Maria di Rohan
Performance history
It premiered at the Kärntnertortheater, Vienna on 5 June 1843.
Roles
| Role | Voice type | Premiere Cast, 5 June 1843 (Conductor: - ) |
Revised version, Paris, 14 November, 1843 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Maria, countess of Rohan | soprano | Eugenia Tadolini | Giulia Grisi |
| Riccardo, count of Chalais | tenor | Carlo Guasco | Lorenzo Salvi |
| Enrico, duke of Chevreuse | baritone | Giorgio Ronconi | Giorgio Ronconi |
| Armando di Gondì | tenor (then contralto) | Michele Novaro | Marietta Brambilla |
| The visconte of Suze | bass | Friedrich Becher | Giovanni Rizzi |
| de Fiesque | bass | Gustav Hölzel | |
| Aubry, secretary of Chalais | tenor | Anton Müller | Nicola Ivanoff |
| A familiar of Chevreuse | bass | ||
| Knights, the king's cabinet, pages, guards and domestic servants of Chevreuse | |||
Synopsis
The story of Maria Di Rohan is both simple (the classic love triangle) and complicated. Chalais loves Maria, who has been forced to secretly marry Chevreuse. Chevreuse is in deep trouble, because he has killed a nephew of Richelieu.
- Time: Early 17th century
- Place: Paris
Act 1
Maria seeks Chalais’ help. Chalais offers it, hoping that Maria will join him, obviously not knowing that she is already married to Chevreuse. Chalais succeeds and Chevreuse is pardoned. Gondi appears on the scene and insults Maria. Chalais challenges him to a duel, and Chevreuse offers to be the second. Richelieu is suddenly ousted from the court, and Chalais is offered his post. Everything looks great for him, but Maria is terribly worried. Richelieu’s demise means that Chevreuse can disclose his marriage without fear. When he points to Maria, Chalais’ world begins to collapse.
Act 2
Chalais writes a love letter to Maria and encloses her portrait. Both are hidden in his desk, to be given to Maria should he perish. He’s suddenly visited by Maria who tells him that Richelieu has regained power. She tells Chalais to flee or he will be executed. Chevreuse is heard approaching and Maria hides in an adjoining chamber. Chevreuse tells Chalais that they must leave for the Gondi duel and Chalais says he will follow. Of course he doesn’t follow, but stays to profess his love for Maria and she also admits that she has always and continues to love him. When he finally leaves for the duel, it is too late. Chevreuse has taken his place and is wounded.
Act 3
Chevreuse’s residence
He tells Maria and Chalais that he will arrange to have Chalais escape from the city. Chalais leaves, and again, everything looks good at first, but disaster strikes. Chalais’ letter and Maria’s portrait are discovered by one of the courtiers in Chalais’ desk. Chalais tells Maria about the letters and she says all is lost. Once again she tells him to flee through a secret passage, and he does, but tells her he will return if she does not follow him within an hour. Maria sings her beautiful prayer Havvi un Dio che in sua clemenza.
The courtier gives the letter and portrait to Chevreuse and he is alternatively nostalgic and enraged. He confronts Maria and vows revenge. Suddenly Chalais returns for Maria through the secret passage. In a final trio Maria pleads for Chevreuse to kill her, Chalais says he doesn’t fear death, and Chevreuse thunders that Chalais’ death is imminent. He gives Chalais a dueling pistol and the two race out. A shot is heard. Chevreuse is furious because Chalais has committed suicide. He throws the letter and portrait to the floor before Maria and cries out La vita coll’infamia A te, donna infidel / "Life with infamy to you, faithless woman".
Note: Donizetti wrote a culminating cabaletta for Maria, but crossed it out, preferring to end the opera in a distinctly non-bel canto, but highly dramatic manner
Recordings
| Year | Cast (Maria, Riccardo Enrico Armando di Gondi) |
Conductor, Opera House and Orchestra |
Label[1] |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1974 | Renata Scotto, Umberto Grilli, Renato Bruson, Elean Zilio |
Gianandrea Gavazzeni, Orchestra & Chorus of Teatro La Fenice, Venice (Recorded at a live performance at Le Fenice, Venice on 26 March) |
Audio CD: Opera D'Oro Cat: OPD 1412 |
| 1996 | Edita Gruberova, Octavio Arévalo, Ettore Kim, Ulrika Precht |
Elio Boncompagni, Radio Symphonieorchester Wien and Wiener Konzertchor (Recorded at performances in the Konzerthaus, Vienna, on 6 and 12 December) |
Audio CD: Nightingale Cat: NC 070567-2 |
| 2009 | Krassimira Stoyanova, José Bros, Christopher Purves, Loïc Félix |
Sir Mark Elder, Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment Recorded at Henry Wood Hall, Oct/Nov. |
Audio CD: Opera Rara Cat: ORC44 |
References
Notes
- ↑ Source for recording information: operadis-opera-discography.org.uk
Sources
- Allitt, John Stewart (1991), Donizetti: in the light of Romanticism and the teaching of Johann Simon Mayr, Shaftesbury: Element Books, Ltd (UK); Rockport, MA: Element, Inc.(USA)
- Ashbrook, William (1982), Donizetti and His Operas, Cambridge University Press. ISBN 052123526X ISBN 0-521-23526-X
- Ashbrook, William (1998), "Donizetti, Gaetano" in Stanley Sadie (Ed.), The New Grove Dictionary of Opera, Vol. One. London: MacMillan Publishers, Inc. ISBN 0-333-73432-7 ISBN 1-56159-228-5
- Ashbrook, William and Sarah Hibberd (2001), in Holden, Amanda (Ed.), The New Penguin Opera Guide, New York: Penguin Putnam. ISBN 0-140-29312-4. pp. 224 - 247.
- Black, John (1982), Donizetti’s Operas in Naples, 1822—1848. London: The Donizetti Society.
- Loewenberg, Alfred (1970). Annals of Opera, 1597-1940, 2nd edition. Rowman and Littlefield
- Osborne, Charles, (1994), The Bel Canto Operas of Rossini, Donizetti, and Bellini, Portland, Oregon: Amadeus Press. ISBN 0931340713
- Sadie, Stanley, (Ed.); John Tyrell (Exec. Ed.) (2004), The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians. 2nd edition. London: Macmillan. ISBN 978-0195170672 (hardcover). ISBN 0195170679 OCLC 419285866 (eBook).
- Weinstock, Herbert (1963), Donizetti and the World of Opera in Italy, Paris, and Vienna in the First Half of the Nineteenth Century, New York: Pantheon Books. ISBN 63-13703
External links
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