Maria Padilla
| Work data | |
|---|---|
| Title: | Maria Padilla |
Title page of the libretto, Milan 1841 |
|
| Shape: | Opera in three acts |
| Original language: | Italian |
| Music: | Gaetano Donizetti |
| Libretto : | Gaetano Rossi |
| Premiere: | December 26, 1841 |
| Place of premiere: | Teatro alla Scala , Milan |
| Playing time: | 2 ¾ hours |
| Place and time of the action: | Castile, around 1350–1361 |
| people | |
|
|
Maria Padilla is an opera (original name: "melodramma") by Gaetano Donizetti based on a libretto by Gaetano Rossi . The opera, premiered on December 26, 1841 at the Teatro alla Scala in Milan, has three acts. The singers at the premiere were Sophie Löwe (Maria), Luigia Abbadia (Ines), Domenico Donzelli (Ruiz) and Giorgio Ronconi (Don Pedro). The libretto is based on the tragedy María de Padilla by Jacques-François Ancelot , premiered in 1838 , which in turn refers to the historical figure of María de Padilla (* 1334; † 1361). In contrast to the cast usual in romantic operas, in Maria Padilla the tenor is the father and the lover of the baritone.
action
first act
Atrium in the Moorish style in the Padilla's castle
While preparing for Inez Padilla's wedding to Count Luis de Aguilar, her sister Maria tells her about a dream in which she saw herself as queen. Ines warns Maria against excessive expectations, but apparently Maria's ambition is awakened. During the wedding celebrations, Maria and Count Mendez get closer.
Room in Maria's apartment
After the party, Mendez tries to kidnap Maria. It turns out that he is really Don Pedro, the future King of Castile ( Pedro the Cruel ). When he enters Maria's bedroom, she first wants to stab him for the sake of her honor, but he swears her great love, she suddenly sees the fulfillment of her dreams within reach, forces Pedro to make a promise of marriage and then agrees to the kidnapping.
Second act
Hall in a palace in Seville
(two years later)
A splendid celebration in the palace of King Don Pedro: Maria is the secret wife of Don Pedro, but officially only his maitresse and despised at court because of the illegitimate association and her low nobility. Maria is politically in the way of the first minister, the Duke of Albuquerque, because he is striving for a dynastic connection between Don Pedro and the French royal family and has initiated a corresponding marriage.
Don Ruiz, the old father of the Padilla sisters, comes to the palace and laments the loss of his honor due to the shame of his daughter. He insults Don Pedro and challenges him to a duel, which the courtiers prevent. Don Ruiz is to be executed immediately, but Maria can obtain a pardon from Don Pedro.
Third act
Modest apartment in the house of the Count of Aguilar
This is where Don Ruiz, who has meanwhile gone mad, has come to live. Mary came to receive forgiveness from her father after all. In the next room he trills a lullaby of Mary; Maria sings along so that the father can recognize her despite his madness. To justify herself, Maria shows her father a written promise of marriage from Don Pedro. The father becomes furious at the mere mention of the king's name and throws the letter into the fire. While Bianca, the princess of France, is already being celebrated as the future queen outside, Maria feels lost.
Hall in the Royal Palace
Don Pedro's wedding to Bianca is already taking place in the king's palace. Don Pedro wants to crown Bianca queen, when Maria rushes in, she reminds the king of his oath of allegiance and demands the crown for herself. Ines introduces the insane Ruiz, the incarnation of bad conscience, when the king realizes his guilt and he confesses against the raison d'être and - against the protests of the courtiers and the French ambassadors - to Maria. Everything could be fine now, but Maria collapses dead, overwhelmed by happiness.
Original version of the ending, which was forbidden by the censors: The king does not hear Mary, whereupon she stabs herself.
Lieto Fine (Happy End) from the performance in Trieste (1842) and thus the final end: Maria does not collapse dead; she is married to Pedro and is now the official Queen of Castile.
orchestra
The orchestral line-up for the opera includes the following instruments:
- Woodwinds : two flutes (the second also piccolo ), two oboes (the second also English horn ), two clarinets , two bassoons ,
- Brass : four horns , three trumpets , three trombones , cimbasso , ophikleide
- Drums : timpani , bass drum
- Strings : violins , viola , cellos and double basses
- Incidental music : Banda (not specified)
Work history
Donizetti had an unusually large amount of time available with Maria Padilla for his circumstances: he had already started composing in the summer of 1841, interrupted the work several times and finally finished on November 2nd except for the instrumentation. He then had just under two months to do it. Rehearsals began on December 10; The end of the opera had to be changed during the rehearsal period because the censors refused to allow suicide on the open stage.
The premiere took place on December 26, 1841 under the musical direction of Eugenio Cavallini at the Teatro alla Scala in Milan. The set was designed by Baldassarre Cavallotti. It sang Giorgio Ronconi (Don Pedro), Gaetano Rossi (Ramiro), Domenico Donzelli (Don Ruiz), Ranieri Pochini (Don Luigi), Agostino Berini (Don Alfonso), Sophie Leo (Maria Padilla) luigia abbadia (Ines Padilla) and Teresa Ruggeri-Visanetti (Francisca).
The performance was not a triumph like Lucia di Lammermoor , for example , but it was a sufficiently great success; the composer was called out eight times during the performance (in accordance with the customs of the time). Maria Padilla had 24 performances in the first season in Milan. On March 1, 1842 the opera was given in Trieste, for which Donizetti composed a Lieto fine ; he wrote the new Cabaletta finale for Eugenia Tadolini , who also sang the title role in the premiere at the San Carlo in Naples. In return, Donizetti subjected the opera to another revision. The opera was a success in Naples and was performed for several years from 1842. In the carnival season of 1843, the opera at the Teatro La Fenice in Venice was a failure and only got three performances. Outside of Italy, Maria Padilla remained sporadically on the program until the 1860s, for example in Lisbon (1846) and Vienna (1847), then she disappeared completely. Only in 1973 there was another performance in London; Since then there have been occasional new productions, especially in the Anglo-Saxon region, for example in London in 1979, in Parma in 1982, in Omaha in 1990 (with Renée Fleming as Maria), in Boston in 2008 and most recently in London again in 2012. There are no known performances at German-speaking opera houses after 1847.
Discography
- 1973: Kenneth Montgomery; Janet Price, Margreta Elkins, Gunnar Drago, Christian du Plessis , Malcolm King, Patricia Sabin; Bournemouth Sinfonietta and Opera Rara Choir; Unique Opera Records
- 1980: Alun Francis; Lois McDonall, Della Jones , Graham Clark, Christian du Plessis , Roderick Earle, Ian Caley; London Symphony Orchestra and Geoffrey Mitchell Choir; Opera Rara
- 1990: John DeMain; Renée Fleming , Stella Zambalis, Hans Gregory Ashbaker, Motti Kaston, Dan Smith, Arturo Valencia; Orchestra and Choir of the Omaha Opera; Premiere Opera
Web links
- Maria Padilla : Sheet music and audio files in the International Music Score Library Project
- Libretto (Italian), Milan 1841. Digitized in the Internet Archive
- Maria Padilla (Gaetano Donizetti) in the Corago information system of the University of Bologna
- Discography on Maria Padilla at Operadis
- Detailed table of contents at Musirony
- Libretto at italianopera.org
- George Hall: 2012 performance review. In: The Guardian , May 30, 2012
literature
- Autograph: Ricordi, Milan
- William Ashbrook: Donizetti and his Operas. Cambridge 1982, ISBN 0-521-23526-X .
- Norbert Miller : Maria Padilla. In: Piper's Encyclopedia of Musical Theater . Volume 2: Works. Donizetti - Henze. Piper, Munich / Zurich 1987, ISBN 3-492-02412-2 , pp. 34-37.
- Robert Steiner-Isenmann: Gaetano Donizetti. His life and his operas. Bern, Hallwag 1982, ISBN 3-444-10272-0 .
- Herbert Weinstock : Donizetti. Edition Kunzelmann, Adliswil, 1983, ISBN 3-85662-011-0 .
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d Norbert Miller : Maria Padilla. In: Piper's Encyclopedia of Musical Theater . Volume 2: Works. Donizetti - Henze. Piper, Munich / Zurich 1987, ISBN 3-492-02412-2 , pp. 34-37.
- ^ Herbert Weinstock: Donizetti. Edition Kunzelmann, Adliswil, 1983, p. 161.
- ↑ December 26, 1841: “Maria Padilla”. In: L'Almanacco di Gherardo Casaglia ., Accessed on July 28, 2019.
- ↑ Jeremy Commons: Maria Padilla. Booklet text for the Donizetti CD set : Maria Padilla with Lois McDonall, Alun Francis u. a. Opera Rara, 1992: ORC 6. pp. 10-50, here: pp. 37-40 and p. 44
- ^ Herbert Weinstock: Donizetti. Edition Kunzelmann, Adliswil, 1983, p. 162.