L'esule di Roma

In 1827, Donizetti was hired by the Neapolitan theatrical impresario Domenico Barbaja to compose four operas in three years. Fulfilling his obligations on time and shortly after giving the New Theatre the theatrical farce Le convenienze ed inconvenienze teatrali on 21 November 1827, he presented a new work to the Teatro San Carlo for the New Year of 1828, this time in the genre of opera seria as L'esule di Roma.

The libretto by Domenico Gilardoni was inspired by the drama of the prosecutor Luigi Marchionni, The Exiled Roman, or The Lion of the Caucasus (Naples, 1820), which in its turn was based on an opera in three acts by Louis-Charles Caigniez, Androclès reconnaissant ou le Lion (Paris, 1804), which later provided the inspiration for George Bernard Shaw's Androcles and the Lion (1912).

The premiere united an impressive cast such as the tenor Calvari Berardo Winter, the soprano Adelaide Torsi and the bass Luigi Lablache, and it was a triumph.

19th century

The opera was immediately taken to other Italian opera houses: La Scala in Milan with the soprano Henriette Meric-Lalande in July 1828 and again in Naples with the tenor Giovanni Battista Rubini in the winter of 1828.

After the first performances in the nineteenth century, the work was subjected to several changes: among the cuts was the scene in which Septimus was spared by a lion whose wound he had healed and who recognized him in the Circus Maximus. This was an episode from an anecdote about Androcles reported by Aulus Gellius, who had attributed it to Apion: it was replaced by a much more conventional device, Tiberius's clemency. The final scene in which Argelia rejoices in the happy outcome had also been added to respect the conventions of the time and to help Donizetti who, in accordance with the tradition of the day, wanted the work to end with an aria for the prima donna.

L'esule di Roma was the work chosen by Donizetti's birthplace of Bergamo to honor the composer in 1840: it was directed by Donizetti's childhood friend, Marco Bones, with a cast that included first class singers such as Eugenia Tadolini, Domenico Donzelli and Ignazio Marini. The work was brought to the stage in Madrid, Vienna and London and remained in the repertoire in Italy and abroad until 1869, the year when it was given last performance in the nineteenth century in Naples.

20th century and beyond

L'esule di Roma was staged for the first time in the twentieth century on 18 July 1982 at the Queen Elizabeth Hall in London, in a concert performance with Katia Ricciarelli, Bruce Brewer and John-Paul Bogart, on the initiative of the Donizetti Society. The first performance in modern Italy was at the Teatro Gabriel Chiabrera in Savona in October 1986 and it was recorded live.

Place: Rome

Time: The reign of Tiberius, (14-37 AD)

The main numbers of the score are Murena's first aria Ahi! Che di calma un'ombra and his duet with Publius (Act 1, scene 1), the Septimus and Argelia's duet (Act 1, scene 3), the final trio of the act 1, for which the work owes much of its popularity in the nineteenth century, the Murena's mad scene in Act 2 and the duet between Argelia and Murena, also in act 2. The music is still much affected by the opera seria influence, the classic example of which is Rossini's Semiramide of 1823, although the instrumental passages with the accompaniment of English horn or bassoon obbligato and extensive scenes altogether often make us think about Donizetti's old master, Simon Mayr, or even of Gaspare Spontini's The Vestal (1803). However, the dramatic intensity of the situations, as well as Donizetti's typical use of the flute and the attempt to remove the final prima donna's aria already announced the composer's mature works.

Notes

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.
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• Osborne, Charles, (1994), The Bel Canto Operas of Rossini, Donizetti, and Bellini, Portland, Oregon: Amadeus Press. ISBN 0-931340-71-3
• 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

• Donizetti Society (London) website

• Libretto (Italian)