La Wally is an opera in four acts by composer Alfredo Catalani, to a libretto by Luigi Illica, first performed at La Scala, Milan, on 20 January 1892. It was Catalani's last opera. The libretto is based on a hugely successful by Wilhelmine von Hillern (1836–1916), (The Vulture Wally: A Story from the Tyrolean Alps). Wally, short for Walburga, is a girl with some heroic attributes. The story is based on an episode in the life of Tyrolean painter Anna Stainer-Knittel, whom von Hillern met. She gets her epithet "Geier" (vulture) from once stealing a vulture's hatchling from her nest. Von Hillern's piece was originally serialized in Deutsche Rundschau and was reproduced in English as "A German Peasant Romance" in the Cornhill Magazine in 1875. The opera is best known for its aria "" ("Well, then? I'll go far away," act 1, sung when Wally decides to leave her home forever). American soprano Wilhelmenia Fernandez sang this aria in Jean-Jacques Beineix's 1981 movie Diva – a performance at the heart of the thriller. Catalani had composed this aria independently as "" in 1878 and later incorporated it into his opera. The opera features a memorable operatic death in which the heroine throws herself into an avalanche. It is seldom performed, partly because of the difficulty of staging this scene, but Wally's principal aria is still sung frequently. Roles Synopsis The story is set in the Austrian Tyrol where the free-spirited but vulnerable Wally is in love with the handsome Giuseppe Hagenbach, but her father, Stromminger, wants her to marry Vincenzo Gellner. The opera concludes with Hagenbach and Wally pledging their love for each other, but being killed by an avalanche. Act 1 The village of Hochstoff A shooting contest is being held in celebration of the 70th birthday of Wally's father, Stromminger. A hunting party arrives from the nearby village of Sölden led by Hagenbach. Old enmities quickly surface and a quarrel develops between Stromminger and Hagenbach, who trade threats and insults before Hagenbach is drawn away by his companions. Vincenzo Gellner has his own heart set on Wally and is quick to notice that during the quarrel she is clearly infatuated with her father's enemy. When left alone with Stromminger, he tells the old man of his suspicions. Recognising that Gellner is in love with his daughter, he insists that Wally agree to marry him within a month or