Enrico di Borgogna
Enrico di Borgogna (Henry of Burgundy) is an opera eroica or "heroic" opera in two acts by Gaetano Donizetti. Bartolomeo Merelli (who was later, as Intendant at La Scala, was to commission Verdi's first opera), wrote the Italian libretto based on Der Graf von Burgund by August von Kotzebue.
Enrico di Borgogna was the third opera composed by Donizetti, but the first to be performed. It premiered on 14 November 1818 at the Teatro San Luca in Venice. In spite of difficulties at the premiere, the critic of Nuovo osservatore veneziano noted of Donizetti that "one cannot but recognize a regular handling and expressive quality in his style. For these, the public wanted to salute Signor Donizetti on stage at the end of the opera".[1]
The opera will be presented at the Vadstena Academy in Sweden for the first time in 192 years in July/August 2012.[2]
Contents |
[edit] Roles
| Role | Voice type | Premiere Cast, 14 November 1818 (Conductor:) |
|---|---|---|
| Brunone | baritone | Giuseppe Fioravanti |
| Elisa | mezzo-soprano | Adelina Catalani |
| Enrico | contralto | Fanny Eckerlin |
| Geltrude | soprano | Adelaide Cassago |
| Gilberto | bass | Andrea Verni |
| Nicola | bass | Pietro Verducci |
| Pietro | tenor | Giuseppe Fusconi |
[edit] Synopsis
- Time: The Middle Ages
- Place: Burgundy
[edit] Recordings
- A Hundred Years of Italian Opera contains Enrico's Act I: Recitative and Cavatina, Elisa! Elisa! Oh! me infelice Care aurette che spiegate, sung by Della Jones. Opera Rara ORCH103; also in The Young Donizetti Opera Rara ORR 229
[edit] References
- Notes
- ^ Osborne, p. 142
- ^ Vadstena Academy offical website Retrieved 2 February 2012
- 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
- 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
