Rossini, acting as the Théâtre Italien's music director, had commissioned works by the outstanding Italian composers of the day—Donizetti and Vincenzo Bellini. Both wrote operas for that house in Paris, Bellini's contribution being the hugely successful I puritani. Donizetti's opera, which premiered on 12 March 1835 (a few months after I puritani) was not nearly as much of a success. However, it marked Donizetti's first opera to have its premiere in Paris.
Performance history
Title page of a libretto, Bologna 1836
After the Paris première, Marino Faliero was presented in London at Covent Garden on 14 May 1835[2] and at the Teatro Alfieri in Florence in 1836. Its first appearance in the US took place at the St. Charles Theater in New Orleans on 22 February 1842.[2] However, after several prohibitions from September 1839 onward, the opera was not presented until 3 September 1848, the day which Black notes was the one on which the composer died in Bergamo.[3] The opera had a number of productions in the 19th century, but by the 20th it had become a rarity. The Donizetti Festival in Bergamo staged the work in 2008.[4]
Roles
Luigi Lablache in 1827, the first MarinoAntonio Tamburini, the first Israele
Elena, the wife of Marin Faliero, Doge of Venice, is continually subjected to attacks on her reputation by the patrician Steno whose advances she has rejected. Steno then insults Israele Bertucci, the chief of the Venetian Arsenal, in front of his workers. Steno is punished for these offences, but Faliero is infuriated by the leniency of the punishment. At the Doge's Palace, Israele convinces Faliero to join a conspiracy against the Council of Forty, of which Steno is a member. Elena and her lover Fernando, Faliero's nephew, decide to part. He will leave the city to save her from dishonour. She gives him a veil to remember her by. The climax of the act takes place at a masked ball in the palace when Fernando challenges Steno to a duel for having insulted Elena once again.
Act 2
The duel having taken place, Fernando is found dying near the Basilica dei Santi Giovanni e Paolo, where the conspirators were to meet. Faliero vows to avenge his death.
Act 3
The conspiracy collapses following a betrayal by one of its members and the Doge is condemned to death at a trial in the Doge's Palace. Before his execution, Elena confesses her love affair with Fernando to him. Faliero begins to curse her, but sensing that his death is imminent, pardons her instead. Faliero is led off. Alone on the stage, Elena hears the sound of the executioner's axe, screams and faints.[5]
Recordings
Year
Cast: Marino Faliero, Israele Bertucci, Fernando, Elena
Ottavio Dantone, Orchestra and Chorus of Teatro Regio Parma (Recording of a performance in Parma, 2 January)
Audio CD: House of Opera Cat: CD 820 DVD: Hardy Cat: HCD 4025
2008
Giorgio Surian, Luca Grassi, Ivan Magri, Rachele Stanisci
Bruno Cinquegrani, Orchestra and Chorus of Bergamo Musica Festival Gaetano Donizetti, (Filmed at the Teatro Donizetti, Bergamo, 31 October and 2 November)
Black, John (1982), Donizetti’s Operas in Naples, 1822—1848. London: The Donizetti Society.
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. ISBN0-521-23526-X
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. LCCN63-13703
