Gianni di Calais is a melodramma semiserio, a "semi-serious" opera in three acts by Gaetano Donizetti (1828), from a libretto by Domenico Gilardoni, based on Jean de Paris by Louis-Charles Caigniez.
| Gianni di Calais | |
|---|---|
| Opera by Gaetano Donizetti | |
 Donizetti as a young man | |
| Librettist | Domenico Gilardoni |
| Language | Italian |
| Based on | Jean de Paris by Louis-Charles Caigniez |
| Premiere | 2 August 1828 Teatro del Fondo, Naples |
It was first performed on 2 August 1828 at the Teatro del Fondo, Naples.
Roles
edit| Role | Voice type | Premiere Cast, 2 August 1828 (Conductor: - ) |
|---|---|---|
| Metilde, Gianni's wife | soprano | Adelaide Comelli Rubini |
| Gianni da Calais, shipowner | tenor | Giovanni Battista Rubini |
| Rustano, head of Gianni's sailors | baritone | Antonio Tamburini |
| The king, Metilde's father | bass | Michele Benedetti |
| Arrigo, page of the duchess | contralto | Edvige Ricci |
| Rogiero | tenor | Filippo Tati |
| Guido | bass | Giovanni Pace |
| Corrado, Rogiero's friend | tenor | Gaetano Chizzola |
| An official | tenor | Capranica |
| Adelina, duchess and friend of Metilde | soprano | |
| Ermanno, young son of Gianni | silent | |
| Sailors, bridesmaids, people | ||
Synopsis
edit- Time: "The past"[1]
- Place: Portugal
The Duchess Adelina meets a masked woman with a child on the beach at night. The stranger turns out to be her friend, Princess Matilde, the king's daughter, fleeing to avoid having to marry the courtier Rogiero. During her flight she had fallen into the hands of pirates, but had been rescued by the ship-owner Gianni di Calais, who later became her husband. No one knows that the woman is the king's daughter except Gianni's faithful friend, Rustano. Gianni arrives with the sails of his ship showing images of his wife and son. He has been called to court by the king in order to search for his daughter. It is at this point that Gianni realizes the identity of his wife, and she appears at that moment. When the furious Rogiero sees her, he plans his revenge by kidnapping Gianni's and Matilde's son, but the boy is immediately rescued by Rustano. The king punishes Rogiero, and Gianni is accepted as Matilde's husband.
References
editNotes
- ^ Osborne 1994, p. 180
Cited sources
- Osborne, Charles, (1994), The Bel Canto Operas of Rossini, Donizetti, and Bellini, Portland, Oregon: Amadeus Press. ISBN 0-931340-71-3
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. ISBN 0-521-23526-X
- Ashbrook, William (1998), "Donizetti, Gaetano" in Stanley Sadie (Ed.), The New Grove Dictionary of Opera, Vol. One. London: Macmillan Publishers, Inc. ISBN 0-333-73432-7 ISBN 1-56159-228-5
- Ashbrook, William and Sarah Hibberd (2001), in Holden, Amanda (Ed.), The New Penguin Opera Guide, New York: Penguin Putnam. ISBN 0-14-029312-4. pp. 224 – 247.
- Black, John (1982), Donizetti’s Operas in Naples, 1822—1848. London: The Donizetti Society.
- Loewenberg, Alfred (1970). Annals of Opera, 1597-1940, 2nd edition. Rowman and Littlefield
- Sadie, Stanley, (Ed.); John Tyrell (Exec. Ed.) (2004), The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians. 2nd edition. London: Macmillan. ISBN 978-0-19-517067-2 (hardcover). ISBN 0-19-517067-9 OCLC 419285866 (eBook).
- 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. LCCN 63-13703
External links
edit- Donizetti Society (London) website
- Libretto (Italian)