''Belisario'' (''Belisarius'') is a ''tragedia lirica'' (tragic
opera
Opera is a form of theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically a collaboration between a composer and a librett ...
) in three acts by
Gaetano Donizetti
Domenico Gaetano Maria Donizetti (29 November 1797 – 8 April 1848) was an Italian composer, best known for his almost 70 operas. Along with Gioachino Rossini and Vincenzo Bellini, he was a leading composer of the '' bel canto'' opera style dur ...
.
Salvadore Cammarano
Salvadore Cammarano (also Salvatore) (born Naples, 19 March 1801 – died Naples 17 July 1852) was a prolific Italian librettist and playwright perhaps best known for writing the text of ''Lucia di Lammermoor'' (1835) for Gaetano Donizetti.
For ...
wrote the
Italian
Italian(s) may refer to:
* Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries
** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom
** Italian language, a Romance language
*** Regional Ita ...
libretto
A libretto (Italian for "booklet") is the text used in, or intended for, an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, oratorio, cantata or Musical theatre, musical. The term ''libretto'' is also sometimes used to refer to the t ...
after
Luigi Marchionni's adaptation of play, ''Belisarius'', first staged in Munich in 1820 and then (in Italian) in Naples in 1826. The plot is loosely based on the life of the famous general
Belisarius
Belisarius (; el, Βελισάριος; The exact date of his birth is unknown. – 565) was a military commander of the Byzantine Empire under the emperor Justinian I. He was instrumental in the reconquest of much of the Mediterranean terri ...
of the 6th century
Byzantine Empire
The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...
.
It premiered to critical and popular success on 4 February
1836
Events
January–March
* January 1 – Queen Maria II of Portugal marries Prince Ferdinand Augustus Francis Anthony of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha.
* January 5 – Davy Crockett arrives in Texas.
* January 12
** , with Charles Darwin on board, r ...
at the
Teatro La Fenice
Teatro La Fenice (, "The Phoenix") is an opera house in Venice, Italy. It is one of "the most famous and renowned landmarks in the history of Italian theatre" and in the history of opera as a whole. Especially in the 19th century, La Fenice bec ...
,
Venice
Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 ...
, and was given many additional performances that season,
[Osborne 1994, pp. 245-248] although Donizetti scholar
William Ashbrook
William Ashbrook (January 28, 1922 – March 31, 2009) was an American musicologist, writer, journalist, and academic. He was perhaps best noted as a historian, researcher and popularizer of the works of Italian opera composer Gaetano Donizetti.
...
notes that there would have been more had the opera not been presented so late in the season.
However, in spite of its initial short-term success and critical reaction, as represented by a review in ''La Gazzetta privilegiata'' which stated that "A new masterwork has been added to Italian music.....''Belisario'' not only pleased and delighted, but also conquered, enflamed and ravished the full auditorium", in the long run, had "Donizetti poured music of the calibre of his ''
Lucia di Lammermoor
''Lucia di Lammermoor'' () is a (tragic opera) in three acts by Italian composer Gaetano Donizetti. Salvadore Cammarano wrote the Italian-language libretto loosely based upon Sir Walter Scott's 1819 historical novel ''The Bride of Lammermoor''.
...
'' into the score of ''Belisario'' the shortcomings of its wayward plot and dramatic structure would matter less".
[Osborne, 1994, p. 247] By April 1836, even the composer himself recognized that the work stood below ''Lucia'' in accomplishment.
Composition history
With the success of ''Lucia di Lammermoor'' in September 1835, Donizetti moved on to stagings of ''
Maria Stuarda
''Maria Stuarda'' (Mary Stuart) is a tragic opera (''tragedia lirica''), in two acts, by Gaetano Donizetti, to a libretto by Giuseppe Bardari, based on Andrea Maffei's translation of Friedrich Schiller's 1800 play '' Maria Stuart''.
The ope ...
'', the first under that name at La Scala in late 1835. He had signed the contract in July 1835 to present ''Belisario'' in Venice, for what would be the first visit to that city since 1819, but it was not until October that the subject was finally agreed upon.
There followed discussions with impresario Natale Fabbrici about employing a Venetian librettist, Pietro Beltrame. However, not only did the composer prefer to work with a librettist known to him and with whom he could work in close proximity,
[Commons 2013, pp. 12—14: "It would be imprudent to have the poet so far removed from the maestro" Donizetti had noted in a letter of 24 October.] but he had already begun working with Cammarano who was revising - to the composer's satisfaction - an earlier version of ''Belisario'' which the librettist had submitted to the
Teatro San Carlo
The Real Teatro di San Carlo ("Royal Theatre of Saint Charles"), as originally named by the Bourbon monarchy but today known simply as the Teatro (di) San Carlo, is an opera house in Naples, Italy, connected to the Royal Palace and adjacent t ...
management in 1832.
[
Of greater concern to Donizetti was the singers who were to be engaged. Primarily, he was concerned about the identity of the leading tenor: "Until I know for sure, I cannot compose duets, finales and trios", he writes in October. By the time Donizetti arrived in Venice on 6 January 1836, the score of ''Belisario'' was almost finished, and because of delays, he had time to hear several of the proposed singers in a performance of Rossini's '']L'assedio di Corinto
''Besieged'' (Italian title: ''L'assedio'') is a 1998 film by Bernardo Bertolucci starring Thandie Newton and David Thewlis. The film is based on the short story "The Siege" by James Lasdun and was supposed to be a 60-minute teleplay until Berto ...
'' given on 12 January, the day before rehearsals of ''Belisario'' were to begin.
In the case of Antonietta Vial (who was to sing the role of Irene and whom he described on first hearing her as "both a bastard soprano and a veiled contralto", he was able to make adjustments to suit her vocal limitations. By the time of the first performance, which was well received, Donizetti reported to his publisher the audience's reaction to most of the numbers, specifically that "in the duet for Vial and Salvatore, many shouts of ''bravi'', but at the end (so they say) the situation is so moving that they were weeping".
In a review of a 2011 London performance, some of the strengths of Donizetti's score are outlined:
:"The central couple are played by bass and soprano, which brings Verdi's ''Macbeth'' immediately to mind. But Donizetti's score has none of Verdi's furious compression, and dramatically we are in very different territory. Belisario and Antonina, the latter more Regan than Lady Macbeth, are at each others' throats rather than united by desire for power. Her machinations lead to his being blinded then expelled from Byzantium into the natural world beyond. The emotional centre lies, however, in Donizetti's forceful depiction of Belisario's relationship with his strong-willed daughter Irene – you think at once of Cordelia – and his eventual reunion with Alamiro, the son who vanished in infancy and in whose supposed murder Belisario is implicated."[Tim Ashley 21 February 2011]
"''Belisario''—Review"
''The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
'' (London). Retrieved 1 September 2011
Performance history
19th century
The opera's popularity continued through the 19th century, with stagings in 31 cities both in Europe and America. Its first performance in London took place on 1 April 1837, but it only reached the United States on 29 July 1843 in Philadelphia and later in New York on 14 February 1844.
After an 1899 performance in Coblenz
Koblenz (; Moselle Franconian: ''Kowelenz''), spelled Coblenz before 1926, is a German city on the banks of the Rhine and the Moselle, a multi-nation tributary.
Koblenz was established as a Roman military post by Drusus around 8 B.C. Its na ...
, the opera disappeared.
20th century and beyond
Modern productions have been rare. Revivals took place in 1969 at La Fenice,
in 1970 at Bergamo, in 1972 in London, in 1973 in Naples, in 1981 in Buenos Aires, and in 1990 at Rutgers University
Rutgers University (; RU), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a Public university, public land-grant research university consisting of four campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's ...
in New Jersey. Most notable amongst performers in the leading female role has been Leyla Gencer
Ayşe Leyla Gencer (, née Çeyrekgil; 10 October 192810 May 2008) was a Turkish operatic soprano.
Gencer was a notable ''bel canto'' soprano who spent most of her career in Italy, from the early 1950s through the mid-1980s, and had a reperto ...
.
The opera was presented in January 2005 by the North Carolina School for Arts
using a then brand-new performance score prepared by Ottavio Sbragia. Realizing close to the beginning of rehearsals that a performance score was not available, NCSA enlisted the help of musicologist Philip Gossett
Philip Gossett (September 27, 1941 – June 12, 2017) was an American musicologist and historian, and Robert W. Reneker Distinguished Service Professor of Music at the University of Chicago. His lifelong interest in 19th-century Italian opera bega ...
, who was able to put them in touch with Sbragia, and his version, which was based on the original 1836 performances in Venice, became the work's critical edition.
The same year saw stagings by Turkish State Opera and Ballet
Turkish may refer to:
*a Turkic language spoken by the Turks
* of or about Turkey
** Turkish language
*** Turkish alphabet
** Turkish people, a Turkic ethnic group and nation
*** Turkish citizen, a citizen of Turkey
*** Turkish communities and mi ...
in Istanbul
Istanbul ( , ; tr, İstanbul ), formerly known as Constantinople ( grc-gre, Κωνσταντινούπολις; la, Constantinopolis), is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, serving as the country's economic, ...
.
In July 2010, the opera was performed by the Buenos Aires Lirica
and
a concert performance, starring Nelly Miricioiu
Nelly Miricioiu (born 31 March 1952) is a Romanian-born British operatic soprano singing a large repertoire ranging from bel canto to verismo.
Biography
Born in Adjud, Romania, Miricioiu started singing at 5 and was hailed as a child prodigy. ...
with London's Chelsea Opera Group under conductor Richard Bonynge
Richard Alan Bonynge ( ) (born 29 September 1930) is an Australian conductor and pianist. He is the widower of Australian dramatic coloratura soprano Dame Joan Sutherland. Bonynge conducted virtually all of Sutherland's operatic performances ...
, was given at Queen Elizabeth Hall on 13 February 2011
''Belisario'' was given a new production at the Teatro Donizetti
The Teatro Donizetti is an opera house in Bergamo, Italy. Built in the 1780s using a design by architect Giovanni Francesco Lucchini, the theatre was originally referred to as either the Teatro Nuovo or Teatro di Fiera. The first opera to be mo ...
in Bergamo
Bergamo (; lmo, Bèrghem ; from the proto- Germanic elements *''berg +*heim'', the "mountain home") is a city in the alpine Lombardy region of northern Italy, approximately northeast of Milan, and about from Switzerland, the alpine lakes Como ...
as part of the Donizetti Festival in September 2012 using the critical edition, while the BBC Symphony Orchestra
The BBC Symphony Orchestra (BBC SO) is a British orchestra based in London. Founded in 1930, it was the first permanent salaried orchestra in London, and is the only one of the city's five major symphony orchestras not to be self-governing. T ...
presented a concert performance in London on 28 October 2012 with Canadian soprano Joyce El-Khoury
Joyce El-Khoury is a Lebanese-Canadian opera singer performing with leading opera companies and symphony orchestras around the world. She is a soprano praised for her bel canto singing.
Early life and education
El-Khoury was born in Beirut, Le ...
as Antonina and Sicilian baritone Nicola Alaimo as the title character.
[ Micael Church, "''Belisario'', BBC Symphony Orchestra, Mark Elder, Barbican"](_blank)
''The Independent
''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...
'' (London), 29 October 2012, online at independent.co.uk. Retrieved 30 October 2012 Time Ashley, "''Belisario'' - review"
''The Guardian'' (London), 30 October 2012. Retrieved 31 October 2012 The cast recorded the opera for
Opera Rara
Opera Rara is a London-based opera company and recording label which specialises in recording and performing forgotten operatic repertoire from the 19th and early 20th centuries. Founded in 1970 by bel canto enthusiasts Patric Schmid and Don Whi ...
.
Roles
Synopsis
:Place: Byzantium and the Haemus mountains.
:Time: sixth century A.D.
Act 1
Il Trionfo (Triumph)
''The hall in the emperor's palace''
Irene and the populace greet the victor Belisarius. Antonina hates her husband because Proclus, the slave of Belisarius, has confessed on his deathbed, that upon command of his master he had exposed her son on the shore of the ocean, thus causing his death. The Emperor
Justinian
Justinian I (; la, Iustinianus, ; grc-gre, Ἰουστινιανός ; 48214 November 565), also known as Justinian the Great, was the Byzantine emperor from 527 to 565.
His reign is marked by the ambitious but only partly realized ''renovat ...
greets his commander and grants his prayer for the release of the prisoners. The captive, Alamiro, who adores Belisarius, refuses to leave him (Recitative and duet: ''Che veggio!... Il don sprezzi forse, Alamiro?'' / "What do I see, you Alamiro reject my gift?"). The general adopts him in place of his long lost son. Irene congratulates her father, but Antonina has already begun her work of hate, by traducing Belisarius to Justinian, and the innocent man is accused of high treason and thrown into prison on the evidence of his wife.
Act 2
L'Esilio (Exile)
''Before the prison''
Alamiro and his friends lament the fate of Belisarius, whose eyes have been put out by his enemies, falsely construing and disobeying the commands of the emperor. Alamiro swears vengeance (Aria: ''Trema, Bisanzio! sterminatrice, Su te la guerra discenderà'' / "Tremble, murderous Byzantium, war shall descend upon thee"). Irene clad as a youth arrives to act as guide to her father, who is about to be released from prison (Duet: ''Oh tu, che della eterna, orribil notte'' /"Oh thou, who in terrible darkness").
Act 3
La Morte (Death)
''In the mountains''
As the clang of weapons is heard, Irene leads Belisarius to a cave for safety. Alamiro now leads the army of the Alanni against Byzantium to avenge Belisarius. Belisarius confronts him and recognizes him as his son through an amulet. At his father's request, the son leaves the ranks of the enemies of Byzantium, and the Alanni, now under the command of Ottavio, march to Byzantium, having no fear, as the emperor's army is bereft of its leader.
''Hall in Byzantium''
Antonina, in remorse, tells the emperor that her testimony against Belisarius was false. Irene approaches with news of the victory and informs Antonina that Alamiro is her son, and that it was the slave, not Belisarius, who had planned his death. Meanwhile, the blind Belisarius has led the Byzantine army and defeated the Alanni, who had threatened Byzantium, but an arrow has mortally wounded him. He is carried in dying, and the sorrowing emperor promises to be a father to Alamiro and Irene.
Recordings
References
Notes
Cited sources
*
Ashbrook, William (1982), ''Donizetti and His Operas''. Cambridge University Press.
* Ashbrook, William (1992). "''Belisario''", vol. 1, pp. 384–385, in ''
The New Grove Dictionary of Opera
''The New Grove Dictionary of Opera'' is an encyclopedia of opera, considered to be one of the best general reference sources on the subject. It is the largest work on opera in English, and in its printed form, amounts to 5,448 pages in four volu ...
'', edited by
Stanley Sadie
Stanley John Sadie (; 30 October 1930 – 21 March 2005) was an influential and prolific British musicologist, music critic, and editor. He was editor of the sixth edition of the '' Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians'' (1980), which was publ ...
. London: Macmillan. .
* Ashbrook, William; Hibberd, Sarah (2001). "Gaetano Donizetti", pp. 237 in ''The New Penguin Opera Guide'', edited by
Amanda Holden
Amanda Louise Holden (born 16 February 1971) is an English actress, media personality, and singer. Since 2007, she has been a judge on the television talent show competition ''Britain's Got Talent'' on ITV. She also co-hosts the ''Heart Brea ...
. New York: Penguin Putnam. .
*Commons, Jeremy (2013), ''Belisario'': introductory essay in booklet accompanying the 2013 Opera Rara recording.
*
Osborne, Charles (1994). ''The Bel Canto Operas of Rossini, Donizetti, and Bellini''. Portland, Oregon: Amadeus Press .
*
Smart, Mary Ann;
Budden, Julian
Julian Medforth Budden (9 April 1924 in Hoylake, Wirral – 28 February 2007 in Florence, Italy) was a British opera scholar, radio producer and broadcaster. He is particularly known for his three volumes on the operas of Giuseppe Verdi (publish ...
(2001). "Donizetti, (Domenico) Gaetano (Maria)" in Sadie 2001.
*
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. .
Other 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)
*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
* Melitz, Leo (1921)
''The Opera Goer's Complete Guide'', 1921 on books.google.com (Source of the synopsis)
* Sadie, Stanley, Ed; (John Tyrell; Exec. Ed.) (2001). ''
The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians
''The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians'' is an encyclopedic dictionary of music and musicians. Along with the German-language ''Die Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart'', it is one of the largest reference works on the history and theo ...
'', 2nd edition. London: Macmillan. (hardcover). (eBook).
External links
''Belisario'': Past Productions Report from the Donizetti Society London.
*
ttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3rMb0JJq6cE&list=UUOa2cPYjC9SzrIUzeo96ATg&index=6 Opera Rare: The Historyon youtube.com
Libretto on opera.stanford.edu (in Italian)
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Operas
Operas by Gaetano Donizetti
Italian-language operas
Byzantine Empire in art and culture
1836 operas
Opera world premieres at La Fenice
Operas based on plays
Byzantine Empire in fiction