''Pelagio'' is an opera (tragedia lirica) in four acts by

Saverio Mercadante Giuseppe Saverio Raffaele Mercadante (baptised 17 September 179517 December 1870) was an Italian composer, particularly of operas. While Mercadante may not have retained the international celebrity of Gaetano Donizetti or Gioachino Rossini beyond ...

. The Italian-language

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 ...

was by

Marco D'Arienzo Marco D'Arienzo (Naples, 24 April 181124 April 1877) was an Italian opera librettist. D'Arienzo was a professional state officialAntolini, 1986 and, at the same time, a writer and librettist. From 1834 to 1837 he worked as a journalist for the Neap ...

. It premiered on 12 February 1857 at 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 ...

, Naples, to great success. The opera had further successful performances in Milan and Lisbon. In modern times, ''Pelagio'' was performed in 2005 in Gijón, Spain, and in 2008 at the

Festival della Valle d'Itria The ''Festival della Valle d'Itria'' is a summer opera festival held in the south eastern Italian town of Martina Franca in the Apulia region. The Festival was founded in 1975 and performances are given in July and August each summer on a specially ...

. ''Pelagio'' is an opera with "roots in the

bel canto Bel canto (Italian for "beautiful singing" or "beautiful song", )—with several similar constructions (''bellezze del canto'', ''bell'arte del canto'')—is a term with several meanings that relate to Italian singing. The phrase was not associat ...

tradition that shows the influence of

Verdi Giuseppe Fortunino Francesco Verdi (; 9 or 10 October 1813 – 27 January 1901) was an Italian composer best known for his operas. He was born near Busseto to a provincial family of moderate means, receiving a musical education with the h ...

", and the work has been described as rich in "excellent music", with "at least one aria (for Bianca in act 4) of an almost Verdian intensity and pathos".Rose, in Grove 1998, p. 336

Roles

Synopsis

:Place:

Gijón Gijón () or () is a city and municipality in north-western Spain. It is the largest city and municipality by population in the autonomous community of Asturias. It is located on the coast of the Cantabrian Sea in the Bay of Biscay, in the cent ...

and

Asturias Asturias (, ; ast, Asturies ), officially the Principality of Asturias ( es, Principado de Asturias; ast, Principáu d'Asturies; Galician-Asturian: ''Principao d'Asturias''), is an autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community in nor ...

:Time: 8th century The main character is the Asturian king who founded the Kingdom of Asturias and fought against the

Moors The term Moor, derived from the ancient Mauri, is an exonym first used by Christian Europeans to designate the Muslim inhabitants of the Maghreb, the Iberian Peninsula, Sicily and Malta during the Middle Ages. Moors are not a distinct or ...

. It is supposed that his daughter Bianca, brought up by Giralda because Pelagio was believed to be dead, falls in love with the Moor Abdel-Aor, governor of the city of Gijón. Bianca is thus cursed by Pelagius. The opera ends with the death of Bianca, killed by the same Abdel-Aor because he realizes that the love with Bianca has become impossible and is convinced that Bianca is betraying him to help her father.

Recordings

References

Notes Sources *Rose, Michael (1998), "Mercandante, (Giuseppe) Saverio (Raffaele)" in

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 ...

, (ed.), ''

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 ...

'', Vol. Three, pp. 334–339. London: Macmillan Publishers, Inc.

External links

*
Première libretto
from th
Bayerische Staatsbibliothek
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pelagio Operas Italian-language operas 1857 operas Operas by Saverio Mercadante Operas set in Spain Pelagius of Asturias