Torquato Tasso is a melodramma semiserio, or "semi-serious" opera, in three acts by Gaetano Donizetti and based on the life of the great poet Torquato Tasso. The Italian libretto was written by Jacopo Ferretti, who used a number of sources for his text, including works by Giovanni Rosini, Goethe, Goldoni and Lord Byron, as well as Tasso's actual poetry. It premiered on 9 September 1833 at the Teatro Valle, Rome.
The work has been criticized for "its odd deployment of vocal types"Ashbrook 1998, p. 762 characteristic of the semiseria genre.
Roles RoleVoice typePremiere Cast, 9 September 1833(Conductor: - )Eleonora, Duke Alfonso's sistersopranoAdelina Spech-SalviEleonora, Countess of Scandianomezzo-sopranoAngiolina CarocciTorquato TassobaritoneGiorgio RonconiRoberto Geraldini, the duke's secretarytenorAntonio PoggiDon GherardobassFerdinando LaurettiAmbrogio, Torquato's servanttenorLuigi GarofaloAlfonso II, Duke of FerrarabassAntonio RinaldiPages, knights
Synopsis Time: 16th century Place: Ferrara, Northern ItalyOsborne, p. 220
Recordings YearCast (Torquato Tasso, Eleanore d'Este, Roberto, Don Gherhardo)Conductor,Opera House and OrchestraLabelSource for recording information: operadis-opera-discography.org.uk1974Christian du Plessis,Janet Price,Bruce Brewer,Andrea SnarskiKenneth Montgomery,Opera Rara Orchestra and Chorus(Recording of a performance in the Collegiate Theatre, London as part of the Camden Festival on 27 February and 1 and 2 March)Audio CD: Celestial AudioCat: CA 247 1985Simone Alaimo,Luciana Serra,Ernesto Palacio,Roberto Coviello Massimo De BernartOrchestra and chorus of Teatro Comunale, GenovaAudio CD: BongiovanniCat: GB 2028/0-2
References Notes
Cited sources Ashbrook, William (1998), "Torquato Tasso, in Stanley Sadie (Ed.), The New Grove Dictionary of Opera, Vol. One. London: Macmillan Publishers, Inc. Osborne, Charles, (1994), The Bel Canto Operas of Rossini, Donizetti, and Bellini, Portland, Oregon: Amadeus Press.
Other sources Allitt, John Stewart (1991), Donizetti: in the light of Romanticism and the teaching of Johann Simon Mayr, Shaftesbury: Element Books, Ltd (UK); Rockport, MA: Element, Inc.(USA) Ashbrook, William (1982), Donizetti and His Operas, Cambridge University Press. Ashbrook, William and Sarah Hibberd (2001), in Holden, Amanda (Ed.), The New Penguin Opera Guide, New York: Penguin Putnam. . pp. 224 – 247. Black, John (1982), Donizetti’s Operas in Naples, 1822—1848. London: The Donizetti Society. Loewenberg, Alfred (1970). Annals of Opera, 1597-1940, 2nd edition. Rowman and Littlefield Sadie, Stanley, (Ed.); John Tyrell (Exec. Ed.) (2004), The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians. 2nd edition. London: Macmillan. (hardcover). (eBook). Weinstock, Herbert (1963), Donizetti and the World of Opera in Italy, Paris, and Vienna in the First Half of the Nineteenth Century, New York: Pantheon Books.
External links Donizetti Society (London) website Libretto Italian