Il diluvio universale (Donizetti)
| Work data | |
|---|---|
| Title: | The flood |
| Original title: | Il diluvio universale |
Title page of the libretto, Naples 1830 |
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| Shape: | “Azione tragico-sacra” in three acts |
| Original language: | Italian |
| Music: | Gaetano Donizetti |
| Libretto : | Domenico Gilardoni |
| Literary source: | Lord Byron : Heaven and Earth ; Francesco Ringhieri: Il diluvio |
| Premiere: | March 6, 1830 |
| Place of premiere: | Teatro San Carlo , Naples |
| Place and time of the action: | Biblical times |
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Il diluvio universale (German: The Flood ) is an opera composed by Gaetano Donizetti (original name: “azione tragico-sacra”) in three acts . The libretto written Domenico Gilardoni after Lord Byron's drama Heaven and Earth and Francesco Ringhieris Trägodie Il diluvio (1788). The opera premiered on March 6, 1830 at the Teatro San Carlo in Naples . Donizetti wrote a second version for another performance on January 28, 1834 in Genoa.
action
Around the biblical story of Noah's Ark, the opera builds conspiracies and entanglements appropriate to the opera , if not implausible.
While Noè is preparing for the flood, the pagan satrap leader Cadmo tries to destroy the ark. Cadmo's wife Sela, converted to the god of the Hebrews, warns Noè - what her confidante Ada tells Cadmo. He tries again to harm Noè, again Sela takes Noè's side, who wants to take her with his family to the ark. Sela prefers death to her salvation; Cadmo believes that he has triumphed over Noè and his god and in defiant triumph decides to marry Ada. Heaven's gates open above the debauchery of the wedding.
Work history
Donizetti and his librettist submitted Il diluvio universale as an opera for Lent 1830 to the censors for examination. Although the love and family drama differs little from the common stage productions of the time, due to the biblical framework and the ultimate downfall of sinners, the work could be considered a kind of oratorio and thus pass censorship.
Even the first performance of the opera on March 6, 1830 at the Teatro San Carlo in Naples was not a success, although Luigi Lablache, one of the leading singers of his time, had taken on the leading role of Noè. The other actors were Gennaro Ambrosini (Jafet), Giovanni Arrigotti (Sem), Lorenzo Salvi (Cam), Teresa Fabiani (Tesbite), Edvige Ricci (Asfene), Cecilia Grassi (Abra), Berardo Winter (Cadmo), Luigia Boccabadati (Sela ), Maria Carraro (Ada) and Gaetano Chizzola (Artoo).
Donizetti revised the work for a production in Genoa, which was performed on March 6, 1834 at the Teatro Carlo Felice . Now there was more talk of an opera after there were hardly any stage directions to be found in the original version. However, the work was not more successful in this version, so that it is one of Donizetti's many forgotten operas today; Significantly, Il diluvio universale is not even dealt with in the six-volume standard work Piper's Encyclopedia of Music Theater . Only two performances were recorded for the entire 19th century. More recently there have been performances in Genoa (1985) and London (2005). In 2010 the opera was given on the occasion of the St. Gallen Festival , in which three of the soloists on the 2005 CD took part. While the performance in Genoa was historicizing, the production in St. Gallen was more about the director's theater .
Recordings
- 2005, London Conway Hall (South London Ethical Society). Mirco Palazzi, Majella Cullagh, Colin Lee, Manuela Custer, Simon Bailey, Geoffrey Mitchell Choir, London Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Giuliano Carella. Opera Rara . ORC31, recording of the revised version from 1834
Web links
- Il diluvio universale : sheet music and audio files in the International Music Score Library Project
- Libretto (Italian), Naples 1830. Digitized at Google Books
- Il diluvio universale (Gaetano Donizetti) in the Corago information system of the University of Bologna
- Discography of Il diluvio universale at Operadis
- Information on the performance in St. Gallen 2010 on art-tv.ch
Individual evidence
- ↑ Francesco Ringhieri: Il diluvio. Tragedia . Antonio Zatta e figli, Venice 1788 ( online in the Google book search).
- ^ Il diluvio universale (Gaetano Donizetti) in the Corago information system of the University of Bologna ; some sources also mention February 28, 1830, but the premiere has apparently been postponed.
- ^ Record of the performance on March 6, 1830 in Naples in the Corago information system of the University of Bologna .
- ↑ Tom Kaufmann: A Performance History , in: Supplement to the CD Il diluvio universale , London 2005, p. 60
- ↑ CD review at Opera Today, December 11, 2005, accessed July 24, 2019.
- ↑ Production St. Gallen 2010 ( Memento from September 10, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) on Oper aktuell.