Repertoire

Lucia di Lammermoor

Gaetano Donizetti

  • World premiere
  • Teatro San Carlo din Napoli, 26 septembrie 1835
  • Romanian Opera Craiova Premiere
  • 26 februarie 2003
  • Time Length
  • aprox. 3h – două pauze
  • Extra info
  • Spectacol în limba italiană cu supratitrare în limba română

Opera in three acts composed by Gaetano Donizetti.

Libretto by Salvatore Cammarano, after Walter Scott’s The Bride of Lammermoor.


The action takes place in Scotland, at the end of the 16th century.

ACT I

Lord Enrico Ashton, deadly enemy of the Ravenswoods, had managed to destroy this family almost entirely and take away all their fortune, through a range of misdeeds. However, his situation is critical, since he has come out of the queen’s graces. As a last solution, he thinks of a marriage between his sister, Lucia and lord Arturo – a favourite of the court. He wishes that this marriage should be celebrated as soon as possible. As he confesses these thoughts to his manservant, Enrico is notified that Edgardo di Ravenswood, the only living heir to the enemy family, is hidden around the castle. His rage and hatred are even more powerful as he finds out that Lucia is secretly in love with this man. In the garden of the castle, Lucia tells her faithful confidante, Alisa, that during her lonely walks she thought she saw, in the mirror of the old well, the sad and bloody face of the wife of one of the Ravenswoods, who had been killed by latter out of jealousy. She only manages to drive that awful image out of her mind due to the moments of happiness shared with her lover. Edgardo arrives, letting her know that he is going away on a mission, which compels him to postpone the wedding, keeping their engagement secret. Before leaving, he gifts her with his ring, a symbol of their commitment and faith.

ACT II

After Edgardo leaves, Lucia lives in a great tension, caused by the worries for the lover she knows nothing of and by the fear that her brother intends to marry her to a lord appreciated by the queen. Indeed, Enrico calls her and presents this marriage as a duty to the family’s honour, that only she could save. Lucia rejects every argument; she has sworn loyalty to a man and she is keeping her promise. Sly and prepared for the refusal, Enrico, who had taken care of destroying all Edgardo’s letters, shows his sister a fake letter, supposedly from her fiancée, where the latter waives her commitment since he is “in love with another woman”. The notice is both unexpected and sad and deeply hurts Lucia’s kind heart. However, she still refuses to break her vow. In a last attempt, Enrico tells her that her rejection of the marriage will result in him being sentenced to death. Raimondo intervenes, asking her to meet the duty to her family, and Lucia agrees. She has to sign the marriage contract among the guests. An unexpectedly arrived Edgardo accuses his unfaithful fiancée of treason, while Enrico wants to kick him out of the castle. Before going out, Edgardo throws the engagement ring to Lucia and curses her. A dreadful news is brought in the happy atmosphere reigning among the guests to the marriage: Lucia has gone insane and has killed her husband. A victim of hallucinations, with lost eyes, the woman appears holding a blood-stained dagger. Her imagination is reliving the happy moments with Edgardo, then her mind is darkened by threatening fantasies.

ACT III

In the graveyard where his ancestors were buried, Edgardo has come to say goodbye to all that still connected him to life, which had no meaning without Lucia’s love. Steps are heard in the dark; someone announces that Lucia has gone insane. Edgardo wants to hurry and see her, but it is too late. The castle’s bells announce the death of the poor woman. Now convinced of her faithfulness and love, Edgardo bids one last call to the innocent soul and, with a dagger, ends his own life.

 

*Grigore Constantinescu & Daniela Caraman-Fotea, Ghid de operă, Bucharest, 1971

**Ana Buga & Cristina Maria Sârbu, 4 secole de teatru muzical, Bucharest, 1999

***Ioana Ștefănescu, O istorie a muzicii universale, Vol. IV, Bucharest, 2002