Name: Roberto Devereux
Start: 2006-09-15T00:00:00.000Z
End: 2006-09-17T00:00:00.000Z
Location: Gaetano Donizetti Theater

Organization

Singer

Raúl Hernandez

No role specified

Andrew Schroeder

Dimitra Theodossiou

Conductor

Marcello Rota

Stage director

Francesco Bellotto

Set designer

David Walker

Contralto

Tommaso Norelli

A page

Bass

A servant of Nottingham

Costume designer

Lighting designer

Valerio Alfieri

Video designer

Matteo Ricchetti

Chorus master

Soprano

Elizabeth

Baritone

The Duke of Nottingham

Mezzo-soprano

Federica Bragaglia

Sara

Tenor

Massimiliano Pisapia

Roberto Devereux

Luigi Albani

Lord Cecil

Giorgio Valerio

Sir Walter Raleigh

Fondazione Teatro Donizetti

Others

Coro Lirico di Bergamo

Orchestra

Fondazione Orchestra Stabile di Bergamo

Bergamo

Italy

Teatro Donizetti

This was grand opera at its best, and a lavish historical production: Roberto Devereux by Gaetano Donizetti, staged by Francesco Bellotto at the Teatro Donizetti in Bergamo, Italy, in 2006 (sung in Italian). The singers were Dimitra Theodossiou, Andrew Schroeder, Federica Bragaglia, Massimiliano Pisapia, Luigi Albani and Giorgio Valerio. It was performed by the Orchestra and Chorus Bergamo Musica Festival Gaetano Donizetti, and conducted by Marcello Rota.

The more than 70 operas written by Gaetano Donizetti (1797 - 1848), are evidence of the fact that the Italian opera composer had a special fondness for the Tudor period of the legendary Queen Elizabeth I. Donizetti dedicated several operas to this historical era. In the three-act opera seria Roberto Devereux, titled Tragedia lirica, the historical setting frames a story of secret love and betrayal. Of all people, it is Elizabeth I’s beloved Roberto Devereux who commits treason, so the queen feels compelled to order his execution. She also comes to realize that Devereux had secretly loved someone else. At the end of all the entanglements, the once proud queen collapses, abdicates the throne and thus ends the reign of the House of Tudor.

The libretto for Roberto Devereux was written by Salvatore Cammarano. The premiere of the tragic opera took place in 1837 at the Teatro San Carlo. The various roles in Roberto Devereux place high demands on the singers, with the role of Elisabeth being one of the great challenges in the bel canto repertoire. Roberto Devereux contains some of Donizetti’s most popular arias. No wonder, then, that the audience loved this performance of the challenging opera.

Elisabetta, Queen of England – Dimitra Theodossiou | SOPRANO
Duke of Nottingham – Andrew Schroeder | BARITONE
Sara, Duchess of Nottingham – Federica Bragaglia | MEZZO-SOPRANO
Roberto Devereux, Conte of Essex – Massimiliano Pisapia | TENOR
Lord Cecil – Luigi Albani | TENOR
Sir Gualtiero Raleigh – Giorgio Valerio | BARITONE

Orchestra and Chorus Bergamo Musica Festival Gaetano Donizetti
Marcello Rota | CONDUCTOR

Francesco Bellotto | DIRECTOR
David Walker | SETS AND COSTUMES
Matteo Ricchetti | VIDEO DIRECTOR

In a glance:
00:00 Credits
00:44 Sinfonia

Act I
01:50 Geme! Pallor funereo
04:03 All'afflitto è dolce il pianto
07:35 Duchessa alle fervide preci
10:38 L'amor suo mi fè beata
13:28 Nunzio son del parlamento
17:40 Donna reale
22:33 Un tenero core mi rese felice
26:04 Un lampo, un lampo orribile
29:07 Roberto che
32:13 Forse in quel cor sensibile
35:06 Duca, vieni a conferenza
41:38 Tutto è silenzio
46:20 Dacché tornasti
51:00 E quando fuggirai

Act II
54:58 Introduzione – L'ore trascorrono
59:35 Del reo le sorti
1:02:33 Non venni mai sì mesto
1:08:44 Ecco l'indegno!
1:10:47 Alma infida
1:15:49 Scellerato!
1:19:37 Va, la morte sul capo ti pende

Act III
1:23:19 Né riede ancora il mio consorte
1:26:46 Noi sai che un nume vindice
1:31:20 All'ambascia ond'io mi struggo
1:35:34 Ed ancor la tremenda porta
1:39:10 Come uno spirto angelico
1:43:35 Bagnato il sen di lagrime
1:48:12 E Sara in questi orribili momenti
1:51:33 Vivi, ingrato
1:57:06 Che m'apporti
2:00:44 Quel sangue versato

Public

Approved

Gaetano Donizetti Theater

Production booklet

Further reading