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© Gianfranco Rota
Enrico di Borgogna
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 January 2031 | ||||||
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Enrico di Borgogna – Gaetano Donizetti | Opera
A La Fenice staging
Co-produced with the Donizetti Festival in Bergamo
Presented with Italian surtitles
Synopsis
The king has been deceived and murdered by his own brother. The king's bodyguards, Pietro and Brunone, manage to escape with Enrico, the first-born son of the king and the rightful heir to the throne. During Pietro’s escape, his wife is killed before they can get to safety. Brunone stays in the castle, becoming the new king's bodyguard.
Time: The Middle Ages
Place: Burgundy
Act 1
Nicola, the young shepherd, and his friends find the old man Pietro weeping before by his wife's grave, as he has done many times. He tries to cheer him up, and, after that, carries on with his work, leaving Pietro alone.
Enrico, now a young man, is on his way home from fishing; he is tired of the simple life up in the mountains and is longing for something more exciting. He is also thinking about the girl of his dreams, Elisa, whom he has seen several times in the mountains.
Brunone arrives at Pietro's cabin and tells him that the king is dead and that his weak son Guido has taken his place. He explains that this is the time to strike if they want to see Enrico installed on the throne. When Enrico arrives and learns the truth, they give him his father's sword and he decides to accept his fate.
In the castle the new king Guido and his jester Gilberto are planning Guido's marriage with Elisa, but she has just lost her father and is still mourning; she refuses to marry Guido, but he forces her to accept his proposal, and the wedding plans begin.
Scene: Day - at the court in Arles
The jester Gilberto speaking to Guido says that truth and merit are overrated. Guido asks the jester to tell him what the people think of him becoming their king. Gilberto flatters him, but Guido is not satisfied until he learns that some of the people are complaining.
Elisa enters in the company of Guido's bodyguards who invites her to rejoice in the happiness of marriage. Elisa is unhappy. She hope to see Enrico again. When she is left alone with her lady in waiting, Geltrude, she confesses to her of her love. Guido forces Elisa to change her mourning clothes into the wedding attire and appeals to her to give in to his great love for her. She replies that he can force her into marriage but her heart will never change.
Scene: Evening – in the square
The wedding procession has gathered in the square. Enrico and Pietro arrive and are unaware of the wedding. Elisa faints. Pietro and Brunone furiously try to stop Enrico's jealousy from revealing himself as her true love. A heavy storm occurs, and Guido is forced to postpone the wedding.
Act 2
Scene: Night - at the castle
Brunone and Pietro reveal to the insurgents that Enrico has returned. Enrico has slipped into the castle to see Elisa for the last time. Enrico meets jester Gilberto who at the last moment hides him from Guido. Gilberto promises to show Enrico to Elisa's room.
Elisa enters. Guido is threatening her with death if she did not keep her promise of marriage. The threat is ineffective because she would rather die than marry Guido. Guido gives the order for the wedding and leaves the room. Gilberto shows Enrico to Elisa's room with the warning that women are in the world to create disorder.
Enrico and Elisa meet. At first, he rejects her declaration that she was forced into marriage with Guido. When he learns about her promise to her father, he understands everything and the two reunite. Guido rushes into the room. At the same time Brunone, Pietro and Nicola entered the castle. The truth about Enrico's birth is revealed to Guido and Elisa. Guido orders the confused guards to arrest the four but the guards put down their weapons and Enrico wins.
Scene: Daybreak - at the castle
Guido is terrified. People storms in and want to take revenge on Guido, but Enrico admonishes his people with a message of peace.
Program and cast
Conductor: Corrado Rovaris
Director: Silvia Paoli
La Fenice Orchestra & Choir
Chorus Master: Alfonso Caiani
The roles are currently being defined and will be announced as soon as possible.
Teatro Malibran
The Teatro Malibran, known over its lifetime by a variety of names, beginning with the Teatro San Giovanni Grisostomo(or Crisostomo) after the nearby church, is an opera house in Venice which was inaugurated in 1678 with a production of the premiere of Carlo Pallavicino's opera Vespasiano. By 1683, it had quickly become known as "the biggest, most beautiful and richest theatre in the city" and its operatic importance throughout the 17th and 18th centuries led to an even grander description by 1730:
A true kingdom of marvels....that with the vastness of its magnificent dimension can be rightly compared to the splendours of ancient Rome and that with the grandeur of its more than regal dramatic performances has now conquered the applause and esteem of the whole world.
Richly decorated, the theatre consisted of five levels of thirty boxes and a large stalls area. However, as an opera house, its success was short-lived and from 1751 to 1800, opera was rarely performed there. Taken over by the municipality in 1797, it became the Teatro Civico until purchased by a partnership and restored in 1819. It re-opened again, this time in private hands, with Rossini's La gazza ladra. But deterioration continued, the partnership broke up, and the remaining partner, Giovanni Gallo, continued with additional refurbishment, giving it the new name of the Teatro Emeronitto (Theatre of Day and Night) and inaugurating it in December 1834 with Donizetti's L'elisir d'amore.
When the famous soprano Maria Malibran came to sing Vincenzo Bellini's La sonnambula on 8 April 1835, she was clearly appalled at the condition of the theatre since Lynn reports that "she refused her fee, telling the impresario to 'use it for the theatre' ". At that point the opera house became the Teatro Malibran in the singer's honour and it is the name by which the theatre has been known ever since.
Transport
Vaporetto
From Tronchetto: line 2 toward Rialto bridge, St Mark and Lido
From Piazzale Roma and the Santa Lucia train station: line 1 or line 2 toward Rialto bridge, St Mark and Lido
Stops: take line 1 to Rialto bridge, St Angel, St Samuel or St Mark Marco (Vallaresso); or Take line 2 to Rialto or St Mark (Vallaresso)
Alilaguna public transportation service from the Marco Polo airport - take the orange line to Rialto bridge or the blue line to St Mark (Vallaresso)
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