Alina, regina di Golconda (Alina, Queen of Golconda) is an opera

Opera

Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...

 in two acts by Gaetano Donizetti

Gaetano Donizetti

Domenico Gaetano Maria Donizetti was an Italian composer from Bergamo, Lombardy. His best-known works are the operas L'elisir d'amore , Lucia di Lammermoor , and Don Pasquale , all in Italian, and the French operas La favorite and La fille du régiment...

. The Italian

Italian language

Italian is a Romance language spoken mainly in Europe: Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City, by minorities in Malta, Monaco, Croatia, Slovenia, France, Libya, Eritrea, and Somalia, and by immigrant communities in the Americas and Australia...

 libretto

Libretto

A libretto is the text used in an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, oratorio, cantata, or musical. The term "libretto" is also sometimes used to refer to the text of major liturgical works, such as mass, requiem, and sacred cantata, or even the story line of a...

 was written by Felice Romani

Felice Romani

Felice Romani was an Italian poet and scholar of literature and mythology who wrote many librettos for the opera composers Donizetti and Bellini. Romani was considered the finest Italian librettist between Metastasio and Boito.-Biography:Born Giuseppe Felice Romani to a bourgeois family in Genoa,...

 after Michel-Jean Sedaine

Michel-Jean Sedaine

Michel-Jean Sedaine was a French dramatist, was born in Paris.- Biography :His father, who was an architect, died when Sedaine was quite young, leaving no fortune, and the boy began life as a mason's labourer...

's French

French language

French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...

 libretto for Pierre-Alexandre Monsigny

Pierre-Alexandre Monsigny

Pierre-Alexandre Monsigny was a French composer and a member of the French Académie des Beaux-Arts .He is considered alongside André Grétry and François-André Danican Philidor to have been the founder of a new musical genre, the opéra comique, laying a path for other French composers such as...

's ballet-heroique Aline, reine de Golconde (Paris Opera

Académie Royale de Musique

The Salle Le Peletier was the home of the Paris Opera from 1821 until the building was destroyed by fire in 1873. The theatre was designed and constructed by the architect François Debret on the site of the former Hôtel de Choiseul...

, 1766), in its turn based on the novel by Stanislas de Boufflers

Stanislas de Boufflers

Stanislas Jean, chevalier de Boufflers was a French statesman and writer.-Biography:He was born near Nancy, Meurthe-et-Moselle, the son of Louis Franois, marquis de Boufflers. His mother, Marie Catherine de Beauveau Craon, was the mistress of Stanislas Leszczynski, and the boy was brought up at...

. The opera was commissioned for the opening festivities of the Teatro Carlo Felice

Teatro Carlo Felice

The Teatro Carlo Felice is the principal opera house of Genoa, Italy, used for performances of opera, ballet, orchestral music, and recitals. It is located on the Piazza De Ferrari....

, Genoa

Genoa

Genoa |Ligurian]] Zena ; Latin and, archaically, English Genua) is a city and an important seaport in northern Italy, the capital of the Province of Genoa and of the region of Liguria....

, where it premiered with success on May 12, 1828. Soon after, a revised version debuted at the Teatro Valle

Teatro Valle

The Teatro Valle is a theatre and former opera house in Rome, Italy.Commissioned by the Capranica family, the architect Tommaso Morelli designed the theatre which was built in 1726. It was inaugurated with the staging of the tragedy Matilde by Simon Falconio Pratoli...

, Rome

Rome

Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...

 on October 10, 1829.

Roles

Role	Voice type	Premiere Cast, 12 May 1828 (Conductor: - )
Alina, shepherd, then Queen of Golconda	soprano Soprano A soprano is a voice type with a vocal range from approximately middle C to "high A" in choral music, or to "soprano C" or higher in operatic music. In four-part chorale style harmony, the soprano takes the highest part, which usually encompasses the melody...	Adelaide Comelli Rubini
Fiorina	mezzo-soprano Mezzo-soprano A mezzo-soprano is a type of classical female singing voice whose range lies between the soprano and the contralto singing voices, usually extending from the A below middle C to the A two octaves above...	Carolina De Vincenti
Seide	tenor Tenor The tenor is a type of male singing voice and is the highest male voice within the modal register. The typical tenor voice lies between C3, the C one octave below middle C, to the A above middle C in choral music, and up to high C in solo work. The low extreme for tenors is roughly B2...	Giovanni Battista Verger Giovanni Battista Verger Giovanni Battista Verger was an Italian operatic tenor and impresario. He particularly excelled in the operas of Gioachino Rossini and Gaetano Donizetti.-Biography:...
Volmar	baritone Baritone Baritone is a type of male singing voice that lies between the bass and tenor voices. It is the most common male voice. Originally from the Greek , meaning deep sounding, music for this voice is typically written in the range from the second F below middle C to the F above middle C Baritone (or...	Antonio Tamburini Antonio Tamburini Antonio Tamburini was an Italian operatic baritone.Born in Faenza, then part of the Papal States, Tamburini studied the orchestral horn with his father and voice with Aldobrando Rossi, before making his debut as a singer, aged 18, in La contessa di colle erbose . He went on to become one of the...
Belfiore	buffo	Giuseppe Frezzolini Giuseppe Frezzolini Giuseppe Frezzolini was an Italian operatic bass. Born in Orvieto, he studied singing in his native city with G. Pedoto. He began his career in 1819 and was active in Italy's leading opera houses up into the 1840s...
Hassan	tenor	Antonio Crippa
Cora, one of the Queen's slaves

Act 1

Alina, a humble country girl, has been captured by pirates and taken to the kingdom of Golconda, where the elderly king falls in love with her, marries her, and shortly dies, leaving Alina a widow and queen. Her subjects urge her to choose another husband, and the noble and handsome Seide emerges as leading candidate. Alina, however, cannot forget a previous lover, Ernesto Volmar, a French army officer; despite this, she is just about to declare her choice when three cannon shots sound and a ship from France arrives. The ambassador is Volmar, who is haunted by the memory of the girl snatched away from him.

Alina is rapturous with joy and excitement. Her feelings are little understood, except by her friend Fiorina, another French girl also kidnapped by pirates. Fiorina left behind her a husband, named Belfiore, who she incessantly argued with, and does not know whether or not she longs to meet him again or fears such an encounter. By a curious chance, Volmar's aide-de-camp is this same Belfiore.

Alina decides to test Volmar's love: of course, he does not know that she is the queen. Firstly, she lets Volmar hear her voice while she herself is hidden among her slaves. He is stunned and enchanted, but Alina and Fiorina explain that it is quite common for travellers in a strange land to hear voices resembling those of their fatherland. Belfiore has also heard Fiorina's voice, but his reaction is horror. After this, she nominates Volmar as king, but, just as she hoped, he refuses, staying faithful to the memory of the girl he loved. Meanwhile, Seide has easily discovered Alina's love for Volmar and, driven by jealousy, incites his followers to rebel.

Act 2

For her final test, Alina reconstructs the garden in Provence in which she and Volmar first met, explaining to him that everything which has happened since has been a dream. At first he is incredulous, but then abandons himself to love. Fiorina decides to put Belfiore through the same test, and tells him that he dreamt of Golconda and all that happened there after a session of heavy drinking. Belfiore recounts his "dream", adding in numerous details of conquests of love.

In the meantime, Seide's revolt has broken out. The two girls are forced to ask the two men for their help, and explain the game that they have played with them. Seide bursts in and confronts Alina. He pleads for her love, but when she refuses hurls her into prison. However, Volmar (who now knows who Alina really is) returns with his Frenchmen to defeat Seide's forces, and restores Alina to the throne. Alina is moved by the love of the people for her, but the opera ends with her singing a passionate love-song to Volmar, (Alina: Eri di notte il sogno, eri il pensier del di).

Recordings

Year	Cast (Alina, Fiorina, Seide, Volmar)	Conductor, Opera House and Orchestra	Label
1987	Daniela Dessi Daniela Dessì Daniela Dessì Born May 14, 1957, in Genoa, Italy is an Italian lirico-spinto soprano.Daniela Dessì completed her singing studies at the Conservatory of Parma and the Accademia Chigiana of Siena. After having won the first prize at the International Competition organized by RAI TV in 1980, she had... , Adelisa Tabiadon, Rockwell Blake Rockwell Blake Rockwell Blake is an American operatic tenor, particularly known for his roles in Rossini operas. He was the first winner of the Richard Tucker Award.-Biography:... , Paolo Coni	Antonello Allemandi, Orchestra Sinfonica dell'Emilia Romagna "Arturo Toscanini Arturo Toscanini Arturo Toscanini was an Italian conductor. One of the most acclaimed musicians of the late 19th and 20th century, he was renowned for his intensity, his perfectionism, his ear for orchestral detail and sonority, and his photographic memory... " and Grupo Giovanile della Cooperativa «Artisti del Coro» del Teatro Regio di Parma Teatro Regio di Parma Teatro Regio di Parma is a famous 19th century opera house and opera company in Parma, Italy. The theatre was originally known as the Teatro Ducale.... (Audio and video recordings made at performances at the Ravenna Festival Ravenna Festival The Ravenna Festival is a summer festival of opera and classical music held in the city of Ravenna, Italy and the surrounding area each July and August.... , 15-17 July)	Audio CD: Nuova Era Cat: 033.6701, DVD: House of Opera Cat: DVDCC 136