La donna del lago (English: The Lady of the Lake) is an opera composed by Gioachino Rossini with a libretto by Andrea Leone Tottola (whose verses are described as "limpid" by one critic)Osborne, Charles 1994, p. 95 based on the French translationOsborne, Charles 1994, p. 94 of The Lady of the Lake, a narrative poem written in 1810 by Sir Walter Scott, whose work continued to popularize the image of the romantic Scottish Highlands. Scott's basic story has been noted as coming from "the hint of an incident stemming from the frequent custom of James V, the King of Scotland, of walking through the kingdom in disguise".The legend quoted in Mays 2013, p. 9
It was the first of the Italian operas to be based on Scott's romantic works,Gossett and Brauner (2001), in Holden (Ed.), p. 785 and marked the beginning of romanticism in Rossini's work. Scott was "deeply influential in the development of Italian romantic opera"Commons 2007, pp. 9 - 12 to the extent that by 1840 (barely 20 years after this opera), there were 25 Italian operas based on his works, the most famous being Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor of 1835. Others in German, French and English followed.
Written for the Teatro San Carlo in Naples, this was the seventh of nine operas which Rossini wrote for that house between 1815 and 1822. Although the première on 24 September 1819 was not a success, there followed many performances throughout major European venues (as well as being presented in Cuba and by major South American houses) until about 1860, after which the opera disappeared until 1958. In modern times, performances have been given fairly frequently.
Composition history
The period between La gazza ladra (1817) and Semiramide (1823) was marked by the production of twelve operas of little significance, with the exception of La donna del lago. After being obliged to leave Pesaro hurriedly in May 1819 (it turned out to be his last visit there), Rossini returned to Naples in early June with no projects in the offing, except to become involved with overseeing a new production of his La gazza ladra there. Also, a commission from Milan's La Scala for an opera, which would become Bianca e Falliero, had been offered and was planned for December of that year. Suddenly, the Italian composer Gaspare Spontini withdrew from a commitment to write two operas for the Naples house that season, thus leaving a huge gap. Rossini was quickly asked to write an opera for a September premiere; rather than use an existing libretto, the house insisted upon a wholly new opera and he accepted the challenge.Osborne, Richard 2007, pp. 61 - 62
It seems Rossini was initially attracted to Scott's poem when, in musicologist Philip Gossett's opinion,Gossett 1983, p. 12 he was introduced to it in translation by the young French composer Désiré-Alexandre Batton, a student of his and Prix de Rome winner then in Italy. On hearing about the poem from Batton, Rossini asked for a copy and within a few days informed Batton he was so delighted with it he would compose an opera based on it. He then immediately called upon the Naples-based librettist Andrea Leone Tottola (who is described as "a comparative mediocrity when set against the likes of a Felice Romani)".Pistone (1995), p. 3 Later, the librettist claimed the topic for "this difficult task" had been chosen by the Naples impresario.
As he worked on the libretto, Tottola "was also intrigued by the epic Celtic tales of Ossian"Mays 2013, pp. 17 - 18 published in 1760 by James Macpherson, who claimed to have found poems written by an ancient bard. The published translations acquired international popularity and set off a craze for idealising and romanticizing the Scottish Highlands.Morère 2004, pp. 75-6.Ferguson 1998, p. 227. Napoleon and Thomas Jefferson read the Ossian poems, Goethe included them in The Sorrows of Young Werther, and Schubert and Mendelssohn both composed music to them. The young Walter Scott was also greatly influenced by them.
Initially, Tottola was well aware of the difficulties which he faced in reducing Scott's epic poem, with its detailed descriptions of the Scottish landscape and culture as well as its many characters. In his preface, the librettist summed it up by stating: It is, in fact, no easy task to simplify the many beauties and many moments of interest of a poem in order to arrive at the regular conduct of a drama and to observe the strict laws of the stage. It therefore became unavoidable that I should make some arbitrary changes in the original ...Tottola's preface to the libretto quoted in Commons, p. 29
But together, composer and librettist, reflecting the poetic meter of the Ossian tales, "strove to interweave a sense of these very rhythms into the score and libretto." Richard Osborne describes what they accomplished: It is astonishing what he and Tottola achieved in so short a time: a complex and sophisticated theatrical structure, an unusually rich vein of dramatically viable melody, exquisite orchestrations, and a striking use of the kind of off-stage effects Rossini had been experimenting with in the royal pageants of Ricciardo e Zoraide.
Osborne also notes the way in which "the source materials have been interwoven, giving the sense of a music drama that has in some measure been 'through-composed'."Osborne, Richard (2007), p. 280 Gossett is less enthusiastic, noting that "it is almost impossible for Italian poetry to capture the quality of Scott's characteristic verse," but he does agree that "the spirit of the poem is there".
With the original September deadline missed, the new opera was presented in October and "was an enormous success",A letter from Stendhal to his friend De Mareste, quoted in Osborne, R. 2007, p. 62 although it was not without some early disruptions from the audience.
The opera is best considered as a transitional work between baroque and classical forms and romanticism. It was the first and also the last but one en travesti opera that Rossini would write for Naples, the last one being Maometto secondo. Due to the influence of the French style during the reigns of Joseph Bonaparte and Joachim Murat, tenors had substituted castrati and contraltos for heroic roles there.
Performance history
Première
The opera received its première on 24 September 1819, with a debut cast of seasoned singers who regularly worked together, including Isabella Colbran as Elena, Benedetta Rosmunda Pisaroni as Malcolm and Giovanni David as Uberto/King James.Warrack & West, p. ?
Initial reactions were mixed, with the conservative faction displeased by its seeming elaborateness and concerted numbers compared to the simplicity of Ricciardo e Zoraide the previous year. A contemporary account of the evening's events reveals that, in the absence of members of the royal court, there were disruptions. A. Azevedo, in his 1864 book on the composer, notes that "the public found itself free of all restraint [....] the audience whistled and booed, and challenged both artists and composer throughout almost the entire evening."A. Azevedo in G. Rossini: Sa Vie et Ses Oeuvres (Paris, 1864), quoted in Commons 2007, pp. 18 - 20 However, he does state that after the brilliance of Colbran's rondo finale, they were very enthusiastic and called her onto the stage many times, as they did Rossini (who had refused to appear and had already left for Milan, where he was under contract to compose Bianca e Falliero.).
19th century
Despite the opera's initial poor reception in Naples, on arrival in Milan, Rossini announced it was an unqualified success, which as it happens, it then proceeded to be. La donna remained in the San Carlo's repertoire for 12 years, up to the 1834/35 season.Kaufman 2007, p. 44- 51 It was performed in London in February 1823 and was staged for 15 seasons until 1851, while it had its American debut in New Orleans in June 1829 followed by New York in 1833.
Many major cities in Italy, several in Spain, as well as St. Petersburg and many South American houses saw productions up to 1860, when there was a performance in Trieste. After that it disappeared.
Although not staged at the Opéra, La donna was seen in Paris for 13 seasons between 1824 and 1854. While Rossini was living there, he was approached by the director of the Opéra, Léon Pillet, in 1846, with a request to write a new work. Rossini declined, because the company had never performed La donna. Pillet therefore began collaborating with the composer Louis Niedermeyer and librettist Gustave Vaëz to change the story of La donna to a different time and incorporate elements from another Scott work; eventually, with Rossini's blessing, they also added music from Zelmira and Armida, amongst others. This "pasticcio", Robert Bruce, was given on 30 December 1846 and “throughout the winter, to appreciative audiences".Osborne, R. 2007, pp. 136 - 137. Osborne gives two dates for the premiere, December 23 (p. 137) and December 30 (p. 357). Weinstock 1968, p. 238, explains that the premiere was scheduled for December 23, the date on the printed libretto, but was postponed to December 30 because the lead mezzo-soprano, Rosine Stoltz, was ill. See also Le Ménestrel (vol. 14, no, 4 (27 December 1846).
20th century and beyond
La donna went unperformed for almost a century until 1958, when a revival took place in Florence, where it was also recorded in performance at the Teatro della Pergola during the Maggio Musicale on 9 May. Ten years later, it was presented at the 1969 Camden Festival in London, with Kiri Te Kanawa in the lead role.
In 1981, after an absence from America of almost 150 years, a production was mounted by the Houston Grand Opera, starring Frederica von Stade, Marilyn Horne, and Rockwell Blake, and conducted by Claudio Scimone.Donal Henahan, "Opera: Houston Digs up Rossini Donna del Lago", The New York Times, 17 October 1981 The same production and cast were later presented at Covent Garden. In 1981, the Rossini Opera Festival at Pesaro presented the first staging of H. Colin Slim's new critical edition starring Lella Cuberli and Philip Langridge. The same production was revived in 1983 with Katia Ricciarelli, Lucia Valentini Terrani and Samuel Ramey.
A variety of European and American companies - about 25 in all - performed the opera from the 1960s into the early 2000s, and recordings of many of these exist, including a concert performance in the Théâtre du Châtelet, Paris, on 2 March 1986. 1990 saw Cecilia Gasdia and Rockwell Blake in a performance in the Teatro Regio di Parma in January 1990.
In 1992, to mark the bicentenary of Rossini's birth, La Scala mounted its first production of the opera in 150 years, with a cast that included bel canto experts June Anderson, Rockwell Blake, and Chris Merritt, directed by Werner Herzog and conducted by Riccardo Muti. Anna Caterina Antonacci starred in a concert performance in the Concertgebouw, Amsterdam, on 28 March 1992.
Juan Diego Flórez sang the role of Uberto in a performance in the Palafestival, Pesaro in August 2001, repeating that role in 2002 (with Malcolm sung by Daniela Barcellona) at the Opéra Berlioz-Le Corume on 23 July with the orchestra of the Rome Opera. Both Florez and Barcellona appeared in the Kleines Festspielhaus in Salzburg in August, with Ruth Ann Swenson as Elena and Bruce Fowler (tenor) as Rodrigo.
2003 saw a concert performance under Eve Queler given by the Opera Orchestra of New York on 19 May. Elena was sung by Ruth Ann Swenson, Malcolm by Stephanie Blythe and Rodrigo by Bruce Fowler (tenor). A concert performance was also given as part of the Edinburgh Festival at Usher Hall, on 18 August 2006.