Composer: Gaetano Donizetti Libretto: Salvadore Cammarano, after Anicet-Bourgeois, Cuvelier & Maillan’s La nonne sanglante; Matthew Lewis’ The Monk First performed: Teatro La Fenice, Venice, 30 January 1838 Maria di Rudenz is, Charles Osborne says, "complex, overwrought, and grisly" - and, in the cold light of day, it certainly seems lurid. Fratricide; a soprano who dies three times (she comes … Continue reading 90. Maria di Rudenz (Gaetano Donizetti)
Tag: Donizetti
65. Caterina Cornaro (Gaetano Donizetti)
CATERINA CORNARO Opera seria in a prologue and two acts By Gaetano Donizetti Libretto: Giacomo Saccherò First performed: Teatro San Carlo, Naples, 12 January 1844 Great minds think alike; my friend Phil posted about this opera on his blog this morning. "I am waiting with anxiety the news of the fiasco of Caterina Cornaro at Naples," Donizetti wrote … Continue reading 65. Caterina Cornaro (Gaetano Donizetti)
A quiz for opera enthusiasts
Here's a simple quiz for people who think that Wagner, or Mozart, or Verdi, or Stockhausen, or whoever is the greatest opera composer who ever lived. Not just their favourite composer, whose wonderful operas they want everyone to love as much as they do. Not just a composer with a huge influence on the genre. … Continue reading A quiz for opera enthusiasts
54. L’elisir d’amore (Gaetano Donizetti)
Melodramma giocoso in 2 acts Composer: Gaetano Donizetti Librettist: Felice Romani, after Eugène Scribe’s libretto for Le philtre, opera by Auber (1831) First performed: Teatro della Canobbiana, Milan, 12 May 1832 English language libretto Elisir was a rush job; the theatre commissioned the work after another composer defaulted. Librettist Felice Romani adapted the book of Auber's Philtre, a hit … Continue reading 54. L’elisir d’amore (Gaetano Donizetti)
10. I pazzi per progetto (Gaetano Donizetti)
I PAZZI PER PROGETTO Farsa posta in musica By Gaetano Donizetti Libretto: Domenico Gilardoni First performance: Teatro di San Carlo, Naples, 6 February 1830. Performed to only a half full theatre, because of a ball, but Donizetti thought the performance "went off very brilliantly" (Charles Osborne, Bel Canto Operas of Rossini, Donizettti and Bellini). Performed … Continue reading 10. I pazzi per progetto (Gaetano Donizetti)
8. Marino Faliero (Gaetano Donizetti)
MARINO FALIERO Tragedia lirica in 3 acts By Gaetano Donizetti Libretto : Giovanni Emanuele Bidera, after Casimir Delavigne’s Marino Faliero Donizetti's 45th opera. First performed : Théâtre Italien, Paris, 12 March 1835, a couple of months after Bellini's Puritani premiered at the same theatre. Rossini had commissioned both composers to write operas for Paris. Both were hits, … Continue reading 8. Marino Faliero (Gaetano Donizetti)
