DONIZETTI: Lucrezia Borgia (2 versiones: Caballé o Sutherland)

Otra ópera fantástica de Donizetti cantada por dos divas, a elegir, la Stupenda o la Superba. Difícil escoger...

Lucrezia Borgia es una ópera italiana compuesta por Gaetano Donizetti. El libreto fue escrito por Felice Romani basándose en el drama homónimo de Victor Hugo. Se estrenó en La Scala de Milán el 26 de diciembre de 1833.

Cuando se estrenó en París, en 1840, siete años después del estreno en Milán, Hugo interpuso una querella para evitar nuevas representaciones o producciones de la ópera. Fue necesario cambiar el libreto para cambiar todos los personajes italianos en turcos, y renombrar la ópera a La Rinegata. En 1843 fue estrenada en Londres.

Synopsis

Time: Early 16th century

Place: Venice and Ferrara

Prologue. The Palazzo Grimani in Venice

Gennaro and his friends celebrate on the brightly lit terrace, in front of which lies the Giudecca canal. The friends’ conversation turns to Don Alfonso, Duke of Ferrara, to whose house they will be travelling the next day, and to his wife, the infamous Lucrezia Borgia. On hearing Lucrezia’s name, Orsini tells of how Gennaro and he, alone in a forest, were warned by a mysterious old man to beware her and the entire Borgia family. Professing his boredom with Orsini’s tale Gennaro wanders off and falls asleep nearby. His friends are invited to rejoin the festivities, and he is left alone. A gondola appears and a masked woman steps onto the terrace. She hurries over to the sleeping Gennaro and observes him with affection. (Com'è bello! Quale incanto in quel volto onesto e altero!) She kisses his hand, he wakes and is instantly struck by her beauty. He expresses his love for her and sings of his childhood as an orphan brought up by fishermen. He adds that he loves dearly the mother he has never met. (Di pescatore ignobile esser figliuol credei.) The others return and instantly recognise her as Lucrezia Borgia, listing in turn the members of their families she has killed to Gennaro’s horror.

Act 1 Ferrara

The Duke, believing Gennaro to be Lucrezia’s lover, plots his murder with his servant Rustighello (Vieni: la mia vendetta è mediatata e pronta.) Gennaro and his companions leave the house for a party and pass the Duke’s palace with its large gilded coat of arms reading ‘Borgia’. Keen to show his contempt for the Borgia family, Gennaro removes the initial ‘B’, leaving the obscene ‘Orgia’ ("orgy").

In the palace, Lucrezia is shown into the Duke’s chamber. Having seen the defaced crest, she demands death for the perpetrator, not knowing that it is Gennaro. The Duke orders Gennaro to be brought before her and accuses him of staining the noble name of Borgia, a crime to which he readily confesses. Lucrezia, horrified, attempts to excuse the insult as a youthful prank, but Don Alfonso accuses Lucrezia of infidelity, having observed her meeting with Gennaro in Venice. In a scene full of drama and tension, she denies any impropriety, but he demands the prisoner’s death and forces her to choose the manner of Gennaro’s execution. Pretending to pardon him, the Duke offers Gennaro a glass of wine and he swallows it. After a stunning trio (Guai se ti sfugge un moto, Se ti tradisce un detto!) the Duke leaves and Lucrezia hurries to Gennaro, giving him an antidote to the poison the Duke has mixed with the wine. He drinks, and in a last duet, she implores him to flee the city and her husband. (Bevi e fuggi ... te'n prego, o Gennaro!)

Act 2. The palace of the Princess Negroni

Ignoring Lucrezia’s advice, Gennaro attends a party at the palace, swearing never to be parted from his friend Orsini. Orsini leads the party in a brindisi or drinking song (Il segreto per esser felici) and they drink. Lucrezia enters and announces that in revenge for their insults in Venice she has poisoned their wine and arranged five coffins for their bodies. She has hitherto believed that Gennaro fled Ferrara on her advice, and is thus dismayed when he steps forward and announces that she has poisoned a sixth. Orsini, Liverotto, Vitellozzo, Petrucci and Gazella fall dead. Gennaro seizes a dagger and attempts to kill Lucrezia, but she stops him by revealing that he is in fact her son. Once again she asks him to drink the antidote, but this time he refuses, choosing to die with his friends. In a final cabaletta (Era desso il figlio mio,) Lucrezia mourns her son and expires.

Donna Lucrezia Borgia - Joan Sutherland
Don Alfonso - Ingvar Wixell
Gennaro - Jaume Aragall
Maffio Orsini - Marilyn Horne
Jeppo Liverotto - Graham Clark
Don Apostolo Gazella - Lieuwe Visser
Ascanio Petrucci - John Bröcheler
Oloferno Vitellozzo - Piero de Palma
Gubetta - Richard Van Allan
Rustighello - Graeme Ewer
Astolfo - Nicola Zaccaria

National Philharmonic Orchestra
London Opera Chorus
Richard Bonynge, 1977


1 - - - - - - 2

Donna Lucrezia Borgia MONTSERRAT CABALLÈ
Don Alfonso EZIO FLAGELLO
Gennaro ALFREDO KRAUS
Maffio Orsini SHIRLEY VERRETT

Rustighello GIUSEPPE BARATTI
Astolfo ROBERT EL HAGE
Leppo Liverotto FRANCO RICCIARDI
Apostolo Gazella FRANCO ROMANO
Ascanio Petrucci FERRUCCIO MAZZOLI
Oloferno Vitellozzo FERNANDO LACOPUCCI
Gubetta VITO MARIA BRUNETTI
Un Servitore CAMILLO SFORZA

RCA Italiana Opera Orchestra and Chorus
IONEL PERLEA
http://www.4shared.com/file/91697676/cf3647f/Lucrezia_Borgia___Kraus_Caball_CD1.html
http://www.4shared.com/file/91784212/be44fac7/Lucrezia_Borgia___Kraus_Caball_CD2.html




Y aqui en directo dos de los interpretes de cada CD : La Sutherland y Kraus en directo: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kzbi44suVvA