Il duca d'Alba
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''Le duc d'Albe'' (its original French title) or ''Il duca d'Alba'' (its later Italian title) is an opera in three acts originally composed 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 ...
in 1839 to a
French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...
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 ...
by Eugène Scribe and Charles Duveyrier. Its title, which translates as ''The Duke of Alba'', refers to its protagonist Fernando Álvarez de Toledo, 3rd Duke of Alba. The work was intended for performance at the Paris Opéra. However, William Ashbrook notes that " Rosine Stoltz, the director's mistress, disliked her intended role of Hélène and Donizetti put the work aside when it was half completed".Ashbrook 1998, p. 1263 Donizetti then abandoned the score in favour of continuing to work simultaneously on both '' L'ange de Nisida'' and ''
L'elisir d'amore ''L'elisir d'amore'' (''The Elixir of Love'', ) is a ' (opera buffa) in two acts by the Italian composer Gaetano Donizetti. Felice Romani wrote the Italian libretto, after Eugène Scribe's libretto for Daniel Auber's ' (1831). The opera premiere ...
'', and thus it was nearly 34 years after the composer's death that it was completed by his former pupil
Matteo Salvi Matteo Salvi (24 November 1816 – 18 October 1887 ) was a composer of opera and classical music and a theatre director. Salvi was born in Botta di Sedrina (Provincia di Bergamo), Italy. A student of Gaetano Donizetti, he is best known for ...
and received its first performance in an Italian translation and under its Italian title ''Il duca d'Alba'' at the
Teatro Apollo The Tor di Nona is a neighborhood in Rome's ''rione'' '' Ponte''. It lies in the heart of the city's historic center, between the ''Via dei Coronari'' and the Tiber River. Its name commemorates the Torre dell'Annona, a mediaeval tower which once s ...
in Rome on 22 March 1882 with
Leone Giraldoni Leone Giraldoni (born 4 July 1824, Paris – died 19 September 1897, Moscow) was a celebrated Italian operatic baritone. He created the title roles of Gaetano Donizetti's '' Il duca d'Alba'' (1882) and Verdi's ''Simon Boccanegra'' (1857) as we ...
in the title role, Abigaille Bruschi Chiatti as Amelia di Egmont, and
Julián Gayarre Sebastián Julián Gayarre Garjón (9 January 1844 in Roncal, Navarre, Spain – 2 January 1890 in Madrid, Spain), better known as Julián Gayarre, was a Spanish opera singer who created the role of Marcello in Donizetti's '' Il Duca d'Alba'' ...
as Marcello. It received almost no performances in Italian until the mid-20th century and was only given its first performances in French in May 2012.


Composition history

The opera had been originally commissioned for the Paris Opéra in 1839, and Donizetti worked on it throughout most of that year. However, he abandoned the project with only the first two acts completed, plus notes for the melodies and bass lines for acts 3 and 4. The opera remained unfinished at the time of his death in 1848. Although abandoned for the Opéra and still incomplete, Donizetti felt that his contract for this opera had been broken and, in late May 1845, decided to leave Vienna for Paris where he would claim a forfeit from the Opéra for its non-production, which was still unfinished, as was the libretto. He left Vienna for the last time on 10 July 1845, but appears to have done nothing about the claim when he arrived in Paris, and his final illness soon claimed him. In 1855, Scribe and Duveyrier's libretto was transferred to Verdi's opera '' Les vêpres siciliennes'', with the setting changed from the Spanish occupation of Flanders in 1573 to the French occupation of Sicily in 1282. In 1881
Matteo Salvi Matteo Salvi (24 November 1816 – 18 October 1887 ) was a composer of opera and classical music and a theatre director. Salvi was born in Botta di Sedrina (Provincia di Bergamo), Italy. A student of Gaetano Donizetti, he is best known for ...
, a former pupil of Donizetti's, completed the opera from Donizetti's notes with the help of
Amilcare Ponchielli Amilcare Ponchielli (, ; 31 August 1834 – 16 January 1886) was an Italian opera composer, best known for his opera ''La Gioconda''. He was married to the soprano Teresina Brambilla. Life and work Born in Paderno Fasolaro (now Paderno Ponchiell ...
,
Antonio Bazzini Antonio Bazzini (11 March 181810 February 1897) was an Italian violinist, composer and teacher. As a composer, his most enduring work is his chamber music, which earned him a central place in the Italian instrumental renaissance of the 19th cent ...
and Cesare Domeniceti. Angelo Zanardini translated Scribe's libretto from the original French into Italian. The names of the two lovers 'Henri' and 'Hélène' (which by that time had been used in ''Les vêpres siciliennes'') were changed to 'Marcello' and 'Amelia'. When Donizetti abandoned the opera, he re-cycled the famous tenor aria, 'Ange si pur' ( 'Spirto gentil' in the Italian version) for his 1840 opera '' La favorite''. For the premiere, Salvi composed a replacement aria, 'Angelo casto e bel'. He also added recitatives and combined acts 3 and 4 into a single final act.


Performance history

Original French version In May 2012
Vlaamse Opera The Vlaamse Opera (Flemish Opera) is an opera company in Belgium directed by Jan Vandenhouwe which operates in two different opera houses in two Flemish cities, the Vlaamse Opera Antwerp at Van Ertbornstraat 8 and the Vlaamse Opera Ghent at Schouwbu ...
in Antwerp and Ghent presented the first performances of the original French opera in a four-act version, which had been completed in 2012 with additional music by
Giorgio Battistelli Giorgio Battistelli (born 25 April 1953) is an Italian composer of contemporary classical music. A native of Albano Laziale (province of Rome), he studied at the conservatory in L'Aquila and is a former student of Stockhausen and Kagel. Battistel ...
. It used the critical edition prepared by musicologist Roger Parker who has written extensive notes on the evolution of this original version. The French version featured
George Petean George Petean (born 1976 in Cluj-Napoca) is a Romanian operatic baritone. Biography Petean studied at the Gheorghe Dima Music Academy in his city of birth and made his debut in the title role of ''Don Giovanni'' in Timișoara in 1997. He subseque ...
as the Duke and
Rachel Harnisch Rachel Harnisch (born 1 August 1973) is a Swiss operatic soprano. Life Born in Brig, Harnisch studied at the Hochschule für Musik Freiburg with Beata Heuer-Christen. In 2000, she made her debut as Pamina ''(The Magic Flute)'' at the Stadtth ...
as Hélène d'Egmont. and it was conducted by Paolo Carignani. Italian version The opera has only been rarely performed since 1882 and "no one seems even to have remembered its existence, until, that is, Fernando Previtali discovered the battered full-score used by the conductor at that momentous prima on a market stall in Rome n 12 January 1952.Weatherson, "The 'hache sanglante'", Part 3 Prof. Alexander Weatherson of London's Donizetti Society, in his study of the opera's performance history notes that:
Performance history insists that it was under the baton of Fernando Previtali that the treasured score of ''Il duca d'Alba'' was brought back to life, complete, in a concert performance in that same city of Rome where it had been discovered on that famous market stall. But this is far from correct. That rebirth version was already abridged, the opera was given in three acts, not four.
However, there was a major revival of the Italian version at the 1959
Festival dei Due Mondi The ''Festival dei Due Mondi'' (Festival of the Two Worlds) is an annual summer music and opera festival held each June to early July in Spoleto, Italy, since its founding by composer Gian Carlo Menotti in 1958. It features a vast array of conce ...
in Spoleto, after conductor Thomas Schippers rediscovered the score (originally found in 1952), reworked it by removing most of Salvi's additions and reconstructing the final acts himself from Donizetti's notes. All the same, Weatherson has also stated:
At the Teatro Nuovo of Spoleto on 11 June 1959 was staged a further purported revival of the Donizetti/Salvi opera, again in three acts, the orchestra reduced throughout to "Donizettian" sound-bites (as though the Paris Opéra of his day would have been deficient in instrumentation), with preludes and recitatives dropped....and pared-down codas. ''Spirto gentil'' once again making an inappropriate appearance in place of ''Angelo casto e bel.'' This 1959 cut-price version outlined the merest skeleton of the composer's musical plan, Mr Schippers, it would seem, had no taste for '' grand opera'' and tried to rewrite Donizetti's score as if it was a ''melodramma romantico'' such as he might have composed some ten years before his Paris adventure."
The Spoleto production was directed by Luchino Visconti, who used restored sets from the 1882 premiere. Schippers presented the United States premiere of the work later that year under the umbrella of the
American Opera Society The American Opera Society (AOS) was a New York City-based musical organization that presented concert and semi-staged performances of operas between 1951 and 1970. The company was highly influential in sparking and perpetuating the post World War I ...
at the Academy of Music in Philadelphia on 15 October 1959. Other stagings included that at the
Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie The Royal Theatre of La Monnaie (french: Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie, italic=no, ; nl, Koninklijke Muntschouwburg, italic=no; both translating as the "Royal Theatre of the Mint") is an opera house in central Brussels, Belgium. The National O ...
in Brussels in 1979 (using sets inspired by Carlo Ferrario's 1882 designs), the run of six performances at the Teatro San Carlo, Naples, in December 1979 and January 1980, and, in October 1982,
Opera Orchestra of New York The Opera Orchestra of New York (also known as OONY) specializes in the performance of opera in concert form. It is particularly known for its work in presenting rarely performed repertory. Among the numerous American premieres it has presented are ...
gave a concert performance of a version of the opera with
Matteo Manuguerra Matteo Manuguerra (5 October 1924 – 23 July 1998) was a Tunisian-born French baritone, one of the leading Verdi baritones of the 1970s. Manuguerra was born in Tunis, Tunisia, to Italian parents, who later moved to Argentina. He came late to ...
in the title role. Cast and production details on the OONY website
Retrieved 12 May 2012
About this performance, Weatherson notes: "where there were cuts galore but also the restitution of many of the more characterful sections of the Salvi score". When the Schippers version with the Visconti production was revived at the Teatro Nuovo in Spoleto (Festival dei Due Mondi) on 1 July 1992 "...there was a further attempt...this time under the baton of Alberto Maria Giuri ndwhen the Donizetti/Salvi ''Il duca d'Alba'' finally made an appearance in an edition at last musically worthy of its original dimensions and dramatic character, far more complete now, the Duca d'Alba sung by
Alan Titus Alan Titus (born in New York City, on October 28, 1945) is an internationally celebrated baritone. Life and career Titus studied under Aksel Schiøtz at the Colorado School of Music, and Hans Heinz at The Juilliard School. His official debut w ...
, Marcello by César Hernàndez, Amelia by Michaela Sburiati, Sandoval by Marco Pauluzzo and Carlo by Dennis Petersen." On 16 July 2007, a concert performance was given by the Orchestra national de Montpellier Languedoc-Roussillon. "It was conducted by Enrique Mazzola; with Inva Mula (Amelia),
Franck Ferrari Franck Ferrari (12 January 1963 – 18 June 2015) was a French baritone. Biography Born in Nice, in a family of Italian origin, of a boxer father and a basketball mother and captain of the Cavigal Nice Basket, Ferrari studied at the Conser ...
(Duca), Arturo Chacón-Cruz (Marcello), Francesco Ellero d'Artegna (Sandoval) and Mauro Corna (Daniele) with the Orchestre National de Montpellier. The performance has been subsequently issued on CD."


Roles


Synopsis

:Place: Brussels and
Antwerp Antwerp (; nl, Antwerpen ; french: Anvers ; es, Amberes) is the largest city in Belgium by area at and the capital of Antwerp Province in the Flemish Region. With a population of 520,504,
:Time: 1573


Act 1

The Duke of Alba has been sent to Flanders to suppress the rebellion against Spanish rule. Shortly before the action begins, Amelia's father Egmont, a Flemish hero, had been executed by the Duke and she is now determined to assassinate him. The Duke discovers that his long-lost son Marcello, Amelia's lover, is now the leader of the rebellion. The Duke arrests him when he refuses to join the Spanish army.


Act 2

When Marcello is freed from prison, he appeals to the Duke to spare his co-conspirators and Amelia, all of whom have been arrested in Daniele Bauer's tavern. The Duke reveals to Marcello that he is his father. In exchange for his friends' freedom, Marcello kneels before the Duke and acknowledges him as his father.


Act 3

Marcello confesses to Amelia that he is the Duke's son. She asks him to kill the Duke as proof of his love for her. Torn between his father and the woman he loves, Marcello hesitates. Later at the port of Antwerp, Amelia, disguised as a man, takes matters into her own hands and attempts to stab the Duke to death. Marcello throws himself on the Duke to shield him and is unwittingly killed by Amelia.


Recordings

Italian version: Prepared by Angelo Zanardini, Rome 1882. Original version using the French text: Completed by Giorgio Battistelli in 2012. "''Le Duc d'Albe''" on the Vlaamse Opera's website
at vlaamseopera.be/en. Retrieved 26 December 2013


References

Notes Cited sources *
Ashbrook, William 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. ...
(1998), "''Le duc d'Albe''" 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'', Vol. One. London: MacMillan Publishers, Inc. * *
Parker, Roger Roger Parker (born London United Kingdom, 2 August 1951) is an English musicologist and, since January 2007, has been Thurston Dart Professor of Music at King's College London. His work has centred on opera. Between 2006 and 2010, while Profes ...
(2012
"Donizetti's Forgotten French Opera: In Search of ''Le Duc d'Albe''"
Donizetti Society (London), June 2012, on donizettisociety.com (written in conjunction with the Vlaamse Opera reconstruction performances). Retrieved 9 February 2014. *Weatherson, Alexander

Newsletter 102, October 2007, pub: Donizetti Society (London). *Weatherson, Alexander

Newsletter 102, October 2007. pub. Donizetti Society (London). *Weatherson, Alexander,

Newsletter 102, October 2007. pub. Donizetti Society (London). Retrieved 9 February 2014. * 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) *Ashbrook, William (1982), ''Donizetti and His Operas'', Cambridge University Press. *Ashbrook, William and Sarah Hibberd (2001), in Holden, Amanda (Ed.), ''The New Penguin Opera Guide'', New York: Penguin Putnam. . *Jackson, Alan (in part)
"Past Production Report: Donizetti's ''Le Duc d'Albe''"
Vlaamse Opera, Antwerp & Ghent, 25 May—2 June 2012", Donizetti Society (London). (Reactions to seeing the Vlaamse Opera's production in 2012) *Loewenberg, Alfred (1970). ''Annals of Opera, 1597–1940'', 2nd edition. Rowman and Littlefield *Loomis, George (May 15, 2012)

''The New York Times'', May 15, 2102 (An account of the leading up to the 2012 production) * Osborne, Charles, (1994), ''The Bel Canto Operas of Rossini, Donizetti, and Bellini'', Portland, Oregon: Amadeus Press. *Rosenthal, H. and Warrack, J., ''The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Opera'', 2nd Edition, 1979, Oxford University Press. p. 144 *Sadie, Stanley, (Ed.); John Tyrell (Exec. Ed.) (2004), '' The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians''. 2nd edition. London: Macmillan. (hardcover). (eBook).


External links


Donizetti Society (London) website
for further information on this opera. {{DEFAULTSORT:Duc d'Albe, Le French-language operas Libretti by Eugène Scribe Operas Operas set in the 16th century Operas set in Belgium Works set in Flanders Operas based on real people Operas by Gaetano Donizetti Unfinished operas Works about the Eighty Years' War Brussels in fiction Antwerp in fiction Cultural depictions of Fernando Álvarez de Toledo, 3rd Duke of Alba