ROSSINI : LA DONNA DEL LAGO

Radio New Zealand Concert network 
Sunday 17th of January 2016  at 6,05- 9.20 pm
Sunday 12th of April 2015 at 6.03 - 9.40 pm
Sunday 3rd of November 2013 at 3.03 - 6.20 pm
Sunday 5th of August 2012 at 3 - 5.40 pm

ROSSINI: La Donna del Lago, an opera in two acts
Walter Scott's poem is the basis of this story set in 16th-century Scotland during the reign of James V. The Highlanders, led by Douglas, the father of Ellen, the so-called Lady of the Lake, are in revolt against the king. The opera opens as Ellen rows across the lake and meets a stranger on the shore …. He had left his crown at home, and so was incognito; she should have crowned him there and then, and told him to get out of her life, as she already has enough men troubling her emotionally.
2016
ROSSINI: La Donna del Lago, an opera in two acts
Elena................................. Joyce DiDonato
Malcolm Froeme............... Daniela Barcellona
Uberto/Giocomo V........... Lawrence Brownlee
Duglas d'Angus................ Oren Gradus
Rodrigo............................ John Osborn
Serano............................... Eduardo Valdes
Albina............................... Olga Makarina
Bertram............................. Gregory Schmidt
Metropolitan Opera Chorus & Orch/Michele Mariotti  
2015
Elena................................ Joyce DiDonato
Malcolm Groeme............. Daniela Barcellona
Uberto.............................. Juan Diego Flórez
Douglas............................ Oren Gradus
Rodrigo............................ John Osborn
Serano.............................. Eduardo Valdes
Albina............................... Olga Makarina
Bertram............................ Gregory Schmidt
Metropolitan Opera Chorus & Orch/Michele Mariotti
2013
Elena................................. Joyce DiDonato
Uberto.............................. Juan Diego Flórez
Malcolm............................ Daniela Barcellona
Douglas............................ Simón Orfila
Rodrigo............................ Colin Lee
Serano............................... Robin Leggate
Albina............................... Justina Gringyte
Bertram/King's Soldier.... Pablo Bemnsch
A Bard.............................. Christopher Lackner
Royal Opera House, Covent Garden/Michele Mariotti
(recorded in the Royal Opera House by BBC)
 2012
Elena............................. Joyce DiDonato
Malcolm Groeme.......... Daniela Barcellona
Uberto.......................... Juan Diego Flórez
Douglas......................... Simon Orfila
Rodrigo......................... John Osborn
Serano.......................... Jaeheui Kwon
Albina........................... Valeria Tornatore
Bertram......................... Jihan Shin
La Scala Chorus & Orch/Roberto Abbado
(recorded in La Scala Theatre, Milan by Italian Radio)
 Roberto Abbado is a nephew of the great Claudio Abbado.

Notice the same cast of principal singers; the longer time for the London broadcast indicates that the BBC will include interviews and comments. 

PROLOGUE
SYNOPSIS
LIBRETTO
REVIEW (Nigel Wilkinson)
RECORD (DVD)
SURPRISE

The title of this opera, "The Lady of the Lake" could lead us to suppose that King Arthur will be involved, since this appellation was applied to Vivien, the mistress of Merlin the Magician, who lived in the midst of a lake, with knights and ladies, notably Lancelot of the Lake (she kidnapped him from Brittany and brought him up to be a knight for Arthur).
    However, this opera (1819) is based on a poem (1810) of Walter Scott (a Sirly Scot), and the king is James V of Scotland; the lady is Elena, daughter of Douglas; he was formerly royal tutor but is now opposed to King James. Elena crossed Loch Katrine every day (not on foot but in a little boat), hence her nickname. The action takes place in the region of Stirling (where I stayed for a few days, with the statue of William Wallace visible through the window of our lodgings; I was using the library of the university, looking at what the first and subsequent editions of the Encyclopaedia Britannica had to say on the origin of the alphabet).
    A surprise for me is that it was turned into another opera (a pastiche, as they say in the trade) in 1846,  with King Robert Bruce as the central character (one of his sisters is in my ancestral line, I am told); there is an Arthur in this version, an official of King Edward II. (As I write this, they are playing Mendelssohn's Scottish Symphony on the radio.)
   It has to be said that the Covent Garden version (available on DVD) is weird: Elena (Joyce) is initially in a glass case; she is released to play her role; finally she is returned to her cage; how this enhances the happy ending escapes me at present. The Metropera production will eschew (chew up and spit out) such nonsense, when we see it in the cinema in June 2015.