L'assedio di Calais
L'assedio di Calais (The siege of Calais) is a melodramma lirico, or opera, in three acts by Gaetano Donizetti. Salvatore Cammarano wrote the Italian libretto after Luigi Marchionni's play and, secondarily, Luigi Henry's ballet (1827), both based on Pierre Du Belloy's play Le siège de Calais (1765). The historical basis was the siege of Calais in 1346, toward the beginning of what would later be called the Hundred Years' War. It premiered on November 19, 1836 at the Teatro San Carlo, Naples.
Contents |
[edit] Roles
| Role | Voice type | Premiere Cast, 19 November 1836 (Conductor: - ) |
|---|---|---|
| Eustachio de Saint-Pierre, Mayor of Calais | baritone | Paul Barroilhet |
| Aurelio, his son | mezzo-soprano, pants role |
Almareinda Manzocchi |
| Eleonora, Aurelio's wife | soprano | Caterina Barilli-Patti, mother of Adelina Patti |
| Giovanni d'Aire, burgher | tenor | Ferdinando Cimino |
| Giacomo de Wisants, burgher | tenor | Freni |
| Pietro de Wisants, burgher | baritone | Giovanni Revalden |
| Armando, burgher | bass | Giuseppe Benedetti |
| Eduardo III, King of England | baritone | Luigi Lablache |
| Isabella, Queen of England[1] | soprano | |
| Edmundo, English general | tenor | Nicola Tucci |
| An English spy | bass | Pietro Gianni |
[edit] Synopsis
- Time: 1347
- Place: Calais, France,
Calais is under siege by the English army under Edward III. Six noblemen of Calais, including the mayor,volunteer their lives in exchange for lasting peace. The English Queen is so moved by their valour that she persuades her husband to end the siege and spill no more blood.
[edit] References
- Notes
- ^ The real Isabella was Edward III's mother; his wife was Philippa of Hainault
- 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
- 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
[edit] External links
- Libretto (Italian)
