Opera "Maria Stuart": content, video, interesting facts, history

G. Donizetti opera "Maria Stewart"

The tragic fate of the Scottish Queen Maria Stewart more than once became the object of works of art - from painting to cinema. Indeed, what an intriguing and grateful plot for the creator is the confrontation between two monarchs, two religions and worldviews, a blockhead instead of a crown ... However Gaetano Donizetti, starting to work on the opera "Mary Stuart", could not even imagine that she would suffer a truly dramatic fate.

Summary of the opera Donizetti "Mary Stuart"and many interesting facts about this work read on our page.

Summary of "Mary Stuart"

Palace of Westminster in London and Fotheringey Castle, Northamptonshire, 1587

Queen Elizabeth, the French Dauphin, through her ambassador, sent a marriage proposal. One of the conditions of marriage is the release of the Scottish Queen Mary Stuart, her cousin Elizabeth, who has been detained for many years on charges of political conspiracies. Many courtiers, including Talbot, desire Mary’s freedom.

Elizabeth entrusts Count Lester to pass on her positive decision on marriage with the French heir. The queen is disappointed by Roberto's lack of response to this news - does he really have another one?

Talbot, who returned from Fotheringay, where Maria is imprisoned, brings her portrait to Lester. This gift has stirred up old feelings, and Lester intends to seek the release of the prisoner. Entered Elizabeth understands that her suspicions are not unfounded. She asks for a letter from Mary. Lester persuades her to go hunting near Fothering.

Maria remembers her youth when she hears the sounds of royal hunting. Leicester comes to her and asks to be humble and submissive during their future meeting with Elizabeth. Maria really kneels before her. But Elizabeth sees a rival not only in the struggle for the throne, but also for love. She blames Mary for the debauchery and the death of her husband. Lester’s attempts to reassure the queens are in vain — Maria explodes and calls Elizabeth “Boleyn's unclean daughter.” Elizabeth promises her only one thing - an ax.

Cecil insists on the death penalty for Mary, Elizabeth hesitates, but with the arrival of Leicester signs the sentence and tells him to be present at the execution. Lester understands that brought misfortune to both women. Cecil announces to Maria her fate. Talbot, left alone with the queen, admits that he has the dignity of a Catholic priest. Mary confesses.

People gather at the place of execution, saying that this will bring trouble to England. Mary enters and prays with everyone. Cecil announces that the hour has come. The queen asks Lester to accompany her, declares that she is innocent and rises to the scaffold ...

A photo

Interesting Facts

• "Mary Stuart" was the only piece by Giuseppe Bardari - he made a legal career in Naples.
• The castle of Fothering, where the opera takes place and in which Maria Stewart was executed in 1587, was destroyed by order of King Charles I, her grandson. In a horrible fate, Charles was also executed as a result of the English Revolution.
• Not only Buondelmonte took the music of Mary Stuart, but also vice versa. Donizetti rewrote one of the duos of the unsuccessful opera in a duet of Maria and Lester.
• Initially, Maria Stuart’s part was written for soprano (in this voice Giuseppina Renzi sang, to which Donizetti created it). But starting with Maria Malibran, the mezzo-soprano began to sing the part.
• The only surviving manuscript of the opera was found in Stockholm in the 1980s.
• Joyce di Donato, one of the best performers of the Maria Stuart of our time, admitted that Maria Stuart is the most difficult role in her repertoire, in which the difficult vocal part is combined with a high degree of emotion.

Top opera arias and duets:

"Oh nube che lieve per l'aria t'aggiri" - Maria's aria (listen)

"Deh! Tu Di Un'umile Preghiera Il Suono" - Maria's aria and chorus (listen)

History of creation and productions

Having seen Schiller’s play in Milan, Donizetti Felice Romani immediately wrote to the librettist of his "Anne Bolein" and "Love Drink." The composer understood that another powerful English storyline could surpass his previous success. But Romani did not crave fame or simply did not get carried away with the topic - he did not respond to the offer. Co-author Donizetti chose Giuseppe Bardari. He was the opposite of Romani - the famous playwright, who had written more than 60 operas for the great composers of his time and who was considered the best in his workshop. Bardari was 17 years old, at the University of Naples, he studied law, wrote poetry and often visited social salons. It is difficult to say what caused the choice of composer, but he could control the writing of the libretto, making adjustments and even creating whole scenes. Bardari relied on the translation of the play of Schiller, which made Andrea Maffei. He had to remove all political and religious contexts, reduce the number of characters and to add intrigue to add a fictional romance between Maria and Lester - according to Schiller, Maria offers the graph a deal based not on romantic impulses.

But the central conflict of the play - the meeting of two queens - takes the same place in the libretto. In reality, however, this exciting scene was not - only the correspondence, which formed its basis. This scene turned out in an opera so strong that it led to a real conflict between two singers. At the rehearsal in the Neapolitan theater of San Carlo, Anna del Serre betrayed so genuine feelings, turning to Giuseppina Ronzi with the words "unclean daughter Boleyn, an obscene whore, discrediting the throne", that the latter could not stand and fell with fists at her partner. After the women's duel, Anna was rendered unconscious, and the rehearsal ended early.

But even without this incident, even before the premiere, the stage fate of the opera was unfortunate. After a successful dress rehearsal, King of Naples Ferdinand II suddenly banned the performance. Donizetti tried to rewrite the opera with librettist Pietro Salatino, it became known as Buondelmonte and was even shown six times in Naples. But the composer himself considered that these alterations only disfigured his opera.

Milan-La Scala showed interest in the original "Mary Stuart", but the attempt to deliver it was crowned with success only from the second time - in 1835. The premiere was scheduled for December 28, the famous singer Maria Malibran was to play in the title role. Donizetti corrected the score specifically for her, wrote a new overture. Censored opera also missed. But due to illness Malibran performance was postponed to December 30. Donizetti called that evening his pain - from beginning to end. Both soloists were in frustrated voices. Maria did not heed the edits of censorship, which required softening of some sharp expressions, and sang the text in its original meaning. The public was unhappy, as were the censors who closed the performance after the next five more successful shows than the first one. Maria Malibran was supposed to carry the opera to London, but died suddenly from injuries resulting from falling from a horse. Over the next 30 years there were short opera productions in theaters in Italy, Spain and Portugal, all in arbitrarily cut-down versions.

Interest in opera faded until the mid-20th century, when Mary Stuart began to appear on posters again. First in the homeland, and then around the world. The American premiere took place in 1971 at the San Francisco Opera with Joan Sutherland in the title role. The following year, all the Three Queens "Donizetti:" sounded at the New York City Opera.Ann Bolein"," Maria Stuart "and" Roberto Devereux ". All three major parts in operas were triumphantly performed by Beverly Sills. In Russia," Maria Stuart "was first staged at the Moscow New Opera Theater in 1993.

"Maria Stewart" on video

The opera can be seen in the performance of stage masters of different generations:

• Staging of the Donizetti Theater in Bergamo, director T. Mancini, in the main parts: C. Remigio (Maria), S. Ganassi (Elizabeth), J. Callaia (Leicester), 2001
• Staging of the theater "La Scala", directed by P.L. Pizzas, in the main parts - M.Davia, A.C. Antonacci, F. Meli, 2008
• Staging of the Metropolitan Opera, director D. Mac Vikare, in public parts - D. di Donato, E. van der Heaver, M. Polentsani, 2013.

What was the original score "Mary Stuart“we don’t know - theaters most often use its critical edition, created by Ricordi’s publishing house. However, the fact that we have the opportunity to enjoy the melodiousness of Belcanto’s masterpiece and the incredible scene of the two queens, even after centuries of oblivion of the opera, is valuable.