LUCREZIA BORGIA

Gaetano Donizetti (1797 - 1848)

Opera in two acts in Italian

Libretto: Felice Romani after Victor Hugo
Premièr at Teatro alla Scala, Milan – 26 December 1833

17, 20† February 1979

Teatro Comunale, Firenze

Conductor: Gabriele Ferro

Chorus master: Roberto Gabbiani

Stage director: Giancarlo Sepe

Scene: Rafaele Del Savio (from an idea of Giancarlo Sepe)
Costumes: Anna Giammussa 

Direttore dell'alesstimento / Production Manager: Raoul Farolfi
Scenografo realizzatore / Set Designer: Raffaele Del Savio
Direttore musicale di palcoscenico / Musical Director: Valentino Barcellesi
Vice-direttore musicale di polcoscenico / Associate Music Director: Gilberto Fintoni
Maestro collaboratore / Accompanist: Donna Brunsma
Maestro suggeritore / Prompter: Stelio Maroli
Maestro della banda / Bandmaster: Gennaro Urbani
Maestro colloboratore alle luci / Lighting Assistant: Paolo Vanzini
Maestro colloboratore al coro / Choir Accompanist: Gianfranco Cosmi
Maestro colloboratore al palcoscenico / Stage Rehearsal Accompanist: Giuseppe Montanari
Scenografo collaboratore / Assistant Set Designer: Giuseppe Bottaro
Aiuti scenografi / Assistant Set Designers: Biagio La Terra, Giuseppe Guastella
Aiuta Regista / Assistant Stage Designer: Gianfranco Ventura
Realizzatore delle luci / Lighting Designer: Guido Baroni
Capo macchinista / Chief Stage Techbician: Enzo Mariti
Direttore di scena e capo attrezzista / Stage Manager and Chief Props Master: Giuliano Cipriani
Costumi / Costumes: Casa d’Arte Roma
Calzature / Footwear: Sacchi
Attrezzi / Props: Rubechini
Parrucche / Wigs: Filistrucchi

Alfonso d’Este Duke of Ferrara BONALDO GIAIOTTI baritone

Lucrezia Borgia LEYLA GENCER soprano
Maffio Orsini ELENA ZILIO contralto
Gennaro young nobleman in the service of Venetian Republic ALFREDO KRAUS tenor
Liverotto young nobleman in the service of Venetian Republic GIANFRANCO MANGANOTTI tenor
Vitellozzo young nobleman in the service of Venetian Republic WALTER GUILLINO bass
Gazella ROBERTO VALERIO FRADIA bass
Rustighello OSLAVIO DI CREDICO tenor
Gubetta CARLO DEL BOSCObass
Astolfo GIORGIO GIORGETTIbass
Petrucci BERNARDINO DI BAGNO baritone

Time: Early Sixteenth Century
Place: Venice and Ferrara

† Recording date

Sketches © ANNA GIAMUSSA 

Prologo

Act I, Scene I

Act I, Scene II

Act II, Scene I

Act II, Scene II

 

 

 

 

 

A note from the book I Disegni del Teatro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino Inventario – V (1973 – 1980) 1980 Moreno Bucci)

The sketches, created by Anna Giammusso for Gaetano Donizetti's Lucrezia Borgia, are not preserved in the Historical Archive of the Theatre. They disappeared under unknown circumstances and on an unspecified date. Their location is unknown. No image of the sketches is reproduced on the original theater programme.

I figurini, realizzati da Anna Giammusso per Lucrezia Borgia di Gaetano Donizetti, non sono conservati nell’Archivo Storico del Teatro. Sono scomparsi in circostanze ignote e in data non precisabile. La loro collocazione e sconosciuta. Nessuna immagine dei figurini e riprodotta sul Programa di sala originale.

 

L'UNITA                                        

1978.11.24

L'UNITA                                        

1979.02.15

OPERA MAGAZINE                                     

1979 June

                                      

COMPLETE RECORDING

1979.02.20

Recording Excerpts [1979.02.20]

Com'e bello! Quale incanto... Prologue Scene III

Ciel che veggio... Prologue Scene III

ANNA BOLENA       

Gaetano Donizetti (1797 - 1848)                                     

Opera in two acts in Italian

Libretto: Felice Romani
Premièr at Teatro Carcano, Milan – 20 December 1830

07†, 09†, 12, 15, 17, 20, 23 April 1977                                      

Teatro dell'Opera, Roma 

THE FIRST PERFORMANCE AFTER 144 YEARS IN ROMA

Conductor: Gabriele Ferro

Chorus master: Augusto Parodi

Stage director: Filippo Crivelli

Scene and costumes: Nicola Benois (from Teatro alla Scala di Milano)

Enrico VIII King of England BORIS CHRISTOFF bass (5, 7, 9.04) 
                                               ALFREDO ZANAZZO bass 

Anna Bolena his second wife LEYLA GENCER soprano

                                               MARA ZAMPIERI soprano (20, 23.04)

Giovanna Seymour her lady-in-waiting MARIA-LUISA NAVE mezzo-soprano

Lord Rochefort Anne Boleyn’s brother ROBERT AMIS EL HAGE bass
                                                              BARNARDINO DI BAGNO bass (23.04)

Lord Riccardo Percy PIETRO BOTTAZZO tenor

                                  PIERO VISCONTI tenor (23.04)

Smeaton the Queen’s page ANNA DI STASIO mezzo-soprano

                                            AMILIA NACLERIO mezzo-soprano (17, 20, 23.04)

Hervey Official at the Court GINO SININBERGHI tenor

                                               MANLIO ROCCHI tenor (17, 20.04)

                                               PIETRO ROSSINI tenor (23.04)

Time: 1536
Place: London

† Recording date

GENCER ALLA OPERA DI ROMA 

ANNA BOLENA 

STAGIONE 1976 – 1977

https://archiviostorico.operaroma.it/edizione_opera/anna-bolena-1976-77/

A TELEGRAM TO LEYLA GENCER

1973.12.04

This production supposed to premier in 1974 November but postponed tp 1997 due to strike.

AVANTI                                                

1974.07.05                                                                        

AVANTI                                                 

1976.10.30                                                                                              

CORRIERE DELLA SERA                                                

1976.10.30  

OPERA MAGAZINE                                              

1977 January

OPERA MAGAZINE                                              

1977 April

IL PICCOLO                                         

1977.04.05

L'UNITA                                  

1977.04.05

AVANTI                                              

1977.04.06        

AVANTI                                            

1977.04.07   

CORRIERE DELLA SERA                                                

1977.04.07  

CORRIERE DELLA SERA                                                

1977.04.07        

CORRIERE DELLA SERA                                                

1977.04.07      

L'UNITA                                              

1977.04.08 

AVANTI                                              

1977.04.09     

CORRIERE DELLA SERA                                                

1977.04.09        

FINANCIAL TIMES                                   

1977.05.05

OPERA MAGAZINE                                              

1977 September

IL PICCOLO                                         

1977.10.05

OPERA TODAY                                            

2007.08.28    

CHRIS MULLIN

Donizetti: Anna Bolena

It got a boost from the 1950/60s bel canto revival, but in recent decades it has seldom been revived. Gala takes Donizetti fans back to the last years of that revival, with a four-disc set comprised of three performances dating from 1966 through 1977. The catch here: Only one of the performances is complete, that given in 1966 by the American Opera Society at Carnegie Hall. Starting on disc three and ending on disc four are some choice excerpts from a 1974 New York City Opera production, and disc four closes with an even more narrow range of selections from a 1977 performance at Rome Opera.
An in-house recording, the 1966 Anna Bolena captures an exciting performance, as the understandable but occasionally intrusive applause demonstrates. After one's ears adjust to the sound (decent for this type of source but buzzy in loud passages), the singing of fine vocalists in their prime can be enjoyed as they deliver Donizetti's passionate if unsubtle score with complete conviction. Elena Souliotis, the Anna, could not maintain the quality of singing evident here - dramatic, bold, fearless - and though her career ultimately did not fulfill its promise, she has this recording to substantiate the excitement she could generate. Marilyn Horne was establishing her greatness, and her Giovanna (Jane) Seymour has all her famed intelligence and control, with a voice not yet self-consciously beautiful. Placido Domingo went on to spinto roles fairly quickly, but his Lord Percy reveals how good a fit his dark, handsome tenor made in a Donizetti lead. Carlo Cava is a worthy Enrico (Henry the 8th), and in a wonderful piece of casting, Janet Baker takes the role of Smeton. Henry Lewis leads the orchestra, with the opening sinfonia sounding amazingly like a lost Rossini overture.
The NYCO performance gives very little away in terms of voices. Marisa Galvany (Anna) and Olivia Stapp (Giovanna) go at each other in the second act confrontation scene with delectable ferocity. Roger Patterson has a less distinctive sound than Domingo as Percy, but he is capable enough. A young Samuel Ramey contrasts well with the Boris Christoff performance in the third performance, discussed below. Ramey may slight the characterization, but he has all the music in his voice and that counts for a lot. Juius Rudel conducts well, at least as well as can be heard in an acoustic more constricted than that of the Carnegie Hall recording.
In his fine notes, Andrew Palmer cites Christoff as the main reason to enjoy the brief excerpts from the 1977 Rome performance crammed onto disc four. Christoff certainly roars and blusters, as one might expect an Enrico to do, but for these ears, his voice in 1977 is unpleasantly harsh. His Giovanna, Maria Luisa Nave, makes a much more appealing impression. Sadly, there is too little of Leyla Gencer, the Anna. Gabriele Ferro conducted.
Gala's decision to combine a full performance, a heavily cut one, and a fragmentary third ultimately doesn't make much sense. Those who only want the Suiliotis may resent having to pay for the others, and those who want the Galvany or Gencer will surely deplore the missing music. Lacking for any other alternatives, however, at least Gala offers this set at budget price, with good tracking information and, as mentioned, a solid though brief essay by Andrew Palmer.

COMPLETE RECORDING

1977.04.07

Recording Excerpt [1977.04.07]

Come, innocente Giovine Act I Scene III

Giudici ad Anna Act I Scene XVI 

Al dolce guidami Act II Scene VI 

Coppia iniqua Act II Scene VII 

DONIZETTI'S MASTERPIECE

FROM CD BOOKLET    

Not many of the 20^th Century’s greatest sopranos have had the opportunity to perform Donizetti’s tragic Anna on stage. The work had been virtually forgotten before Maria Callas created a sensation in Luchino Visconti’s wonderful production at the Teatro alla Scala di Milano in 1957. When the Greek soprano had sung her run of Annas, a young Turkish soprano named Leyla Gencer replaced her. Her success was almost as great as Callas’, and when RAI produced a first recording of the discovery, it became Gencer’s show. Callas never performed the role again in the seasons to come, but Gencer became the reigning Queen, including a famous revival at Glyndebourne Festival in 1965. For all those revivals, the severely cut edition chosen by Gianandrea Gavazzeni for his La Scala and RAI productions was used which put aside almost one hour of Donizetti’s composition.

When Roma’s Teatro dell’Opera offered her another Anna for the 1976-77 seasons, it was still Visconti’s famous La Scala production, but this time its conductor Gabriele Ferro insisted on a virtually uncut rendering. Gencer had enough time to re-think her portrayal and enough rest before the prime to surprise her fans with a superb dramatic performance in fresher voice that for some time. She changed her Anna from somewhat passive woman of the early Rai recording into a true self-conscious Queen really capable of being an opponent to the King.