Maria, regina d'Inghilterra
Encyclopedia
Maria, regina d'Inghilterra (Mary Tudor, Queen of England) is an Italian 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 three acts, composed by Giovanni Pacini
Giovanni Pacini
Giovanni Pacini was an Italian composer, best known for his operas. Pacini was born in Catania, Sicily, the son of the buffo Luigi Pacini, who was to appear in the premieres of many of Giovanni's operas...

 from a libretto by Leopoldo Tarantini, which was based on the play Marie Tudor by Victor Hugo
Victor Hugo
Victor-Marie Hugo was a Frenchpoet, playwright, novelist, essayist, visual artist, statesman, human rights activist and exponent of the Romantic movement in France....

. It was given its first performance at the Teatro Carolino, in Palermo
Palermo
Palermo is a city in Southern Italy, the capital of both the autonomous region of Sicily and the Province of Palermo. The city is noted for its history, culture, architecture and gastronomy, playing an important role throughout much of its existence; it is over 2,700 years old...

, on 11 February 1843.

Performance history

The opera was greeted with considerable acclaim at its creation. After a decade or so, it lost its popularity and disappeared from the stage until its revival by Opera Rara
Opera Rara
Opera Rara is a British record label, founded in the early 1970s by Americans Patric Schmid and Don White to promote concerts of rare and/or forgotten operas by Giacomo Meyerbeer and Donizetti and such other "bel canto" composers as Giovanni Pacini, Saverio Mercadante, and Federico Ricci.The...

 at the Bloomsbury Theatre in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

 as part of the Camden Festival
Camden Festival
Camdem Festival was an annual spring festival held in London, England, of which opera was the central feature.Founded in 1954 and continuing until 1987, it was originally called the St Pancras Festival until 1965. It specialised in the revival of long-forgotten operas, some of which subsequently...

 on 23 March 1983.

Roles

Role Voice type Premiere Cast
(Conductor: -)
Maria, Queen of England 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...

Antonietta Marini-Rainieri
Antonietta Marini-Rainieri
Antonietta Marini-Rainieri was an Italian operatic soprano active during the first half of the 19th century. She was married to lauded operatic bass Ignazio Marini and often appeared on stage with him. In 1835 she portrayed Giulietta opposite Amalia Schütz Oldosi as Romeo in the Teatro Regio di...

Riccardo Fenimoore 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...

Nicola Ivanoff
Clotide Talbot 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...

Teresa Merli-Clerici
Ernesto Malcolm 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 Superchi
Antonio Superchi
Antonio Superchi was an Italian operatic baritone who had an active international career from 1838-1858. He appeared at most of the major opera houses in Italy and Spain, and at Her Majesty's Theatre in London....

Gualtiero Churchill bass Antonio Benciolini

Synopsis

Place: London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

Time: 1553.


Mary I of England
Mary I of England
Mary I was queen regnant of England and Ireland from July 1553 until her death.She was the only surviving child born of the ill-fated marriage of Henry VIII and his first wife Catherine of Aragon. Her younger half-brother, Edward VI, succeeded Henry in 1547...

 is infatuated by the adventurer Riccardo Fenimoore, whom she has ennobled as Lord Talbot, but he is unfaithful having seduced the foundling Clotide, who has been raised and is now betrothed to the adoring Ernesto Malcolm, a commoner. Gualtiero Churchill, the Lord Chancellor, wants to protect the Queen by bringing Riccardo down, so he tells the Queen of Talbot's duplicity, and also reveals his knowledge that Clotilde is actually heir to the Talbot name. The Queen condemns Talbot to death but repents and orders Clotilde to see to his release, however Churchill sees to it that the execution is carried out (to the dismay of the Queen).

Recordings

Year Cast:
(Mary, Riccardo, Clotilde, Ernesto)
Conductor,
Opera House and Orchestra
Label
1996 Nelly Miricioiu
Nelly Miricioiu
Nelly Miricioiu is a British operatic soprano of Romanian birth, one of the most versatile artists of recent years, singing a large repertoire ranging from bel canto to verismo with equal success.-Biography:...

,
Bruce Ford,
Mary Plazas,
José Fardilha
David Parry
David Parry (conductor)
David Parry is an English conductor who is particularly known for his work within the field of opera. Described as "a man of the theatre with whom directors love to work; he is good with singers; he knows the British opera world like the back of his hand...

,
Philharmonia Orchestra
Philharmonia Orchestra
The Philharmonia Orchestra is one of the leading orchestras in Great Britain, based in London. Since 1995, it has been based in the Royal Festival Hall. In Britain it is also the resident orchestra at De Montfort Hall, Leicester and the Corn Exchange, Bedford, as well as The Anvil, Basingstoke...

 and the Geoffrey Mitchell Choir
Audio CD: Opera Rara
Opera Rara
Opera Rara is a British record label, founded in the early 1970s by Americans Patric Schmid and Don White to promote concerts of rare and/or forgotten operas by Giacomo Meyerbeer and Donizetti and such other "bel canto" composers as Giovanni Pacini, Saverio Mercadante, and Federico Ricci.The...


ORC15
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