Imelda de 'Lambertazzi
| Work data | |
|---|---|
| Title: | Imelda de 'Lambertazzi |
Title page of the libretto, Naples 1830 |
|
| Shape: | Melodramma tragico in two acts |
| Original language: | Italian |
| Music: | Gaetano Donizetti |
| Libretto : | Andrea Leone Tottola |
| Literary source: | Drama Imelda by Gabriele Sperduti, 1825 |
| Premiere: | September 5, 1830 |
| Place of premiere: | Teatro San Carlo , Naples |
| Playing time: | about 2 hours |
| Place and time of the action: | Bologna and environs, 1275 |
| people | |
Imelda de 'Lambertazzi is an opera seria (original name: "melodramma tragico") in two acts by Gaetano Donizetti . The libretto wrote Andrea Leone Tottola . The story is based on the drama Imelda by Gabriele Sperduti from 1825. The opera was first performed on September 5, 1830 at the Teatro San Carlo in Naples.
action
first act
Place in front of the Lambertazzi house
The power struggles between the Guelfs and Ghibellines led to a feud between the Lambertazzi and Gieremei families. The citizens of Bologna ask the praetor of the city of Orlando to agree to a peace. His son Lamberto manages to change the crowd's mind again and incite them against greed. He does not know that his sister Imelda loves the son of the leader of the opposing party Bonifacio.
Apartment in the Lambertazzi house
He appears to Imelda in disguise and tries to persuade her to flee. Imelda rejects this as dishonorable. Bonifacio hands Orlando a letter in which he and his father call for peace negotiations.
Atrium in the Lambertazzi house
In the subsequent negotiations, Bonifacio proposes a marriage between him and Imelda in order to secure the peace. Lamberto protests against it, after all greed had murdered his mother; the negotiations fail.
Second act
Apartment as in the first act
Lamberto is suspicious and confronts his sister. She first denies a connection between her and Bonifacio. But when Lamberto pretends to have just killed her lover, her reaction gives herself away. Lamberto swears to want to kill Bonifacio himself.
Forest
Lamberto learns of a planned meeting between Imelda and Bonifacio. Before Bonifacio's arrival, he comes to the meeting point and reports that he had killed his father, but that his revenge was not yet complete. Then he hides. Bonifacio appears and urges them to flee, his father is waiting for them both. Imelda tells him about Lamberto's act. Bonifacio draws his sword, swears vengeance and disappears into the night.
Park near the Lambertazzi house
Lamberto appears with a sword dripping blood: he killed Bonifacio with a blade that he had previously dipped in poison. Imelda rushes to her dying lover.
Place as in the first act.
In front of the Lambertazzi Palazzo Lamberto pulls the dying Imelda with him: she poisoned herself while trying to suck the poison out of her lover's wound. Before she dies, she asks her father to branch out; but he pushes her back; become implacable like his son.
Work history
Imelda de 'Lambertazzi was written from May to August 1830, just before Anna Bolena , with whom Donizetti became known throughout Europe. It remained one of his numerous works that were denied greater recognition. It is a typical "opera of the new brevity" with numerous cavatines and rhythmic cabalets . In terms of content, it resembles the Pia de 'Tolomei .
Antonietta Galzerani (Imelda), Berardo Winter (Lamberto), Giovanni Basadonna (Orlando), Antonio Tamburini (Ubaldo) and Michele Benedetti (Ugo) sang the premiere on September 5, 1830 at the Teatro San Carlo in Naples . The premiere was received coolly by the audience, hardly mentioned in the press and only achieved two performances in the first season. As the vocal possibilities of the young and inexperienced soprano were limited, Donizetti decided against a final aria and musical embellishment of her role in favor of an arioso . In addition, the tenor, who played Lambertazzi father, was 23 years old and younger than his son on stage. Only the great aria by the baritone Antonio Tamburini appealed to the audience.
A resumption in the following season, in which the inexperienced soprano Antonietta Galzerani was replaced by the experienced Luigia Boccabadati , achieved four performances. After a few performances in Italy, the opera disappeared from the repertoire after 1856, until February 19, 1989, when a concert version was performed in Lugano under Marc Andreae . A concert conducted by Mark Elder on March 10, 2007 at Queen Elizabeth Hall , London , was recorded and released on CD by Opera Rara .
Antonio Tamburini, the first Bonifacio
Imelda and Bonifacio : Bonifacio's death in the arms of Imelda; Painting by Giovanni Pagliarini (1809–1878)
Luigia Boccabadati, the second Imelda from 1831
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 , 2008
Web links
- Imelda de 'Lambertazzi : Sheet music and audio files in the International Music Score Library Project
- Libretto (Italian), Naples 1830. Digitized version of the Munich digitization center
- Imelda de 'Lambertazzi (Gaetano Donizetti) in the Corago information system of the University of Bologna
- Work data for Imelda de 'Lambertazzi based on the MGG with discography at Operone
- Discography of Imelda de 'Lambertazzi at Operadis