Lucia Di Lammermoor: Gaetano Donizetti
Lucia Di Lammermoor: Gaetano Donizetti
Lucia Di Lammermoor: Gaetano Donizetti
Lucia di
Lammermoor
GENERAL MANAGER
Peter Gelb
MUSIC DIRECTOR
James Levine
2010–11 Season
Gaetano Donizetti’s
Lucia di
This performance
Lammermoor
is being broadcast
live over The
Toll Brothers–
Metropolitan Conductor
Opera Patrick Summers
International
Radio Network,
in order of appearance
sponsored by
Toll Brothers,
America’s luxury Normanno Flute Solo
® Philip Webb Denis Bourikov
homebuilder ,
with generous Lord Enrico Ashton
Harp Solo
Deborah Hoffman
long-term Ludovic Tézier
support from
The Annenberg Raimondo
Foundation, the Kwangchul Youn
Vincent A. Stabile
Lucia
Endowment for
Natalie Dessay
Broadcast Media,
and contributions Alisa
from listeners Theodora Hanslowe
worldwide.
Edgardo
This performance is Joseph Calleja
also being broadcast
Arturo
live on Metropolitan
Matthew Plenk*
Opera Radio on
SIRIUS channel 78
and XM channel 79.
Act I
scene 1 Outside Lammermoor Castle
scene 2 A fountain in the woods
Act II
scene 1 Months later. The great hall of the castle, late morning
scene 2 The great hall of the castle, immediately after
Act III
scene 1 That night. The ruins of Wolf’s Crag Castle
scene 2 The ballroom of Lammermoor Castle
scene 3 The burial grounds of the Ravenswoods
In this production, the action takes place closer to the time of Donizetti’s
composition in the mid-19th century, rather than the original late-17th century
setting of the novel.
Act I
An intruder has been spotted at night on the grounds of Lammermoor Castle,
home of Enrico Ashton. Normanno, the captain of the guard, sends Enrico’s
men off in search of the stranger. Enrico arrives, troubled. His family’s fortunes
are in danger, and only the arranged marriage of his sister, Lucia, with Lord
Arturo can save them. The chaplain Raimondo, Lucia’s tutor, reminds Enrico
that the girl is still mourning the death of her mother. But Normanno reveals
that Lucia is concealing a great love for Edgardo di Ravenswood, leader of the
Ashtons’ political enemies. Enrico is furious and swears vengeance. The men
return and explain that they have seen and identified the intruder as Edgardo.
Enrico’s fury increases.
Just before dawn at a fountain in the woods nearby, Lucia and her companion
Alisa are waiting for Edgardo. Lucia relates that, at the fountain, she has seen
the ghost of a girl who was stabbed by her jealous lover (“Regnava nel silenzio”).
Alisa urges her to leave Edgardo, but Lucia insists that her love for Edgardo
brings her great joy and may overcome all. Edgardo arrives and explains
that he must go to France on a political mission. Before he leaves he wants
to make peace with Enrico. Lucia, however, asks Edgardo to keep their love a
secret. Edgardo agrees, and they exchange rings and vows of devotion (Duet:
“Verranno a te sull’aure”).
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Act II
It is some months later, the day on which Lucia is to marry Arturo. Normanno
assures Enrico that he has successfully intercepted all correspondence between
the lovers and has in addition procured a forged letter, supposedly from
Edgardo, that indicates he is involved with another woman. As the captain goes
off to welcome the groom, Lucia enters, continuing to defy her brother. Enrico
shows her the forged letter. Lucia is heartbroken, but Enrico insists that she
marry Arturo to save the family. He leaves, and Raimondo, convinced no hope
remains for Lucia’s love, reminds her of her dead mother and urges her to do a
sister’s duty (“Ah! cedi, cedi”). She finally agrees.
As the wedding guests arrive, Enrico explains to Arturo that Lucia is still
in a state of melancholy because of her mother’s death. The girl enters and
reluctantly signs the marriage contract. Suddenly Edgardo bursts in, claiming
his bride, and the entire company is overcome by shock (Sextet: “Chi mi frena
in tal momento”). Arturo and Enrico order Edgardo to leave but he insists that
he and Lucia are engaged. When Raimondo shows him the contract with Lucia’s
signature, Edgardo curses her and tears his ring from her finger before finally
leaving in despair and rage.
Act III
Enrico visits Edgardo at his dilapidated home and taunts him with the news
that Lucia and Arturo have just been married. The two men agree to meet at
dawn by the tombs of the Ravenswoods for a duel.
Back at Lammermoor, Raimondo interrupts the wedding festivities with the news
that Lucia has gone mad and killed Arturo. Lucia enters, covered in blood. Moving
between tenderness, joy, and terror, she recalls her meetings with Edgardo and
imagines she is with him on their wedding night (“Ardon gl’incensi”). She vows
she will never be happy in heaven without her lover and that she will see him
there. When Enrico returns, he is enraged at Lucia’s behavior, but soon realizes
that she has lost her senses. After a confused and violent exchange with her
brother, Lucia collapses.
At the graveyard, Edgardo laments that he has to live without Lucia and awaits his
duel with Enrico, which he hopes will end his own life (“Fra poco a me ricovero”).
Guests coming from Lammermoor Castle tell him that the dying Lucia has called
his name. As he is about to rush to her, Raimondo announces that she has died.
Determined to join Lucia in heaven, Edgardo stabs himself (“Tu che a Dio”).
Visit metopera.org 35
In Focus
Gaetano Donizetti
Lucia di Lammermoor
Premiere: Teatro San Carlo, Naples, 1835
The character of Lucia has become an icon in opera and beyond, an archetype
of the constrained woman asserting herself in society. She reappears as a
touchstone for such diverse later characters as Flaubert’s adulterous Madame
Bovary and the repressed Englishmen in the novels of E. M. Forster. The
insanity that overtakes and destroys Lucia, depicted in opera’s most celebrated
mad scene, has especially captured the public imagination. Donizetti’s handling
of this fragile woman’s state of mind remains seductively beautiful, thoroughly
compelling, and deeply disturbing. Madness as explored in this opera is not
merely something that happens as a plot function: it is at once a personal
tragedy, a political statement, and a healing ritual.
The Creators
Gaetano Donizetti (1797–1848) composed about 75 operas plus orchestral and
chamber music in a career abbreviated by mental illness and premature death.
Most of his works, with the exceptions of the ever-popular Lucia and the comic
gems L’Elisir d’Amore and Don Pasquale, disappeared from the public eye
after his death, but critical and popular opinion of the rest of his huge opus has
grown considerably over the past 50 years. The Neapolitan librettist Salvadore
Cammarano (1801–1852) also provided libretti for Verdi (Luisa Miller and Il
Trovatore). The source for this opera was The Bride of Lammermoor, a novel
by Sir Walter Scott (1771–1832), which the author set in the years immediately
preceding the union of Scotland and England in 1707. Scott’s novels of
adventure and intrigue in a largely mythical old Scotland were wildly popular
with European audiences.
The Music
Donizetti’s operas and those of his Italian contemporaries came to be classified
under the heading of bel canto (“beautiful singing”), a genre that focused on
vocal agility and lyrical beauty to express drama. Today, the great challenge
in performing this music lies in finding the right balance between elegant but
athletic vocalism and dramatic insight. Individual moments from the score that
can be charming on their own (for example, Lucia’s Act I aria “Regnava nel
silenzio” and the celebrated sextet that ends Act II) take on increased dramatic
force when heard within the context of the piece. This is perhaps most apparent
in the soprano’s extended mad scene in Act III. The beauty of the melodic line
throughout this long scene, and the graceful agility needed simply to hit the
notes, could fool someone who heard it in concert into believing that this is
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just an exercise in vocal pyrotechnics. In its place in the opera, however, with
its musical allusions to past events and with the dramatic interpretation of
the soprano, the mad scene is transformed. Its place in the drama makes it a
shattering depiction of desperation, while the beauty of the music becomes an
ironic commentary on the ugliness of “real” life. The tomb scene, built around
two tremendously difficult arias for the tenor, is another example of dramatic
context augmenting great melody and provides a cathartic contrast to the
disciplined tension of the preceding mad scene.
The Setting
The tale is set in Scotland, which, to artists of the Romantic era, signified a wild
landscape on the fringe of Europe, with a culture burdened by a French-derived
code of chivalry and an ancient tribal system. Civil war and tribal strife are
recurring features of Scottish history, creating a background of fragmentation
reflected in both Lucia’s family situation and her own fragile psyche. The design
of the Met’s production by Mary Zimmerman suggests a 19th-century setting,
and some of its visual elements are inspired by actual places in Scotland.
Visit metopera.org 37
�e Metropolitan Opera
is pleased to salute
2010–11 season Yves Saint Laurent in
recognition of its generous
support during our
2010–11 season.
PHOTO: MICAELA ROSSATO/METROPOLITAN OPERA
T
he opera Lucia di Lammermoor is based on Sir Walter Scott’s novel The
Bride of Lammermoor, which in turn was inspired by a true story that
haunted Scott in childhood. In 1669 Janet Dalrymple, a Scottish girl
from a noble family, fell in love with a certain Lord Rutherford. Between them
they broke a piece of gold and vowed on pain of eternal damnation to be true
to each other. But Janet’s family objected to the union and insisted that she
marry David Dunbar, heir of the wealthy Sir David Dunbar of Baldoon. On their
wedding night, with hundreds of guests assembled, the couple retired to the
bridal chamber. What happened next has been in dispute ever since. Violent
screaming was heard and when the door was broken down, David Dunbar
lay bleeding on the floor and Janet, maddened, was found crouched in the
fireplace, covered with soot and gore. The only words she spoke were “Take up
your bonny bridegroom.” Within two weeks, Janet was dead and the groom
had left Scotland. For the remainder of his short life he refused to speak about
what had happened in that room.
In the opera, Lucia’s description of the ghost at the fountain is taken by many
as pure delusion and as evidence of an already fragile psyche. But the ghosts
of Sir Walter Scott’s novel (a book that Donizetti was very familiar with) are quite
real. They are seen not only by Lucia but also by other characters, including
Edgar (Edgardo), and are even described to the reader independent of any
character’s eye. The two versions need not exclude each other. There is a way
to interpret the ghost that does not establish it as either absolutely imagined or
absolutely literal; she is the manifestation of madness itself, and this madness is
comprised, in part, of the unreasonable, selfish, prideful spirit of revenge, a spirit
that has very real and tragic consequences for the Ravenswoods and Ashtons.
The ghost is the image of the Ravenswood curse: jealousy, fury, and the wild
desire to have and to hold even into death. Killed by a jealous lover, the spirit of
the lost girl haunts the grounds of Ravenswood and beckons Lucia, conquering
her and passing through her to overcome Edgardo as well, dragging all with her
to the grave.
The ghost of Janet Dalrymple is persistent. She moved through Scott to
Donizetti, who began to experience the first symptoms of his own madness
during his engagement with the text. She then passed on to Flaubert and to
his Madame Bovary, who, after being taken to see Lucia di Lammermoor in
the novel, is driven almost crazy with desire for a young lover and starts on
a path similar to Lucia’s that will lead her to her doom. She has continued to
move on through dozens of manifestations in popular culture, haunting such
films as The Fifth Element, wherein the mad scene is sung by a many-tentacled
blue creature, and, most recently, Scorsese’s The Departed, wherein one of
the villains experiences a less elevated pleasure than Madame Bovary to
the accompaniment of the famous sextet. Janet Dalrymple, crouched in the
fireplace, clings to us still, an emblem of every thwarted love, and finds herself
today in her maddened sorrow in the midst of a glittering modern metropolis,
still longing and burning with love. —Mary Zimmerman
Visit metopera.org 39
Program Note
O
peratically speaking, the year 1835 got off to a good start. On
January 14, at the Théâtre-Italien in Paris, Vincenzo Bellini’s opera
I Puritani received its first performance. The all-star cast included the
soprano Giulia Grisi, the tenor Giovanni Battista Rubini, the baritone Antonio
Tamburini, and the bass Luigi Lablache. The success was immediate and whole-
hearted. Bellini’s fellow composer, Gaetano Donizetti, who was in the audience,
shared the enthusiasm of the public. In Paris to present a new opera of his
own with the same cast, he wrote generously to a friend in Milan of Bellini’s
good fortune, adding modestly: “I don’t at all deserve the success of I Puritani,
but still I have no wish not to please.” His opera Marino Faliero did not enjoy
the overwhelming success of the Bellini work, but nevertheless did please the
fastidious Parisian public, and the composer was received by the royal family
and named a chevalier of the Legion of Honor.
For some years, Donizetti (born in 1797) and Bellini (four years his junior) had
been pursuing parallel careers, first in Italy, then in the French capital, where
success was crucial to an international career. And they were, by almost unanimous
consensus, at the top of the profession. Rossini, the older contemporary, was
quietly preparing to retire; in Milan, the young student Giuseppe Verdi was
some years away from his debut. In 1835, as a result, it seemed that Bellini and
Donizetti were leading the race.
Bellini felt the competition keenly. A somewhat rancorous young man, he
was always ready to take a shot at his slightly older rival, but within a few months
Bellini died of a mysterious illness, in Paris on September 23, 1835. Donizetti
would, for a few years, virtually stand alone.
Soon after his Paris premiere, Donizetti was in Naples, hard at work on his
next opera. Such was the arduous life of the early 19th-century Italian composer,
always on the move from one theater to another as the opera houses kept up
the demand for fresh music (revivals were rare, and audiences quickly became
jaded). Though Donizetti came from Bergamo in the north, he was at home in
Naples, then an important European capital. He had enjoyed success at the
city’s Teatro San Carlo and was an admired teacher there, surrounded by warm
friendships.
In Naples, too, there was the librettist Salvadore Cammarano, commissioned
to provide the text for Donizetti’s new work. Scion of a large and much-admired
theatrical family, this amiable, absent-minded writer–dramaturg was something
of a local character, always ready to supply works for whatever composer was in
town. He had begun his operatic career in 1832. It ended, almost two decades
later, with Il Trovatore, which he began at the request of Verdi, although he died
before he could quite complete it. Like all librettists of the time, Cammarano
kept abreast of dramatic and literary fashions. He even had an eye for the classics
and knew his Shakespeare—still something of an oddity in the Italian theater.
In 1835 perhaps the most popular writer in Europe was Sir Walter Scott,
whose Lady of the Lake had been turned into a successful opera by Rossini in
1819. Though Bellini’s I Puritani had no real connection to Sir Walter, the title
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was sometimes altered to I Puritani di Scozia, simply to capitalize on continental
audiences’ fascination for Scotland. So it’s not surprising that, for Donizetti’s 47th
opera, Cammarano turned to Scott, specifically to The Bride of Lammermoor,
one of the author’s shorter novels and, in Britain, far from the most popular.
As was the custom of operatic poets, Cammarano—appropriating characters
and situations without hesitation—also had no scruples about altering the
plot, suppressing some characters and reconstructing others to suit his (and
Donizetti’s) needs. A list of a serious opera’s required ingredients in the mid-
1830s would almost certainly have included a pair of star-crossed lovers, a duel
(or the threat of one), a grand ensemble—in this case, the betrothal house
party—and, if possible, a long, lingering, and lyric death for the tenor. A mad
scene, though not essential, was surely a welcome element. And Cammarano
provided one, along with most of the other desiderata.
Unusually, Donizetti’s opera was not rushed onto the stage. The chronic
mismanagement of the Teatro San Carlo had become so outrageous that
the opera-loving King Ferdinand II had to interfere, shuffling the directorship.
Though Donizetti had finished the score in early July, rehearsals did not begin
until the middle of August. They continued for over a month, until Lucia di
Lammermoor was finally presented at the San Carlo on September 26.
There seems to be no doubt about the opera’s success. Contemporary
accounts of Italian performances are not always reliable (and 19th-century music
critics were often incompetent or corrupt, or both). But Donizetti—who seldom
deceived himself—wrote, on September 29, to his publisher Ricordi: “It pleased,
and it pleased very much, if I am to believe the applause and the compliments I
received.” Audiences in those days tended to be talkative, and in Naples, even
today, there is no rule of strict silence during the performance. So when Donizetti
writes, in the same letter, “Every piece was listened to in religious silence,” he is
giving us another important measure of his triumph.
Many opera historians have referred to Lucia as the most famous of all Italian
romantic operas. It’s certainly a perfect blend of elements that we consider
essential to the Romantic era: exotic scenery, intense emotions leading to
physical and psychological violence, and—above all—the intervention of fate in
a decisive and destructive fashion.
The opera’s success in Naples was, in the space of a few years, echoed in
other Italian theaters and then in Paris (1837), in London the following year, and
in New York in 1843. Characteristically, when the anything-but-romantic novelist
Gustave Flaubert decided to send his heroine Emma Bovary to the opera in
his 1857 novel, he chose Lucia for her. And in Anna Karenina, 20 years later,
the tone-deaf Tolstoy described a performance of the same work. It is likely
that the two great novelists selected Donizetti’s masterpiece not so much for its
musical worth but because of the opposition of the story of ill-fated love to the
disastrous, illicit love stories of the two doomed heroines.
In writing Lucia for the Teatro San Carlo, Donizetti knew that his music
would be sung by the artists engaged for that season; therefore he knew his
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Program Note CONTINUED
42 Visit metopera.org
The Cast
Patrick Summers
conductor (washington, indiana )
this season Iphigénie en Tauride, Lucia di Lammermoor, and the Grand Finals Concert
at the Met; Capriccio and Floyd’s Of Mice and Men at Opera Australia; and Madama
Butterfly, Peter Grimes, Ariadne auf Naxos, and Heggie’s Dead Man Walking at Houston
Grand Opera.
met appearances Salome, Madama Butterfly, I Puritani, Die Fledermaus (debut, 1998), Così
fan tutte, Rodelinda, and La Traviata.
career highlights He is the music director of Houston Grand Opera, where he has led
more than 30 different operas, including the world premieres of Heggie’s The End of
the Affair, Machover’s Resurrection, Floyd’s Cold Sassy Tree, and Portman’s The Little
Prince. He also conducted the world premiere of Paul Moravec’s The Letter with Santa Fe
Opera. Formerly principal guest conductor of the San Francisco Opera, he has conducted
numerous operas there, including Monteverdi’s L’Incoronazione di Poppea and the
world premiere of Dead Man Walking. Recent European engagements include work with
Barcelona’s Liceu, Welsh National Opera, the Bregenz Festival, Lisbon Opera, Opéra de
Bordeaux, and Strasbourg’s Opéra National du Rhin.
Natalie Dessay
soprano (lyon, france)
this season The title role of Lucia di Lammermoor at the Met, a concert at Carnegie Hall
with the MET Orchestra, Cleopatra in Giulio Cesare with the Paris Opera, Mélisande in
Pelléas et Mélisande with the Orchestre de Paris, and Violetta in La Traviata at the Aix-en-
Provence Festival.
met appearances Amina in La Sonnambula, Marie in La Fille du Régiment, The Fiakermilli
in Arabella (debut, 1994), Olympia in Les Contes d’Hoffmann, Zerbinetta in Ariadne auf
Naxos, and Juliette in Roméo et Juliette.
career highlights Amina with the Vienna State Opera, Lucia with the San Francisco Opera,
Mélisande at Vienna’s Theater an der Wien, Violetta in Santa Fe, the title role of Manon
in Chicago and Barcelona, Marie with the Vienna State Opera and at Covent Garden,
Zerbinetta at Paris’s Bastille Opera, Morgana in Handel’s Alcina and Lucia with Lyric Opera
of Chicago, Aminta in Die Schweigsame Frau at the Vienna State Opera, Zerbinetta at
the Salzburg Festival, and Ophélie in Thomas’s Hamlet at Covent Garden, Paris’s Châtelet,
and in Barcelona.
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The Cast CONTINUED
Joseph Calleja
tenor ( attard, malta )
this season Rodolfo in La Bohème, the Duke in Rigoletto, and Edgardo in Lucia di
Lammermoor at the Met; Edgardo and Rodolfo with the company on tour in Japan;
Pinkerton in Madama Butterfly with Houston Grand Opera; Nemorino in L’Elisir d’Amore
and Rodolfo with Munich’s Bavarian State Opera; and Edgardo with the Deutsche Oper
Berlin.
met appearances Hoffmann in Les Contes d’Hoffmann, Macduff in Macbeth, Nemorino,
and the Duke (debut, 2006).
career highlights The Duke for debuts at Covent Garden, the Bavarian State Opera,
Deutsche Oper Berlin, Netherlands Opera, and Welsh National Opera; Elvino in La
Sonnambula, Arturo in I Puritani, the title role of Roberto Devereux, Rodolfo, Nemorino,
and the Duke at the Vienna State Opera; Nicias in Thaïs and Gabriele Adorno in Simon
Boccanegra at Covent Garden; Alfredo in La Traviata with the Los Angeles Opera and Lyric
Opera of Chicago; Leicester in Maria Stuarda in Stockholm and Parma; and Arturo and the
title role of Faust with the Deutsche Oper Berlin.
Ludovic Tézier
baritone (marseille, france)
this season Enrico in Lucia di Lammermoor at the Met, Di Luna in Il Trovatore in Bordeaux,
Ford in Falstaff at Barcelona’s Liceu, and Eugene Onegin, Count Almaviva in Le Nozze di
Figaro, and Di Luna at the Paris Opera.
met appearances Count Almaviva, Escamillo in Carmen (debut, 2002), and Marcello in La
Bohème.
career highlights Recent engagements include Posa in Don Carlos, Albert in Werther, and
Marcello at Paris’s Bastille Opera; Yeletsky in The Queen of Spades at Barcelona’s Liceu;
and Antonio in Donizetti’s Linda di Chamounix at Covent Garden. He has also sung the
title role in the baritone version of Werther in Brussels and at the Paris Opera; Renato in
Un Ballo in Maschera, Yeletsky, and Enrico at the Paris Opera; Coroebus in Les Troyens,
Wolfram in Tannhäuser, and Henri in Lucie de Lammermoor at Paris’s Châtelet; Eugene
Onegin at La Scala; Count Almaviva at the Vienna State Opera; Don Giovanni, Count
Almaviva, Wolfram, and Zurga in Les Pêcheurs de Perles in Toulouse; and Lescaut in
Manon in Geneva, Barcelona, and at Covent Garden.
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Kwangchul Youn
bass (chung ju, south korea )
this season Raimondo in Lucia di Lammermoor at the Met, Sarastro in Die Zauberflöte at
the Vienna State Opera, Ramfis in Aida and Gurnemanz in Parsifal with Munich’s Bavarian
State Opera, and Gurnemanz in Paris.
met appearances The Commendatore in Don Giovanni, King Marke in Tristan und Isolde,
Ferrando in Il Trovatore, Sarastro (debut, 2004), Ramfis, Hermann in Tannhäuser, and the
Old Hebrew in Samson et Dalila.
career highlights He has sung Méphistophélès in Faust and King Henry in Lohengrin at
the Vienna State Opera; King Henry at Covent Garden; King Marke in Tristan und Isolde,
Gurnemanz in Parsifal, Fasolt in Das Rheingold, and Hunding in Die Walküre at the
Bayreuth Festival; and the title role of Attila in Ludwigsburg. He has performed numerous
roles with the Berlin State Opera (Unter den Linden), including Rocco in Fidelio, Oroveso
in Norma, the Grand Inquisitor in Don Carlo, Pogner in Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg,
Banquo in Macbeth, Arkel in Pelléas et Mélisande, and Sarastro.
Visit metopera.org 45
The 2011–12 Season
Featuring the first new
complete Ring cycle in more
than 20 years, conducted
by James Levine.
New Productions
AnnA BolenA
Don GIoVAnnI
SIeGFRIeD
FAUST
THe enCHAnTeD ISlAnD
GÖTTeRDÄMMeRUnG
MAnon
Repertory Productions
AIDA
Il BARBIeRe DI SIVIGlIA
BIllY BUDD
lA BoHÈMe
l’elISIR D’AMoRe
eRnAnI
lA FIlle DU RÉGIMenT
HAnSel AnD GReTel
KHoVAnSHCHInA
MACBeTH
MADAMA BUTTeRFlY
THe MAKRoPUloS CASe
nABUCCo
DAS RHeInGolD
RoDelInDA
SATYAGRAHA
ToSCA
lA TRAVIATA
DIe wAlKüRe