With a libretto loosely based on the relationship between the Earl of Essex and Queen Elizabeth I of England, Donizetti created a work full of virtuoso arias, softening the historical events with bel canto and coloratura. First performed at the Teatro San Carlo, Naples, on 29 October 1837, it reflects the desolation of the composer, who had lost his parents, his two children and his wife Virginia.
Salvatore Cammarano based his text, as in Lucia di Lammermoor, on the drama of a doomed relationship between Queen Elisabetta (Elizabeth I of England) and Roberto, Earl of Essex, who is in love with Sara, the wife of his friend the Duke of Nottingham. Donizetti refined his tendency to concentrate emotional climaxes and action in a limited space: the tragedy of two ill-fated couples is continually sustained by the music.
Tragedia lirica in three acts
Music by Gaetano Donizetti
Libretto by Salvatore Cammarano, based on the tragedy Elisabeth d'Angleterre (1829) by Jacques-François Ancelot
Premiered at the Teatro San Carlo, Naples, on October 28, 1837
Premiered at the Teatro Real, Madrid, on March 5, 1860
Production of the Welsh National Opera of Cardiff
Principal Chorus and Orchestra of the Teatro Real
Artistic team
Conductor | Bruno Campanella
Stage director | Alessandro Talevi
Set and costume designer | Madeleine Boyd
Lighting designer | Matthew Haskins
Choreographer | Maxine Braham
Chorus master | Andrés Máspero
Cast
Elisabetta | Mariella Devia
The Duke of Nottingham | Marco Caria
Sara, Duchess of Nottingham | Silvia Tro Santafé
Roberto Devereux, Earl of Essex | Gregory Kunde
Lord Guglielmo Cecil | Juan Antonio Sanabria
Sir Gualtiero Raleigh | Andrea Mastroni
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