F.S.S.P.A. (2010)
Riccardi started writing the libretto for
F.S.S.P.A.
at the end of 2009, immediately after finishing his opera Talk Show.
His thought was to lay the second stone in a “triptych of triviality.”
F.S.S.P.A. is a one-act opera set in a train station and using the vocal forces---five singers and chorus---of
Cavalleria Rusticana.
The set design also follows that of Mascagni’s opera: on one side is
the ticket office instead of a church; on the other, the station café
instead of a tavern. It is an opera buffa that depicts situations often
experienced by travelers in Italian train stations.
SYNOPSISAt
the ticket office of the station, a crowd is in line to purchase their
tickets. The travelers are complaining of the endless waiting. They
complain because most of the windows remain closed, in spite of the
crowd.
A young woman, dressed in an affected and provocative
style, arrives breathless. She asks a man at the front of the line to
buy her ticket because her train is about to leave. A lady who is also
in line protests. She says everybody’s train is about to leave and this
woman cannot just push her way in ahead of them all. She cannot simply
flaunt her sex appeal to play on male weakness. Another traveler agrees
that men are stupid when it comes to pretty young women. An
announcement on the loudspeaker interrupts the quarrel. The Eurostar
that both the women and the other travelers are expecting will be
significantly delayed because of bad weather. The crowd erupts in
shouts of protest against the railroad company.
Soon afterward,
two of those who had been involved meet at the café in the station. The
man is already seated and convinces the woman to sit with him since
their wait is likely to be long. They start talking and discover they
are in perfect agreement on the poor management of the railroad
company. Once they have broken the ice, their conversation turns to
their private lives. She has no children, is getting divorced, and is
going to Venice to visit a woman friend.
The waitress arrives at
the table and begins to describe the various items on the café’s menu.
They have the most famous recipes of any Italian region and of any
nationality---an international feast. In the meantime some policemen
arrive who were called to investigate a suitcase left, unwatched, at
the bar. Many customers, afraid of a bomb, get up and run out of the
café but the two travelers, imperturbable, remain seated at their
table. Just as a policeman is about to open the suitcase, the
flamboyant woman enters. The suitcase is hers. She left it there to go
to the restroom and, true to form, had asked a man to watch it for her.
No doubt she had taken too long and the man had gone to catch his
train.
An announcement comes over the speakers that the
Eurostar is arriving so the two travelers leave the café and go to the
platform. With a newly acquired familiarity they express their pleasure
in having met, thanks to the train delay.
