DONIZETTI : ROBERTO DEVEREUX

Radio New Zealand Concert network
Sunday 15th of May 2016 at 6.04 - 9.10 pm
Sunday 5th of June 2011 at 3.03 - 5.25 pm

DONIZETTI: Roberto Devereux, an opera in three acts
Elisabetta..................... Sondra Radvanovsky
Sara.............................. Elīna Garanča
Roberto Devereux....... Matthew Polenzani
Duke of Nottingham... Mariusz Kwiecien
Metropolitan Opera Chorus & Orch/Maurizio Benini
2011
Elizabeth, Queen of England............. Carmela Remigio
Duke of Nottingham......................... Alberto Gazale
Sara, Duchess of Nottingham............ Sonia Ganassi
Robert Devereux, Earl of Essex........ Massimiliano Pisapia
Lord Cecil........................................ Bruno Lazzaretti
Sir Walter Raleigh............................ Ezio Maria Tisi
Page................................................ Giuseppe Auletta
Servant............................................ Massimo Mondelli
Rome Opera Chorus & Orch/Bruno Campanella
(recorded in the Teatro dell'Opera, Rome by Italian Radio)

INTRODUCTION
PREVIEW (with pictures and sound)
LIBRETTO (Italian, click on PDF)
LIBRETTO (Italian/Spanish)

It is the oft-told tale of Elizabeth I (the virgin queen, well, let us grant that she kept her hymen intact) and her passionate love for Robert of Essex; when he betrayed her in passion and politics, it was the ax for him, at the Tower of London. Revenge is followed by regret, at the thought of a loveless future:
Io sono donna alfine. Il foco è spento del mio furor. "I am just a woman after all. The fire of my fury is spent." Her last words declare that James VI of Scotland (son of Mary Queen of Scots) will be King of England (James I).

This is considered to be one of Donizetti's most powerful and affecting operas. Mercadante and Rossini also produced operatic versions of the story. Bette Davis and Errol Flynn took the cinematic roles in The private lives of Elizabeth and Essex (1939).

A synopsis is available under Introduction and also Preview (which is about the 2011 production, in Rome).