Alfredo il grande | |
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Opera by Gaetano Donizetti | |
Librettist | Andrea Leone Tottola |
Language | Italian |
Based on | Life of Alfred the Great |
Premiere |
Alfredo il grande (Alfred the Great) is a melodramma serio or serious opera in two acts by Gaetano Donizetti. Andrea Leone Tottola wrote the Italian libretto, which may have been derived from Johann Simon Mayr's 1818 opera of the same name. The opera tells the story of the Anglo-Saxon king Alfred the Great.
This opera, with its "highly Rossini-influenced score" [1] was Donizetti's first exploration into British history, but it turned out to be a spectacular failure. It received its premiere on 2 July 1823 at the Teatro San Carlo in Naples, and this also became its last performance, until a production in November 2023 at the Donizetti Opera Festival in Bergamo, conducted by Corrado Rovaris and based on a critical edition by Edoardo Cavalli. [2]
Role | Voice type | Premiere Cast, 2 July 1823 (Conductor: Nicola Festa) |
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Alfredo, King of England | tenor | Andrea Nozzari |
Amalia, his Queen | soprano | Elisabetta Ferron |
Eduardo, General of the English army | bass | Pio Botticelli |
Atkins, General of the Danish army | bass | Michele Benedetti |
Enrichetta, an English country girl | mezzo-soprano | Anna Maria Cecconi |
Margherita, another country girl | soprano | Gaetana Gorini |
Rivers, a Dane | tenor | Gaetano Chizzola |
Guglielmo, pastore | tenor | Massimo Orlandini |
Chorus of shepherdesses, English warriors, Danish warriors, armed shepherds |
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Gianni di Parigi is an 1839 melodramma comico in two acts with music by Gaetano Donizetti to a libretto by Felice Romani, which had previously been set by Francesco Morlacchi in 1818 and by Giovanni Antonio Speranza in 1836.
La zingara is an opera semiseria in two acts by Gaetano Donizetti, set to a libretto by Andrea Leone Tottola after La petite bohémienne by Louis-Charles Caigniez, which was itself derived from a work of August von Kotzebue.
Sancia di Castiglia is an Italian opera seria in two acts by Gaetano Donizetti to a libretto by Pietro Salatino. It was first performed at the Teatro San Carlo in Naples on 4 November 1832, conducted by Nicola Festa.
Don Gregorio is an 1826 opera by Gaetano Donizetti from a libretto by Jacopo Ferretti and adapted from his popular 1824 opera buffa L'ajo nell'imbarazzo, which had enjoyed considerable success when presented at the Teatro Valle in Rome on 4 February 1824.
Il giovedì grasso is a farsa in one act by Gaetano Donizetti, from a libretto by Domenico Gilardoni. The literal translation of the title is "Fat Thursday", a reference to Carnival celebration. The libretto was adapted from the French comedies Monsieur de Pourceaugnac by Molière and Le nouveau Pourceaugnac by Charles-Gaspard Delestre-Poirson and Eugène Scribe. The opera uses spoken dialogue rather than recitatives, and the buffo role is given in the Neapolitan language. The work premiered at the Teatro del Fondo in Naples on 26 February 1829.
Una follia is a farsa in one act by composer Gaetano Donizetti. The work premiered on 15 December 1818 at the Teatro San Luca in Venice. The opera uses the same Italian-language libretto by Bartolomeo Merelli after August von Kotzebue's Der Graf von Burgund that Donizetti used for his Enrico di Borgogna a month earlier, but with different music. It was given one performance and "never performed again, and its score has never been found."
La lettera anonima is a farce in one act composed by Gaetano Donizetti in 1822 to a libretto by Giulio Genoino, a former monk and the official censor of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies. Genoino based his libretto on his own farce which, in turn, had been based on Mélite, ou Les fausses lettres by Pierre Corneille in 1630.
Il paria is an opera in two acts by Gaetano Donizetti from a libretto by Domenico Gilardoni, based on Le Paria by Casimir Delavigne and Michele Carafa's Il paria with a libretto by Gaetano Rossi.
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