Gianni di Calais
Gianni di Calais is a melodramma semiserio, a "semi-serious" opera in three acts by Gaetano Donizetti (1828), from a libretto by Domenico Gilardoni, based on Jean de Paris by Louis-Charles Caignes.
It was first performed on 2nd August 1828 at the Teatro del Fondo, Naples.
Contents |
[edit] Roles
| Role | Voice type | Premiere Cast, 2 August 1828 (Conductor: - ) |
|---|---|---|
| Metilde, Gianni's wife | soprano | Adelaide Comelli Rubini |
| Gianni da Calais, shipowner | tenor | Giovanni Battista Rubini |
| Rustano, head of Gianni's sailors | baritone | Antonio Tamburini |
| The king, Metilde's father | bass | Michele Benedetti |
| Arrigo, page of the duchess | contralto | Edvige Ricci |
| Rogiero | tenor | Filippo Tati |
| Guido | bass | Giovanni Pace |
| Corrado, Rogiero's friend | tenor | Gaetano Chizzola |
| An official | tenor | Capranica |
| Adelina, duchess and friend of Metilde | soprano | |
| Ermanno, young son of Gianni | silent | |
| Sailors, bridesmaids, people | ||
[edit] Synopsis
- Place: Portugal.
- Time: "The past"[1]
The Duchess Adelina meets a masked woman with a child on the beach at night; the stranger turns out to be her friend Matilde, the king's daughter, fleeing to avoid marrying Rogiero; during her flight she was in danger of falling into pirates' captivity if had not been rescued by the ship-owner Gianni di Calais, who later became her husband. No one knows that the woman is the king's daughter except Gianni's faithful friend, Rustano. Gianni arrives and the sails of his ship show the images of his wife and son. This means that he's being called to court by the king to search for his daughter: it is here that Gianni realizes the identity of his wife. Matilde appears exactly then and, when the furious Rogiero sees her, he meditates a revenge. He kidnaps Gianni's and Matilde's son, but the boy is immediately rescued by Rustano. The king punishes Rogier, and Gianni can hug his wife.
[edit] References
- Notes
- ^ Osborne, p. 180
- Cited sources
- 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
- Holden, Amanda (Ed.), The New Penguin Opera Guide, New York: Penguin Putnam, 2001. ISBN 0-140-29312-4
- 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)
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