Roberto Devereux

The contract for a new opera seria for the Teatro San Carlo in Naples was concluded in spring 1837. The generation of Roberto Devereux was overshadowed by a serious crisis in the life of the composer. During the previous year, Donizetti had lost both his parents and then his wife Virginia Vaselli delivered a stillborn baby. In June 1837, another child died during birth. On 30 July, his wife died at the age of 28. Therefore, the rehearsals for the premiere began at the end of August 1837; and consequently most of the score had to be written in the month following his wife's death. Additionally, a cholera epidemic delayed again the start of rehearsals.

Salvatore Cammarano's libretto is very truthful to Jacques-François Ancelot's tragedy, a romantic rewrite of the material already dealt with by Pierre Corneille and La Calprenède in France, to which he added individual touches from Lescènes's Historie.

19th century

Roberto Devereux was first performed on 28 October 1837 at the Teatro di San Carlo, Naples. Within a few years, the opera's success[2] had caused it to be performed in most European cities including Paris on 27 December 1838, for which he wrote an overture which quoted, anachronistically, "God Save the Queen"; London on 24 June 1841; Rome in 1849; Palermo in 1857; in Pavia in 1859 and 1860; and in Naples on 18 December 1865.[3] Also, it was given in New York on 15 January 1849,[1] but it would appear that after 1882, no further performances were given during the 19th century.[2]

20th century and beyond

The beginning of the 20th century revivals of Roberto Devereux started at the San Carlo in Naples in 1964,[2] the revival starring Leyla Gencer. Montserrat Caballé appeared in a combination of concert performances and staged productions between December 1965 and 1978. Roberto Devereux was first performed by the New York City Opera in October 1970[4] as the first part of the "Three Queens" trilogy, starring Placido Domingo and Beverly Sills.[5] It was performed on a regular basis in European houses during the 1980s[2] and in concert versions by the Opera Orchestra of New York in January 1991 (with Vladimir Chernov), the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, in July 2002, and Washington Concert Opera in 2004.

In 2005 the Bavarian State Opera's Munich production starring Edita Gruberová was recorded on DVD by Deutsche Grammophon.

In 2009, performances were given by the Dallas Opera, the Las Palmas Opera, the Opera Holland Park Festival, while 2010 saw productions in Mannheim and Rome as well as by the Minnesota Opera and again Munich's Bavarian State Opera[6] plus its first performance in Quebec in November of that year at the Opéra de Montréal.[7] Welsh National Opera presented this opera (along with the other two "Three Queens" operas) in succession over three evenings beginning in October 2013.[8][9]

After having debuted the role of Elisabetta at the Opéra de Marseille in 2011,[10] Mariella Devia sang the opera in concert at Maggio Musicale Fiorentino on 18 May 2014[11] and with the Opera Orchestra of New York (OONY) on 5 June 2014.[12] In 2015 she performed it onstage at the Teatro Real de Madrid[13] and resumed it again in 2016 at the Teatro Carlo Felice of Genoa.[14]

The Metropolitan Opera New York performed a new production of the piece in 2016, starring Sondra Radvanovsky, who also appeared the same season at the Met in the title roles of Donizetti's Anna Bolena and Maria Stuarda.[15]

Place: London, England

Time: 1601, during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I

Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex, favorite of Queen Elisabeth, has been removed from office as Governor of Ireland because, acting on his own initiative, he has agreed to a ceasefire with the rebels. Following an attempted uprising, he is awaiting his trial for high treason in London.

Although not frequently performed today, it contains some of Donizetti's best vocal writing, some of it "first rate" (the end of act 1's duet between Roberto and Sara beginning with "Dacché tornasti, ahi misera" (Since you returned, ah miserable me!)), while the brief second act is "superb."[2] The opera is raw and emotional; it is a powerful vehicle for the soprano. Some of the highlights include the act 1 duet between Elizabeth and Robert, "Nascondi, frena i palpiti" (Hide and check your wild beating / oh my unhappy heart). The final scene is one of the most dramatic and difficult in bel canto opera. As Elizabeth is going mad with the death of her lover, "Quel sangue versato" (That spilled blood / rises to heaven) pushes romantic opera to the limits of melodic expression and has been described as "mak(ing) a powerful end to one of Donizetti's finest and most affecting operas."[2] The final bars contain six high As, one high B-flat and one high B natural,[16] sometimes interpolated as an alt D natural.[17]

Act 1

• Sara- Romanza: "All'afflitto è dolce il pianto" : "To one who is sad, weeping is sweet".
• Elisabeth: "Duchessa... Alle fervide preci" : "Duchess... To your husband's eager requests".
• Elisabeth- Cavatina: "L'amor suo mi fe' beata" : "His love was a blessing to me"
• Robert: "Nascondi, frena i palpiti" : "Hide and check your wild beating"
• Nottingham- Cavatina: "Forse in quel cor sensibile... Qui ribelle ognun ti chiama" : "Perhaps in that sensitive heart... Here everyone calls you traitor"
• Sara and Robert- Duetto: "Da che tornasti, ahi misera" : "Since you returned, ah miserable me!"

Act 2

• Nottingham and Elisabeth- Duettino: "Non venni mai si mesto" : "Never had I come so saddened"
• Elisabeth, Nottingham and Robert- Terzetto: "Ecco l'indegno" : "Here is the unworthy one!"

Act 3

• Sara and Nottigham- Duetto: "Non sai che un nume vindice": "Don`t you know that betrayed husbands"
• Robert- Aria: "Come uno spirto angelico.. Bagnato il sen di lagrime" : "Like an angelic spirit.. With my breast bathed in tears"
• Elisabeth- Aria finale: "Vivi, ingrato, a lei d'accanto.. Quel sangue versato.." : "Live, ungrateful man at her side.. That spilled blood.."

Notes

Cited sources

• Ashbrook William and Sarah Hibberd (2001), in Holden, Amanda (Ed.), The New Penguin Opera Guide, New York: Penguin Putnam. ISBN 0-14-029312-4
• Osborne, Charles (1994), The Bel Canto Operas of Rossini, Donizetti, and Bellini, Portland, Oregon: Amadeus Press. ISBN 0-931340-71-3
• Rudel, Anthony J. (1969), "Three Queens, One Soprano" booklet accompanying the 1969 Deutsche Grammophon recording

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 (1992), Donizetti and His Operas, Cambridge University Press, 1982, ISBN 0-521-23526-X
• Ashbrook, William (1998), "Roberto Devereux" in Stanley Sadie (Ed.), The New Grove Dictionary of Opera, Vol. Three, pp. 1359–1360. London: Macmillan Publishers, Inc. ISBN 0-333-73432-7 ISBN 1-56159-228-5
• 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
• Roberto Devereux: A Queen's tragic love affair, Norbert Miller from Dahlhaus : "Enzyklopädie des Musiktheaters". Booklet of ROBERTO DEVEREUX opera, CD DDD NIGHTINGALE CLASSICS AG, Edition 1994: NC070563-2

• Roberto Devereux: Scores at the International Music Score Library Project
• Donizetti Society (London) website
• Libretto (Italian)