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| LUCIA DI LAMMERMOOR | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Lucia di Lammermoor | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Upcoming performances | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Lucia di Lammermoor, the most famous and popular of Donizetti's operas, was first performed on September 26, 1835, at the Teatro San Carlo in Naples. The opera was based on the novel The Bride of Lammermoor by Sir Walter Scott. A Gothic novel with elements of historical realism, it enjoyed great success. According to Ellen H. Bleiler in the introduction to her translation of Lucia in the Dover Opera Guide and Libretto Series, the novel had become one of the best-known works of fiction in Western Europe by the time that Donizetti and his librettist Cammarano began to work with it. Cammarano and Donizetti simplified the story greatly and eliminated much of the novel's detail. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Lucrezia Borgia | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| In the opera, the Ravenswood family has been dispossessed of their ancestral land. The Ashton family has taken their place. Lucia Ashton and her family's enemy Edgardo di Ravenswood have fallen in love with each other. Lucia's brother Enrico wants her to marry a powerful lord, Arturo Bucklaw. Enrico deceives Lucia with forged evidence of Edgardo's unfaithfulness to her. Lucia reluctantly signs a marriage contract with Arturo. Just as she has done so, Edgardo enters and expresses his outrage. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| The marriage between Lucia and Arturo takes place. On the wedding night, Lucia, who has lost her somewhat fragile sanity, stabs Arturo in the bridal chamber. She then enters the hall where the wedding guests are assembled and sings what is probably the most famous mad scene in all opera. She collapses and later dies. When Edgardo learns of her death, he stabs himself and dies. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| RECORDINGS OFLUCIA DI LAMMERMOOR Available from amazon.com | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Maria Callas made two studio recordings of Lucia, both available on EMI. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Also available are various recordings of live performances of Maria Callas. The best, also available on EMI, is of a performance in Berlin in 1955 conducted by Herbert von Karajan, with Giuseppe di Stefano as Edgardo. The Berlin recording, on EMI, is available from amazon.com John Ardoin in The Callas Legacy: the Complete Guide to Her Recordings on Compact Disc said of this recording: "The powerful alchemy which existed between Callas and Karajan finds its most finished and exciting outlet in this Lucia. . . . If I could own but a single Callas set, it would be this one." | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Callas's recordings were made with what at the time were the "traditional cuts." Later studio recordings were more or less complete. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Joan Sutherland's 1961 recording conducted by John Pritchard, is now available at a low price, but without a libretto. She produced a beautiful sound, but without the dramatic expressivity of Callas. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| In her 1971 recording for Decca/London, conducted by Richard Bonynge, and with Luciano Pavarotti as Edgardo, Sutherland's voice remains beautiful but exhibits a bit more dramatic characterization. Sutherland's 1971 recording is available on compact disc from amazon.com | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, recording: DONIZETTI Lucia Di Lammermoor. Joan Sutherland, Joao Gibin, John Shaw, Joseph Rouleau etc. The Covent Garden Opera Chorus, The Covent Garden Orchestra / Tulio Serafin. Royal Opera House 2cds amazon.co.uk | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| LUCIA DI LAMMERMOOR ON VIDEO | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Two of Joan Sutherland's performances are available on video, both conducted by Richard Bonynge. The Metropolitan Opera performance features Alfredo Kraus as Edgardo. The Australian Opera performance is closer to complete. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Donizetti - Lucia di Lammermoor / Joan Sutherland, Alfredo Kraus, Pablo Elvira, Paul Plishka, Richard Bonynge, Metropolitan Opera, DVD, amazon.com | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| A plot synopsis of Lucia di Lammermoor can be found on the web pages of the Metropolitan Opera. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Review of performance | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| LUCIA DI LAMMERMOOR (Original 1835 version). At the Metropolitan Opera in New York, October 16, 1999 (matinee). Music by Gaetano Donizetti, text by Salvatore Cammarano. With Ronald Naldi (Normanno), John Avey (Enrico Ashton), Hao Jiang Tian (Raimondo), Andrea Rost (Lucia), Andrea Trebnick (Alisa), Frank Lopardo (Edgardo), and Matthew Polenzani (Arturo). Conducted by Charles Mackerras. Production: Nicolas Joël. Set Designer: Ezio Frigerio. Costume Designer: Franca Squarciapino. Lighting Designer: Vinicio Cheli. Stage Director: Paul Mills. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| I attended the October 16, 1999, matineé performance of Donizetti's "Lucia di Lammermoor" at the Metropolitan Opera in New York on October 16, 1999. This performance was the last of the several performed this season in Donizetti's original keys, in a style that the composer would have recognized. The cadenzas used were from Donizetti's own period. And the opera was performed without any cuts. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| The traditional version that is generally performed and that has always been performed at the Metropolitan Opera before this season, has the role of Lucia transposed downwards to allow the singer to end her arias with long high notes. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Andrea Rost was quite convincing as Lucia. She looked the part and conveyed Lucia's nervous emotions quite well. Her voice, though not beautiful, was quite pleasant, with a plaintive quality appropriate to the role. I did not regret the absence of the vocal acrobatics usually encountered in a performance of "Lucia." With the keys and the cadenzas employed, it was especially apparent that Donizetti was a near contemporary of Rossini, and that the opera is a serious dramatic work, not a silly coloratura show. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Frank Lopardo gave a very committed performance as Edgardo. His singing was quite impressive, although it lacked the beauty one hears, say, in the recordings of Giuseppe di Stefano. Lopardo's Edgardo was quite dashing and manly, a good dramatic and physical counterpart to Rost's Lucia. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| The remaining roles were well sung. John Avey, replacing an indisposed Roberto Frontali, made his Met debut as Enrico. His voice was large enough for the Met, and his performance was more than adequate, but his Enrico was not especially interesting, vocally or dramatically. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Charles Mackerras conducted expertly. One of the cadenzas in Act One came as a shock to me, because it was so different from what I am used to hearing on recordings. It was probably my imagination that the orchestra seemed to find itself in unfamiliar territory at that moment. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| The production was on the whole quite traditional. The costumes were somewhat sumptuous, and the interiors of the Ashtons' house were in an extremely ornate and lavishly expensive style that might be found at Windsor Castle, but that seemed inappropriate to Scotland circa 1700. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Donizetti Club, a yahoo club | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Lucia di Lammermoor in Full Score (paperback), at booksamillion.com |
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| Donizetti re-worked Lucia di Lammermoor somewhat for a French-language version of the opera, entitled Lucie de Lammermoor. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||