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Maria, regina d'Inghilterra

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Maria, regina d'Inghilterra
Opera by Giovanni Pacini
Pacini
LibrettistLeopoldo Tarantini
LanguageItalian
Based onMarie Tudor
by Victor Hugo
Premiere11 February 1843 (1843-02-11)
Teatro Carolino, Palermo

Maria, regina d'Inghilterra (Mary Tudor, Queen of England) is an Italian opera in three acts, composed by Giovanni Pacini from a libretto by Leopoldo Tarantini, which was based on the 1833 play Marie Tudor by Victor Hugo. It was given its first performance at the Teatro Carolino, in Palermo, on 11 February 1843.

Performance history

The opera was greeted with considerable acclaim at its creation. After a decade or so, it lost its popularity and disappeared from the stage until its revival by Opera Rara at the Bloomsbury Theatre in London as part of the Camden Festival on 23 March 1983.

Between March and May 2012, the opera was performed at the City Theater of Giessen in Germany.

Odyssey Opera mounted a fully staged production on 1 and 3 November 2019 at the Huntington Theater in Boston.

Roles

Role Voice type Premiere Cast
(Conductor: -)
Maria, Queen of England soprano Antonietta Marini-Rainieri
Riccardo Fenimoore tenor Nicola Ivanoff
Clotilde Talbot soprano Teresa Merli-Clerici
Ernesto Malcolm baritone Antonio Superchi
Gualtiero Churchill bass Antonio Benciolini

Synopsis

Place: London
Time: 1553.

Mary I of England is infatuated with the Scottish adventurer Riccardo Fenimoore, whom she has ennobled as Lord Talbot, but he is unfaithful to her having seduced the foundling Clotilde, who is the only surviving child of the late Earl of Talbot. She has been raised and is now betrothed to the adoring Ernesto Malcolm, a commoner. Gualtiero Churchill, the Lord Chancellor, wants to protect the Queen by bringing Riccardo down, so he tells the Queen of Talbot's duplicity, and also reveals his knowledge that Clotilde is actually heir to the Talbot name. The Queen condemns Fenimoore to death but repents and orders Clotilde to help release him. However, to the dismay of the Queen, Churchill sees to it that the execution is carried out.

Recordings

Year Cast:
(Mary, Riccardo, Clotilde, Ernesto) 		Conductor,
Opera House and Orchestra 		Label
1996 Nelly Miricioiu,
Bruce Ford,
Mary Plazas,
José Fardilha		 David Parry,
Philharmonia Orchestra and the Geoffrey Mitchell Choir		 Audio CD: Opera Rara
ORC15

References

Notes

  1. Rose 2001, in Holden, p.650
  2. Walter Wiertz,"Pacini's Maria Tudor", a review in the Donizetti Society's (London) Newsletter #116 on donizettisociety.com Retrieved 13 December 2012
  3. "Pacini: Maria, Regina d'Inghilterra | Odyssey Opera". www.odysseyopera.org. Archived from the original on 2019-10-23.

Sources

  • Balthazar, Scott L. (with Michael Rose) (1997), "Giovanni Pacini", in Sadie, Stanley (ed.), The New Grove Dictionary of Opera, New York: Grove (Oxford University Press), Vol. Three, pp. 808–812. ISBN 978-0-19-522186-2
  • Commons, Jeremy, "Maria, regina d'Inghilterra", essay in the booklet accompanying the Opera Rara recording.
  • Rose, Michael (2001), "Giovanni Pacini" in Holden, Amanda, (Ed.) The New Penguin Opera Guide, New York: Penguin Putnam, Inc. ISBN 0-14-029312-4
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