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| “ | O monument! Open your recesses. Fling open your maw of darkness, even if blood should choke it! I am the ear and you the mouth: speak! | „ |
| ~ Barnaba at the end of his famous aria, dropping a letter revealing Enzo's escape into the Lion's Mouth. |
| “ | Stop! What mockery! Well ... you hate me ... and damned you die! Yesterday your mother insulted me! I drowned her! ... She hears no more! | „ |
| ~ Barnaba revealing he drowned Cieca in his final act of spite after Gioconda kills herself. |
Barnaba is the main antagonist of Amilcare Ponchielli's tragic 1876 opera La Gioconda. He is a Venetian minstrel who works as a secret spy for the Inquisition. Lusting after the titular street singer Gioconda, Barnaba is willing to do anything to have her, even if it means becoming the architect of her life's total destruction.
He was played by Gottardo Aldighieri in the opera's 1876 premiere. In the 1958 Giocinto Solito movie adaptation (known as The Fighting Prince in the US) he is played by Vittorio Vaser.
Biography[]
Act 1[]
Barnaba first appears in the Venetian Square during the Carnival celebrations before Lent, with his guitar slung around his neck. He notifies the revelling throng that the regatta is starting, and while everyone is distracted by the festivities, he reveals his true profession as a state spy who routinely denounces citizens to the Inquisition to be imprisoned and/or killed. Barnaba decides to use his subtle cunning to try to win over the street singer Gioconda, whom his heart is set on. He accosts her as she is guiding her blind mother Cieca across the Square, and when she rejects him for his frightening face, he attempts to assault her, leading her to flee. Barnaba is first annoyed by Cieca's confused and horrified "shrieks" for her daughter, but then sees a way he may avail himself of her helplessness.
Barnaba convinces Zuane, a sailor who lost the regatta, that his ship was cursed by Cieca, who is a witch, and before long the crowd is unanimously condemning the blind woman as a witch and demanding she is burned at the stake, to Gioconda's utter horror. The masses are however kept at bay by a seemingly Dalmatian sea captain, who is actually the exiled nobleman Enzo Grimaldo in disguise. Though Barnaba does his best to galvanize the people into trying, torturing, and burning Cieca to death, she is pardoned on arrival by Laura Adorno, a Genoese lady who is the arranged wife of Alvise Badoero, one of the leaders of the Inqusition. Alvise privately asks Barnaba how his hunt for dissenting Venetian citizens is going, and Barnaba answers he's following "the tracks of a Lion." Barnaba has noticed the stolen glances between Enzo and Laura, and deduces Enzo's true identity, as well as the fact that Laura used to be his lover before she was forced to marry Alvise. Barnaba knows that Gioconda is also in love with Enzo, and resolves to destroy him to crush Gioconda.
To this end, Barnaba pulls Enzo aside, reveals he knows his identity, and offers to "help" him elope with Laura on the Dalmatian brigantine Hecate, seemingly only with the purpose of hurting Gioconda with jealousy. Enzo agrees to this plan, but unbeknownst to him, Barnaba has his henchman Isepo write a letter detailing this elopement, and slips the letter into the Lion's Mouth, a monument dedicates to denunciations to the Inquisition. Barnaba worships this monument, relishing just how much destruction and bloodshed that he, the spy, can cause.
Act 2[]
On the night of the escape, Barnaba meets with the crew of the Hecate on the shore of a desolate island, dressed as an unassuming fisherman along with Isepo. The spy ingratiates himself with the ship's through some witty banter, and having gained their trust, he sizes up their numbers, reporting to Isepo that there are eighty sailors and deck hands in total, and that they have merely thirty oars and two small cannons. Barnaba bids Isepo report back to the Inquisition and have sentries set where the bushes are biggest. Once Isepo takes his leaves, Barnaba continues to mingle with the crew, boisterously singing sea shanties while secretly anticipating the deaths of the sailors.
As the ship is about to set sail, Barnaba helps row Laura aboard, even though she, unlike Enzo, doesn't trust him. Barnaba returns to the shore, grimly wishing Enzo and Laura good luck, as the ship begins heading toward the ambush. However, before it gets there, Laura is accosted by Gioconda, who initially snuck aboard wanting to strike down her rival, but who takes pity on her once she remembers how she saved her mother Cieca. To save Laura's life, Gioconda has her sail down the dead canal in a boat. Noticing her from the bank, the infuriated Barnaba orders his men to chase her down. The Hecate is later set upon by the galleys of the Inquisition, who fire their much larger armory of cannons. Rather than die at the hands of his enemies, Enzo decides to set the Hecate on fire and flee in the confusion. The brigantine, burning on the inside while being pelted by Inquisition cannons from the outside, quickly sinks.
Act 3[]
In Alvise's palace, the Ca' d'Oro, Alvise, enraged by his captured wife's betrayal, orders Laura to kill herself via poisoning, a deed which Alvise believes will appropriately doom her soul to Hell. Furthermore, he plans to throw a grand celebration to celebrate her demise once she's gone. Laura is secretly saved by Gioconda, who breaks into the palace and switches the vial with that of a potion which will only give the temporary illusion of death.
At the feast, Barnaba violently drags Cieca into the hall, once again attempting to have her tried and burned as witch for apparently "casting an evil spell". Cieca explains she was only praying for the dead. Immediately after, Alvise reveals the purpose of the celebration; Laura's apparent death. This prompts Enzo, disguised as a masked nobleman, to reveal himself and attempt to attack Alvise. He is instead apprehended by Alvise's men, and Alvise indignantly threatens to cut off Barnaba's head for this gross insult. Barnaba, seeing the opportunity offered to his by this situation, turns to the sobbing Gioconda, triumphantly declaring that the fates of her loved ones rest in his hands. Gioconda, recognizing that she has no utter options, finally surrenders her body to Barnaba, as long as he spares Cieca and Enzo. Barnaba is aware that her assent is born out of pure desperation, but agrees to her terms either way, though he drags her struggling mother Cieca out of the hall through a secret door, taking her hostage as security against Gioconda.
Act 4[]
In a dilapidated palace near the Orfano Canal, where various corpses were found drowned earlier, Barnaba comes to visit Gioconda and claim his prize. Upon entering the palace, he catches her in the middle of a desperate attempt at escape, furiously asking if this is how she intends to keep her oath. The hopeless Gioconda backs down, realizing she has no way out of keeping word, and begs God for forgiveness for the sin she is about to commit. Barnaba tries to ravage her, but Gioconda holds him off, pretending to want to pretty herself up with fine clothing and jewellery first. Before Barnaba can interfere, Gioconda grabs a dagger, says that the demon can "have her body", and stabs herself in the heart, collapsing to the floor. Barnaba is incensed by this, and leans over her to reveal that yesterday, he drowned Cieca for insulting him, to torment Gioconda in her dying moments. Realizing Gioconda died before she could hear this, Barnaba storms out of the room in a rage.
Personality[]
Barnaba is a sadist who takes pride in his keen eye and ability to "pick off harmful gadflies" for the state. He holds the Lion's Mouth in deep, almost religious reverence for the ease with which countless victims can be claimed through its usage. With this said, he has little loyalty towards his superiors, instead fancying himself the true "king" of Venetian society with the power to eliminate anyone who gets in his way.
Barnaba feels an unbearable lust for Gioconda, one which he describes as "love", but which can just as easily cross into burning hatred. When she rejects him, he decides to destroy her life in every conceivable way, from killing her loved ones to breaking her psychologically. While he briefly claims that his bleak heart is brightening once she appears to submit to him, he ends the opera wanting her to suffer as much as possible as she dies.
External Links[]
- Barnaba on Pure Evil Wiki