Le duc d'Albe

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Le duc d'Albe or Il duca d'Alba (The Duke of Alba) is a grand opéra, in four acts by Gaetano Donizetti . Eugène Scribe and Charles Duveyrier wrote the French libretto, originally in five acts.


Contents 1 Creation and performance history 2 Roles 3 Synopsis 4 Recordings 5 External links

[edit] Creation and performance history

The opera was begun by Donizetti in April 1839 for the Paris Opera. However, Rosine Stolz, the leading soprano at the Opéra disliked it so much that she refused to sing in it or to have it produced. The project was therefore abandoned unfinished. In 1875, on the occasion of the translation of Donizetti's remains to in Santa Maria Maggiore in Bergamo, plans to finish the opera came to nothing. The manuscript was subsequently acquired in 1881 by Giuseppina Lucca who formed a committee consisting of Bazzini, Dominiceti and Ponchielli to supervise the completion of the work. The task was entrusted to Matteo Salvi, former pupil of Donizetti's in Vienna. It was translated into Italian by Angelo Zanardini and, in the process, was reduced from five to four acts. Zanardini also changed the names of the characters to avoid comparisons with Les vêpres siciliennes by Verdi which was based on the original French libretto by Scribe and Duveyrier.

It received its first performance in its Italian version March 22, 1882 at the Teatro Apollo, Rome but was soon forgotten.

It was not until 1959 that a modern revival took place at the Spoleto Festival. The conductor Thomas Schippers undertook a new restoration of the work which was closer to the Donizetti style and the Ange si pur re-emerged as Spirto gentil, the opera's finest aria. A live recording exists of this performance.

[edit] Roles

[edit] Synopsis

The action takes place in Brussels and Antwerp in 1573 and deals with Flemish insurgence under the leadership of Amelia, daughter of the Count of Egmont and her lover, Marcello, against Spanish rule under the Duke of Alba, governor of Flanders.

[edit] Recordings

Il duca d'Alba (Live recording, Spoleto, 1959). Louis Quilico (Il Duca d Alba), Vladimiro Ganzarolli (Sandoval), Ivana Tosini (Amelia), Enzo Tei (Carlos), Renato Cioni (Marcello di Bruges), Franco Ventriglia (Daniele); Orchestra Filarmonica Triestina e Coro del Teatro Verdi di Trieste, cond. Thomas Schippers.