| Fromental Halévy |
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Operas
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Guido et Ginevra, ou La Peste de Florence (French: Guido and Ginevra, or the Plague at Florence) is a grand opera in five acts by Fromental Halévy to a libretto by Eugène Scribe. It was premiered at the Paris Opera on 5 March 1838.
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Guido et Ginevra was only a moderate success for Halévy, not nearly as applauded as his previous grand opera La Juive (1835) or as La reine de Chypre which followed it (1841). However, after its premiere it was soon played in all the major European centres. When the opera was revived in Paris in 1840 it was cut to four acts. In this format it was revived in 1870. No recent productions are known.
The opera contains touches of the composer's innovative orchestration, with a melophone in Act II, and with Ginevra's tomb scene set to dark woodwind and brass instruments using diminished harmonies.
| Role | Voice type | Premiere Cast[1], 5 March 1838 (Conductor: ) |
|---|---|---|
| Cosimo de Medici | bass | Nicolas Levasseur |
| Ginevra, his daughter | soprano | Julie Aimée Dorus-Gras |
| Ricciarda | mezzo-soprano | Rosine Stoltz |
| Guido, a sculptor | tenor | Gilbert Duprez |
| Duke of Ferrara | bass | Nicolas-Prosper Dérivis |
| Fortebraccio | tenor | Jean-Étienne-Auguste Massol |
| Lorenzo | bass | |
| Teobaldo | bass | |
| Léonore | soprano | |
| Antonietta | soprano |
Scribe drew the elements of his plot from the history of Florence by Louis-Charles Delécluze
The Medici court
Ginevra is to be married to the Duke of Ferrara.
During the ceremony, a poisoned veil she has been given causes her to faint away in a death-like trance; the sculptor Guido mourns her. It is assumed that she has the plague.
The Medici vault
Buried in the Medici vault she awakes.
Guido offers her shelter.
The village of Camaldoli
Ginevra is reunited with her father, who agrees to her marriage with Guido. A procession of thanksgiving ends the opera.