Beatrice di Tenda is a tragic opera in two acts by Vincenzo Bellini, from a libretto by Felice Romani, after the play of the same name by ."Beatrice Tenda: Tragedia Istorica di Carlo Tedaldi-Fores" (1825). Notes and the play, on archive.org
Initially, a play by Alexandre Dumas was chosen as the subject for the opera, but Bellini had reservations about its suitability. After he and Giuditta Pasta (for whom the opera was to be written) had together seen the ballet based on the very different play, Tedaldi-Fores' Beatrice Tenda, in Milan in October 1832, she became enthusiastic about the subject and the composer set about persuading Romani that this was a good idea. Romani had his own concerns, the principal one being the close parallels with the story told in Donizetti's Anna Bolena, an opera which had established that composer's success in 1830. Against his better judgment, he finally agreed, although he failed to provide verses for many months.
Although unsuccessful at its premiere in Venice in 1833, Bellini felt that he had counteracted the horror of its story "by means of the music, colouring it now tremendously and now sadly".Bellini to Santocanale, 11 April 1834, after receiving news of the opera's success in Palermo, in Later, after hearing of the opera's success in Palermo, Bellini wrote to his Neapolitan friend Francesco Florimo, stating that Beatrice "was not unworthy of her sisters".Bellini to Florimo, 14 June 1834, in Also, it was Pasta's performances in the title role that overcame the public's hostility to the piece.
The opera was Bellini's penultimate work, coming between Norma (1831) and I puritani (1835) and it was the only one of his operas to be published in full score in his lifetime.
Composition history
With the leading role requiring a strong female character to be written for Pasta, composer and librettist met to consider a subject. Much of the initial work fell upon Romani, who had to look at a number of possible sources, but by 6 October, a subject had been agreed upon: it would be Christina regina di Svenzia from a play by Alexandre Dumas which had appeared in Paris in 1830.
However, within a month, Bellini had changed his mind and he was writing to Pasta stating that "the subject has been changed, and we'll write Beatrice di Tenda. I had a hard time persuading Romani, but persuade him I did, and with good reasons. Knowing that the subject pleases you, as you told me the evening when you saw the ballet. He is a man of good will, and I want him to show it also in wanting to prepare at least the first act for me swiftly".Bellini to Pasta, 3 November 1832, in
Bellini's expectation that he would promptly receive the first act turned out to be a mistake. His librettist had vastly over-committed himself: by the time that Christina became Beatrice, he had made commitments to other composers for an October opera, for an opera for La Scala in February 1833, for a Parma production on 26 February, for La Scala on 10 March, and for Florence on 17 March.
In spite of Romani's contract deadlines, no progress towards the preparation of the libretto for Beatrice took place in November. Bellini announced that he would arrive in Venice in early December, but after the 10th, he became preoccupied with rehearsals for his stagings of Norma. However, the lack of any verses—for an opera which was supposed to be given its premiere in the second half of February—caused him to have to take action against Romani. He lodged a complaint with the governor of Venice who then contacted the governor of Milan, who then had his police contact Romani. The librettist finally arrived in Venice on 1 January 1833. He holed up to write Bellini's libretto, but, at the same time, Donizetti was equally incensed at delays in receiving a libretto from Romani for an opera which was to be Parisina.
When Norma opened on 26 December, it was a success but only because of Pasta; the other singers were not well received. This caused Bellini to fear for how Beatrice would turn out. Writing to his friend Santocanale in Palermo on 12 January, the composer was in despair, complaining of the short time to write his opera: "whose fault is that? that of my usual and original poet, the God of Sloth!"Bellini to Santocanale, 12 January 1833, in Their relationship quickly began to deteriorate: greetings including tu (the informal "you") gave way to voi (the formal "you") and they lived in different parts of Venice, unusual when they were working together outside their home city.
However, by 14 February, Bellini was reporting that he had only "another three pieces of the [first act of the] opera to do". He still had the second act to set to music. On that date he notes to Ferlito that "I hope to go onstage here on 6 March if I am able to finish the opera and prepare it."Bellini to Vincenzo Ferlito, 14 February 1833, in
As it turned out, Bellini was only able to prepare the opera for rehearsals by deleting sections of the libretto as well as some of the music for the finale, with the result that Beatrice's final aria had to be borrowed from Bianca e Fernando. (Bellini's sketches of a former duet between Beatrice and Agnese were realized by Vittorio Gui for a series of revivals from the late 1960s.)
In order to create more time for Bellini to finish, the La Fenice impresario Lanari padded the programme with older works or revivals, but that allowed only eight days for Beatrice before the scheduled end of the season. Not surprisingly, the audience, having waited so long for the new work, greeted the opening night on 16 March with little enthusiasm, their rejection demonstrated by cries of Norma! upon hearing Pasta's first aria, Ma la sola, oimė! son io, / che penar per lui si veda? ("Am I the only one to whom he has brought grief?"), thinking that they heard echoes of the music from the earlier opera. Their indifference was magnified after reading Romani's plea for "the reader's full indulgence" which appeared in the libretto with the suggestion that its faults were not his.Romani's apology in the printed libretto, quoted in But at the following two performances there were large crowds. For Bellini, his opera "was not unworthy of her sisters".quoted in
The break with Romani – and their reunion
There then began what Herbert Weinstock describes, in over twelve pages of text which include the long letters written by both sides in the dispute, "the journalistic storm over Beatrice di Tenda [which evolved] into the bitterest, most convoluted, and—at our distance from it—most amusing polemic in the annals of early nineteenth-century Italian opera". A back-and-forth series of letters in the Venetian daily, the Gazzetta privilegiata di Venezia began, the first of which complained about the delay in the production. This was followed by a torrent of anti-Beatrice letters, then a pro-Bellini reply, which laid the blame on Romani. This provoked a response from Romani himself, presenting his case against Bellini based largely on the composer's inability to decide on a subject and then finding his melodramma "touched up in a thousand ways", in order to make it acceptable to "the Milords of the Thames [who] await him", a sarcastic reference to Bellini's planned trip to London to stage the opera there. A further "cannonade" from Romani (says Weinstock) appeared in Milan's L'Eco in April.Detailed in , who notes that the entire contents of the letters is reprinted in Cambia 1945
However, the relationship was eventually repaired in correspondence between the two men in 1833 and 1834, with Bellini in Paris and Romani in Milan. They never met again.
Performance history
19th century: Performance history to about 1970
Beatrice di Tenda received its first performance at the Teatro La Fenice in Venice on 16 March 1833 with Giuditta Pasta in the title role. The following year, it was staged at the Teatro Carolino in Palermo on 1 March with , Giovanni Basadonna, and Ignazio Marini in the major roles. There, it was well received. Bellini was pleased. So my Beatrice was well received? I am pleased....I myself did not believe [it] deserving of the fate that befell it in Venice, and I am convinced that outside reasons induced the audience to disapprove of it...
However, Venice's "fiasco" was relative because the opera was staged again at La Fenice in 1838, 1843, 1844 and then again in 1871. After it had come to Naples in 1834, initially at the del Fondo in July and then at the Teatro di San Carlo in November, Milan followed in February 1835 with 12 performances. Then came Rome, Messina, Bologna, Trieste where it was given under the name of Il Castello d'Ursino. Performances continued in Italy throughout the late 1830s and into the 1840s with some significant singers of the time appearing in major rules. These included Caroline Unger and Giuseppina Strepponi.
Outside Italy it was premiered in Vienna in March 1836, and also in London, Prague, Berlin (in German), Lisbon, Barcelona, Madrid, and Paris. In 1842 the American premiere of Beatrice was staged in New Orleans at the St Charles Theatre on 5 March 1841 followed by a New York presentation at a later date. It was also the first Bellini opera to be staged in Buenos Aires, in 1849. However, like many other bel canto operas, Beatrice practically disappeared from the stage after the 1870s.
20th century and beyond
At the centenary of the first performance, the opera was staged at the Teatro Massimo Bellini in Catania in January 1935, with Giannina Arangi-Lombardi singing the Countess. It took until April 1966 before it was heard there again under Vittorio Gui with Leyla Gencer singing the title role.
Beatrice di Tenda was revived in 1961 by the American Opera Society in New York with Joan Sutherland, Enzo Sordello, Marilyn Horne and Richard Cassilly under Nicola Rescigno, and in the same year at La Scala with Sutherland and Raina Kabaivanska and with Antonino Votto conducting. La Fenice presented the work again in January 1964 with Leyla Gencer. The 1960s saw occasional presentations.
Since that time the title role has been assumed by a number of other prominent sopranos, including Mirella Freni, June Anderson, Edita Gruberová, and Mariella Devia.
Roles +RoleVoice typePremiere cast, 17 March 1833Beatrice di Tenda, Filippo's wifesoprano Giuditta PastaFilippo Maria Visconti, Duke of Milanbaritone Orazio CartagenovaAgnese del Maino, in love with Orombellomezzo-soprano Anna Dal SerreOrombello, Lord of Ventimigliatenor Alberico CurioniAnichino, loyal friend of Orombellotenor Alessandro GiacchiniRizzardo del Maino, Agnese's brother and Filippo's confidanttenor
Synopsis This is the story of Beatrice Lascaris di Tenda, the woman who was the widow of the condottiere Facino Cane and later the wife of Duke Filippo Maria Visconti, in 15th-century Milan. Filippo has grown tired of his wife Beatrice; she regrets her impetuous marriage to him after her first husband's death, a marriage that has delivered her and her people into the Duke's tyrannical power.
Time: 1418 Place: The Castle of Binasco, near Milan
Act 1 Scene 1: "Internal courtyard of the Castle of Binasco. View of the facade of the illuminated palace", notes that scene descriptions come from those used in the 1964 Fenice libretto
Filippo Maria Visconti, the Duke of Milan, has attended a ball, but he leaves early and encounters his assembled courtiers. He is bored with everyone; all seem to be paying obeisance to his wife because they regard her as the more powerful, his title and power having come only from his marriage to her: “Such torment and such martyrdom I cannot bear much longer”. His sycophantic courtiers tell him how much they sympathize but wonder why he does not break free given his position as Duke. Also, they warn him that if he does not act, Beatrice's servants may well begin plotting against him.