Bianca e Fernando 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 Vincenzo Bellini

Vincenzo Bellini

Vincenzo Salvatore Carmelo Francesco Bellini was an Italian opera composer. His greatest works are I Capuleti ed i Montecchi , La sonnambula , Norma , Beatrice di Tenda , and I puritani...

.

There are two versions of this opera: the first, entitled Bianca e Gernando (1826) has a 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...

 by Domenico Gilardoni, after Bianca e Fernando alla tomba di Carlo IV, duca di Agrigento (Bianca and Ferdinand at the Tomb of Charles IV, Duke of Agrigento) by Carlo Roti. This version had its first performance at the Teatro San Carlo, Naples

Naples

Naples is a city in Southern Italy, situated on the country's west coast by the Gulf of Naples. Lying between two notable volcanic regions, Mount Vesuvius and the Phlegraean Fields, it is the capital of the region of Campania and of the province of Naples...

, on 30 May 1826.

The second version, Bianca e Fernando (1828) has a modified libretto 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,...

, who was to become Bellini's collaborator on seven of his operas.

Performance history

The first performance of Bianca e Fernando took place on the occasion of the opening of the new 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....

 on 7 April 1828. The opera is rarely, if ever, performed today.

Roles

Role	Voice type	Premiere Cast, April 7, 1828 (Conductor: - )
Bianca	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 Tosi Adelaide Tosi Adelaide Tosi was an Italian operatic soprano.Born in Milan, Tosi studied with Girolamo Crescentini before making her professional opera debut in her native city in 1821. She portrayed Azema in the premiere of Giacomo Meyerbeer's L'esule di Granata at La Scala on 12 March 1822...
Fernando	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 David Giovanni David Giovanni David was an Italian tenor particularly known for his roles in Rossini operas....
Carlo, Duke d'Agrigento, father of Bianco and Fernando	bass	Giuseppe Rossi
Filippo	bass (modern-day baritone)	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...
Clemente	bass	Agostino Rovere Agostino Rovere Agostino Rovere was an Italian operatic bass. After studying singing in Milan, he made his professional opera debut in 1826 at the opera house in Pavia. In 1828 he portrayed Clemente in the world premiere of Vincenzo Bellini's Bianca e Fernando at the Teatro Carlo Felice in Genoa...
Viscardo	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...	Elisabetta Coda
Uggero	tenor	Antonio Crippa
Eloisa	mezzo-soprano	Marietta Riva

Recordings

Year	Cast (Bianca, Fernando, Filippo, Carlo)	Conductor, Opera House and Orchestra	Label
1976	Yasuko Hayashi, Antonio Savastano, Mario Macchi, Mario Macchi	Gabriele Ferro, RAI Turin Orchestra and Chorus	Audio CD: Opera d'Oro Cat: OPD 1419
1991	Young Ok Shin, Gregory Kunde, Haijing Fu, Aurio Tomicich	Andrea Licata, Teatro Massimo Bellini Teatro Massimo Bellini The Teatro Massimo Bellini is an opera house in Catania, Sicily, southern Italy. Named after the local-born composer Vincenzo Bellini, it was inaugurated on 31 May 1890 with a performance of the composer's masterwork, Norma... , Orchestra and Chorus, Catania	Audio CD: Live Opera Unnumbered DVD: House of Opera, cat: DVDCC 247