Gabriella di Vergy
| Work data | |
|---|---|
| Title: | Gabriella di Vergy |
Title page of the libretto, Naples 1869 |
|
| Shape: | Opera seria in three acts |
| Original language: | Italian |
| Music: | Gaetano Donizetti |
| Libretto : | Andrea Leone Tottola |
| Literary source: | Pierre de Belloy : Gabrielle de Vergy |
| Premiere: | November 29, 1869 |
| Place of premiere: | Teatro San Carlo , Naples |
| Playing time: | approx. 2 ¼ hours |
| Place and time of the action: | Burgundy, 13th century |
| people | |
|
|
Gabriella di Vergy is an opera seria in three acts by Gaetano Donizetti from 1826. The first performance took place on November 29, 1869 in a heavily modified version under the title Gabriella at the Teatro San Carlo in Naples .
action
Gabriella is forced by her father to marry Count Fayel von Vergy. Since she believes that her true love Raoul is dead, she agrees. She finds out too late that Raoul is still alive. Raoul arrives at Vergy's court in the king's entourage and accuses Gabriella of infidelity.
Since Raoul saved the king's life, the king asks Fayel to give Raoul his sister Almeide as a wife as a reward. Gabriella begs Raoul to leave her and love Almeide. When she confessed that she still loved him, Almeide, Fayel and the king appeared. Fayel accuses Gabriella of cheating on him and demands Raoul's death. The king decides that a duel between Fayel and Raoul will bring about the decision.
The victor, Fayel, has Raoul's heart cut out of his chest and Gabriella takes it to prison in an urn. Although harassed by his courtiers, Fayel refuses to forgive her. Dead, she falls to the ground.
orchestra
The orchestral line-up of the 1838 version contains the following instruments:
- Woodwinds : two flutes (2nd also piccolo ), two oboes , two clarinets , two bassoons
- Brass : four horns , two trumpets , three trombones , tuba
- Timpani , percussion : bass drum , snare drum , cymbals , triangle
- organ
- harp
- Strings
- Incidental music : Banda (without further details)
Work history
The history of the creation of Gabriella stretches over many decades and cannot always be clearly traced.
First version
Donizetti composed the first version with two acts in Naples in 1826. He used a libretto by Andrea Leone Tottola of an opera of the same name by Michele Carafa , which had been performed ten years earlier and was based on the tragedy Gabrielle de Vergy by Pierre de Belloy . This original version was never performed, but Donizetti used parts of it in later works.
Second version
A new edition of the libretto by Francesco Lucca (Milan) from 1868 was also not implemented. The actual second version was created in Naples in 1869. Giovanni Puzone and Paolo Serrao, musical directors of the Teatro San Carlo , turned the original into a pasticcio with the help of an unknown librettist . They changed voices and instrumentation, deleted passages and added new ones, of which it is not always clear who composed them. The premiere was on November 29, 1869 under the title Gabriella. The leading roles were sung by Marcella Lotti della Santa (Gabriella), Carolina Certone (Almeide), Giuseppe Villani (Fayel), Gottardo Aldighieri (Raoul), Marco Arati (Filippo Augusto) and Michele Memmi (Armando). Gabriella was only performed four times after scathing reviews.
Third version
The third version was not found out until 1978, when Don White and Patric Schmid of Opera Rara discovered Donizetti's manuscript of an 1838 revised and expanded version of the original version from 1826 in the Sterling Library of London University. Salvatore Cammarano added to Tottola's original libretto , so that the third version now comprised three acts. But even this version was not performed because the San Carlo Theater preferred an old Gabriella by Saverio Mercadante . Donizetti used parts of the third version for Adelia and Maria de Rudenz and since he could no longer offer his new but musically looted version to anyone, it disappeared into oblivion.
The 1838 version was performed in concert on November 9, 1978 in Belfast. The missing parts were taken over by Adelia and Maria von Rudenz . Gabriella di Vergy was first performed on stage on August 31, 1985 by the Dorset Opera Company at the Sherborne School .
literature
- Robert Steiner-Isenmann: Gaetano Donizetti. His life and his operas. Hallwag, Bern 1982. ISBN 3-444-10272-0 .
- Booklet for the opera, Opera Rara 2012
Web links
- Gabriella di Vergy : Sheet music and audio files in the International Music Score Library Project
- Libretto (Italian), Naples 1869. Digitized at Google Books
- Gabriella di Vergy (Gaetano Donizetti) in the Corago information system of the University of Bologna
Individual evidence
- ^ Norbert Miller : Gabriella di Vergy. In: Piper's Encyclopedia of Musical Theater . Volume 1: Works. Abbatini - Donizetti. Piper, Munich / Zurich 1986, ISBN 3-492-02411-4 , pp. 737-739.
- ^ Record of the performance on November 29, 1869 in the Teatro San Carlo in the Corago information system of the University of Bologna , accessed on July 25, 2019.