Emilia di Liverpool
Emilia di Liverpool (Emilia of Liverpool) is a dramma semiseria, ("half-serious") dramatic opera, in two acts with music by Gaetano Donizetti. Giuseppe Ceccherini wrote the Italian libretto after the anonymous libretto for Vittorio Trento's Emilia di Laverpaut, itself based on Stefano Scatizzi's play of the same name. It premiered on July 28, 1824 at the Teatro Nuovo, Naples.
The libretto has a complex history. The original story by Scatizzi formed the original basis of the first, anonymous libretto of 1824, which had the title of Emilia di Liverpool. This first libretto included the introduction of the Count, a Neapolitan character, as comic relief per the theatrical tradition of the Teatro Nuovo. The changes to the cast of characters caused confusion among the relationships of the characters and ran contrary to the structure of the original play. The libretto revisions by Ceccherini, circa 1828, removed much of the material of the 1824 version, with further revisions to the characters, but maintaining the plot chronology of the 1824 version. The 1828 revision, known as L'Eremitaggio di Liverpool (The Hermitage of Liverpool), also reduced the amount of spoken dialogue.[1]
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[edit] Performance history
The 1828 version was given its premiere in Naples on 8 March 1828 and received only six performances. The 1824 version "was revived in 1838 for three performances, and again in 1871".[2] It was not until 1957 that it received another presentation of any kind, until its UK premiere on 12 June in Liverpool.[3] In September 1957 the BBC presented an abridged radio version which starred the young Joan Sutherland,"who gave a stunning exhibition of her Donizetti style a good eighteen months before her Covent Garden success in Lucia di Lammermoor.[2]
[edit] Roles
| Role | Voice type | Premiere Cast, 28 July 1824 (Conductor: - ) |
|---|---|---|
| Emilia | soprano | Teresa Melas |
| Claudio di Liverpool, her father | bass | Giuseppe Fioravanti |
| Federico | tenor | Domenico Zilioli |
| Dom Romualdo | Carlo Casaccia | |
| Candida, his daughter | mezzo-soprano | Francesca Ceccherini |
| Luigia | soprano | |
| Il conte | bass | |
| Villains | ||
[edit] Synopsis
- Time: The past
- Place: A village near Liverpool
Prior to the beginning of the opera, Emilia, has been seduced and abandoned by Federico. Daughter of Claudio, the Count of Liverpool, she goes to a nearby hermitage while her father goes off in pursuit of the seducer and hr mother dies.
Many years later, when the action of the opera begins, Emilia's charitable work is disturbed by the arrival of two strangers who have been stranded on the roadway. One is Federico, now repentant; the other is Claudio who had been captured by Barbary pirates and imprisoned for many years. The two men begin to fight a duel but are stopped by Emilia who is able to prevent them from firing any shots and announces that she believes that Federico is reformed, that they are in love, and that they plan to marry. Everyone rejoices.
[edit] Recordings
| Year | Cast: (Emilia, Candida, Luigia, Don Romualdo, Claudio di Liverpool, Federico) |
Conductor, Opera House and Orchestra |
Label[4] |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1986 | Yvonne Kenny, Anne Mason, Bronwen Mills, Sesto Bruscantini, Geoffrey Dolton, Chris Merritt |
David Parry, Philharmonia Orchestra and Geoffrey Mitchell Choir |
Audio CD: Opera Rara Cat: OR 8[5] |
[edit] References
Notes
- ^ Commons, Jeremy, Emilia di Liverpool (July 1959). Music & Letters, 40(3): pp. 207-228.
- ^ a b Osborne, pp. 158-59
- ^ Holden, p. 226
- ^ Source for recording information: Recording(s) of Emilia di Liverpool on operadis-opera-discography.org.uk
- ^ Dean, Winton, "Record Reviews: Emilia di Liverpool" (1988). The Musical Times, 129 (1746): p. 408.
- Cited sources
- Holden, Amanda (Ed.), The New Penguin Opera Guide, New York: Penguin Putnam, 2001. ISBN 0-140-29312-4
- Osborne, Charles, The Bel Canto Operas of Rossini, Donizetti, and Bellini, Portland, Oregon: Amadeus Press, 1994 ISBN 0931340713
- Other sources
- Ashbrook, William, Donizetti and His Operas, Cambridge University Press, 1982, ISBN 052123526X ISBN 0-521-23526-X
- Weinstock, Herbert, Donizetti and the World of Opera in Italy, Paris, and Vienna in the First Half of the Nineteenth Century, New York: Pantheon Books, 1963. ISBN 63-13703
[edit] External links
- Libretto (Italian)
