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Title: Gaetano Donizetti - Poliuto: Overture ("O Nume pietoso") View count: 129 Rating: 5.0 (2 ratings) Description: Gaetano Donizzetti (1797-1848) Poliuto: Overture - "O Nume pietoso" (1840) Orchestra e Coro del Teatro alla Scala di Milano/Antonino Votto Poliuto is a tragedia lirica, or tragic opera, by Gaetano Donizetti. Salvadore Cammarano wrote the Italian libretto after Pierre Corneille's play Polyeucte (1641-42). It was composed in 1838 and first performed on 30 November 1848 at the Teatro San Carlo, Naples. However, a revised version of the work with a French text had been produced earlier at the Paris Opéra under the title Les Martyrs on 10 April 1840. By January 1838 Donizetti was in negotiations with the Paris Opéra to compose two new works. While in Venice for the premiere of Maria de Rudenz he had met Adolphe Nourrit, who for more than a decade had been the principal tenor in Paris. However, Nourrits popularity was now in decline and he was in danger of being supplanted in the public's affections by a rising star Gilbert Louis Duprez. Nourrit and Donizetti were in complete agreement that a Grand Opera in the style of Halevy's La Juive would exactly suit the tastes of a French audience and provide Nourrit with the ideal vehicle to restore his career. However, Donizetti's next opera was scheduled to be premiered in Naples, the capital of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, whose King Ferdinand II was a devout Catholic who refused to allow any representation on the stage of scenes of a religious nature. At the last minute, the King forbade the production. The management of the Teatro di San Carlo were forced to substitute Pia de' Tolomei and Donizetti left immediately for Paris vowing never to have any dealings with Naples in the future. The cancellation dealt a crushing blow to Adolphe Nourrits hopes of reviving his flagging career. On 8 March 1839 he committed suicide by jumping from the window of his apartment in Naples. On reaching Paris Donizetti revised and expanded the opera to a French text which was eventually produced as Les Martyrs at the Paris Opera on 10 April 1840. Poliuto was not performed in its original form until after Donizetti's death. ~ Wikipedia Tags: gaetano, donizetti, poliuto, les, martyrs, maria, callas, la, scala, Author: Epogdous |
