Lucrezia Borgia is a melodramatic opera in a prologue and two acts by Gaetano Donizetti. Felice Romani wrote the Italian libretto after the play Lucrezia Borgia by Victor Hugo, in its turn after the legend of Lucrezia Borgia. Lucrezia Borgia was first performed on 26 December 1833 at La Scala, Milan.

Performance history

19th century

Because of its scandalous subject matter, Lucrezia Borgia was taken up slowly in Italy It was given in Florence, beginning on 12 November 1838, as Eustorgia da Romano, in Trieste in the autumn of 1838 as Alfonso Duca di Ferrara, in Ferrara on 14 April 1841 as Giovanna I di Napoli, and in Rome on 26 December 1841 as Elisa da Fosco. When the opera was staged in Paris (Théâtre des Italiens) in 1840, Victor Hugo obtained an injunction against further productions within the domain of French copyright law. The libretto was then rewritten and retitled La rinnegata, with the Italian characters changed to Turks, and the performances were resumed.

Recordings

{| class="wikitable"

!Year

!width="130"|Cast<br/>(Lucrezia,<br/>Genaro,<br/>Maffio Orsini,<br/>Don Alfonso)

!Conductor,<br/>Opera house and orchestra

!Label

|-

|1965 ||Montserrat Caballé,<br/>Alain Vanzo,<br/>Jane Berbié,<br/>Kostas Paskalis || Jonel Perlea,<br/>American Opera Society orchestra and chorus<br/>(Recording of a concert performance at Carnegie Hall, 20 April)||CD: Opera D'Oro<br/>Cat: 1030815

|-

|1966 ||Leyla Gencer,<br/>Giacomo Aragall,<br/>Anna Maria Rota,<br/>Mario Petri || Carlo Franci,<br/>Teatro San Carlo di Napoli orchestra and chorus<br/>(Recording of a performance at Teatro San Carlo, Naples, 29 January 1966)||CD: Hunt Productions<br/>Cat: HUNTCD 544

|-

|1966 || Montserrat Caballé,<br/>Alfredo Kraus,<br/>Shirley Verrett,<br/>Ezio Flagello || Jonel Perlea,<br/>RCA Italiana Opera Chorus and Orchestra ||CD: RCA<br/>Cat: RCAG 66422RG

|-

|1974 || Leyla Gencer,<br/>José Carreras,<br/>Tatiana Troyanos,<br/>Matteo Manuguerra ||Nicola Rescigno,<br/>Dallas Civic Opera (Live)||CD: Melodram<br/>Cat: 270109

|-

|1975 ||Joan Sutherland,<br/>John Brecknock,<br/>,<br/>Michael Devlin ||Richard Bonynge,<br/>Houston Symphony Orchestra and chorus (Live)||LP: MRF Records<br/>Cat:MRF-121-S

|-

|1976 ||Beverly Sills,<br/>Henry Price,<br/>Susanne Marsee,<br/>Adib Fazah ||Julius Rudel,<br/>New York City Opera (Live)||CD: Opera Depot<br/>Cat: 11295-2

|-

|1977 || Joan Sutherland,<br/>Margreta Elkins,<br/>Robert Allman,<br/>Ron Stevens || Richard Bonynge,<br/>Sydney Elizabethan Orchestra and Chorus of Australian Opera<br/>(Live)||DVD: Opus Arte "Faveo",<br/>Cat: OAF 4026D

|-

|1978 || Joan Sutherland,<br/>Giacomo Aragall,<br/>Marilyn Horne,<br/>Ingvar Wixell || Richard Bonynge,<br/>National Philharmonic Orchestra and London Opera Chorus ||CD: Decca<br/>Cat: 421497

|-

|1979 || Leyla Gencer,<br/>Alfredo Kraus,<br/>Elena Zilio,<br/>Bonaldo Giaiotti || Gabriele Ferro,<br/>Teatro Comunale di Firenze orchestra and chorus (Live)||CD: Living Stage<br/>Cat: LS1096

|-

|1980 || Joan Sutherland,<br/>Alfredo Kraus,<br/>Anne Howells,<br/>Stafford Dean ||Richard Bonynge,<br/>Royal Opera House, Covent Garden orchestra and chorus (Live)|| DVD: Covent Garden Pioneer<br/>Cat: B 12385-01

|-

|1989 || Joan Sutherland,<br/>Alfredo Kraus,<br/>Martine Dupuy,<br/>Michele Pertusi||Richard Bonynge,<br/>Gran Teatro del Liceo orchestra and chorus<br/>(Video recording of a performance in the Gran Teatro del Liceo, 31 May)||VHS Video Cassette: Lyric Distribution,<br/>Cat: 1842 (incomplete) & 1882 (1990)

|-

|2007|| Dimitra Theodossiou,<br/>Roberto De Biasio,<br/>Nidia Palacios,<br/>Enrico Giuseppe Iori||Tiziano Severini,<br/>Orchestra and Chorus of Bergamo Musica Festival G. Donizetti (Live)|| DVD: Naxos<br/>Cat: 2.110264

|-

|2009|| Edita Gruberová,<br/>Pavol Breslik,<br/>Alice Coote,<br/>Franco Vassallo||Bertrand de Billy<br/>Bayerisches Staatsoper<br/>(Recording of a performance in the Nationaltheater, Munich, February)

||DVD Medici Arts,<br/>Cat: 2072458-1

|-

|2010|| Edita Gruberová,<br/>José Bros,<br/>Silvia Tro Santafé,<br/>Franco Vassallo ||Andriy Yurkevych<br/>WDR Rundfunkorchester Köln<br/>(Recording of a performance in the Philarmonie Köln, 4 June)||CD: Nightingale Classics AG.<br/>Cat: NC 000100-2

|-

|2010|| Mariella Devia,<br/>Giuseppe Filianoti,<br/>Mariana Pizzolato,<br/>Alex Esposito ||Marco Guidarini<br/>Orchestra Filarmonica Marchigiana<br/>(Recording of a performance in Teatro delle Muse di Ancona, February||CD: Bongiovanni<br/>Cat: GB 2560/62

|-

|2013

|Renée Fleming,<br/>Michael Fabiano,<br/>Elizabeth DeShong,<br/>Vitalij Kowaljow

|Riccardo Frizza,<br/> San Francisco Opera orchestra and chorus

|DVD:EuroArts<br/> Cat:2059644

|}

References

Notes

Cited sources

  • Ashbrook, William and Sarah Hibberd (2001), in Holden, Amanda (Ed.), The New Penguin Opera Guide, New York: Penguin Putnam. .
  • Loewenberg, Alfred (1978). Annals of Opera 1597&ndash;1940 (third edition, revised). Totowa, New Jersey: Rowman and Littlefield. .

Further reading

  • Allitt, John Stewart (1991), Donizetti: in the light of Romanticism and the teaching of Johann Simon Mayr, Shaftesbury: Element Books (UK); Rockport, Massachusetts: Element.
  • Ashbrook, William (1982), Donizetti and His Operas, Cambridge University Press.
  • Ashbrook, William (1998), "Donizetti, Gaetano" in Stanley Sadie (ed.), The New Grove Dictionary of Opera, vol. 1. London: Macmillan.
  • Kobbé, Gustav, The Complete Opera Book, English edition (London and New York 1922), 339-343.
  • Loewenberg, Alfred (1970). Annals of Opera, 1597-1940, 2nd ed. Rowman and Littlefield
  • Osborne, Charles, (1994), The Bel Canto Operas of Rossini, Donizetti, and Bellini, Portland, Oregon: Amadeus Press.
  • Rosenthal, Harold and Warrack, John (1974), Concise Oxford Dictionary of Opera London & Oxford: Cambridge (corrected edition)
  • Sadie, Stanley, (ed.); John Tyrell (exec. ed.) (2004), The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians. 2nd ed. London: Macmillan. (hardcover). (eBook).
  • Weinstock, Herbert (1963), Donizetti and the World of Opera in Italy, Paris, and Vienna in the First Half of the Nineteenth Century, New York: Pantheon Books.
  • Donizetti Society (London) website
  • Libretto (in Italian)
  • Italian libretto with English translation