Opera "Lucrezia Borgia" Gaetano Donizetti (opera in two acts with a prologue (concert performance)) World famous Mariinsky Ballet and Opera Theatre - Opera and Concert Hall
Running time: 2 hours 50 minutes
The performance has 1 intermission
Schedule for "Lucrezia Borgia" Gaetano Donizetti (opera in two acts with a prologue (concert performance)) 2022
Composer: Gaetano Donizetti
Orchestra: Mariinsky Theatre Symphony Orchestra
Opera in 2 act
Performed in Italian with synchronised Russian supertitles
Music by Gaetano Donizetti
Libretto by Felice Romani
Lucrezia Borgia is a melodramatic opera in a prologue and two acts by Gaetano
Donizetti. Felice Romani wrote the Italian libretto after the play Lucrezia
Borgia by Victor Hugo, in its turn after the legend of Lucrezia Borgia. Lucrezia
Borgia was first performed on 26 December 1833 at La Scala, Milan.
Synopsis
Time: Early 16th
century Place: Venice and Ferrara PrologueThe Palazzo Grimani in
Venice
Gennaro and his friends, including Orsini, celebrate on the
brightly lit terrace, in front of which lies the Giudecca canal. The friends'
conversation turns to Don Alfonso, Duke of Ferrara, to whose house they will be
travelling the next day, and to his wife, the infamous Lucrezia Borgia. On
hearing Lucrezia's name, Orsini tells of how Gennaro and he, alone in a forest,
were warned by a mysterious old man to beware her and the entire Borgia family,
and that the two of them would die together (Nella fatal di Rimini). Professing
his boredom with Orsini's tale Gennaro wanders off and falls asleep nearby. His
friends are invited to rejoin the festivities, and he is left alone. A gondola
appears and a masked woman steps onto the terrace. She hurries over to the
sleeping Gennaro and observes him with affection. (Com'è bello! Quale incanto in
quel volto onesto e altero!) She kisses his hand, he wakes and is instantly
struck by her beauty. He expresses his love for her and sings of his childhood
as an orphan brought up by fishermen. He adds that he loves dearly the mother he
has never met. (Di pescatore ignobile esser figliuol credei.) The others return
and instantly recognise her as Lucrezia Borgia, listing in turn the members of
their families she has killed to Gennaro's horror.
Act 1 Ferrara
The Duke, believing Gennaro to be Lucrezia's lover, plots his
murder with his servant Rustighello (Vieni: la mia vendetta è meditata e
pronta.) Gennaro and his companions leave the house for a party and pass the
Duke's palace with its large gilded coat of arms reading Borgia. Keen to show
his contempt for the Borgia family, Gennaro removes the initial "B", leaving the
obscene "Orgia" (orgy).
In the palace, Lucrezia is shown into the Duke's chamber. Having
seen the defaced crest, she demands death for the perpetrator, not knowing that
it is Gennaro. The Duke orders Gennaro to be brought before her and accuses him
of staining the noble name of Borgia, a crime to which he readily confesses.
Lucrezia, horrified, attempts to excuse the insult as a youthful prank, but Don
Alfonso accuses Lucrezia of infidelity, having observed her meeting with Gennaro
in Venice. In a scene full of drama and tension, she denies any impropriety, but
he demands the prisoner's death and forces her to choose the manner of Gennaro's
execution. Pretending to pardon him, the Duke offers Gennaro a glass of wine and
he swallows it. After a stunning trio (Guai se ti sfugge un moto, Se ti tradisce
un detto!) the Duke leaves and Lucrezia hurries to Gennaro, giving him an
antidote to the poison the Duke has mixed with the wine. He drinks, and in a
last duet, she implores him to flee the city and her husband. (Bevi e fuggi ...
te'n prego, o Gennaro!)
Act 2 The palace of the Princess
Negroni
Ignoring Lucrezia's advice, Gennaro attends a party at the
palace, swearing never to be parted from his friend Orsini. Orsini leads the
party in a brindisi or drinking song ("Il segreto per esser felici") and they
drink. Lucrezia enters and announces that in revenge for their insults in Venice
she has poisoned their wine and arranged five coffins for their bodies. She has
hitherto believed that Gennaro fled Ferrara on her advice, and is thus dismayed
when he steps forward and announces that she has poisoned a sixth. Orsini,
Liverotto, Vitellozzo, Petrucci and Gazella fall dead. Gennaro seizes a dagger
and attempts to kill Lucrezia, but she stops him by revealing that he is in fact
her son. Once again she asks him to drink the antidote, but this time he
refuses, choosing to die with his friends. In a final cabaletta ("Era desso il
figlio mio"), Lucrezia mourns her son and expires.
Schedule for "Lucrezia Borgia" Gaetano Donizetti (opera in two acts with a prologue (concert performance)) 2022
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