi, named by some modern sources, was singing at Livorno and Pisa in 1849. No list for the premiere's own season has been found.
Wikipedia (2026) Luisa Miller. (Accessed: 28 September 2026). The Italian article.