Eduardo e Cristina
Eduardo e Cristina (Italian pronunciation: [eduˈardo e kriˈstiːna]) is an operatic 'dramma' in two acts by Gioachino Rossini to an Italian libretto originally written by Giovanni Schmidt for Odoardo e Cristina (1810), an opera by Stefano Pavesi, and adapted for Rossini by Andrea Leone Tottola and Gherardo Bevilacqua-Aldobrandini.
This pastiche work was composed in a great hurry for a first performance arranged less than a month after the premiere of Ermione. Rossini borrowed "19 of the 26 musical numbers"[1] from his other works, including Adelaide di Borgogna, Ricciardo e Zoraide, as well as Ermione itself.
The opera was first performed at the Teatro San Benedetto, Venice, on 24 April 1819 and given 24 performances that season before being revived the following year at the more prestigious La Fenice.[2] Ironically, while Ermione was not particularly well received, "Eduardo e Christina was a huge success".[2] Apparently, the first performance was so well received that it took six hours, given the large number of repetitions.[3]
Performance history
Osborne notes that there were productions elsewhere in Europe up to 1840, but after that they seem to have been very rare.[2] It was given on 25 November 1834 in New York,[3] but at the time of the publication of Osbourne's The Bel Canto Operas (1994), it had not been performed in Britain. Unlike most Neapolitan operas by Rossini, this one was "heavily altered from revival to revival"[3]
Roles
| Role | Voice type | Premiere Cast, 24 April 1819 (Conductor: ) |
|---|---|---|
| Carlo, King of Sweden | tenor | Eliodoro Bianchi |
| Cristina, his daughter, secret wife of Eduardo | soprano | Rosa Morandi |
| Eduardo, general of the Swedish army | contralto | Carolina Cortesi |
| Giacomo, royal prince of Scotland | bass | Luciano Bianchi |
| Atlei, captain of the guard, friend of Eduardo | bass | Vincenzo Fracalini |
| Gustavo, small child of Eduardo and Cristina | silent | |
Synopsis
- Place: Sweden
- Time: "The distant past"[1]
Recordings
| Year | Cast (Carlo, Cristina, Eduardo, Giacomo, Atlei) |
Conductor, Opera House and Orchestra |
Label[4] |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1997 | Omar Jara, Carmen Acosta, Eliseda Dumitru, Konstantin Gorny, Jorge Orlando Gómez | Francesco Corti, I Virtuosi di Praga (Recording of a performance at the Wildbad Festival, July) |
Audio CD: Bongiovanni Cat: GB 2205/2206-2 |
References
Notes
Cited sources
- Gossett, Philip; Brauner, Patricia (2001), "Eduardo e Cristina" in Holden, Amanda (ed.), The New Penguin Opera Guide, New York: Penguin Putnam. ISBN 0-14-029312-4
- Osborne, Charles (1994), The Bel Canto Operas of Rossini, Donizetti, and Bellini, London: Methuen; Portland, Oregon: Amadeus Press. ISBN 0931340713
Other sources
- Casaglia, Gherardo (2005).[http://www.amadeusonline.net/almanacco?r=&alm_giorno=24&alm_mese=04&alm_anno=1819&alm_testo=Eduardo_e_Cristina "Eduardo e Cristina, 24 April 1819"]. Almanacco Amadeus (Italian).
- Osborne, Richard (1990), Rossini, Ithaca, New York: Northeastern University Press. ISBN 1-55553-088-5
- Osborne, Richard (1998), "Eduardo e Cristina", in Stanley Sadie, (Ed.), The New Grove Dictionary of Opera, Vol. Two, p. 20. London: MacMillan Publishers, Inc. ISBN 0-333-73432-7 ISBN 1-56159-228-5??
External links
- Libretto in Italian Retrieved 13 December 2012