LA DONNA DEL LAGO
Opera seria in 2 atti
Composer: Gioachino Rossini (1792–1868)
Libretto: Andrea Leone Tottola, after Sir Walter Scott’s ‘The Lady of the Lake’ (1810)
First performance: Teatro San Carlo, Naples, 24 September 1819
SETTING: Scotland, first half of the sixteenth century
PLOT: The ‘lady of the lake’ is Elena, daughter of Duglas d’Angus, rebel and former tutor to Giacomo (James V of Scotland), who is disguised as Uberto di Snowdon and loves her. So does Malcom Groeme (Malcolm Graeme), a rebel chieftain, who is an armour-bearing contralto. (This is Italian opera.) Meanwhile her father wants her to marry Rodrigo di Dhu, the rebel chief of the Highlanders. Duglas, Rodrigo and Malcom lead an uprising of the clans against Giacomo, but they are defeated and Rodrigo killed. Elena pleads for her father and lover’s lives, the king forgives them, and she marries Malcom.
No. 9 – Duetto ‘Alla ragion deh rieda’ e terzetto ‘Qual pena in me già desta’
Giacomo V Giacomo V, re di Scozia, sotto il nome del cav. Uberto di Snowdon / James V, King of Scotland, under the name of Sir Hubert of Snowdon (tenor): Kenneth Tarver
Rodrigo di Dhu (tenor): Gregory Kunde
Elena, figlia di Douglas d’Angus / daughter of Douglas d’Angus (soprano): Carmen Giannattasio
Conductor: Maurizio Benini
Scottish Chamber Orchestra
Edinburgh, 2006
