Gabriella di Vergy

Gabriella di Vergy is an "opera seria" in two acts by Gaetano Donizetti (1826, revised 1838), from a libretto by Andrea Leone Tottola, based on the tragedy "Gabrielle de Vergy" (1777) by Dormont De Belloy. The play was itself inspired by two French medieval legends, "Le châtelain de Coucy et la dame de Fayel" and "Le Roman de la chastelaine de Vergy".

The story had already been the subject of an opera by Michele Carafa (1816) and had previously been used by Johann Simon Mayr ("Raul di Créqui", Milan, 1809), Morlacchi ("Raoul de Créqui", Dresden, 1811) and Coccia ("Fayel" , Florence, 1817). It was also subsequently used as "Gabriella di Vergy" by Mercadante in 1828.

Parts of the original version of the opera were re-used by Donizetti in his other operas "Otto mesi in due ore" (Naples, 1827), "L’esule di Roma" (Naples 1828), "Il paria" (Naples 1829) and "Anna Bolena". For the revised version, Donizetti revisited "Gabriella di Vergy" and incorporated into the opera parts of "Ugo, conte di Parigi" (Milan 1832), "Rosmonda d'Inghilterra" (Florence 1834) and "Maria de Rudenz" (Venice 1838).

Performance history

Donizetti's revised "Gabriella di Vergy" finally received its first performance on November 29, 1869 at the Teatro San Carlo, Naples, after the composer's death. The opera was rediscovered in 1978 by Don White and Patric Schmid.

Roles

Brief synopsis

:Place: Burgundy:Time: Middle Ages

Gabriella has married Fayel under pressure from her father and the reported death of Raoul, the man she really loves. She discovers too late that she had been deceived and that Raoul is alive. Raoul returns and accuses her of perfidy. Meanwhile, he is under pressure from the Emperor to marry Fayel's sister, Almeide. The story has a tragic and macbre end. Raoul is killed by Fayel in a duel. Fayel cuts out his heart and brings it to Gabriella in an urn. She goes mad and dies of a broken heart. Her final words to Fayel, and the final words of the opera are her wish for the foaming blood in the urn to rise up and cover Fayel's face and for Raoul's ghost to rise from its tomb to embed in Fayel's heart the knife he had used to cut out Raoul's.

Scellerato, quel sangue fumante
si sollevi e ti spruzzi sul viso!
Da quel petto squarciato e grondante
si riversi in tuo petto il dolor!
Dal sepolcro l'ucciso risorga
qual fantasma d'orribile aspetto,
e t'immerga nel cor maledetto
il pugnal che strappavagli il cor!

Selected recordings

* A recording was made in 1978 in London of the complete opera by the Peter Moores Foundation on the "Opera Rara" label. The cast includes Ludmilla Andrew in the title role, Christian Duplessis, Maurice Arthur, and John Tomlinson. This also includes selected scenes from the earlier (1826) version with Eiddwen Harrhy as Gabriella and Della Jones. Geoffrey Mitchell Choir, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra cond. Alun Francis. ORC 3.

* (1994, London). Jennifer Rhys-Davies, Jonathan Viera, Karl Morgan Daymond, Claire Daniels, Ivan Sharpe, Paul Nilon, Geoffrey Mitchell Choir, Philharmonia Orchestra, cond. David Parry. "Opera Rara". ORCH 104.

References

*William Ashbrook, "Donizetti and His Operas", 1982, Cambridge University Press, pp. 39-40. ISBN 0521276632
*Charles Osborne, "Bel Canto Operas of Rossini, Donizetti, and Bellini", 1994, Hal Leonard Corporation, p. 164. ISBN 0931340845
*Folco Portinari, "Pari siamo! Io la lingua, egli ha il pugnale: storia del melodramma ottocentesco attraverso i suoi libretti", 1981, EDT srl, pp.93-94. ISBN 887063017X

External links

* [http://www.karadar.com/Librettos/donizetti_gabriella.html Libretto] (Italian)