Lucia di Lammermoor, the most famous and popular of Donizetti's operas, was first performed on September 26, 1835, at the Teatro San Carlo in Naples. The opera was based on the novel The Bride of Lammermoor by Sir Walter Scott. A Gothic novel with elements of historical realism, it enjoyed great success. According to Ellen H. Bleiler in the introduction to her translation of Lucia in the Dover Opera Guide and Libretto Series, the novel had become one of the best-known works of fiction in Western Europe by the time that Donizetti and his librettist Cammarano began to work with it. Cammarano and Donizetti simplified the story greatly and eliminated much of the novel's detail.
In the opera, the Ravenswood family has been dispossessed of their ancestral land. The Ashton family has taken their place. Lucia Ashton and her family's enemy Edgardo di Ravenswood have fallen in love with each other. Lucia's brother Enrico wants her to marry a powerful lord, Arturo Bcklaw. Enrico deceives Lucia with forged evidence of Edgardo's unfaithfulness to her. Lucia reluctantly signs a marriage contract with Arturo. Just as she has done so, Edgardo enters and expresses his outrage.
The marriage between Lucia and Arturo takes place. On the wedding night, Lucia, who has lost her somewhat fragile sanity, stabs Arturo in the bridal chamber. She then enters the hall where the wedding guests are assembled and sings what is probably the most famous mad scene in all opera. She collapses and later dies. When Edgardo learns of her death, he stabs himself and dies.
RECORDINGS OF LUCIA DI LAMMERMOOR
Maria Callas made two studio recordings of Lucia, both available on EMI. Also available are various recordings of her live performances. The best, also available on EMI, is of a performance in Berlin in 1955 conducted by Herbert von Karajan, with Giuseppe di Stefano as Edgardo.
Callas's Berlin Lucia on EMI compact discs, amazon.co.uk
The 1953 studio recording, Donizetti - LUCIA DI LAMMERMOOR (Naxos 8110131-32) with Maria Callas,
Giuseppe Di Stefano, Tito Gobbi, Raffaele Arie, Valiano Natali, Anna
Maria Canali, Gino Sarri, Chorus and Orchestra of Maggio Musicale
Fiorentino conducted by Tullio Serafin, has been re-issued on compact disc by Naxos as a new transfer of the 1953
recording from the best parts of five LP copies. Without the
slightly flat pitch of the EMI CD version.
At amazon.co.uk.
Callas's recordings were made with what at the time were the "traditional cuts." Later recordings were more or less complete.
Joan Sutherland's 1961 recording conducted by John Pritchard, is now available at a low price, but without a libretto. She produced a beautiful sound, but without the dramatic expressivity of Callas.
In her 1971 recording for Decca/London, conducted by Richard Bonynge, and with Luciano Pavarotti as Edgardo, Sutherland's voice remains beautiful but exhibits a bit more dramatic characterization.
Beverly Sills' recording of Lucia di Lammermoor with Carlo Bergonzi, conducted by Thomas Schippers, was released on compact disc on March 12, 2002
LUCIA DI LAMMERMOOR ON VIDEO
Two of Joan Sutherland's performances are available on video, both conducted by Richard Bonynge. The Metropolitan Opera performance features Alfredo Kraus as Edgardo. The Austrialian Opera performance is closer to complete.
A plot synopsis of Lucia di Lammermoor can be found on the web pages of the Metropolitan Opera.
Review of performance
LUCIA DI LAMMERMOOR (Original 1835 version). At the Metropolitan Opera in New York, October 16, 1999 (matinee). Music by Gaetano Donizetti, text by Salvatore Cammarano. With Ronald Naldi (Normanno), John Avey (Enrico Ashton), Hao Jiang Tian (Raimondo), Andrea Rost (Lucia), Andrea Trebnick (Alisa), Frank Lopardo (Edgardo), and Matthew Polenzani (Arturo). Conducted by Charles Mackerras. Production: Nicolas Jo�l. Set Designer: Ezio Frigerio. Costume Designer: Franca Squarciapino. Lighting Designer: Vinicio Cheli. Stage Director: Paul Mills.
I attended the October 16, 1999, matine� performance of Donizetti's "Lucia di Lammermoor" at the Metropolitan Opera in New York on October 16, 1999. This performance was the last of the several performed this season in Donizetti's original keys, in a style that the composer would have recognized. The cadenzas used were from Donizetti's own period. And the opera was performed without any cuts.
The traditional version that is generally peformed and that has always been performed at the Metropolitan Opera before this season, has the role of Lucia transposed downwards to allow the singer to end her arias with long high notes. Andrea Rost was quite convincing as Lucia. She looked the part and conveyed Lucia's nervous emotions quite well. Her voice, though not beautiful, was quite pleasant, with a plaintive quality appropriate to the role. I did notregret the absence of the vocal acrobatics usually encountered in a performance of "Lucia." With the keys and the cadenzas employed, it was especially apparent that Donizetti was a near contemporary of Rossini, and that the opera is a serious dramatic work, not a silly coloratura show.
Frank Lopardo gave a very committed performance as Edgardo. His singing was quite impressive, although it lacked the beauty one hears, say, in the recordings of Giuseppe di Stefano. Lopardo's Edgardo was quite dashing and manly, a good dramatic and physical counterpart to Rost's Lucia.
The remaining roles were well sung. John Avey, replacing an indisposed Roberto Frontali, made his Met debut as Enrico. His voice was large enough for the Met, and his performance was more than adequate, but his Enrco was not especially interesting, vocally or dramatically.
Charles Mackerras conducted expertly. One of the cadenzas in Act One came as a shock to me, because it was so different from what I am used to hearing on recordings. It was probably my imagination that the orchestra seemed to find itself in unfamiliar territory at that moment.
The production was on the whole quite traditional. The costumes were somewhat sumptuous, and the interiors of the Ashtons' house were in an extremely ornate and lavishly expensive style that might be found at Windsor Castle, but that seemed inappropriate to Scotland circa 1700.
CD
Score
Lucia di Lammermoor: Vocal Score: Italian & English: (Sheet Music)
Barnes & Noble
DVD
VHS