Cast:
Mariella Devia
(Maria Stuarda)
Anna Caterina Antonacci
(Elisabetta)
Paola Gardina (Anna)
Francesco Meli (Leicester)
Carlo Cigni (Talbot)
Piero Terranova (Cecil)
Conductor: Antonino
Fogliani
|
Maria Stuarda (Mary Stuart) is a
tragic opera, tragedia lirica, in
two acts by Gaetano Donizetti to a
libretto by Giuseppe Bardari based
on Friedrich von Schiller’s 1800
play MARIA STUART. It received its
premiere on December 30, 1835 at La
Scala and is based on the lives of
Mary, Queen of Scots and her cousin
Queen Elizabeth I. During the
negotiations of a marriage proposal
between Queen Elizabeth and the King
of France, Lord Talbot, intercedes
on behalf of the royal prisoner
Maria Stuart, imprisoned in
Fotheringay Castle since fleeing
from Scotland. The Queen is torn
between sympathy for Maria and fear
that she is plotting against her,
but her wrath comes from Leicester,
the man she loves, who argues her
rivals’ case with a passion that
makes her feel betrayed. As the
queens confront one another, each is
already convinced that the other is
haughty, yet the final triumph
proves elusive to either one.
Approximate running time: 2 hours 45
minutes |
